On The Translation Of Shen In Huangdi Neijing

Huangdi Neijing (Neijing for short), composed of Suwen and Lingshu, is the only earliest extant Chinese medical classic. Universally acknowledged as the origin of medical theory, it established a foundation for the theoretical system of Chinese medicine. This medical classic is not confined to medicine only, but absorbs great achievements of numerous subjects including philosophy, sociology, anthropology, astronomy, ecology, and mathematics. Furthermore, many medical and health-preserving theories as well as sociological and humanistic thoughts presented in it, though complied over 2000 years ago, are still applicable to current clinical and sociological practice and research.As a medical and cultural legacy, Neijing has been increasingly recognized and appreciated by the west in recent decades as part of cross-cultural communications. Many scholars in China and abroad are dedicated to introduction of this book to the west by all means, in particular by translation. Despite their great contributions, to which a deep gratitude should be owed, greater efforts seem indispensible to address some problems concerning the translation, especially the standardization and unification of technical terminology. The term of shen 神, a special concept in Neijing, is a typical example.Shen is a critically significant concept in both Chinese traditional culture and medicine. As a fundamental medical concept, it is the theoretical basis on which many Chinese medical theories and principles are founded and initiated. Therefore, to sort and identify the categories and meanings of shen is highly conducive to a more accurate comprehension and translation of this term, and thereby of the conceptual basis of Chinese medical theory. This is the objective of this research.During the course of the research, it is found that the concept of shen. due to its broad connotations and diverse contexts, is understood and classified variedly, or even confusingly, in different sorts of Chinese literatures. As a result of various interpretations, it is generally translated not according to appropriate categorization based on its connotations, thus resulting in two extremes:entire uniformity regardless of its distinctions, and free interpretation in disregard of it as a special term. What this paper attempts to do is to pick out all the expressions concerning shen in Neijing, categorize them according to their meanings, compare and analyze the translations of each category offered by six selected editions, and to present the author’s own version on this basis.Prior to comparison and analysis of different translations, a literature review is conducted to, firstly, summarize the present studies of Neijing and its translation, and secondly, outline the characteristics of six selected editions and the problems they have in rendering shen. The review shows the present studies of translation of Neijing are focused on translation principles, terminology standardization, and interpretation from the perspective of modern translation theories, linguistic and cultural features, and individual terms like Yin, Yang, and Qi. Apart from an analysis of translations of shen in relevant dictionaries and standards, few studies have been carried out on how to translate shen in the context of Neijing. This paper is written in a humble attempt to fill this gap.Before translating a word rich in connotations, it is necessary and helpful to understand where it comes and how it develops, so after the literature review is an exploration of the origin of shen. The Chinese character 神 is composed of two components 示 and 申, the former denoting "display" and the latter "causation" Morphologically,申 resembles the shape of a lightning in the air, which was regarded by the ancients as unpredictable and almighty beyond their comprehension and thus called shen. Therefore, shen initially refers to Tianshen 天神 (God of Heaven), the creator or dominator of all things in the world, because 申 implies "causation" or "reproduction" in Chinese, just as explained in Shuowen Jiezi 说文解字 (Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters):"Tianshen is the cause of all things coming into existence in the world." With their increasing knowledge of the natural rules, they came to use shen to generalize the law of Yin and Yang interactions, as defined in Yijing 易经 or Book of Changes:"The law by which Yin and Yang interact indefinably is called Shen." Shen was thus given a philosophic meaning. Such an idea about the law of Yin and Yang changes was introduced by Taoism to human life to form the concept of "Shen of human beings" and a set of approaches to health preservation. Influenced considerably by Taoism, Neijing, based on its cognition of the Shen of Yin and Yang changes, absorbed the concept into life science and established a hierarchical set of notions about shen with Chinese medical characteristics.Based on the exploration of the origin of shen and reference to the explanations by some scholars, this paper divides shen into four categories, namely "Shen of Yin and Yang changes", "Shen of life", "Shen of mind and consciousness", and shen in other senses. Three sentences that can represent the typical meaning of each category are selected from Neijing as examples for a comparative analysis of how the six editions deal with the translation as well as for some justification for the author’s categorization and translation. This is the major body of this paper.This paper concludes that before translation of a technical term with abundant and profound meanings used in a Chinese classic, like shen in Neijing, it is indispensible and beneficial to explore its origins and thereby identify and classify its meanings. For each category of meaning, it should be translated uniformly throughout the text, so that it could be understood in a consistent and hierarchical way. It is hoped that this approach to translation can help English readers get a clear and comprehensive idea about shen and serve as the slightest inspiration for translators dedicated to Chinese medicine translation.