Jing, Qi and Shen: The Three Treasures of Qigong

Jing, Qi and Shen are known as the Three Treasures in Daoist cultivation and Qigong.

They describe three interconnected aspects of human energy: Jing as vital essence or vital energy, Qi as the astral and emotional energy associated with the self and our experience of being human, and Shen as the aspect of spirit we can access as we expand and clear our mental energy.

Jing, Qi and Shen aren't separate things operating independently of one another. They continually influence, nourish and transform each other. Understanding that relationship gives us a deeper way of understanding what we're actually cultivating when we practise Qigong.

Qigong is an energy skill. We use techniques such as moving the body, conditioning the breath and clearing the mental field to access and work with particular frequencies of energy.

The Three Treasures give us a framework for understanding some of the different energetic dimensions we can encounter through practice, from the more tangible experience of Jing through to the subtler realms of Qi and Shen.

Understanding Jing: Vital Essence

Jing is our vital essence, the foundational energy that gives us substance and supports the development and maintenance of the physical body. Jing is associated with our constitution, our inherited vitality and our generative capacity.

In Daoist thinking, it is the most substantial of the Three Treasures and is closely associated with the kidneys and lower dantian.

There is an aspect of Jing that is given to us at conception. It forms part of the energetic inheritance we receive from our parents and contributes to the constitution we arrive in this life with.

We also influence the way we use and conserve Jing through how we live.

Rest, nourishment, sexual activity, stress, overwork, environmental conditions and the demands we place on ourselves all affect how much of our vital energy we are drawing on.

This is where Jing becomes particularly relevant to Qigong practice. We're not simply trying to build more energy. We're learning how to work with what we have, how to conserve it and how to cultivate our vitality so that we're not continually drawing on our deepest reserves just to get through everyday life.

Understanding Jing also gives us a different way of thinking about Qigong practice. Stillness, movement and mental focus all have a role in nurturing our vital energy. Stillness supports restoration, movement supports circulation and mental focus gives direction to our energy.

This understanding extends beyond our formal Qigong practice into how we live. Yang Sheng Fa, or Nurturing Life Practices, is concerned with exactly this: learning how to live in ways that support vitality and conserve our resources. How we rest, eat, work, move, relate to others and respond to the changing seasons all influence how we use our energy.

In this sense, cultivating Jing isn't something we do only during Qigong practice. It becomes part of how we live. When our vital energy is well supported, there is more substance from which Qi can arise and circulate, and a stronger foundation for the development of Shen.

Understanding Qi: Astral Energy

Qi is a generic term used to describe energy, but energy can mean many different things.

One useful way to understand Qi is as vibrational information: energy carrying qualities that we can perceive and interact with. Within the Three Treasures, we're looking at a spectrum of energy, from the denser, more substantial quality of Jing through Qi and into the more subtle qualities of Shen.

So when we’re talking about Qi in this context, it relates to the astral energy of the Self. Where Jing relates to our vital essence and the foundational energy of the physical body, Qi relates more to our experience of being ourselves.

Our emotions, thoughts, personality, relationships and interactions with the world around us all influence our Qi. So does the environment we're in and the people we spend time with.

Qi is constantly moving and changing. We can feel different qualities of Qi in ourselves depending on how we're feeling, what we're thinking about, who we're with and what's happening around us.

This is why developing sensitivity to Qi is such an important part of Qigong practice. We're learning to notice what is happening energetically, rather than simply moving through a sequence of physical shapes.

Through practice, we become more familiar with the qualities and movement of Qi. We learn to regulate it, direct it and work with it consciously.

This also helps us understand the relationship between Jing and Qi. Jing provides the foundational vitality, while Qi is the energy of our lived experience. How we use and respond to that energy influences our state of being.

Exploring Shen: Spirit and Consciousness

Shen is the most subtle of the Three Treasures. It relates to spirit and consciousness and to the more subtle frequencies of energy that become accessible when we learn to work with the mind.

In Daoist traditions, Shen can be understood in two ways. There is the Shen associated with the heart and the astral body, which relates to our individual spirit and consciousness. Developing our relationship with this aspect of Shen is the stream of practice known as Shen Gong.

There is also a greater aspect of Shen, associated with a more expanded level of consciousness beyond the individual self. This second aspect is where our work with the mental field becomes important.

We don't access Shen simply by trying to quiet our thoughts or make the mind blank. We deliberately work with the substance of the mind, expanding and clearing the mental field so that we can perceive and become more aligned with a subtler frequency of energy.

As the mental field becomes more spacious and clear, our perception changes. We become less caught up in the constant activity of thought, emotion and mental patterning, and more able to notice what lies beyond it.

This is an important part of Qigong practice. We're not trying to manufacture a spiritual experience. We're developing the capacity to perceive and work with a more subtle level of energy and consciousness.

The relationship between Qi and Shen becomes important here. Qi relates to the astral energy of the Self, while Shen relates to a subtler frequency that becomes accessible as we expand and clear the mental field.

As we develop our capacity to work with Shen, this also changes the way we experience and work with Qi.

The Interconnection of Jing, Qi, and Shen

Jing, Qi and Shen aren't separate things. They're interconnected, and what happens with one influences the others.

When we nurture Jing, we strengthen the foundation from which Qi can arise. As we develop our sensitivity to Qi and learn to regulate and direct it, we create greater capacity to work with Shen. And as we become more familiar with Shen, our relationship with Qi and Jing changes too.

This is part of what makes Qigong a practice of cultivation. We're not working on three separate aspects of ourselves. We're learning to perceive, work with and become more familiar with different frequencies of energy and the way they relate to one another.

The idea of the Three Treasures also sits within a much larger Daoist understanding of the relationship between Human, Earth and Heaven.

Jing, Qi and Shen are sometimes described through different sets of three, including the Three Flowers, the Three Jewels and the Three Herbs. They can also be related to the treasures of the cosmos — the sun, moon and stars — and to the broader patterns of nature.

These correspondences point to something important: the Three Treasures aren't simply a model for understanding ourselves in isolation. They reflect a view of human life as part of a much larger energetic relationship between ourselves, the natural world and the cosmos.

Bringing the Three Treasures Into Practice

Understanding Jing, Qi and Shen gives us a different way of looking at Qigong practice.

We're not simply moving the body through a sequence. We're developing an energy skill: learning to perceive different qualities and frequencies of energy, and developing our capacity to work with them.

Jing reminds us to nurture our vital essence. Qi brings our attention to the energetic dimension of the Self and how our thoughts, emotions, relationships and environment influence what we're experiencing. Shen points towards the more subtle frequencies that become accessible as we expand and clear the mental field.

This is also why Qigong doesn't stop when the formal practice ends. The way we live affects the energy we're working with. How we rest, eat, move, work, relate and respond to life all influences our Jing, Qi and Shen.

This is where Yang Sheng Fa becomes part of the picture. Nurturing life isn't separate from Qigong. It's part of learning how to live in a way that supports our vitality and our capacity to cultivate.

The Three Treasures give us a framework for understanding the different levels of energy we're working with through Qigong. As our practice develops, so does our ability to perceive, work with and become more familiar with those different frequencies.

Developing sensitivity to Qi is part of learning to work with this spectrum of energy. It is through this process of becoming more sensitive that Qigong becomes something we experience, rather than simply something we do.

If you're interested in exploring Qigong as a way of cultivating body, mind and spirit in everyday life, I share new writing and reflections by email.