What does ‘Xin’ 心 (pronounced: shin) really mean? 

It always used to strike me as strange whenever my Chinese kung fu Master would say “relax your mental and psychological...” and would point at the area of the heart. My then teacher would explain that according to Chinese thought, mind or ‘xin’, is located at the heart. I had taken that at face value and didn’t really question it until I started reading and researching traditional texts on martial arts and its relevant philosophy. The word ‘xin’ would often come up and was either not translated or translated sometimes as heart, other times as mind. I found this interesting and wished to find the actual meaning of this concept that is so tied with Chinese martial arts and their philosophy.

First paper I looked at, was by Li, Ericsson and Quennerstedt. They state that “In English, xin is often translated as ‘heart’ or ‘mind’. This translation fails to transmit the full meaning of the word that is deeply rooted in Chinese culture, thereby omitting, or obscuring much of ‘xin’s’ significance in cultural knowledge.” (2013). Chen is very kind to inform us that ‘xin’ in dictionaries is often translated as ‘heart, mind, feeling, intention or centre’ (2001). As a concept it is used as “the centre of a phraseological cluster” (Li et al., 2013) meaning that it is often used with different ideograms and can mean “soul, wisdom, devoted, filial piety, trust, confidence” etc. (Li et al., 2013). 

The important thing to understand here is that Chinese thought differs from Western in that it has the tendency to view things more holistically. The heart is not only the physical heart. It is also the seat of our emotions and not in the poetic sense. “Therefore, traditional Chinese medicine doctors do not just treat the physical heart alone. They integrate the improvement of the balance of ‘qi’ (pronounced: chi; the energy which is believed to be circulating in our bodies) and the emotional state, and adjustment of nutrition and lifestyle into their treatment.” (Li et al., 2013). That is why one can find definitions of Qigong as “a body-xin practice that integrates body adjustment, breath adjustment and xin adjustment into one.” (Liu, 2005). Here the term ‘tiao xin’, or heart adjustment fits well, as it means a way of balancing emotions and remaining calm so that the flow of qi is smooth and unhindered (Li et al., 2013). 

We should also keep in mind – which mind am I talking about now I wonder – that the function of the heart, according to Chinese thought, is way more important than what we think of here in the West. It is the heart and not the brain that is the master of the body. We know this to be true in our everyday life as emotions do govern most of our decisions. There’s even research, which I will not bore you with right now, that showed how most people decide based on their emotions and not their logic (– if you find this interesting go do your own research, don’t be lazy! –). So, the fact that many of us don’t recognise it and believe that we are logical and cool-headed deciders should be a matter of personal reflection. I am sure that if we give our hearts the attention it deserves and understand it, we might begin to also understand ourselves better. That’s why I’m writing this frikking blog post in the first place. 

The heart is our emotional self “[…] who can detect all feelings more clearly, deeply and sincerely than ‘I feel’, for example, from the head.” (Li et al., 2013). ‘Xin’ is the “source of wisdom” (Zhang, 2006). Therefore, one should think not only in ‘naozi’ (brain) but in collaboration with ‘xin’, for it is only then that one can process and know things without the calculative egoistic qualities of selfish analytic thinking (Li et al., 2013). So, one way of cultivating one’s xin is by learning how to centre it in the present, a concept which is prevalent in Buddhist thought where one cultivates a state of mindfulness, or a non-judgmental awareness of the present moment. This can help give us access to insight, as every moment is witnessed clearly and not burdened by our preconceived ideas about self and others. 

Everyday life with its tribulations and temptations can lead one astray. That can suck big-time, believe me I know. It is important to try and maintain a virtuous lifestyle regardless of whether one believes in a formal religion. It is not about faith (although it’s perfectly fine if that’s your thing) but about keeping the mind and heart clear “as a helpful instrument for gaining clarity in daily life and minimizing mistakes.” (Liu et al., 2013) 

So, for one to conduct themselves ideally “[…] the heart-mind needs to reside in a condition of “empty single-minded stillness” (虚一而静). “Empty” refers to not letting the existing knowledge that one has interfere in or obstruct the reception of new knowledge. “Single-minded” refers to not letting an understanding of another phenomenon interfere with understanding the phenomenon at hand. “Stillness” refers to not letting one’s free-wheeling thoughts disturb one’s normal understanding. (Wang, Bao & Guan, p. 61). In other words, let’s all try to keep our sh*t together people! 

In the end, cultivating our ‘xin’ is not about becoming some superhuman saint who looks down on everyone else trying to go about their lives as best they can. It is about gaining wisdom, a wisdom that comes with time, trial and error, and the ability to reconcile the intellectual and the emotional parts of our being. [mic drop] 



References 

Chen Z (2001) (Ed.). A modern Chinese-English dictionary. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. 

Li, J., Ericsson, C., & Quennerstedt, M. (2013) The Meaning of the Chinese Cultural Keyword xin. Journal of Languages and Culture, Vol. 4(5), pp 75–89. School of Health and Medical Sciences, Örebro University, Sweden. 

Liu T 刘天君 (2005) (Ed.). 中医气功学 [Qigong Study in Chinese Medicine] (An official textbook for universities and colleges of Chinese medicine). Beijing: China Publisher of Chinese Medicine. 

Wang, Y., Bao, Q., & Guan, G. (2020) History of Chinese Philosophy through its Key Terms. Ch. 5 Heart Mind. Nanjing University press 

Zhang, JL 张建理 (2006). An English-Chinese contrastive study on polysemous networks of HEART. Journal of Zhejiang University. 36(3):161–168