What is Guarding the Three Treasures?

To a Chinese Ch'i Gong master the purpose of Ch'i Gong is "Jing, Ch'i, Shen he yi" - sexual energy, the life force and Spirit unified. To a Westerner the purpose is to improve your health. The Taoists refer to these three aspects as treasures and they guard them to limit their depletion in order to prolong life.

Jing can be translated as the germ of life, the life essence, sexual energy, the most refined quintessential form of anything. Herbal Jing would be a concentrated extract. Jing is the most Yin form of Ch'i and has three external sources: It is inherited from the parents; it is derived from the refined parts of food; and Taoist sexual yoga. According to ancient Taoists Jing is produced from the refined energies of the Kidneys and Lungs. Anything that improves the health of these two organs will help increase the store of Jing.

Ch'i is breath, life energy, bioenergy, the pulse of the universe, air, the life force.

Shen is translated as spirit. All forms of tranquil Ch'i Gong develop Shen. When the heart and liver are healthy their energies combine to produce Shen. If the energy of those organs are unsettled the Spirit is restless and the mind unsettled. Shen energy is lost when it is preoccupied by external events. It is nourished by meditation.

According to Ch'i Gong philosophy it is impossible to find Spirit without integrating the experience of the body. "Refine the Jing to create Ch'i; refine Ch'i to create Shen; refine Shen and return to the Source."

A simplified way of looking at it is Jing is our constitution which we have inherited from our parents. We need to take care of what comes into and out of our bodies in order not to deplete our bodies of the fluids that support it. Paying attention to our Ch'i is making sure that we breathe well so that we have the oxygen to keep us alive. And we must also guard our Shen so that our spirit does not run away from its Source with the preoccupations of our daily exigencies.

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