Mind

Also spirit-mind.

1. Will, determination.

2. Spirit; the capacity to think, feel, and respond. See spirit.

3. Affect, emotion. See five minds.

4. Memory; will. See kidney stores mind.

Etymology

Chin 志 was originally written as 心 xīn, heart, topped not with 士 shì as in the modern form of the graph, but with ㄓ zhī, the original form of the form of 之, a graph that in addition to serving as a genitive particle and as a third person pronoun, also means to go. The ㄓ may merely be a purely phonetic element, but as a semantic element (to go), the overall composition of the graph would suggest the meaning of direction of the heart. In actuality, zhì has the meaning of a) will or determination, b) presence of mind or concentration power, c) emotion. In Chinese medicine, meaning b) and c) are the most common. In sense b), it is similar in meaning to spirit shén, with which it is often combined to form 神志 shén zhì spirit-mind. States such as insomnia, mania, or epilepsy are traditionally explained in terms such as the heart failing to keep to its abode and straying. Accordingly, the treatment of such states is sometimes described as stabilize the mind (i.e., quiet the spirit). In the sense of direction of the heart, the character 志 denotes the emotions joy, anger, worry, and fear, and the mental activity thought, which are associated with the heart, liver, lung, kidney, and spleen respectively. Finally, in the phrase 肾藏志 shèn cáng zhì, the kidney stores mind, 志 is interpreted either in the sense of will, or as equivalent to 志 zhì, meaning memory, wherein an individual finds his orientation in time. The consistency of basic meaning in the character 志 and the possible existence of double or multiple interpretations in different contexts explains the consistent rendering with a single English term mind.