Spirit as “as-if-presence”: The concept of “Shen” in the Huangdi Neijing and the “becoming” nature of life

The concept of “Shen” (神), often translated as “spirit” or “divinity,” stands as a cornerstone of the life philosophy within the Huangdi Neijing ( Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon ). Through a combination of textual exegesis and theoretical interpretation, this paper traces the philological origins of “Shen” and explores the process of its philosophical connotations permeating into the medical realm. When examined through the lens of the Confucian ritual principle “sacrifice as if the spirits were present” (“祭神如神在” Analects 3:12), “Shen” reveals itself not as a static substance, but as a dynamic, context-dependent “as-if-presence” (“如在”). The study finds that “Shen” is not only a medical concept that bridges the body and the internal life vitality, its “as-if-present” mode of diagnosis also corresponds to the “becoming” nature of life and makes the metamorphosis of life possible.