Visualization of Spirit and Refinement of Breath - Tran L.kohn

存神錬氣銘 Ts'un-shen Lien-ch'i Ming Inscription on Visualization of Spirit and Refinement of Breath By Sun Ssu-miao 孫思邈 Translated by Livia Kohn

存神錬氣銘 Visualization of Spirit and Refinement of Breath 夫身爲神氣之窟宅 The personal body is the habitation of spirit and breath. 神氣若存 身康力健 As long as spirit and breath are there the body is healthy and vigorous. 神氣若散 身乃死焉 But it dies1 as soon as spirit and breath are lost. 若欲存身 先安神氣 Therefore, if you want to preserve your body, you first have to calm spirit and breath. 即氣爲神母 神爲氣子 The breath is the mother of the spirit, thus the spirit is the son of the breath. 神氣若倶 長生不死 Only when both are together one will live forever and not die. 若欲安神 須煉元氣 Now, in order to calm the spirit you must first of all refine the primordial breath.2 氣在身内 神安氣海 When this breath resides in the personal body, the spirit is calm and the breath like an ocean. 氣海充盈 心安神定 If this ocean of breath3 is full to overflowing, the mind is calm and the spirit coagulated. 定若不散 身心凝靜 When this coagulation is not lost,4 body and mind are gathered in tranquillity. 靜至定倶 身存年永 Tranquillity then grows further into concentration, and the personal body will continue to exist for years eternal. 常住道源 自然成聖 Dwell permanently on the source of the Tao,5 and saintliness will naturally be perfected. 氣通神境 神通慧命 The breath then pervades the spirit and the mental projections, the spirit in turn pervades insight and life.6 命住身存 合於眞性 With life fixed and the body eternal, both unite with true inner nature. 日月齊齡 Thereby one attains an age as old as the sun and the moon. 道成究竟 The Tao is then ultimately perfected. 依銘煉氣 欲學此術 先須絶粒 If you want to learn the technique of refinement of breath as described here, you must first of all stop eating cereals. 安心氣海 存神丹田 攝心靜慮 Then focus your mind calmly on the ocean of breath, visualize the spirit in the cinnabar field, control the mind, and purify your thoughts. 氣海若具 自然飽矣

When the ocean of energy is duly replenished you will always feel satiated naturally. 專心修者 百日小成 三年大成 In the cultivation of mental one-pointedness, a hundred days mean a minor achievement, whereas three hundred days bring a major level. 初入五時 Only after this can one enter the five phases of the mind. 後通七候 Once these are completed one undergoes the seven stages of the body. 神靈變化 出沒自在 As pure spirit and numinosity one goes on changing and naturally exists throughout all coming and going. 峭壁千里 去住無礙 Whether confronting a steep cliff or a thousand miles' distance, one goes or stays without obstruction. 氣若不散 即氣海充盈 神靜丹田 身心永固 As long as the breath does not disperse, the ocean of breath is always full, the spirit is at peace in the cinnabar field, and the personal body and the mind are continually stable. 自然迴顏駐色變體 Naturally a youthful complexion will return and stay on despite changes occurring in the bodily structure. 成仙隱顯自由 通靈百變 Once immortality is perfected, appearing and disappearing from the common world will merely be a free passage of numinosity throughout the changes. 名曰度世 This, then, is what we call "going beyond the world." 號日眞人 One who accomplishes this is called a "realized one." 天地齊年 日月同壽 Aligning his years with heaven and earth, he is as old as the sun and the moon. 此法不服氣 不嚥津 不辛苦 This particular technique does not require that one nourish on breath, swallow saliva, or undergo any particular hardships. 要吃但吃 須休即休 When one must eat one eats, when rest is felt necessary one rests.7 自在自由 無阻無礙 Thus one will live forever in freedom and without obstruction. 五時七候 入胎定觀 One will pass through the five phases and seven stages while entering the innermost core of concentration and observation. 夫學道之人 入有五時 Now, the student of the Tao will first attain the five phases of the mind:8 第一時 心動多靜少 1. The mind experiences much agitation and little tranquillity. 思綠萬境 取捨無常 One's thinking is conditioned by a myriad different projections, accepting this and rejecting that without any constancy whatsoever. 忌慮度量 猶如野馬 Dreads and worries, plans and calculations keep racing on inside like mad horses. 常人心也 This is the normal mind.

第二時 心靜少動多 2. The mind experiences a little tranquillity and much agitation. 攝動入靜 心多散逸 One curbs agitation and enters concentration,9 yet the mind at once is scattered again. 難可制伏 攝之勤策 It is very hard to control and subdue, to curb its agitation and entanglement. 追道之始 This is the beginning of progress toward the Tao. 第三時 心動靜相半 3. The mind experiences half agitation and half tranquillity. 心靜似攝心常 The tranquil state of mind is somewhat like a unified mind already, but this state cannot be maintained for a prolonged period.10 靜散相半 用心勤策 漸見調熟 Tranquillity and diffusion are about equal, one makes the mind care about its own agitation and entanglement, thus it gradually gets used to tranquillity. 第四時 心靜多動少 4. The mind experiences plenty of tranquillity and only occasional agitation. 攝心漸熟 動即攝之 One becomes gradually versed in controlling the mind, thus any agitation that arises is checked at once. 專注一境 失而遽得 The mind is fully one-pointed and when one-pointedness is lost it is immediately recovered. 第五時 心一向純靜 5. The mind is turned entirely toward purity and tranquillity. 有事無事 觸亦不動 Whether involved in affairs or at leisure, there is no agitation at all. 田攝心熟 堅散准定 From an efficiently controlled mind, firmness and solidity11 of concentration develop. 從此已後 處顯而入七候 Only after one is firmly established in phase five can one enter the seven stages. 任運自得 Just leave all to the natural process and let it realize itself spontaneously. 非關作矣 There is nothing to be actively done. The Seven Stages12 第一候 宿疾並銷 身輕心暢 1. The diseases inherited from former lives diminish, the personal body grows light and the mind luminous. 停心人内 神靜氣安 The mind is now totally at rest within, the spirit is tranquil and the breath at peace. 四大適然 六情沉寂 The four elements13 are joined in harmony, the six emotions are deeply calmed. 心安懸境 抱一守中 With the mind resting peacefully in the mysterious realm, continue to practise one-pointedness and inner concentration. 喜悅日新 名爲得道 Joy and exaltation are daily new – this is called "realizing the Tao." 第二候 超過常限 色返童顏 2. The limits of normality are left behind, in appearance one regains a youthful complexion. 形悅心安 通靈徹視

The body in a state of joy and the mind constantly at peace, one numinously attains a vision of the deep and mysterious. 移居別郡 揀地而安 At this stage, one should move to a different part of the country, choose a spot and settle down. 鄰里知人 勿令舊識 It is better not to be a too old acquaintance of the local folk. 第三候 延年千載 名日仙人 3. Extending one's years to a thousand – one is called an immortal. 遊諸名山 飛行自在 青童侍衛 玉女歌揚 One travels extensively to all the famous mountains, flying or walking in spontaneity, with azure lads as one's guards and jade maidens for entertainment. 騰躡煙霞 綠雲捧足 Stepping high on mist and haze, colored clouds support the tread. 第四候 煉身成氣 氣繞身光 4. Refining one's body to pure breath, this breath will duly radiate throughout the whole body. 名曰眞人 This is called the stage of the realized one. 存亡自在 光明自照 晝夜常明 Appearing and disappearing to the common world in accordance with spontaneity, one's glittering clarity will radiate spontaneously, night and day in equal brightness. 遊諸洞宮 諸仙侍立 With immortals in attendance one traverses through grottoes and palaces.14 第五候 煉氣爲神 名日神人 5. Refining the breath to pure spirit, one becomes a spirit man. 變通自在 作用無窮 力動乾坤 移山竭海 Changing and passing on spontaneously, one is utterly boundless, one's power can move heaven and earth, remove mountains and drain the sea. 第六候 煉神合色 名曰至人 6. Refining the spirit to unify with the world of form, one becomes a perfect man. 神既通靈 色形不定 As one nurninously pervades all existence, one's appearance and body are no longer definite. 對機施化 應物現形 One changes according to occasion, appears in different shapes as one goes along with beings. 第七候 身超物外 迥出常倫 大道玉皇 共居靈境 7. Going beyond all beings in one's personal body15 one whirls out of normal relations and comes to reside next to the Jade Emperor of the Great Tao in the Numinous Realm. 聖賢集會 弘演至眞 Here the wise and sagely gather, at the farthest shore16 and in perfect truth. 造化通靈 物無不達 In creative change, in numinous pervasion, all beings are reached. 修行至此 方到道源 Only one who has attained this level of cultivation has truly reached the source of the Tao. 萬行休停 Here the myriad paths come to an end. 名日究竟 This is called the final ultimate. 今時之人 學道日淺 曾無一候 何得通靈 People nowadays study the Tao less and less every day, and as they don't even achieve the first stage, how would they ever realize numinous pervasion?

理守愚情 保持穢質 Rather, they continue to preserve17 their stupidity and passions, they are determined to hold on to their defilements and personal dispositions. 四時遷運 形妄色衰 體謝歸空 With the four seasons moving on in their course, their bodies and appearances falter until the bodily structure collapses and they return to nothingness. 稱爲得道 謬矣 Someone who calls this realizing the Tao certainly is a hypocrite. 此胎息定觀 是留神駐形之道術 On the other hand, the combined methods of embryo respiration and inner observation allow keeping of the spirit and preservance of the body. Original patriarchs of old have handed these methods down to us today, but in their first beginning they were conceived and transmitted by realized ones.18 在口訣不書於文 The methods were preserved only through oral transmission and never put down in writing. 有徳至人方遇此法 細詳留意 If a virtuous man of perfection19 by chance comes into contact with them, he must by all means be very diligent and careful about them. 必獲無疑 He must preserve and follow them without harboring any doubts. 賢達之人 逢斯聖矣 It will be only the wise and the worthy who will encounter this sagely text.20

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Cunshen lianqi ming 存神錬氣銘: Inscription on Visualizing the Spirits and Refining Qi: DZ 834. Attributed to Sun Simiao 孫思邈 (581-682?), famous physician and alchemist. Part of a group of Tang-dynasty (618-907) manuals on observation (guan 觀) and attainment of the Dao (dedao 得 道). Also discusses the "five phases of mind" and "seven stages of the body." (Komjathy, 2004) Author's Introduction Cunshen lianqi ming 存神錬氣銘 by Sun Simiao 孫思邈, (DZ 834; YJQQ 33, 12a-14b) is another short and concise description of the mystical ascent toward the Tao. It contains the delineation of five phases of the mind and seven stages of the body which the adept is bound to undergo while pursuing the path. These phases and stages are alsocontained in the appendix to the Zuowanglun. In the original edition by Sun Simiao, however, they are described in more detail. Kohn, 1987: 77

Visualization of Spirit and Refinement of Breath The personal body is the habitation of spirit and breath. As long as spirit and breath are there the body is healthy and vigorous. But it dies1 as soon as spirit and breath are lost. Therefore, if you want to preserve your body, you first have to calm spirit and breath. The breath is the mother of the spirit, thus the spirit is the son of the breath. Only when both are together one will live forever and not die. Now, in order to calm the spirit you must first of all refine the primordial breath.2 When this breath resides in the personal body, the spirit is calm and the breath like an ocean. If this ocean of breath3 is full to overflowing, the mind is calm and the spirit coagulated. When this coagulation is not lost,4 body and mind are gathered in tranquillity. Tranquillity then grows further into concentration, and the personal body will continue to exist for years eternal. Dwell permanently on the source of the Tao,5 and saintliness will naturally be perfected. The breath then pervades the spirit and the mental projections, the spirit in turn pervades insight and life.6 With life fixed and the body eternal, both unite with true inner nature. Thereby one attains an age as old as the sun and the moon. The Tao is then ultimately perfected. If you want to learn the technique of refinement of breath as described here, you must first of all stop eating cereals. Then focus your mind calmly on the ocean of breath, visualize the spirit in the cinnabar field, control the mind, and purify your thoughts. When the ocean of energy is duly replenished you will always feel satiated naturally. In the cultivation of mental one-pointedness, a hundred days mean a minor achievement, whereas three hundred days bring a major level. Only after this can one enter the five phases of the mind. Once these are completed one undergoes the seven stages of the body. As pure spirit and numinosity one goes on changing and naturally exists throughout all coming and going. Whether confronting a steep cliff or a thousand miles' distance, one goes or stays without obstruction. As long as the breath does not disperse, the ocean of breath is always full, the spirit is at peace in the cinnabar field, and the personal body and the mind are continually stable. Naturally a youthful complexion will return and stay on despite changes occurring in the bodily structure. Once immortality is perfected, appearing and disappearing from the common world will merely be a free passage of numinosity throughout the changes. This, then, is what we call "going beyond the world." One who accomplishes this is called a "realized one." Aligning his years with heaven and earth, he is as old as the sun and the moon. This particular technique does not require that one nourish on breath, swallow saliva, or undergo any particular hardships. When one must eat one eats, when rest is felt necessary one rests.7 Thus one will live forever in freedom and without obstruction. One will pass through the five phases and seven stages while entering the innermost core of concentration and observation. Now, the student of the Tao will first attain the five phases of the mind: 1. The mind experiences much agitation and little tranquillity. One's thinking is conditioned by a myriad different projections, accepting this and rejecting that without any constancy whatsoever. Dreads and worries, plans and calculations keep racing on inside like mad horses. This is the normal mind.

2. The mind experiences a little tranquillity and much agitation. One curbs agitation and enters concentration,9 yet the mind at once is scattered again. It is very hard to control and subdue, to curb its agitation and entanglement. This is the beginning of progress toward the Tao. 3. The mind experiences half agitation and half tranquillity. The tranquil state of mind is somewhat like a unified mind already, but this state cannot be maintained for a prolonged period.10 Tranquillity and diffusion are about equal, one makes the mind care about its own agitation and entanglement, thus it gradually gets used to tranquillity. 4. The mind experiences plenty of tranquillity and only occasional agitation. One becomes gradually versed in controlling the mind, thus any agitation that arises is checked at once. The mind is fully onepointed and when onepointedness is lost it is immediately recovered. 5. The mind is turned entirely toward purity and tranquillity. Whether involved in affairs or at leisure, there is no agitation at all. From an efficiently controlled mind, firmness and solidity11 of concentration develop. Only after one is firmly established in phase five can one enter the seven stages. Just leave all to the natural process and let it realize itself spontaneously. There is nothing to be actively done. The Seven Stages 1. The diseases inherited from former lives diminish, the personal body grows light and the mind luminous. The mind is now totally at rest within, the spirit is tranquil and the breath at peace. The four elements13 are joined in harmony, the six emotions are deeply calmed. With the mind resting peacefully in the mysterious realm, continue to practise onepointedness and inner concentration. Joy and exaltation are daily new – this is called "realizing the Tao." 2. The limits of normality are left behind, in appearance one regains a youthful complexion. The body in a state of joy and the mind constantly at peace, one numinously attains a vision of the deep and mysterious. At this stage, one should move to a different part of the country, choose a spot and settle down. It is better not to be a too old acquaintance of the local folk. 3. Extending one's years to a thousand – one is called an immortal. One travels extensively to all the famous mountains, flying or walking in spontaneity, with azure lads as one's guards and jade maidens for entertainment. Stepping high on mist and haze, colored clouds support the tread. 4. Refining one's body to pure breath, this breath will duly radiate throughout the whole body. This is called the stage of the realized one. Appearing and disappearing to the common world in accordance with spontaneity, one's glittering clarity will radiate spontaneously, night and day in equal brightness. With immortals in attendance one traverses through grottoes and palaces. 5. Refining the breath to pure spirit, one becomes a spirit man. Changing and passing on spontaneously, one is utterly boundless, one's power can move heaven and earth, remove mountains and drain the sea. 6. Refining the spirit to unify with the world of form, one becomes a perfect man. As one nurninously pervades all existence, one's appearance and body are no longer definite. One changes according to occasion, appears in different shapes as one goes along with beings. 7. Going beyond all beings in one's personal body15 one whirls out of normal relations and comes to reside next to the Jade Emperor of the Great Tao in the Numinous Realm. Here the wise and sagely gather, at the farthest shore16 and in perfect truth. In creative change, in numinous pervasion, all beings are reached. Only one who has attained this level of cultivation has truly reached the source of

the Tao. Here the myriad paths come to an end. This is called the final ultimate. People nowadays study the Tao less and less every day, and as they don't even achieve the first stage, how would they ever realize numinous pervasion? Rather, they continue to preserve their stupidity and passions, they are determined to hold on to their defilements and personal dispositions. With the four seasons moving on in their course, their bodies and appearances falter until the bodily structure collapses and they return to nothingness. Someone who calls this realizing the Tao certainly is a hypocrite. On the other hand, the combined methods of embryo respiration and inner observation allow keeping of the spirit and preservance of the body. Original patriarchs of old have handed these methods down to us today, but in their first, beginning they were conceived and transmitted by realized ones.18 The methods were preserved only through oral transmission and never put down in writing. If a virtuous man of perfection19 by chance comes into contact with them, he must by all means be very diligent and careful about them. He must preserve and follow them without harboring any doubts. It will be only the wise and the worthy who will encounter this sagely text. Notes 1. YJQQ (p. 12a) here has 謝 for 死. 2. This refers to the interior breath, the personal breath of each individual which corresponds to the original breath of the creation of the universe. Cf. Yuanqi lun 元氣論 (YJQQ 56); Maspero, 1971: 503. 3. The "ocean of breath" 氣海 is another name for the lower cinnabar field, situated at three inches beneath the navel. The primordial breath assembled here is then circulated throughout the body by means of introspective observation 内 觀 or inner alchemy 内丹. 4. YJQQ here has, "when spirit and breath are not lost." 5. The YJQQ gives 元 for 源: "the prime of the Tao." 6. The YJQQ (p. 12b) here has 性慧 instead of 慧命: "inner nature and insight." 7. This relaxed attitude to one's natural needs goes back to the Zhuangzi, more exactly, Zhi Dun's 支遁 commentary, the Xiaoyao lun 逍遙論: "When I'm hungry, I still my hunger; when I'm thirsty, I drink my fill." 8. YJQQ (p. 13a) omits this sentence. The five phases of the mind following here correspond to lines 34, 35, 36, and 38 of the Dingguan jing. Only phase 2 is not found there. 9. The YJQQ here has 心 for 靜: "One curbs the agitation entering the mind." 10. Following the YJQQ (p. 13a). The DZ edition has a mere 心常 instead of 未能常靜. 11. Following the YJQQ edition (p. 13b) in reading 堅固 for 散固. 12. The title of this section is left out in the DZ edition. The seven stages of the body are also found in the Dingguan jing, lines 41-46. However, the Dingguan jing has a preliminary first stage and leaves out Sun Simiao's final level. 13. The "four elements" refer to the Indian rather than the Chinese system: fire, water, earth, and air. 14. This reflects the climax of the "celestial sacred drama" of the Shangqing tradition. The adept tours the summits of the sacred mountains which are directly linked with the energy of the stars. Cf. Schafer, 1977. 15. The YJQQ (p. 14a) has 高 for 身: "high above and beyond all things." 16. Following the YJQQ (p. 14b) in reading 濱 for 演. 17. The YJQQ here gives 且 for 理. 18. Following the YJQQ. The DZ edition omits this sentence.

19. The YJQQ here has 志 for 至: "a man of virtue and determination." 20. Following the YJQQ (p. 14b). The DZ edition leaves out 文 and gives 達 for 智.

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Thanks for providing this. But I'm feeling harsh today; I have some issues with the translation. Her translations of certain terms are odd, to say the least, and her use of English isn't particularly idiomatic. For starters, how has she come to the conclusion that 存 means 'visualize' ? accumulate, nurture, foster, store, deposit, keep, exist... not visualize... She translates the same character in 2 completely different ways right next to each other: Quote 存神錬氣銘 Visualization of Spirit and Refinement of Breath ... 神氣若存 身康力健 As long as spirit and breath are there the body is healthy and vigorous.

Am I missing something? Has the word taken on a completely different meaning in Taoist circles? * no same meaning. its just she had no choice, if she translated it properly it would mean that spirits do exist on their own without any imagination

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Right. So we agree that she translated poorly? Because a good translator doesn't change meanings just because the original doesn't fit with her personal worldview...

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Here is another:

http://ikivesi.net/c...ry/sun-si-miao/

Sūn Sīmiǎo – Cún shén liàn qì míng

Inscription of Preserving Shén and refining Qì

夫身爲神氣之窟宅 Human embodiment is dwelling place of Shén and Qì 神氣若存身康力健 If Shén and Qì are stored the embodiment is tranquil, strong and healthy 神氣若散身乃死焉 If Shén and Qì disperse the embodiment dies 若欲存身先安神氣 If one desires to support the embodiment [one must] first calm Shén and Qì 即氣爲神母神爲氣子 The Qì is mother of Shén, Shén is the child of Qì 神氣若倶長生不死 If Shén and Qì are whole the life is long and there is no death

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Also see: http://www.itmonline...s/sunsimiao.htm

Taoist alchemists considered Sun the source of several works on alchemy, and he is believed to have practiced alchemy on himself, contributing to his lifespan of 101 years. The primary alchemical text attributed to Sun is the Taiqing Danjing Yaojue (Essentials of the Elixir Manuals for Oral Transmission; ca. 640 A.D.), which has been translated by Nathan Sivin and presented

along with an extensive analysis of the historical records of Sun Simiao's life (11). Many of Sun's alchemical formulas involved ingestion of metallic substances, such as realgar and cinnabar.

According to the Taoist writer Shen Fen, in his book Xu Xian Chuan (Further Biographies of the Immortals, ca. 930 A.D.), when Sun Simiao died, his body remained without decay for many weeks. "After more than a month had passed, there was no change in his appearance, and when the corpse was raised to be placed in the coffin, it was light as a bundle of empty clothes. Truly, this was release from the mortal part." Needham has speculated that Sun had been taking the mercury and arsenic elixirs he had described in his last book, resulting in the preservation of this body at death

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I am ok with her use of 'Visualization' as that is trying to title it and capture the gist of the entire work.

Inner cultivation is akin (in some traditions) to inner observation/seeing.

And there was a much earlier period (possibly the earliest inner alchemy) of Visualizing Spirits within. I'm not sure if that slanted her take on it.

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Sūn Sīmiǎo – Cún shén liàn qì míng

Inscription of Preserving Shén and refining Qì

夫身爲神氣之窟宅 Human embodiment is dwelling place of Shén and Qì 神氣若存身康力健 If Shén and Qì are stored the embodiment is tranquil, strong and healthy 神氣若散身乃死焉 If Shén and Qì disperse the embodiment dies 若欲存身先安神氣 If one desires to support the embodiment [one must] first calm Shén and Qì 即氣爲神母神爲氣子 The Qì is mother of Shén, Shén is the child of Qì 神氣若倶長生不死 If Shén and Qì are whole the life is long and there is no death

Yes I like this much better.

Sorry to be so pedantic, but... it's textual study, right? I cannot help but be picky with (certain) words.

That brings me to another thing I noticed: 聖

Kohn and the other translate it to 'saintlihood' and 'saint' respectively. I won't say it's 'wrong', but what does it mean? The 聖人 in the LZ and ZZ is not a 'saint', right, but a sage? I know this isn't Laozi but are we generally talking about the same kind of person?

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dawei, on 20 Jun 2015 - 01:33, said:

And there was a much earlier period (possibly the earliest inner alchemy) of Visualizing Spirits within. I'm not sure if that slanted her take on it.

does Visualizing Spirits means imagining the non existent spirits?

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dustybeijing, on 19 Jun 2015 - 23:51, said: Right. So we agree that she translated poorly?

yes, poorly. she does not only mistranslate willfully but also does not understand the meaning of very important expressions like

自然迴顏駐色變體 Naturally a youthful complexion will return and stay on despite changes occurring in the bodily structure. should be (youthfull) [ORIGINAL-god] face will return, complexion will be restored, the body will transform

* Taoist Texts, on 20 Jun 2015 - 02:34, said:

does Visualizing Spirits means imagining the non existent spirits?

https://en.wikipedia...oist_meditation

Cun 存 usually means "exist; be present; live; survive; remain", but has a sense of "to cause to exist; to make present" in the Daoist meditation technique, which both theShangqing School and Lingbao Schools popularized.

It thus means that the meditator, by an act of conscious concentration and focused intention, causes certain energies to be present in certain parts of the body or makes specific deities or scriptures appear before his or her mental eye. For this reason, the word is most commonly rendered "to visualize" or, as a noun, "visualization." Since, however, the basic meaning of cun is not just to see or be aware of but to be actually present, the translation "to actualize" or" actualization" may at times be correct if somewhat alien to the Western reader. (Kohn 2008b:287)

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It seems to me that many translate sheng ren as 'saint' and intend for it to be synonymous with 'sage'.

In The Encyclopedia of Taoism: edited by Fabrizio Pregadio, sheng ren is mostly translated as 'saint'. Not that I like that phrase but it seems commonly used.

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存神錬氣銘 Visualization of Spirit and Refinement of Breath

Interesting,.. Pneuma- is an ancient Greek word for "breath", and in a religious context for "spirit" or "soul".