On the idea of 'shen'(spirit) in the Dong-po's Commentaries on the Yi

SU Dong-po (courtesy name of SU Shi) firmly believes in the existence and transcendence of the 'spirit', which is related to traditional Chinese concept of spirit and ghost and the way to longevity in ancient Daoism, and insists whether man's existing state after death will become a 'spirit' or 'ghost' is determined by whether his/her will can conquer the essence or not, i. e. whether the 'spirit' can govern the life. This belief modeled SU Shi's lofty aspiration and moral courage. On this basis, SU Shi established a cognitive frame in which the heart-mind governs the consciousness and the consciousness is realized in the 'spirit' and claims to govern the intellectual knowledge by the intuition of the spirit in order to make the mind shake off the obscurity and attain to freedom and transparency. In this way, one can effectively communicate with the world and participate into its movement and thus attain to the wisdom similar to that of the heaven and earth, i. e. deal with every thing unintentionally. Dong-po's account concerning the 'spirit'is of great significance for us to understand and interpret his aesthetic concept and experience on art.