Secret of the Golden Flower by Richard and Carl Jung Wilhelm

by Richard Wilhelm

Starý esoterický text čínského taoismu, ovlivněného buddhismem, konfucianismem a snad i nestoriánským křesťanstvím, přeložil sinolog Richard Wilhelm z čínštiny do němčiny, opatřil odborným komentářem a požádal svého přítele , slavného psychologa C. G. Junga o psychologický komentář. Text totiž obsahuje praktický návod k meditačním cvičením, umožňujícím čínskému adeptovi vymanit se z pout světa, dosáhnout zdraví a především zrození "zlaté květiny", to jest duchovního znovuzrození.

C. G. Jung příležitosti knihu komentovat nevyužil jen k napsání studie srovnávající psychologii a duchovní život západního a východního člověka včetně důležitých praktických důsledků tohoto srovnání, ale nadto poutavě a konkrétně vylíčil základy své teorie kolektivního nevědomí, pro niž mu čínský text poskytl cenný doklad.

Genres: Philosophy, Psychology, Spirituality, Taoism, Religion, Nonfiction, China

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Richard Wilhelm was a German translator. He translated many philosophical works from Chinese into German that in turn have been translated into other major languages of the world, including English. His translation of the I Ching is still regarded as one of the finest, as is his translation of The Secret of the Golden Flower, both of which include introductions by Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, who was a personal friend.

Reviews

[John Kulm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Secret of the Golden Flower is an ancient Chinese book from an esoteric religious sect. In “Memories, Dreams, Reflections” Jung wrote this about it: “I devoured the manuscript at once, for the text gave me undreamed-of confirmation of my ideas about the mandala and the circumambulation of the center. That was the first event which broke through my isolation. I became aware of an affinity; I could establish ties with something and someone.”

I don’t like rating a book like this by stars. If you’re into Jung this is an important text but if you’re not it probably won’t be up your alley.

For me, personally, the book’s teaching about non-action strikes a chord and makes me understand the words “have no expectations” as something “active” rather than “passive”; a conscious action. Here are two quotes on the subject:

“The most important things in the great Tao are the words: action through non-action. Non-action prevents a man from becoming entangled in form and image.”

“In what does the spiritual Elixer consist? It means forever dwelling in purposelessness … What I have revealed here in a word is the fruit of a decade of effort.”

On meditation:

“The chief thought of this section is that the most important thing for achieving the circulation of the light it rhythmical breathing. The further the work advances, the deeper becomes the teaching. During the circulation of the light, the pupil must co-ordinate heart and breathing in order to avoid the annoyance of indolence and distraction. The Master fears that when beginners have once sat and lowered their lids, confused fantasies may arise, because of which, the heart will begin to bat so that it is difficult to guide. Therefore he teaches the practice of counting the breath and fixing the thoughts of the heart in order to prevent the energy of the spirit from flowing outward.”

From Jung’s commentary section of the book:

“Our text promises to ‘reveal the secret of the Golden Flower of the great One’. The Golden Flower is the light, and the light of heaven is the Tao. The Golden Flower is a mandala symbol which I have often met with in the material brought me by my patients. It is drawn either seen from above as a regular geometric ornament, or as a blossom growing from a plant.”

“When my patients produce these mandala pictures it is, of course, not through suggestion; similar pictures were being made long before I knew their meaning or their connection with the practices of the East, which, at one time, were wholly unfamiliar to me. The pictures came quite spontaneously and from two sources. One source is the unconscious, which spontaneously produces such fantasies; the other source is life, which, if lived with complete devotion, brings an intuition of the self, the individual being. Awareness of the individual self is expressed in the drawing, while the unconscious exacts devotedness to life.”

I also like these quotes from the Chinese text:

“Related things attract each other.”

“Disciples, keep it secret and redouble your effort!”

[Tao · Rating 5 out of 5]

”If you can look back again and again into the source of mind, whatever you are doing, not sticking to any image of person or self at all, then this is ‘turning the light around wherever you are.’ This is the finest practice.”

[Miss Ravi · Rating 3 out of 5]

برای من توضیحات بخش اول کتاب که شامل ترجمه و تفسیر ریچارد ویلهم است، کم بود و ابهام‌آمیز. بخش دوم که تفسیر یونگ است تا حد زیادی به بینش غرب و واکنشش در برابر دین و ذهنیت شرقی پرداخته که بازهم قابل انطباق برای من نبود. یونگ تاکید زیادی روی اروپا و مواجه‌اش با دین شرقی و یوگا دارد. در مجموع با وجود اندک پیش زمینه‌ای از آیین تائوییسم ارتباط کمی با کتاب برقرار کردم.

[ellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

What? That was mostly my thoughts on this. There may be a lot in here of use, but it wasn't necessarily written for anyone's use.

[Γιώργος Γεωργόπουλος · Rating 5 out of 5]

Μόνο και μόνο για το σχολιασμό του Jung αξίζει να διαβαστεί. Είναι ένας οδηγός προς την ένωση...

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great little manual of meditation and philosophy. Each time you read it you are sure to discover something new.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This lovely book is a description of an ancient Chinese meditation technique, and the underlying philosophy. Cleary also translated this work, but I find his rendition more pedantic than Wilhelm's. By practicing this straightforward meditation, many people have found many benefits. Not only does it quiet the mind and focus inner being, it also works to bring the body into a harmonic state.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating work of Taoist literature and the first in the genre that I've read so far which even came close to being understandable in English (a credit to the translator Richard Wilhelm).

[Mary Overton]

Jung’s marvelous commentary is balm for the writer’s psyche. He warns us against being enthralled to “… the secret objective of gaining power through words …” He explains how this ancient text guides one through disentanglement. Here is the context in which Jung makes his statement:
“It is really my purpose to push aside without mercy the metaphysical claims of all esoteric teaching; the secret objective of gaining power through words ill accords with our profound ignorance - which we should have the modesty to confess. It is my firm intention to bring things which have a metaphysical sound into the daylight of psychological understanding, and to do my best to prevent the public from believing in obscure words of power.” pg. 128

Read through Jung’s lens, you can see the narrator telling us, right at the beginning of his text, that it is not to be taken literally, that it is an allegory:
“Master Lu-tsu said, That which exists through itself is called the Way (Tao). Tao has neither name nor shape. It is the one essence [also translated ‘human nature’], the one primal spirit. Essence and life cannot be seen. They are contained in the light of heaven. The light of heaven cannot be seen. It is contained in the two eyes. To-day I will be your guide and will first reveal to you the secret of the Golden Flower of the great One, and starting from that, I will explain the rest in detail.
“The great One is the term given to that which has nothing above it. [great definition for “God”] The secret of the magic of life consists in using action in order to attain non-action. One must not wish to leap over everything and penetrate directly. …
“The Golden Flower is the light. What colour is the light? One uses the Golden Flower as a symbol. It is the true energy of the transcendent great One….” pg. 21

What can be taken literally is some excellent advice on how to meditate.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

During my year out of college, intent upon remedying some dimensions of my ignorance and having become reacquainted with and challenged by C.G. Jung, I did a great deal of reading, much of it in the areas tangent to depth psychology. I'd read some, maybe all, of Jung's commentary on Wilhelm's translation some years before, but not the Taoist text itself.

[Gaze Santos · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a fairly recent translation of a Taoist classic text on meditation, usually attributed to Liu Dongbin of the late Tang Dynasty (though the validity of this has been disputed). The book is an interesting mix of Taoist spiritual alchemy and Buddhist meditation technique. Specifically the northern Chan Buddhist school that was the precursor to Zen Buddhism. The book itself describes silent meditation that is the corner stone of Chan and Zen. A technique in the book that is referred to as "turning the light around." The general idea is to quiet your mind and try to pay attention to the source of your mind and thoughts, rather than the thoughts in themselves... Easier said than done, but the book tries to describe ways to go about it, and also tries to describe the experience itself, in an attempt to give you a way to gauge your own experiences.

This particular edition is a fairly recent translation by Thomas Cleary, who is a scholar of Eastern studies, particularly Buddhism and Taoism. Apparently he first encountered this book in the more famous edition that was translated by Richard Wilhem, and annotated by C.G. Jung. He was so displeased with the translation that he found a version of the original Chinese and made his own translation. I personally have not read Wilhem's version, but Cleary seems to make up for this fact by constantly referring to it in his own notes and annotations.

The translations itself is quite pretty and easy to grasp. Cleary's own notes to each verse help to elucidate and explain various stock Buddhist and Taoist phrases that are used throughout the book, for the most part. Phrases that have definite meanings, because they appear in similar contexts in other Chinese spiritual books. A generous chunk of Cleary's notes are also used to critique Wilhem and Jung's versions and to show how much their version and translation was inferior to his. It was okay the first couple of times, but it ran throughout the entire notes and even spilling over into the afterwards written by the author. Wilhem's version is arguably the reason "The Golden Flower" has become so well known in the west, and I can see Cleary's frustration in how everyone was given a false impression of the book. He gives an interesting explanation of why he was displeased with Wilhem and Jung, but I think Cleary's book would have been much better if it had keep these critiques to a minimum, or at least relegated completely to the afterward or a separate appendix. I felt that they often took away from his translation because it was clear that he was always comparing himself to Wilhem's and expected us to do the same.

[Δημήτρης Mamakos) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Είναι η δεύτερη φορά, τα τελευταία 3-4 χρόνια που νιώθω ότι κρατώ ένα βιβλίο στα χέρια μου, που απαντάει με ακρίβεια και σαφήνεια σε κάποια από τα πιο βαθιά και -μέχρι πρότεινως- ενοχλητικώς αναπάντητα ερωτήματά μου. Αυτή την φορά το ένιωσα με το Μυστικό του Χρυσού Λουλουδιού, αλλά όχι από το κυρίως κέιμενο και τα ερμηνευτικά σχόλια του Βίλχελμ, αλλά από τα σχόλια του Γιουνγκ -που ήταν ακριβώς on target! Το ίδιο το κείμενο είναι γραμμένο στον αλχημικό κώδικα και κατόρθωσα με κόπο τα "πιάσω" ένα 30% από το σύνολο της π��ηροφορίας. Τα σχόλια όμως έδωσαν απαντήσεις που περίμεναν για πολύ καιρό αυτή την ώρα. Την προηγούθμενη φορά που είχα νιώσει το ίδιο ήταν πριν από μερικά χρόνια, με την Εισαγωγή στην Ερμηνεία των Ονείρων, ποιανού άλλου; -του Γιούνγκ, φυσικά!
Συνιστώ και τα δύο βιβλία, ανεπιφύλακτα, σε όσους κινούνται συνειδητά στην οδό της αυτο-παρατήρησης και της αυτο-αναγνώρισης.

[Dean Paradiso · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great, new translations of an old classic which combines ideas from both Taoism and Ch'an Buddhism. The basic idea being to cultivate the practice of 'turning back the light', 'reverse seeing' and other allusions pointing to self-investigation and direct-pointing style meditation. This style of meditation is popular in Zen Buddhism, and certain other nondual traditions as a means of directly approaching reality. This little treatise sums up the benefits of the approach, and some tips on how to cultivate the practice. This is a much improved version of a previous German version, popularized by Jung, which was badly translated at that time due to a lack of knowledge of the practice and subject. Cleary has done a great service in revisiting these texts.

[Scriptor Ignotus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once attributed to a ninth-century sage named Lü Yen, The Secret of the Golden Flower is in fact a late seventeenth-century contemplative treatise reflecting the outlook of the “Completely Real” school of Taoism: a highly “spiritualized” (as opposed to physiologically-oriented, as are other traditions of Taoist thought concerned with anatomical energetics and physical longevity) contemplative approach heavily influenced by Chan (Zen) Buddhism. Thomas Cleary composed this translation and commentary largely as a corrective to the linguistically-garbled rendition produced by Richard Wilhelm in 1929 and the ham-fisted commentary by C.G. Jung which accompanied it, taking both men harshly but deservedly to task for their academic malfeasances.

For someone (like myself) unacquainted with the literary background of the Golden Flower, most of the text would be quite opaque without Cleary’s commentary. The central endeavor proposed by the treatise is that of “turning the light around,” by which is meant an experiential reconnection of the conscious, conditioned mind to the celestial mind: unconditioned awareness as the property of light or illumination. Such a state entails avoiding the twin shoals of oblivion and distraction; not obliterating personal thought, imagination, or emotion, but through unified attention turning them into channels of the source of power: the primal, immortal, universal spirit. Turning the light around interrupts the dissipation of energy in the “lower soul,”—an artificial self-concept whereby one is estranged from the original spirit by the perceived fixity and solidity of the physical body with its exposure to environmental influences, fortuity, and, ultimately, death—purifying the conscious spirit and restoring it to the integrity of its celestial source.

Commenting on the relation between the conditioned personal consciousness and the universal awareness in which it is grounded, Cleary quotes an intriguingly Upanishadic passage from Changsha, a Chan Buddhist master of the ninth century.

“All worlds in the ten directions are the light of the self. All worlds in the ten directions are in the light of the self. In all worlds in the ten directions, there is no one who is not oneself. I always tell people that the Buddhas of the past, present, and future, together with the sentient beings of the whole universe, are the light of great wisdom. Before the light radiates, where do you place it? Before the light radiates, there is not even a trace of buddhas or sentient beings—where do you find the mountains, rivers, and lands?”

Those who have attained to this higher consciousness are identified in Taoist tradition as immortals, with various interpretations as to what this immortality consists of. For the “spiritual” Taoist, with whom the Golden Flower is aligned, one is immortalized insofar as one is aware of the universality and illimitability of awareness as such, and chooses to identify with the celestial spirit rather than the perishable body. For the “physiological” Taoist, this prospective immortality, or at least enhanced longevity, is of a distinctly corporeal kind. There is a fascinating parallel here to the various interpretations of the nature of the resurrected, immortal body of Christ that one finds in the New Testament. For Paul, Christ has risen in a body composed of spirit, for perishable “flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 15:50), while Luke’s Jesus pointedly invites the disciples to touch his immortalized “flesh and bones” (Luke 24:39).

One finds another parallel with Christian thought* in the Taoist understanding of the coincidence of heaven and earth, the spiritual and the material, the masculine and the feminine, etc. Just as (masculine, spiritual, active) divinity and (feminine, material, receptive) creation are united according to Christian theology by their hypostatic union in Christ, so the Taoist immortal joins “the nobility of heaven and the humility of earth,” participating in the infinite reality in which the two principles coincide. The Golden Flower tells us that in the enlightened state, “heaven is open, earth is broad, and all things are just as they are.”

Cleary quotes Liu I-Ming, a nineteenth-century Taoist contemplative, who elucidates in practical terms what it means for one to be a friend of both heaven and earth.

“If people can be open-minded and magnanimous, be receptive to all, take pity on the old and the poor, assist those in peril and rescue those in trouble, give of themselves without seeking reward, never bear grudges, look upon others and self impartially, and realize all as one, then people can be companions of heaven. If people can be flexible and yielding, humble, with self-control, free of agitation, clear of volatility, not angered by criticism, ignoring insult, docilely accepting all hardships, illnesses, and natural disasters, without anxiety or resentment when faced with danger or adversity, then people can be companions of earth. With the nobility of heaven and the humility of earth, one joins in with the attributes of heaven and earth and extends to eternity with them.”

* None of this is to suggest that Wilhelm’s speculation that the author(s) of the text may have been a Nestorian Christian is credible.

[Stephen Dorman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth it for the articulation of the Host/Guest alone (which is in the Afterword). Cleary's knowledge and experience of Zen and Taoist praxis informs his "notes" and they are an invaluable guide to the text itself.

A true classic of simplicity.

[Jason Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a Taoist classic in many ways. But the primary reason is because of the crystal clear translation from Richard Wilhelm and the commentary of Carl Jung. Transparent with their understanding, it gives the reader deeper insight into Chinese philosophy and spiritual practice.

[Gypsy Renhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though it is not easy to comprehend at first glance it is a book that I will open time and time again. This is going to be an important guide for me and my personal growth.

[Artur Benchimol · Rating 3 out of 5]

June's commentary is great. The second part makes more sense if you're interested in Taoism or esoteric practices. I found it hard to grasp since I had no previous knowledge of such things.

[Merijn Kanters · Rating 5 out of 5]

This kind of a book has wisdom in it which makes you feel very small and ignorant. Jung's commentary was very interesting and helpful, but only opens the door a tiny bit to this Chinese wisdom and is not able to really dive deep into it. Maybe my Tao leads me to do that in the future.

[أمل · Rating 1 out of 5]

ما حبيته

[Da Re · Rating 5 out of 5]

So what is the secret of the golden flower after all?
I am not too sure whether I have understood the secret (if it can be understood at all) but I feel like I have definitely taken away some of its appeal. This sounds all very poetic, so what is this book all about?

The first part, constituting half of the book, are some lucid contextualisations of the ancient Daoist text “The Secret of the Golden Flower” by Richard Wilhelm and Carl Jung (both pioneers in making Eastern systems of thought intelligible to a mind embedded in Western concepts). Especially Jung’s writing presents a valuable primer in appreciating Eastern mysticism from a (Western) psychological perspective. He points out the profound issues that come with trying to integrate the accumulated wisdom from Eastern and Western thought traditions, when one is conditioned to think from one (being mostly oblivious of its fundamental assumptions), while being in the dark about the other. Facing profound truths, strange to one’s own thought tradition, usually leads to either the emphatic rejection of them on the one hand or a futile attempt in “cutting off the branch that one is sitting on”. The middle way of carefully investigating confluences, while not trying to abandon one’s culturally constructed viewpoint, is the goal according to Jung. He sees the Western emphasis on the conscious and rational as a compliment to the Eastern emphasis on the unconscious forces beyond the intellect, rather than a contradiction. Jung finds the common denominator in the “tremendous experiment of becoming conscious, which nature has laid upon mankind, and which unites the most diverse cultures in a common task.”
I could not agree more. Jung is again ahead of his time, in which us Westerners look desperately eastwards after the erosion of our own traditions of making meaning through encounters with the numinous. Since Kant, we limit ourselves to observable phenomena, laughing away speculations about the beyond. Jung presents an invaluable corrective to this cultural near-sightedness, while casually dropping one quote-worthy insight after another in this 50-something-page long primer to the actual “Secret of the Golden Flower”.

The flowery writing, mixed with a symbolism rooted in the mystical I Ging (Book of Changes), lets the message of the book appear quite obscured throughout vast passages of the text. However, it is precisely this refreshingly different manner of putting the way in which the mind needs to be still in order to perceive truth, that shines through the mist. We are simply not used to expressing ourselves in such metaphorical language when discussing epistemology and right conduct. This should not take anything away from the point the author is trying to make, but you should be prepared for the at times estranging formulations. At the end of the book, though, the message has become clear: In order to see and act with clarity, one’s consciousness needs to be brought to a state of non-duality. Here, the syncretism between the Buddhist practice of meditation and the Daoist wu wei (non-action) becomes evident: One needs to trace back the contents of one’s consciousness to the place they originated from - and stop there. Without further attempting to discern what the non-discerning consciousness behind all processes of discernment itself is, one should seek refuge in it. Through the act of observation - not of, but from this indivisible perspective or state of consciousness (whatever you want to label it), truthful action and thought arise paradoxically from non-action.

Although I have personally found much value in the writing of both Jung and the author himself, I could see that such philosophising might be hard to relate to, if it has no prior experience of mental states akin those described to stand upon. Despite its more obscure passages, my verdict would still be to go ahead and read this insightful book with an open mind.

[Obeida Takriti · Rating 2 out of 5]

لا يستحق هذا الكتاب أي نجمة لشقه الأول بسبب الترجمة الرديئة جداً بحيث ليس هناك أي جدوى من قراءته..
إلا أن الجزء الثاني يستحق 5 نجمات فالكاتب وهو عالم النفس الشهير يونغ يخوص في العلاقة بين الشرق والغرب بقضية الروح..
تحليله للموضوع عميق ولكنه كما يشدد أنه عام في هذا الكتاب..
لا أنصح أي أحد بقراءة الجزء الأول ولكن إذا كان مهتم بوجهة نظر نفسية للروحانية والفرق بين شكلها الشرقي والغربي فيجب أن يقرأ ليونغ في هذا الموضوع..

[Ketab Dozd · Rating 3 out of 5]

راستش دلیل اینکه سه دادم این بود که از قسمتهای قبل تفسیر یونگ با تقریب خوبی هیچی نفهمیدم. هر قسمت هم که حس کردم آره دارم یه چیزی میفهمم چند جمله بعدش هرچی تصور کرده بودم نقش بر آب می‌شد. ولی حرفای یونگ فوق‌العاده بود. همون چیزی بود که نیاز داشتم بخونم، همون مسئله‌ای که چندوقته ذهنمو مشغول کرده. در کل توصیه میکنم کتابو، در واقع قسمت تفسیر یونگو :))

[Grace Zales · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maravilloso acercamiento psicologico a la instrospección y el universo.

[One Awakening · Rating 1 out of 5]

Apart from a few quotes about Tao that I saved, the book is incomprehensible. No idea who it is intended for.

[Efthimios Nasiopoulos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Diving into Eastern philosophy has been quite a trip. The Secret of the Golden Flower was especially interesting because not only do you get this beautiful translation but Jung provides his psychological interpretation of this metaphysical writing. He also provides the context of our very Western 'yang' type civilization and why some of this duality of opposites contained in Eastern philosophy, often finds itself misinterpreted or dismissed or laughed off in western rationalism. Whether the metaphysical experience is real or not, the psychical experience is very real and has a significantly powerful influence on our lives. To dismiss it, as beneath us or as illness, as we do here, is taking away the treasures that lie beneath. If he believes, I believe.

While reading him talk about these metaphysical texts as psychic experience makes me think of people who have done great things attributed to their faith. Whether the strength they summoned was from God or themselves, the result were the same; people committing extraordinary feats, that are beyond simple conscious choices. On the flip side, these forces can make us do things that we seemingly have no agency in, and there in lies the challenge of making the unconscious conscious and thus living in symbiosis with these forces; wherever they may lie....all I know is when I was a kid, picking baseball teams in the playground, alway safe to pick the kid who thinks his bat was graced with that good ole' Jesus juju.

The Golden Flower also provides some guidance into connecting with your inner being through meditation and the breath. What better way to bring the unconscious to the conscious than be breathing on purpose and with purpose. The more I read on Chinese philosophy and the body, the more I wish I still had my gall bladder....'it's not important they said.' You're #%!#$% with my chi :\

There's a really cool quote that sums up our western obsession with the self and our one-sidedness "Worldly people lose the roots and cling to the treetops"

It's amazing how much we forfeit with our egos and our certainty of things, all the while completely oblivious to what lies at the root.....but hey, Mars looks cool. We'll just keep treating this planet like a comped hotel room. I'm sure that won't get old anytime soon.

[Juan · Rating 4 out of 5]

La sección de Jung es muy profunda y un buen resumen de sus teorías. Me encantó su visionaria alerta de cómo los occidentales estamos tomando el conocimiento oriental. La parte de Wilhelm me gustó menos, muy analítica y pudo haber sido más relacionada a su experiencia personal en china. La traducción es muy bonita y poética, ligada a los pensamientos jungianos. El texto es una belleza ecléctica y sincrética de tao, budismo y confusionismo. Me gustaría tener una traducción más moderna para compararlas.

[Anas Hawari]

أنا ممتنّ جداً لكارل يونج ..
كأنه أعاد الألوان للأشياء من حولي، وصار كل ما يندرج تحت مسمى روحاني أكثر تجلياً فيّ بعد قراءته، ربما يعتقد البعض أن محاولة عزو يونج الظواهر الروحية إلى سيكولوجية الأعماق ستحدث انطفاء في قيمتها أو الشعور بها لكن تجربتي كانت عكس ذلك. لقد كنت صارماً حيال هذه الظواهرفكنت أراها كخرافات أو ظواهر ذاتية لا قيمة لها في الواقع وبعد قراءة يونج التفتّ إلى ما أبقيته في ظلي يتحكم بي دون أن أشعر وبدأت أرى كل العالم من حولي بطريقة روحانية وتركت أناي يعكس ما يريد على العالم.
لا يتعلق الأمر بعقيدة أو دين -هذا شأن آخر نقاشه في غير محلّ- إنما يتعلق بقوالب وغرائز وحاجات نمت معنا كبشر بل وحتى كائنات منذ بدأ وجود الخليقة.
أما عن هذا الكتاب فقد حوّل كل ما كان يبدو لي كطلاسم من كلام المتصوفة والغنوصيين وفلاسفة الشرق إلى كلامٍ مفهوم تقريباً من وجهة نظر سيكولوجية ويعزى الفضل هنا ليونج كأول من تناول هذه الظواهر بهذا العمق.
لكن لي اعتراض على الكتاب يتعلق بالترجمة الفورية ل"الهون" و"البو" بمصطلحي الأنيموس والأنيما من قبل ريتشارد فيلهلم وبرأيي هذا تجاوز لا يجب أن يسكت عنه ومحاولة إسقاط أو "تغريب" للفلسفة الشرقية كنت أفضل أن يتم توضيح التقارب بدون التبديل الفوري وأعتقد أن يونج كان يفضل ذلك فلم يستخدم هذه المصطلحات كبدائل.
كما كنت أتمنى لو كانت الشروحات على النص الطاوي أكثر وفرة فبعد المصطلحات تم تمريرها وكأن القارئ يعلم بها واضطررت أن ألجأ لمصادر أخرى لكي أفهم.
أما بخصوص شرح يونج على كتاب سر الزهرة الذهبية فكنت أتمنى أن يغوص في القسم المتعلق بالخيمياء باعتبار أن النص الطاوي مليء بالتشبيهات الخيميائية ولكنه لم يعلق كثيراً بهذا الخصوص. ولفهم أكثر لهذه الجوانب سأتجه إلى كتاب علم النفس والخيمياء الذي سيكون في قائمة كتبي المنتهية في أقرب وقت.

[Vladimyr Grey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my meditation bible. There are many points of how to meditate through the 4 stages of development. The first one is the most important, IMO. Circulating the light not only means physically but mentally. It'd about working on past trauma.

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

worth reading the wiki article instead of the book.