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The Secret of the Golden Flower: A Chinese Book of Life

by Richard Wilhelm (Translator), Dongbin Lü (Author)

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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9451522,131 (3.85)2
The brilliant new translation of the classic Taoist guide to meditation that Carl Jung made famous. 'Thomas Cleary's translation is like an island of peace in the troubled sea of today's world. His beautifully lucid translation of the classic Chi
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» See also 2 mentions

English (9)  Spanish (5)  French (1)  All languages (15)
Showing 1-5 of 9 (next | show all)
Tao, Taoism, Jung, Chinese Philosophy,
  PendleHillLibrary | Mar 15, 2024 |
Interesting to find parallels between Daoism and yogic philosophy, not surprising since they probably shared a common evolutionary origin. More interesting is the language and the metaphors used, as those are influenced by the prevailing culture. ( )
  yamiyoghurt | Jan 29, 2018 |
A classic in Jungiana with many nuances. ( )
1 vote JayLivernois | Dec 24, 2015 |
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.
1 vote Mary_Overton | Feb 24, 2015 |
Translation of the T'ai Chin Hua Tsung Chih (The Secret of the Golden Flower) and part of the Chinese meditation text, The Hui Ming Ching (The Book of Consciousness and Life).
  Murshid | Mar 2, 2008 |
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» Add other authors (15 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Wilhelm, RichardTranslatorprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Lü, DongbinAuthormain authorall editionsconfirmed
Cleary, Thomas F.Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Colodrón, AlfonsoTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Jung, C. G.Commentarysecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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The brilliant new translation of the classic Taoist guide to meditation that Carl Jung made famous. 'Thomas Cleary's translation is like an island of peace in the troubled sea of today's world. His beautifully lucid translation of the classic Chi

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