imagine that golden flower meditation is culture-bound in spite of his belief
in universal archetypes.
10. People who enter into contemplative practices without this sort of
theoretical preparation are easily deluded by unusual psychic experiences.
Jung, himself a prime model of this, projected his imaginations on Taoism
and thus believed that the teaching of the golden flower came from
"abnormal psychic states" This false belief may be attributed partly to
Wilhelm's inexpert translation of
the text, but it also seems to be due in large measure to Jung's own
arbitrary ideas and personality interpretations.
VI. Authenticating Experiences of Turning the Light
Around
1. Wilhelm mistranslates "cannot be undergone responsibly by people with
small faculties and small capacities" as "one must not content oneself with
small demands." The question of capacity is extremely important in the
teaching and practice of Taoist alchemy. In his introduction to the text,
Wilhelm asserts that "as far as the Chinese psyche is concerned, a
completely assured method of attaining definite psychic experiences is
available'' If the expression "definite psychic experiences'' is supposed to
mean authentic realization of the golden flower awakening, this statement
