In Wilhelm's own introduction to his translation of The Secret of the
Golden Flower, he notes that Taoist organizations following this teaching in
his time included not only Confucians and Buddhists but also Jews,
Christians, and Muslims, all without requiring them to break away from
their own religious congregations. So fundamental is the golden flower
awakening that it brings out inner dimensions in all religions.
From the point of view of that central experience, it makes no more
difference whether one calls the golden flower awakening a relationship to
God or to the Way, or whether one calls it the holy spirit or the Buddha
nature or the real self. The Tao Te Ching says, "Names can be designated,
but they are not fixed terms."
The image of the opening up of the golden flower of the light in the mind
is used as but one of many ways of alluding to an effect that is really
ineffable. The pragmatic purpose of Taoist and Buddhist teachings is to
elicit experience, not to inculcate doctrines; that is why people of other
religions, or with no religion at all, have been able to avail themselves of
the psychoactive technologies of Taoism and Buddhism without destroying
their own cultural identities.
Considered in terms of its essential aim rather than the forms it can take, the
golden flower method can be used to transcend the barriers of personal and
cultural differences without losing the richness of diversity and distinction.
