returned to the study of Taoism. This new phase of research into Taoism
focused heavily on inner alchemy, the processes of refining the mind and
body as a unit joined by will. This eventually led me to The Secret of
Golden Flower, which combines Taoist alchemy with basic mind work
according to the designs of several schools of Buddhism.
Over the years I had attempted to read the Wilhelm/ Baynes translation
of this important text several times, but found it inaccessible. Jung's
commentary, moreover, seemed contradictory and confused. Giving up in
frustration, I finally began to look for the original Chinese work.
It proved possible to find a good text in a condensed collection of
essential works from the Taoist canon, along with an authentic commentary
on the practical application of the teaching. By this time I had also read and
translated other Buddhist and Taoist classics in the ancestral traditions of
The Secret of the Golden Flower and therefore had become familiar with
the technical terminology of the text.
The main difficulty of the original work is that it uses Taoist alchemical
language mixed with several types of Buddhist Chinese. This undoubtedly
caused Wilhelm confusion, because there were no facilities for teaching
these languages and symbol systems to Westerners at that time. On
comparison with the canonical version of the original Chinese text, it
became clear that Wilhelm had misconstrued the text on many points, and
his translation was unreliable.
