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"The Tenet of the Golden
Flower of Great Duality" (known to the West as "The
Secret of the Golden Flower") is one of the most
important Taoist classics on the theory of cultivating the
elixir. The author of this classic is attributed to the
famous Chinese immortal Lu Dongbin (798 A.D. - ?) who is
believed to have lived on earth for more than 800 years.
However, this classic was
not written by Lu Dongbin in person while he dwelled on earth,
but rather through spirit-writing to seven of his
devotees in 1668 A.D. Perhaps because the
pre-heavenly approach described in this classic is quite
different from the post-heavenly approach prevailing at that
time (and even nowadays), the spirit-writing of this
classic was neglected until 24 years later (1692 A.D.)
when the same classic was revealed again during
another spirit-writing seance, and the devotees were
blamed for not publishing it. Finally, it got
published in 1775 A.D.
Perhaps because of its
questionable and unusual origin, and the fact that
Chinese scholars found quite big difference between the elixir
theory mentioned in this classic and other works of Lu
Dongbin, this classic was neglected by most Chinese scholars
and also by many Taoists. But, ironically, this
classic became famous to the West through the German
translation by Richard Wilhelm, with the
introduction and commentary written by the famous
Carl Jung, the founder of Analytical
psychology, published under the title "Das Geheimnis
der Goldenen Blüte: ein chinesisches Lebensbuch" in 1929
A.D. From the German translation, this classic
was translated into English in 1931 A.D. and became known
as "The Secret of the Golden Flower". Later, it was
translated to Japanese and also other languages and became
well known worldwide.
In fact, this classic stands
as one of the few Taoist classics that documents the
Taoist orthodox pre-heavenly approach to cultivating the golden
elixir - in the same lineage as the "Tao Teh
Ching", "Guan Yinzi" (or known as
"Wenshi Zhenjing") and the "Jade Emperor
Heart Seal Sutra" (Yuhuang Xinyin
Jing), and actually the most detailed
one.
But despite of its
popularity, the original German translation by Richard Wilhelm
is not exact and far from complete, probably due to his
lack of knowledge on the theory and personal experience in the
practice of cultivating the golden
elixir. Now, working with this new
translation, I hope to shed some light on this concealed
gem for uplifting mankind to their true
nature.
Akrishi
2005/10/28
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