Introduction
“The Secret of the Golden Flower” (Chinese: 太乙金華宗旨, Tàiyǐ Jīnhuá Zōngzhǐ) is a Chinese Taoist text that focuses on meditation and spiritual practices aimed at achieving enlightenment and immortality. The text is attributed to Lü Dongbin, one of the Eight Immortals in Taoist mythology, and it is believed to have been written or compiled during the late Tang Dynasty (618–907) or early Song Dynasty (960–1279). However, the exact date of its authorship is uncertain.
The text became more widely known in the West through the work of Richard Wilhelm, a German sinologist who translated it into German in the early 20th century. His translation, along with commentary by Carl Jung, was first published in 1929, which significantly contributed to the text's recognition and influence in Western spiritual and psychological circles. Wilhelm's translation helped bridge Eastern and Western thought, making the esoteric teachings of “The Secret of the Golden Flower” accessible to a broader audience.
Selections
Naturalness is called The Way. The Way has no name or form, it is just the essence — just the primal spirit. The Golden Flower is Light. What color is Light? It is symbolized by The Golden Flower, which also conceals One Light within. The whole work of Turning the Light Around uses the method of reversal. The beauties of the highest heavens, and the marvels of the sublimest realms are all within the heart. This is where the perfectly open and aware spirit concentrates. Confucians call it ‘The Open Center,’ Buddhists call it ‘The Pedestal of Awareness,’ Taoists call it ‘The Ancestral Earth,’ ‘The Yellow Court,’ ‘The Mysterious Pass,’ ‘The Primal Opening.’ The Celestial Mind is like a house. The Light is the master of the house. Therefore, once you turn the light around, the energies throughout the body all rise. Just turn the light around. This is the unexcelled sublime truth.
The light is easily stirred and hard to stabilize. When you have turned it around for a long time the light crystallizes. This is the natural spiritual body, and it steadies the spirit above the nine skies. From the point of view of the universe, people are like mayflies. But from the point of view of the way, even the universe is an evanescent reflection. Only the true essence of the original spirit transcends the primal organization and is above it. Vitality and energy degenerate along with the universe, but the original spirit is still there — this is the infinite. The production of the universe all derives from this. If learners can just preserve the original spirit, they live transcendentally outside of Yin and Yang. They are not within The Three Realms. This is possible only by seeing essence. This is what is called The Original Face. What is most wonderous is when the light is crystallized in a spiritual body, gradually becoming consciously effective and is on the verge of moving into action. This is the secret that has not been transmitted in a thousand ages.
The conscious mind is like a violent general of a strong fiefdom controlling things from a distance, until the sword is turned around. Now steadily keep to the chamber of the origin, turning the light around to look back. And this is like having a heroic leader on top, with great ministers helping. Once the inner government is orderly, the strong and violent naturally become tame.
The highest secrets of alchemy are the water of vitality, the fire of spirit and the earth of attention. So turning the light around is a means of refining the higher soul, which is a means of preserving spirit, which is a means of controlling the lower soul, which is a means of interrupting consciousness. The ancient’s method of transcending the world, refining away the dregs of darkness, to restore pure light — is just a matter of dissolving the lower soul, and making the higher soul whole. Turning the light around is the secret of dissolving darkness, and controlling the lower soul. There is no exercise to restore the creative, only the secret of turning the light around. The light itself is the creative. To turn it around is to restore it.
Just persist in this method and naturally the water of vitality will be full. The fire of spirit will ignite. The earth of attention will stabilize. And thus the embryo of sagehood can be solidified. When you are going to practice this doctrine, first see to it somehow that you don’t have much on your mind, so that you can be alive and free. Make your mood gentle and your mind comfortable. Then enter into quietude.
When you are quiet, it is then essential to find potential — and find its opening. Don’t sit inside nothingness or indifference, this so-called ‘neutral voidness.’ Even as you let go of all objects, you are alert and self-possessed.
But don’t get enthusiastic about attaining the experience. This easily happens whenever reality is taken too seriously. That means not that you shouldn’t recognize reality, but that the rhythm of reality is on the brink of existence and non-existence. You can get it by intent that is not willful. Even in the midst of alert awareness you are relaxed and natural.
But don’t fall into the elements of body and mind, where material and psychological illusions take charge. If you tend to fall into a deadness whenever you go into meditation and are relatively lacking in growth and creative energy, this means you have fallen into a shadow world. Once you have gone into quietude and all sorts of loose ends come to you for no apparent reason, you find that you cannot turn them away — and you even feel comfortable going along with them. This is called The Master becoming The Servant. If this goes on long, you fall into various roads of The Realm of Form and Desire. Once you know this, you can seek experiential proofs. There are many authenticating experiences that cannot be undergone responsibly by people with small faculties and small capacities. You must will the liberation of all beings. You cannot handle attainment with a careless or arrogant attitude.
When there is uniterrupted continuity in quiet, the spirit and feelings are joyful and happy, as if one were intoxicated, or in a bath. This is called positive harmony pervading the body. Its golden effloresence suddenly blooming. Once myriad pipes are all silent, and the bright moon is in the mid sky, you feel the whole earth as a realm of light.
This is the opening up of the luminosity that is the substance of mind. The proper release of The Golden Flower. Once The Golden Essence has become manifest, what is it, if not Buddha? Buddha is The Gold Immortal of Great Awareness. This is just the authenticating experience of the major stage.
If you can look back again and again into the source of mind, whatever you are doing, not sticking to any image of person or self at all — then this is turning the light around, wherever you are. This is the finest practice.
In the early morning, if you can clear all objects from your mind, and sit quietly for one or two hours, that is best. Whenever you are engaged in work, or dealing with people, just use this looking back technique and there will be no interruption. The essence of The Great Way is to act purposefully without striving. Because of non-striving, one does not cling to local conventions, forms or images. But because of not striving, yet acting purposefully, one does not fall into indifferent emptiness or dead voidness. When you want to enter quietude, first tune and concentrate body and mind so that they are free and peaceful. Let go of all objects so that nothing whatsoever hangs on your mind, and The Celestial Mind takes its rightful place in this center. After that, lower your eyelids and gaze inward. Where the light reaches, true positive energy comes forth in response. Now when you turn the light around to shine inward, the mind is not aroused by things. Negative energy then stops, and the flower of light radiates a concentrated glow — which is pure, positive energy.
Now, if in all activity and rest, you abide in heaven while in the midst of humanity, The Sovereign is then the real human being. When it moves, you move with it. The movement is the root of heaven. When it is at rest, you rest with it. The rest is the moon cavern.
As one is about to enter utter quiesence, not a single thought is born. When gazing inward, suddenly one forgets the gazing. At that time, body and mind are in a state of great freedom. And all objects disappear without a trace. Then you don’t even know where the furnace and couldron in your spiritual room are. You can’t even find your own body. This is the time when heaven enters earth and all wonders return to the root. This is solidifying the spirit in the lair of energy.
Once concentration is attained, you are naturally bouyant and do not expend any strength. This is called settling the spirit in the original openness, gathering the primal together.
When even shadows and echoes have all disappeared and one is highly stabilized in profound tranquility, this is called Hibernating in the Lair of Energy — all wonders returning to the root.
As long as the mind has not reached supreme quiet, it cannot act. Action caused by momentum is random action. Not essential action. Therefore it is said that action influenced by things is human desire, while action uninfluenced by things is the action of heaven. Desire is in considering things to exist, or being possessive towards things. This is thought that is out of place. Action with an ulterior motive.
When not a single thought arises, then true mindfulness is born. This is pure attention.
When the celestial potential is suddenly activated in the midst of silent trance, is this not spontaneous attention? This is what is meant by acting without striving.
In Buddhism, activating the mind without dwelling on anything is considered the essential message of the whole cannon. In Taoism, effecting openness is the whole work of completing essence and life. In sum, the three teachings are not beyond one saying: which is a spiritual pill that gets one out of death and preserves life. What is the spiritual pill? It just means to be unminding in all situations. The greatest secret in Taoism is bathing. Thus the whole practice described in this book does not go beyond the words: emptiness of mind. It is enough to understand this. This single statement can save decades of seeking.
If you do not understand how three stages are included in one, for an analogy, let me use the Buddhist teaching of contemplating emptiness, the conditional and the center. First is emptiness: you see all things as empty. Next is the conditional: though you know things are empty, you do not destroy the totality of things, but take a constructive attitude towards all events in the midst of emptiness. Once you neither destroy things, nor cling to things, this is the contemplation of the center.
When you are practicing the contemplation of emptiness, if you still know that the totality of things cannot be destroyed, and yet do not cling to them, this includes all three contemplations. Since empowerment after all means really seeing emptiness, when you cultivate contemplation of emptiness — emptiness is empty. The conditional is also empty. And the center is empty too.
When on the way of the center we still meditate on emptiness, but you don’t call it emptiness, you call it the center. When you come to the center, there is no need to speak.
A hundred days setting up the foundation is not a hundred days. One day setting up the foundation is not one day. One breath is held for a lifetime, not only a hundred days. So a hundred days is also a single breath.
The method of turning the light around, basically is to be carried on whether walking, standing, sitting or reclining. It is only essential that you yourself find the openning of potential.
Light arises in the empty room. This light is not luminous, but there is an explanation of this, as an evidence of efficacy in the beginning, before one has seen the light. If you see it as light and fix your attention on it, then you fall into ideational consciousness, which is not the light of essence. When both light and dark are forgotten, then where is discrimination? Only the seeing essence cannot be attributed to any thing.
Deliberate meditation is the light of consciousness. Let go, and it is then the light of essence. So discernment is necessary. If consciousness is not stopped, spirit does not come alive. If mind is not emptied, the elixir does not crystallize. When the mind is clean, that is elixir. When mind is empty, that is medicine. When it doesn’t stick to anything at all, it is said that the mind is clean. When it doesn’t keep anything in it, it is said that the mind is empty. If emptiness is seen as empty, emptiness is still not empty. When empty, mindless of emptiness, this is called true emptiness.
This medicine is not a material thing, it is the light of essence, which is none other than the primal true energy. Even so, it is necessary to attain great concentration before you see it. There is no method of culling. Those who speak of culling are quite mistaken.
When you have seen it for a long time, eventually the light of the basis of the mind becomes spontaneous. When the mind is empty, and all indulgence is ended, you are liberated from the ocean of misery.
When you keep presence of mind, only then do you have autonomy. When you have autonomy, only then can you manage affairs. However, presence of mind is easily interrupted. Practice it for a long time though, and it will naturally become unbroken. Once it is unbroken, it is continuous. With continuity, the light shines bright.
When the light shines bright, energy is full. When energy is full, then oblivion and distraction disappear without effort. Observing mind means observing the purity of mind. The mind is basically nondual, just one vital reality. Throughout the past and future, there is no other. Without leaving the objects of sense, you climb transcendent to the stage of enlightenment. When observation is deep and illusion is cleared, then this is true emptiness. Turning the light around is done not by the eyes, but by the mind. The mind is the eyes.
After long persistence, the spirit congeals. Only then do you see the mind eyes becoming clear. When you observe mind and become aware of openness, thereby you produce its vitality. When its vitality stabilizes, it becomes manifest. And then you see the openning of the mysterious past.
Gazing at the lower abdomen is external work. As for the inner work, when the mind-eye comes into being, that alone is the true elixir-field. Radiant light is the function of mind. Empty silence is the substance of mind. If there is empty silence without radiant light, the silence is not true silence. The emptiness is not true emptiness. It is just a ghost-cave.
The great way is not in quiet living. If you stay quietly in a room, that has the counter-effect of increasing the flames of fire in the heart. It is necessary to be working on The Way, whatever you are doing, in order to be able to sit on the summit of a thousand mountains without leaving the crossroads.
What we call The True Mind is the enlightened, clear mind. Therefore it can pervade the heavens, and permeate the earth, without the slightest artificiality. When mind is empty, yet not vacant, this is called true emptiness. When mind is there, but not reified, this is called subtle existence.
Don’t tarry on one side and you then enter the middle way — then you have a basis for gaining access to virtue. The way is present before our eyes, yet what is before our eyes is hard to understand. People like the unusual and enjoy the new, they miss what is right in front of their eyes — and do not know where The Way is. The Way is the immediate presence. If you are unaware of the immediate presence, then your mind races, your intellect runs — and you go on thinking, compulsively. All of this is due to the shallowness of spiritual power, and shallowness of spiritual power is due to racing in the mind.
The Way is the immediate presence.