https://open.spotify.com/episode/58DnKVEQdSNsOFbLkwVjFj?si=Rhkn-3WcSJePxZCtPvCzAA
“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.
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.