JJ Semple - The Secret of the Golden Flower: A Kundalini Meditation Method

The great One is the term given to that which has nothing above it. The secret of the magic of life consists in using action in order to attain non-action. One must not wish to leap over everything and penetrate directly. The maxim handed down to us is to take in hand the work on human nature. In doing this it is important not to take any wrong path.

~ The Secret of the Golden Flower - Wilhelm edition

The Secret of the Golden Flower and Kundalini

The statements of this kind that during the process the shukra (semen) dries up or becomes thin, that the male organ shrinks, or that the sexual appetite is lost, contained in old manuals, cannot fail to convey important bits of information to the modern savants engaged in the investigation. An ancient Chinese work, The Secret of the Golden Flower , contains unmistakable hints about this process, which no one with some knowledge of the subject can fail to notice, and yet Jung, in his commentary on the book, entirely preoccupied with his own theories about the unconscious, despite the unambiguous nature of the statements in the work, finds in it only material for the corroboration of his own ideas and nothing beyond that. The same thing happened in a seminar held by him on Kundalini of which a written summary is still available in the Jung Institute. Not one of the savants present, as is evident from the views expressed by them, displayed the least knowledge about the real significance of this hoary cult and the tremendous import of the ancient doctrine they were discussing at the time.

~ The Biological Basis of Religion and Genius - Gopi Krishna

The Secret of the Golden Flower has two objectives. One, its a manual for kundalini meditation, even though the term kundalini never appears in the text. Put aside what you may have been told or read about this book and accept this fact. If you believe its something other, you were either misinformed by someone who has never practiced the method or you became confused by the various terminologies of a system that used different terms to denote the same energy effect, cultivation technique, or result. Two, its an explanation of ontology, which the dictionary defines as: the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being . Neither objective is readily understood without practicing the method. Sure, its possible to approach the text as an academic challenge, but the best way to reconcile the two objectives is by practicing the method, which, if you are patient, allows you to grok the ontological elements as you move forward. The two are not separated in the text; theyre mingled together, which, as you might imagine, makes understanding more problematic.

Although the method takes a minimalist approach, it's a viable, hands-on manual for activating kundalini and I used it as such, not that I encountered the term kundalini during my practice of the method. I didnt. I did discover that too much detail can overwhelm a practitioner, and thats why I stuck with it. I liked its emphasis on correct breathing. I figured that if I learned to regulate the breathing using the pointers in the text, Id have fewer moving parts to deal with. Many methods burden the learner with volumes of esoteric anatomical descriptions and variations of technique. Yes, the book is written in an esoteric manner, but I found that I began to understand its teachings as my practice advanced. What else can a student ask for?

Of the two most prominent translations, I used the Wilhelm translation, scorned nowadays for the quality of its translation by the translator of other version, Thomas Cleary. Why did I use the Wilhelm version? For the simple reason that Clearys version was published in 1991 and I started my practice with the Wilhelm version (first published in 1931) in 1971, 20 years before the Cleary version appeared.

Yes, I used the Wilhelm warts and all to activate kundalini in a safe, permanent manner. Could I have used the Cleary and achieved the same results? Probably. And thats why bickering over that translation is so pointless: either text allows the serious practitioner to activate kundalini. But then again, neither Cleary, Wilhelm, nor Jung ever activated kundalini. And that where this book comes in to clarify the teachings for those wanting to use either text for its primary purpose awakening kundalini.

In Chapter IX of his Translation Notes, Cleary offers a useful appraisal of each versions approach as to organization of the text. He also mentions the fact that while he translated all 13 chapters of the text, Wilhelm only translated eight:

This and the following three sections, comprising the rest of the text as it is found in the canonical version on which the present version is based, are entirely omitted by Wilhelm in his rendition, because he considers them of inferior quality. He does not, however, explain the basis of this evaluation. While it is true that these last four chapters go back to basics again and again, this is in fact a general characteristic of the whole text, which repeatedly reviews fundamental theory and praxis as it develops the details of their experimental implications. It may be that the difficulty of these sections, which contain a relatively high concentration of Buddhist and Taoist technical terms, discouraged Wilhelm from translating them.

Aside from his last comment as to Wilhelms motives, about which the truth can no longer be established, Clearys statement is insightful: theory and praxis are scattered and tangled throughout. As to the benefit derived from these ontological contents, unless the reader has successfully practiced the method and awakened kundalini or has an understanding of science, philosophy, and mysticism, these theoretical teachings are difficult to apprehend because they depend on praxis. I dont understand all of them, only the ones that became intelligible during my 40 plus years of practicing the actual energy cultivation techniques in the text. But, then again, I didnt need to because my goal was awakening kundalini.

Because this present work is based on my kundalini practice with the Wilhelm version, I decided I cannot become entangled in the excesses of Buddhist and Taoist terminology noted by Cleary: This book covers Chapters 1-8 of the Wilhelm version the only version I have first-hand practical knowledge of. Then again, even Cleary concedes that Chapters 9-13 favor Buddhist and Taoist technical doctrines and references.

Before getting into the method, however, lets go over a wee bit of ontology, starting with two terms found throughout the book: Primal Spirit and Conscious Spirit. According to the The Secret of the Golden Flower (SGF), the Primal Spirit is the formative energy responsible for our physical embodiment; the Conscious Spirit is the ego and its agents, the senses. The senses feed us an endless flow of information. Society (our parents, teachers, friends, family, and the media) tells us what this information means, and our perceptions what we perceive with our senses becomes reality. What we are taught to believe in and hold as values determines our opinions and beliefs. We think we are free, but we are slaves to the cultural, familial, and educational patterns bequeathed to us. Living under the various illusions we are conditioned to, it is very difficult to extract (de-condition) ourselves without recourse to the primordial, super-conscious Primal Spirit.

"After the process of creation of the body is complete, Kundalini Shakti is said to go into a dormant state. But it can become active again later in life as the spiritual process known as a Kundalini awakening. But rather than creating a new life form from a fertilized ovum, it now undertakes a process of renovation of the existing human body, particularly the brain and nervous system, so that a more advanced faculty of mind cosmic consciousness or enlightenment can be manifested."