C. G. Jung - The psychology of Kundalini Yoga : notes of the seminar given in 1932 by C.G. Jung

BOLLINGEN SERIES XCIX

A COMPLETE LIST OF THE COLLECTED WORKS OF C. G. JUNG
APPEARS AT THE BACK OF THIS VOLUME

NOTES OF THE SEMINAR
GIVEN IN 1932 BY

C. G. JUNG

EDITED BY SONU SHAMDASANI

COPYRIGHT 1996 BY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

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SECOND PRINTING, AND FIRST PAPERBACK PRINTING, 1999

PAPERBACK ISBN 0-691-00676-8

THIS EDITION OF THE NOTES OF JUNGS SEMINARS IS BEING

PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY PRINCETON

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CONSTITUTE NUMBER XCIX IN BOLLINGEN SERIES, SPONSORED

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THE TEXT HERE PUBLISHED IS THAT WHICH MARY FOOTE, ITS

ORIGINAL EDITOR, ISSUED PRIVATELY IN 1933

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE CLOTH EDITION OF

THIS BOOK AS FOLLOWS

JUNG, C. G. (CARL GUSTAV), 18751961.

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF KUNDALINI YOGA: NOTES OF THE SEMINAR GIVEN IN 1932

BY C. G. JUNG / EDITED BY SONU SHAMDASANI.

P. CM. (BOLLINGEN SERIES; 99)

ISBN 0-691-02127-9 (CL : ALK. PAPER)

1. KUNDALINIPSYCHOLOGY. I. SHAMDASANI, SONU, 1962.

II. TITLE. III. SERIES.

BL1238.56.K86J86 1996

294.5'43DC20 9544198

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IN MEMORIAM

Michael Scott Montague Fordham (19051995)

, by Sonu Shamdasani

From 3 to 8 October 1932 the Indologist Wilhelm Hauer presented six lectures concurrently in English and German at the Psychological Club in Zrich, entitled Der Yoga, im besondern die Bedeutung des Cakras (Yoga, especially the meaning of the cakras). Following these, Jung devoted four lectures to a psychological interpretation of Kundalini yoga.

Hauers English lectures, Jungs English lectures of 12, 19, and 26 October and Jungs German lecture of 2 November (which was translated by Cary F. Baynes) were compiled by Mary Foote from stenographic notes taken by her secretary, Emily Kppel, and privately published in mimeographed form under the title The Kundalini Yoga: Notes on the Lecture Given by Prof. Dr. J. W. Hauer with Psychological Commentary by Dr. C. G. Jung (Zurich, 1933). In her editorial preface Foote noted that the text had been corrected by both Hauer and Jung.

A German edition edited by Linda Fierz and Toni Wolff entitled Bericht ber das Lecture von Prof. Dr. J. W. Hauer. 38 October (Zurich, 1933), and bearing the title Tantra Yoga on the spine, differed in content from the English edition. In addition to a German translation of Jungs English lectures, it contained the text of Hauers German lectures, an account of Toni Wolffs lecture Tantrische Symbolik bei Goethe (Tantric symbolism in Goethe) given to the club on 19 March 1932, and an account of Jungs lecture Westliche Parallelen zu den Tantrischen Symbolen (Western parallels to tantric symbols) of 7 October 1932.

Jungs lectures were published in abridged form without annotations in Spring: Journal of Archetypal Psychology and Jungian Thought (1975 and 1976).

This present unabridged edition is based on the text of Mary Footes first edition. Hauers lectures have not been reproduced, with the exception of his final English lecture, which Jung attended and which forms the bridge to his lectures. This particular lecture demonstrates the relation between Hauers and Jungs approaches. Where Hauers exposition is referred to in Jungs lectures, the specific context has been supplied in a footnote.

In addition, Jungs comments in Hauers German lectures in the Fierz and Wolff edition and the rsum of his 1930 lecture Indian Parallels contained in Olga von Koenig-Fachsenfelds edition, Bericht ber das Deutsche Seminar von C. G. Jung, 611. Oktober 1930 in Ksnacht-Zrich (Stuttgart, 1931) have been newly translated by Katherina Rowold and Michael Mnchow respectively and included, together with Sir John Woodroffes translation of the a-cakra-nirpaa, the tantric text that was the subject of Hauers and Jungs commentaries. This has been reproduced from the fifteenth edition of Woodroffes The Serpent Power (Madras, 1992), from which the illustrations of the cakras have also been reproduced (citations, unless otherwise indicated, are to this edition). For reasons of space, his copious explanatory notes have not been reproduced.

In editing the transcript, silent changes have been restricted to minor alterations in punctuation, spelling, and grammar. The Spring edition has been of assistance in this regard. With few exceptions, the orthography of the Sanskrit terms in the Foote edition has been followed. The spelling of these terms in the a-cakra-nirpaa and other texts cited has been maintained in the original form.

SONU SHAMDASANI

For information on Mary Foote, see Edward Foote, Who was Mary Foote, Spring: An Annual of Archetypal Psychology and Jungian Thought (1974): 25668.

Her lecture, which contained interpretations of Goethes work through the symbolism of Kundalini yoga, was published in full in her Studien zu C. G. Jungs Psychologie (Zurich: Daimon, 1981), 285318.

I would like to thank Ulrich Hoerni and Peter Jung for their assistance in a myriad of ways with the preparation of this seminar, and particularly the former for many helpful suggestions and for his comments on the manuscript; Franz Jung for kindly enabling me to consult his fathers library and locating items for me; C. A. Meier and Tadeus Reichstein for sharing their recollections of the proceedings; Paul Bishop for locating Tadeus Reichstein; Beat Glaus for assisting the consultation of Jungs correspondence; Eric Donner, Michael Mnchow, and Katherina Rowold for translations; Natalie Baron for assistance with transcription; Anthony Stadlen for supplying a copy of a letter of John Layard; Ernst Falzeder and Andr Haynal for inviting me to lecture at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Geneva, which enabled me to undertake research in Switzerland; David Holt for the gift of copies of Jungs German-language seminars and lectures at the Eidgenssische Technische Hochschule; William McGuire for his comments on the manuscript; and the late Mary Foote, for her invaluable work transcribing and editing Jungs English-language seminars. Finally, I would like to thank the Erbengemeinschaft C. G. Jung for permission to consult and quote from Jungs unpublished manuscripts and correspondence with Wilhelm Hauer and Surendranath Dasgupta.

S.S.