The gold elixir: The circular path of the Tao (Carl Jung, Chang Po-tuan)

Chee, D. S.-H. (2001). The gold elixir: The circular path of the Tao (Carl Jung, Chang Po-tuan). (Doctoral dissertation, Pacifica Graduate Institute, 2001). UMI no. 3029753

A chance encounter with an 11th-century Chinese alchemical text in Jade East, a jewelry shop, was the beginning of a personal alchemical process. The alchemical process evolved through a hermeneutic interpretation of the text, Understanding Reality (Chang, 1987). The 99 stanzas in Understanding Reality presents Chang Po-tuan's (983-1082) complete teachings of Complete Reality Taoism, a form of Taoism that developed during the Sung Dynasty (960-1279), the golden age of Chinese alchemy. This paper, a depth-psychological analysis of the Complete Reality Taoism alchemical process, focuses on the union of two opposites, yin and yang or body and mind. A depth-psychological analysis approaches the alchemical symbols in the Taoist text through an amplification process that works to uncover the underlying archetypes, universal images. A meeting of West, depth psychology, and East, Taoist alchemy, this paper continues a tradition that began with Jung's (1957/1967) first alchemical exploration, The Secret of the Golden Flower. However, Jung, in introducing Eastern thought to his Western readers, omits in-depth discussions of the Chinese alchemical process and the Taoist cosmogony. This paper augments Jung's commentary by attending to the Taoist doctrines that define a cosmos that is the foundation of the Chinese alchemical goal, a Return to the Tao. One of the essential components of the Taoist cosmogony and the Chinese alchemical process is the vital energy ch'i. Although Jung was aware of ch'i, he did not associate its transformative actions with the Chinese meditative process. In the Complete Reality Taoism alchemical process, ch'i, like soul, is the mediator between body and mind, the transformative agent that brings consciousness to unconscious content, and the creator of psychic images. An exploration of the many wondrous qualities and characteristics of ch'i contributes to the general knowledge of the alchemical process and offers new perspectives to contemporary ideas of soul and the relationship between body, mind, and spirit. The actions of ch'i stand as a model for all of our thoughts and behaviors. In addition, the spiral paths and transformations of ch'i create a temenos, a sacred space that is a sine qua non for the therapeutic process.* *Originally published in DAI Vol. 62, No. 10. Reprinted here with corrected author name.