Introduction

Chapter 8

Research on the text

Chapter 9

Chapter 1

Chapter 10

Chapter 2

Chapter 11

Chapter 3

Chapter 12

Chapter 4

Chapter 13

Chapter 5

Summary

Chapter 6

About & Contact

Chapter 7

links

Mahavairocana Buddha seated on a golden lotus flower , by Unkei, 13th C, Japan

Introduction
The translation and interpretation of The Secret of the Golden Flower in this
website is based on the idea that all esoteric traditions have the same inner
meaning. In China during the Song (9601279) and Ming (1368-1644) Dynasties,
Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism were considered to be different paths to
the same goal.

Iranian miniature of a warrior smelling

a flower,1651, Hermitage museum,
St. Petersburg

Is it not a fact that the three doctrines (of Taoism, Buddhism and
Confucianism) may be three, but the Way is ultimately one? But that
hasn`t stopped the priesthood of later generations from sole devotion to
their own sects and repudiation of others, causing the basic essentials
Confucius giving the Buddha child to
Laozi, China, Qing Dynasty

of all three philosophies to be lost in false distinctions, so that they

cannot be unified and end up at the same goal. -- Introduction of
Understanding Reality by Chang Po-tuan (11th C. Taoist master)

Although these scriptures are the source of foreknowledge and

reflection for my school, they are truly the origin of all Three Schools.
-- Journey to the West (one of the four great Chinese classical novels)
Not only Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism are different paths to the same
goal, the inner meaning of all esoteric traditions is basically the same. In fact,
>

once one understands the inner meaning, one sees they are actually the same
path to the same goal.
A drawing by William Blake

Ask of those who have attained God; all speak the same word. All the
saints are of one mind; it is only those in the midst of the way who
follow diverse paths. All the enlightened have left one message; it is
only those in the midst of their journeywho hold diverse opinions.

-- Dadu (16th c. Indian saint)

The Hierarchy is one, and the esoteric sides of all religions were
launched by it, as was the great experiment started through
Ouspensky and Gurdjieff for our own time.
-- Rodney Collin (20th c. Fourth Way spiritual teacher)
The sacred texts of all esoteric traditions use symbols and metaphors.
Higher esoteric ideas are coded to protect the knowledge from being
lost in the tide of time and humanity. They are coded through symbol,
sign, idiom, analogy, metaphor, and parable, to protect esoteric
knowledge from the profane. -- Alexander Horn (20.th c. Fourth Way
spiritual teacher)
A rock painting in the Canyon State
Historical Park, Texas. 2,000 BC

The sutras of the Buddha contain countless metaphors. Because

mortals have shallow minds, they don't understand anything deep.
-- Bodhidharma (First Patriach of Zen Buddhism. 6th c.)
These symbols and metaphors can be unique to one particular tradition, relating
to the culture and time that the tradition developed in, or common to many or all
esoteric traditions.

A Mexican figurine called "First

Woman" with a vessel coming from
her heart, 1200 BC

The mystery of Christ`s redemption was not absent in any previous

era, but it was made known under different symbols.
-- St. Augustine (4th c. Christian saint)
The inner meaning of all symbols in saced texts revolve around the principles of
control of the worldly lower self, the cultivation of a spiritual path, and the
awakening of the Higher Self into the Divine Present.
From the most ancient times till today, this is not empty talk, but the
sequence of the Great Way in the true method of producing an
eternally living and immortal spirit and holy man.....When the conscious
spirit has been transformed into the primal spirit, then only one can say
that it has attained an infinite capacity for transformations and,
departing from the cycle of births, has been brought to the sixfold
present, golden genius. -- Commentary on Chapter 2 of the Secret of

Jacobs Ladder, Jacques Stella (c. 1650)

Los Angeles County Museum of Art
(Click to enlarge)

the Golden Flower (Edition of Richard Wilhem)

The holy man who understands the mysteries of creation inherent in

end and beginning, becomes superior to the limitations of the
transitory. For him, the meaning of time is that in it, the stages of
growth can unfold in a clear sequence. He is mindful at every moment
and uses the six stages of growth as if they were six dragons (the
image attributed to the individual lines) on which he mounts to Heaven.- Commentary on hexagram #1, the Creative (The I Ching p 371,
Wilhelm/Baynes edition)
Heaven refers to an internal state of peace and true happiness. Everyone is
looking for happiness in their life. Most people think that external things such as
money, power, status or relationships will make one happy. When people
Hexagram #1 Heaven, from the I Ching

understand that true happiness comes from within, and cannot come from
externals, they become interested in religion or spirituality. Those who are
fortunate, know that happiness is an internal state of conscious awareness, in
which one is freed from one`s inner demons.
Happiness as a path is all a matter of compliance; the way to bring
about happiness is to be able to act in accord with the time. When one
acts in accord with the time, the yang energy expands, so that all
demons flee. The life-giving potential continues increasing, and the
earth is always covered with yellow sprouts, the world blooms

Two dragons chasing a flaming pearl

(Click to enlarge)
Reality is so subtle that the ancient
immortals called this reality a tiny pearl.
In reality it has no such shape; they call
it thus because there is a point of
conscious energy hidden in the center,
and because that point of awareness
contains the whole cosmos, space, and
the universe.
-- Liu Yiming

withGolden Flowers. Wherever one may walk, everywhere is the Tao.

No happiness is more delightful than this. -- Liu Yiming (The Taoist I
Ching, Hexagram 16 Joy)

The body of pure yang was happy in the sun, the yin demons dared not
use their might. -- Journey to the West Ch99

St. Clare of Assisi with the Christ child

holding a flower, (Andrei Rublov)

The Fourth Way and Esoteric Traditions

Journey to the West

The taoist I Ching

Being Presence First Living Presence

Japanese symbols of Presence Gurdjieff - Becoming Conscious

Copyright 2012-2015 Walther Sell