In the late sixties, while studying the I Ching, I began a long and fruitful spiritual journey into Chinese thought and wisdom. I soon realized that the Chinese sages, those who, over the centuries, had been involved with this great book, were the most conscious beings that I had run across in my long search for wisdom.

One of these high beings was Lao Tzu, the mysterious author of the Tao Te Ching. I had run across his writings earlier while reading Tim Leary’s Psychedelic Prayers.

Later, I read Jung’s commentary on The Secret of the Golden Flower and this inspired me to read the book that he was commenting upon, a book written sometime around the eighth century by a Taoist adept, Lu Yen, and translated from the Chinese in this century by Richard Wilhelm.

The Secret of the Golden Flower is one of many Taoist tests, all concerned with creating the immortal “diamond body.” The book itself is very short, less than 70 pages including Wilhelm’s commentary, but filled with great wisdom.

Taoism differs from Buddhism in one important way. The goal of Buddhism is Nirvana, together with complete and final death of the ego, the ego being seen as mere illusion. The Taoist, on the other hand, “seeks, with all his might, the fixed pole in the whirl of phenomena, where the adept can attain eternal life.” (The Secret of the Golden Flower, p. 7.) For the Taoist, the goal “is to preserve in a transfigured form, the idea of the person, the ‘traces’ left by experience. (p. 18.)

This is similar to ideas expressed by Castaneda’s Don Juan. For him, the goal is to develop an awareness independent of body. To this end, he elucidates the notion of the “dreaming double,” an immortal body that can exist in all realities, hence can exist even after the death of the body. And clearly, for Don Juan, together with the Taoists, the goal is for this immortal body to retain traces of the individual’s life experience. I share this goal and am working unceasingly to identify, not with my physical body, but with the body of consciousness that is my true and immortal self.