Editorial

In this edition of the Journal, we are presenting you with a number of papers that were given at the 8^th International Conference of Analytical Psychology and Chinese Culture, which was held in Xi'an City, China, in April 2018. The title of the conference was ‘Enlightenment and Individuation - East and West’. Interest in analytical psychology has grown exponentially since the first visit to China by Tom Kirsch and Murray Stein some twenty-five years ago now. While there are many similarities and much affinity between analytical psychology and Chinese philosophy and outlook on life, there are also many significant differences, some of which began to come to the fore during this conference. The struggle to find adequate formulations and images to discuss and exchange ideas of a psychological nature in one's own language and culture already represents a significant challenge. To bridge the divide not only of language but also of the different cultural understanding underpinning the somewhat ephemeral notions of enlightenment and individuation increases the challenge and difficulty significantly.

Murray Stein's paper and keynote presentation, ‘Psychological individuation and spiritual enlightenment: some comparisons and points of contact’, took up this challenge most impressively. With reference to Jung's interest in alchemy and his discovery of the I Ching, thanks to Richard Wilhelm, and his commentary on The Secret of the Golden Flower, Murray uses The Ten Ox-Herding Pictures from Zen Buddhism to explore points of similarity and of difference in our understanding of the process of transformation of consciousness with that of the East. From the very start of his paper, Murray Stein raises the truly challenging question of the degree to which there can be reconciliation between the view of the West, which encourages the psychological development of the individual to become the person s/he is meant to be, with that of the East, where the aim seems to be to lose any identi