Psychological and Cosmological “Castle”: Wilhelm/Baynes’s <i>I Ching</i> and <i>The Secret of Golden Flower</i> in Philip K. Dick’s <i>The Man in the High Castle</i>

Abstract This paper investigates the cross-cultural reception of the Chinese philosophical/religious classic I Ching (Book of Changes) in postwar American literature. Through a critical analysis of Philip K. Dick’s Hugo Award-winning novel The Man in the High Castle (1962), this paper scrutinizes the profound and multifaceted influences of Wilhelm/Baynes’s translation of The I Ching and the Taoist alchemical text The Secret of the Golden Flower upon Dick’s literary creation. On top of the historical and political implications of the “High Castle,” the core metaphor of “Castle” might express additional layers of psychological and cosmological connotations in the Trigram Li (☲ The Clinging/Fire) and Hexagram Zhong Fu (䷼ Inner Truth), as well as the notions of “Yellow Castle” and “Mandala,” presumably inspired by Wilhelm/Baynes’s I Ching and The Secret of the Golden Flower , in conjunction with Carl Jung’s psychological commentary.