Our teachers in China

So, let our teachers say something about their impression of Sandplay Therapy in China, about our CSST.

Kay Bradway (2003):

It gives me great pleasure to write a Foreword for Shen Heyong and Gao Lan’s book Sandplay Therapy: Theory and Practice. It is the first book on Sandplay written by a Chinese Jungian analyst and Sandplay therapist. Professor Shen has already contributed to the literature on Jungian analysis in his book on analytical psychology, for which Murray Stein wrote a Foreword. Professor Shen’s depth of knowledge and width of experience together with his keen appreciation of depth therapy has succeeded in bringing both Jungian analysis and Sandplay to China.

I have had the good fortune of knowing Professor Shen since he was an International Scholar of Analytical Psychology at the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco in 2000 to 2002. At that time I had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with him when he attended my seminars on Sandplay. Since then he has continued his studies in both Jungian analysis and Sandplay to the point of becoming a member of both the International Society for Sandplay Therapists (ISST) and of the International Association of Analytical Psychology (IAAP). Working with IAAP he organized two international conferences of analytical psychology and Chinese culture in 1998 and 2002. At the ISST conference in 2003 in Seattle, he made an important contribution with his paper “I Ching and Sandplay and Sandplay in China.” In the last year he has been arranging for the translation of key books on Sandplay into Chinese. Currently, he is a professor of analytical psychology at the South China Normal University, and President of the Institute of Analytical Psychology in China.

It is clear that Professor Shen and Gao Lan are excellently equipped to write a seminal book on Sandplay for therapists in China. The contents of chapters attest to the comprehensiveness and thoroughness with which he covers the field of Sandplay therapy.

In the first chapter they introduces a historical overview of Sandplay therapy from H.G. Wells through Margaret Lowenfeld to Dora Kalff.   

The second chapter introduces the three theoretical foundations of Sandplay:   Jungian psychology, Eastern philosophy, and Kalff’s development from these bases.   

In the third chapter Professor Shen and Gao Lan discusses the basic aspects or ingredients of Sandplay, such as the unconscious level, symbolic meaning, the free and protected space, the value of the nonverbal in-depth therapy, and empathy.   He also includes the Chinese Daoist philosophy of Ganying (like synchronicity) and the meaning of“no-action”and“doing the no-action”.

The fourth chapter describes how to set up a Sandplay room, including the basic“setting”and the collection of miniatures. Professor Shen and Gao Lan also emphasizes the importance of adequate training of a Sandplay therapist by studying with members of ISST.

The fifth chapter discusses how to start Sandplay: the initial tray, the process, the themes and the analysis.

In the sixth chapter Professor Shen and Gao Lan illustrates the Sandplay process by using a case study of their own.

I feel this is an extremely important book, not only for the development and use of Sandplay in China, but also for Sandplay in the international scene.

Foreword to Shen Heyong’s Book on Sandplay by Kay Bradway

Matin Kalff (2014):

For Chinese Journal of Sandplay Therapy

The creation of a Journal for Sandplay Therapy in Chinese language is a logical step of the development of Analytical Psychology and Sandplay Therapy   which had started some 20 years ago in China.

Shen Heyong, the president of the Chinese Federation for Analytical Society and Sandplay Therapy and his wife Gao Lan, both Sandplay Therapists and Jungian analysts, have prepared with their engagement a fruitful pathway for the development of Sandplay in China. I have learnt that it has led to the foundation of three institutes for Analytical Psychology and Sandplay therapy in three universities in China. In addition I was informed that more than 60 work stations at orphanages have been set up in the mainland of China and earthquake zones to help the psychological development of orphans and to do the psychological relief work for earth quake victims.

Thus Sandplay Therapy founded by the Swiss psychotherapist Dora Kalff is becoming step by step more known in China.

One of the first impulses of my mother, Dora Kalff, in her youth, had been to study Chinese philosophy and language. In particular she had been very interested in the philosophy of the Tao. Later in her life, based on her experience with Sandplay Therapy, she had an intensive exchange with the Chinese author and philosopher Chang Chung Yuan author of books on Taoism such "Creativity and Taoism".

In Sandplay she had observed that during the process of playing in the sand moment which she called the "manifestation of the Self" has been a key moment in effecting healing and transformation. It often expresses itself in images representing a square, circle or combination of both with a center. Also C.G. Jung had pointed to this experience and corresponding images   occurring in dreams and paintings. He called them "mandalas" using a term from the Indian culture. Dora Kalff maintained that In their quality they point to a dimension beyond the ego consciousness and are accompanied by a special feeling quality which she described as "numinous". It is state of mind which can be accompanied by deep silence and by being deeply touched. According to C.G. Jung this is an experience of getting in contact with the centre of the human person, the Self or wholeness. This type of experience in Sandplay according to Dora Kalff has a healing quality and is the basis for the restoration of a   more grounded and healthy personality.

In her discussion with Chang she connected this experience with the "Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate" of Chou Tun yi (1017 - 73). Basically she connected the "Supreme Ultimate" to the Self and its unfolding into the polarity of Yin and Yang to the manifestation of the Self as a basis for healthy ego development. This can be understood quite well from the explanatory text Chou wrote: "The supreme ultimate through movement (tung) produces the yang. This movement, having reached its limit, is followed by quiescence (ching), and by this quiescence it produces the yin. When quiescence has reached its limit, there is a return to movement. Thus movement and quiescence, in alteration, become each the source of the other, the distinction between the yin and yang is determined, and their Two Forms (liang yi) stand revealed." (A History of Chinese Philosophy, Fung Yu-lan, 1953, publ. by E.J. Brill, Holland, p. 436).

Chou's description can also be related to the idea of the Self as a self-regulating principle in the human being. It becomes activated when   a person has gone in his or her thinking or behaviour to an extreme. An example for this might be an extremely rational attitude. In such a case one may learn through the examination of dreams, about an unlived, unconscious inner emotional life and about the need to reach a new balance between ratio and emotion.

Dreams, as well as creations in the sandplay can be seen as an expression of the self regulating aspect of the Self which points to the limits of the one-sided conscious attitudes and calls for an integration of the excluded parts. The dynamics of quiescence and movement beautifully described in Chou's text could be seen as an underlying basic principle very similar to the forces which C.G. Jung has described as being active in the dynamics between conscious and the unconscious.

The healthy development of the conscious personality depends on the capacity to become aware of impulses coming up from unconscious or neglected or   even dissociated side which aim at a new equilibrium or as Jung might say "to become more whole".   For Jung this wholeness is already existent as a potential in all of us from the beginning of our life. The realisation of this wholeness in a concrete life is the aim of what he calls the "individuation process". It is this individuation process which Dora Kalff has observed in the sandplay images of her clients.

Thus we can say that Dora Kalff's early interest in Chinese philosophy   became a basis for making first connections between Chinese thought and Jungian psychology She has also briefly touched upon this in the introduction in her book on Sandplay Therapy. Moreover, on another level, she did learn a particular Taoist breathing and meditation technique from Chang Chung Yuan. It allowed her, on a very concrete and daily level, to completely restore her energy after the end of a session with a client before beginning with the work with the next client. As a matter of fact, it is fundamental, to have a means to deal with the contagious states of mind of the patients, as it is well known that especially persons in the helping profession frequently become victims of "burnout" if they do not take care of themselves.

I took some space here to point to this beginning of an exchange between Chinese thought and Western Psychology with the hope that such an exchange could continue and be deepened on many different levels as well in the future. It is of course an exchange which will have to be carried out in a patient and careful way in order to maintain the rich heritage of Sandplay. At the same time,   we have to take into account that Sandplay Therapy is also undergoing changes, for example through its spreading into many different countries and cultures. Moreover, it will also be an exchange which will have to take into account modern needs and realities of China.

For such an exchange I always feel that it is necessary, in order not to dilute the healing potential of Sandplay therapy, to remain aware of its three roots: Margaret Lowenfeld's World Technique, C.G. Jung's Psychology and influences from Eastern Contemplative traditions. These are the three main currents which the founder of Sandplay, Dora Kalff, has brought together in her work.

It is an approach which brings together physical sensation, through touching and working with the sand, the dimension of feeling through the feeling responses to the experience of touching and moulding the sand and using manifold figures creating images or worlds, as well as the stories that emerge along with the images.

Sandplay, seen in this way, as Bonnie Badenoch points out in her book "Being a Brainwise Therapist" ( 2008, Northon and Company Inc.) helps the top down and lateral integration of the brain processes.

Personally I feel that it is essential to bring a new focus on the physical sensations and processes arising from them in Sandplay Therapy, to help patients to experience the effect of playing in the sand on a sensory level. This can start by becoming aware of sensations such as a tightening of the body, relaxation, lightness, heaviness, warmth or cold etc. after creating a sandplay. Many people, especially those who have undergone trauma, are unable to have an easy access to body sensations and feelings.

At the same time it is helpful as a therapist also to open oneself to this level of experience also in order to become aware of the physical aspects of counter transference. Practices related to mindfulness meditation and its medical applications such as John Kabat Zinn's "Mindfulness based stress reduction" can be valuable help in this. This would also correspond to a revival of the third root of Sandplay Therapy in a secular way in accordance to many new developments in current psychotherapy. At the same time also contemplative aspects alive in the Chinese tradition may contribute to this process.

Thus I wish for the Chinese Sandplay Journal to become a forum of research and exchange which can build on the past exchange of Eastern and Western thought which lies at the root of Sandplay Therapy and integrate new currents of psychology from inside and outside Sandplay Therapy in a living and creative way.

From Martin Kalff, ISST teaching and founding member, October 24., 2014

Rie Rogers Mitchell and Harriet S. Friedman (2014):

It is our great honor to be asked to write this foreword for the first Journal of Sandplay Therapy in Chinese. This Journal marks 20 years since the beginning of the development of Analytical Psychology and Sandplay Therapy in China in 1993.   During this time, Heyong Shen and Gaolan have initiated and supported many important events that have encouraged the growth of sandplay in China, including six International Conferences of Analytical Psychology and Chinese Culture, sponsored by both the International Association of Analytical Psychology (IAAP) and the International Society for Sandplay Therapy (ISST).

During the past 20 years, Heyong Shen and Gaolan have established three institutes for Analytical Psychology and Sandplay therapy in three universities in China: South China Normal University in Guangzhou, Fudan University in Shanghai, and City University of Macao in Macao. Currently Sandplay Therapy is warmly accepted in China, and some of the universities now have formal courses in Sandplay Therapy.     

To meet the needs of the Chinese people after the 2008 earthquake, Heyong Shen and Gaolan founded the “Garden of the Heart & Soul,” which established over 60 work stations at orphanages on mainland China. Sandplay and Jungian Psychology were used to help the psychological development of orphans, and provide psychological relief work for the earthquake victims.

In addition, Heyong Shen and Gaolan published the first Sandplay Book in China in 2004; Kay Bradway wrote the foreword. They also translated a series of sandplay books into Chinese, written by Dora Kalff, Kay Bradway, Rie Rogers Mitchell, Harriet Friedman, and Ruth Amann, and they have published books on Analytical Psychology with forewords by Murray Stein and Tom Kirsch.

Heyong Shen and Gaolan recently translated and published nine volumes of C. G. Jung’s selected works, including the Dream Seminars, Vision Seminars, and 20 volumes of Jung’s Collected Works (to be published in 2015).

In addition to all their tireless work and dedication in bringing sandplay to China, their personal vision has enlarged and inspired us all, and has brought the Heart and Soul to both the East and West.   

We send our congratulations to you. We know the Journal will be tremendously successful in increasing knowledge, insight, and support for Sandplay Therapy.     

Rie Rogers Mitchell, Ph.D., CST-S, ISST Past-President

Harriet S. Friedman, M.S., CST-S, Jungian Analyst

Murray Stein (2018):

     Jung never traveled to China, but China traveled to him. It came to him in the form of myths and symbols and in the translations of Chinese classics by his friend, Richard Wilhelm. Jung was fascinated by such works as the I Ching, The Secret of the Golden Flower, and the Tao Te Ching. He had an enormous appreciation for the cultural depth of Chinese traditions and their wisdom, and he tried to learn from Chinese culture new and different ways of seeing and thinking that are profoundly other from those of his European education and background. He did his best to overcome Euro-centrism and to bring Chinese perspectives and forms of thinking into Western consciousness and to incorporate important aspects of Chinese modes of thought into his depth psychological theory. He was convinced that Chinese culture had important contributions to make to Western science and specifically to European approaches to psychotherapy.

    Prof. Shen has written a work that gives a full account of the influence and impact of Chinese culture on Jung’s life and work. Shen is a longtime student of analytical psychology, and he became the first fully trained and accredited Jungian psychoanalyst in China. His research into the roots of Chinese psychology (“the psychology of the heart”) has helped to build an important and sturdy bridge between Chinese culture and analytical psychology. The effort of building a bridge of significant understanding between Eastern and Western cultures is still in its early stages as far as the West is concerned, and I am sure much more will be contributed in years to come. We in the West are still learning and have barely scratched the surface of the ancient wisdom contained in the Chinese texts that Jung studied and commented on. Prof. Shen is helping us to get a better picture of developments in the Chinese psyche that might be useful in increasing our understanding of commonalities and differences.

     One of Jung’s most important insights was that European and Chinese culture stand in a complimentary relation to one another. For the West, Chinese culture is similar to the unconscious in its relation to ego-consciousness. When it remains obscure and unknown, the West is able to project its own shadow inferiority into it. When it becomes more known and a bridge is built between the two realms, they can assist each other in overcoming the one-sidedness of each and bringing both closer to approximating human wholeness. Each adds essential factors that contribute to the realization of the full potentials contained in the human psyche.

     Jung was able to grasp this complimentary relationship and to use it in relating causality to synchronicity (“meaningful coincidence”) and in developing the theory of opposites inherent within the self (masculine-feminine, yang-yin). Moreover, Jung’s theory of individuation, conceived as a lifelong psychological and spiritual development, has its Eastern expression in such texts as   Chinese Chan’s “Ten Ox-Herding Pictures,” and from Buddhist works such as this Jung added features to his understanding of the full potential for human development. It is apparent to Jungian thinkers today that the West and the East need each other for the project of human development in its full expression, and that neither side should seek to dominate the other. Respect for differences is essential, and only then can true dialogue take place and common ground emerge.

    Prof. Shen has promoted the dialogue between Jungian psychology and Chinese culture in his many writings, his lectures and teaching, and in the numerous conferences on this topic that he has sponsored over the past two decades. The book he presents here on C.G. Jung and Chinese Culture is a further development of this important dialogue. Here he is introducing Chinese readers to the life and work of Jung and discussing how Jung integrated Chinese culture into his psychological works. He is laying the foundations for further dialogue in depth between Jungian thinkers from the West and the scholars of China. I am sure his book will also show readers in China that analytical psychology can also be useful for recovering their ancient Chinese cultural heritage and giving it a new contemporary relevance.

     Accompanied by his friend, Richard Wilhelm, Jung engaged in this dialogue with the East some ninety years ago. In the years following, there was a long pause in this project due to world events. Today the windows between East and West are open once again, and the time is ripe for further advances. Prof. Shen’s leadership in this effort is exemplary. It is to be hoped, too, that more Jungian scholars from the West will seriously take up studies in the history of Chinese culture from a depth psychological perspective. The work still remains to go more deeply into shared archetypal patterns.

    It is an honor to contribute this brief Foreword to Prof. Shen’s book on C.G. Jung and Chinese culture. I look forward to more studies of this kind, works that will advance the dialogue and serve to unite the world into a global community of shared values and interests.

Murray Stein, Ph.D., Past President of the IAAP

Zurich, Switzerland, March 2017

Andreas Jung（2009）：

Verena and Andreas Jung wrote a special letter to Shen Heyong for the Jungian conference in China: “Thank you for your kind invitation to the fourth International Conference of Analytical Psychology and Chinese Culture at Fudan University in Shanghai. Unfortunately, we are not in the position to do the journey and to join you, what we regret! – My wife and I visited China two years ago and we were highly impressed by the wide landscapes, the friendly people and of course by the stunning monuments and the towering cities! In our time of profound change and reversal, we need a new basis, a stable groundwork, which we may find in our psyche, each individual in his very soul. So we approve very much of the interest and the great effort of your Conference at Fudan University in search for the essence of Analytical Psychology. We do hope you experience a fruitful convention and achieve convincing results. We wish you and all the participants a good time.”

Thomas Fischer（2014）:

Jungian Psychology in China made major leaps forward in the past two decades: By the time the fifth international conference on Analytical Psychology and Chinese Culture was held in 2012, three training institutes for Jungian Psychology were established at the South China Normal University in Guangzhou, the Fudan University in Shanghai and the City University of Macao, as well as numerous therapeutic working stations at orphanages across the mainland and in earthquake zones. Translations of the nine volumes of C.G. Jung’s selected works have been published in China in recent years and now the new Chinese edition of Jung’s 20 volume Collected Works is nearing completion. The founding of the new Journal of Analytical Psychology in China as the latest of these efforts comes as a timely and highly welcome addition to the field. The Foundation of the Works of C.G. Jung fully embraces this initiative, and we would like to congratulate the editors and contributors to the inauguration of their Journal. This new publication broadens the possibilities for a further engagement of Analytical psychology with Chinese culture and heritage.

    During his lifetime Jung developed a deep interest in the ancient civilization and vast history of China, in particular in the study of Taoist traditions and the philosophy of Zhuangzi. Jung mainly came to know about Chinese thinking through his friendship with the German Sinologist Richard Wilhelm, who founded the China-Institute at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in 1925. It was through Wilhelm’s translations of classical Chinese texts into German that Jung became acquainted with Chinese thinking, and some of the readers of this Journal will recall the conference in 2013 in Quingdao, Wilhelm’s home for over 20 years, to commemorate the collaboration of the two great men.

Jung’s engagement with Chinese philosophy and thought happened on the backdrop of a wider interest in Eastern philosophies and religions at the time in Europe. Jung himself had progressed from reading the texts of classic European literature and philosophy as a young student to studying the fields of early Christian symbolism, Gnosis, antique mystic religions, Egyptian, Mexican, Indian and Eastern mythology. Much of the knowledge on the ‘Far East’ became first accessible to him through the acquisition of the monumental 50-volume English edition of the Sacred books of the East for his private library, a set of Asian religious writings, which incorporate the essential sacred texts of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Zoroastrianism, Jainism, and Islam.

Thus when Wilhelm asked Jung in 1928 to contribute a ‘Commentary on the “The Secret of the Golden Flower”’ from a European psychological point of view, this definitely sparked Jung’s interest. And when Jung twenty years later in 1948 wrote a foreword to the English translation of Wilhelm’s edition of “The I Ching or Book of Changes”, the use of Yijing had long become a therapeutic devise in Jungian circles in Europe and the United States.

Jung’s many comments on Chinese literature and philosophy speak of his deep admiration, from which he obviously gained new insight also for his therapeutic work. As Jung noted in his foreword to Wilhelm’s translation of the I Ching: “Even to the most biased eye it is obvious that this book represents one long admonition to careful scrutiny of one’s own character, attitude, and motives.” The notion of a creative self-understanding proved to be particularly appealing to Jungian psychology. At the same time the material in the Chinese literature pointed beyond the individual experience to wider symbolic meanings, which Jung had started to investigate based on his theory of the archetype and the collective unconscious. In his teachings and seminars of the late 1920s and 1930s he often referred to ‘Eastern parallels’ to amplify the individual experience of the Western psyche, all the time aware that he was himself deeply rooted in a Western way of thinking when approaching the subject.

As much as the study of Chinese philosophy obviously inspired Jung’s thinking and work, his observations on the common heritage of the human psyche seem to be able to build bridges and foster mutual understanding between Western and Eastern ways of thinking nowadays. That Analytical Psychology has been able to establish itself institutionally and therapeutically in modern day China speaks of its potential, which hopefully will further be stimulated and realized by the launching of this new Journal. We hope that this publication will be able to draw many interested readers and wish the editors every possible success in their undertaking.

Thomas Fischer, Director, Foundation of the Works of C.G. Jung,

Zürich/Switzerland

Hester Somomon (2008):

Dear friends, dear colleagues, Presidents and Members of the IAAP

I am writing to let you know of an important and unique project which the IAAP is seeking to support with your help. This project is being organized by Professor Heyong Shen of Fudan University, currently the first and only IAAP Individual Member in China, and Professor Gao Lan of Guangzhou University, an IAAP Individual Membership router. They have brought together a team, including almost all the members of the IAAP Developing Group in China, along with other health professionals, in a sustained and remarkable humanitarian program with Jungian depth psychological perspectives. It is a very important project that is worthy of the support of our international Jungian community.

You will no doubt remember that on May 12, 2008, a very strong earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale hit Sichuan Province, a mountainous region in Western China. Estimates are of 80, 000 deaths and 18 000 missing, with 5.12 million affected overall. Approximately 2 0000 of the dead were students and teachers caught in collapsed school buildings. Clearly, massive physical and psychological devastation followed for the survivors. Buildings and basic infrastructures were destroyed and are still not fully reinstated. There is not one person in the stricken area who has not been directly affected by the disaster through loss and injury. The psychic toll in terms of emerging PTSD is enormous.

I want to let you know that Professors Heyong Shen and Gao Lan and their team from the Chinese Association of Analytical Psychology (CAAP), which includes members of the China Developing Group and other health professionals -- numbering over 120 people -- have devoted themselves tirelessly since the disaster to alleviating the suffering of the survivors, many of them children, both directly in an immediate physical and hands-on way, and psychologically, by offering sand play and other Jungian oriented therapies, including the supervision of colleagues working with the survivors. Their work has been ongoing since May, and now that they have had to return to their university responsibilities, they will continue to spend 10 days per month in Sichuan Province to supervise and support the team that remains working there.

Their story is remarkable and perhaps is unique in the history of direct participation of IAAP colleagues in such circumstances. I want you to know of the deep admiration and pride we should all feel for these outstanding colleagues and their work……

At the recent IAAP / IAJS Academic Conference in Zurich in July, Professor Heyong Shen gave an account of the history of the project…A version of his presentation is sent as an attachment to this email. There are also testimonies from Luigi Zoja, past IAAP President, and Eva Pattis, former Liaison Person to the China Developing Group, who recently visited the project and offered additional supervision to the colleagues there. Another attachment from Joe Cambray, IAAP President-Elect and Co-Chair of the Developing Groups Sub-Committee, and Tom Kelly, IAAP Vice-President and Chair of the Individual Membership Sub-Committee, gives further information about the importance and relevance of this project and specific details about how you can make a contribution to it.

I very much hope that you will read these documents carefully and respond to this appeal in whatever ways you are able. This humanitarian project is based on a truly Jungian understanding of how the forces and energies of culture, psyche, and spirit need to work together to address psychological as well as physical suffering, and also to well being. Your contribution will give needed practical support; it will also demonstrate to our colleagues working in the stricken area in China our deeply felt admiration and encouragement to each of them personally, and to them collectively, as a group.

I request that the Presidents of the IAAP Societies distribute this communication directly to the members of their Societies.

With all my good wishes

Hester Solomon, President of IAAP; 6 October 2008

This picture is from the 18th IAAP Congress (Montreal, 2010). Three of the IAAP presidents: Hester Solomon, Joe Cambray, Tom Kelly, introduced the 20 development of China group and the “Garden of the Heart & Soul” project. Participants stood up and turned towards Heyong Shen, Gao Lan, and the Chinese group of delegates to express their gratitude and encouragement.

After then, several plenary presentations of IAAP conferences related to the theories and practice of the “Garden of the Heart & Soul” (different countries, different cultures…but face the similar challenge of disasters). Sandplay is the main method (with its theories, principles, and spirit) we use for the victims and orphans.

The “Garden of the Heart & Soul” started in 2007, and now we have set up 86 work-stations in orphanages in the mainland of China. Harriet Friedman, Rie Mitchell, Eva Pattis, Luigi Zoja, Betty Jackson, Tom Kirsch, Jean Kirsch, John Beebe, Robert Bosnak, David Rosen, Brian Feldman, Silvia Schmidlin...are the international volunteers of the project. When Covid-19 started last year, our group set up “Garden of Heart & Soul 2020 online”, to provide psychological help and service for the victims until now. Andrew Samuels, Robert Bosnak, David Rosen, Brian Feldman, Eva Pattis, Luigi Zoja…joined with us. Both IAAP and ISST, gave us great support.

Yasuhiro Yamanaka（2014）：

    Ms. Kalff has mentioned Lao Tzu’s “Tao De Jing” in her work, made references to the “Tai Chi” map that has been widely used since ancient times, and also quoted from the philosophy of Zhou Dunyi. It was clear that she had a profound knowledge of traditional Chinese culture.

    I have learned about the recent development of Sandplay Therapy in China, from my good friend Professor Heyong Shen, and I am most delighted and honored to be invited to write a few words as the preface for the upcoming Chinese Journal for Sandplay Therapy.

    First, I would like to offer my sincere congratulation on the establishment of the Chinese Society for Sandplay Therapy (CSST) and my best wishes for China’s future growth in the field of Sandplay Therapy. I would also like to express my deep respect and admiration to Professor Heyong Shen and his colleagues for their constant efforts so far.

    Professor Heyong Shen and I have several things in common: we are both analysts working in the academic field of Jungian psychology who are also very interested in traditional Chinese culture and Sandplay Therapy. We first met at the International Conference for Analytical Psychology in 1995. Professor Heyong Shen also visited Japan for the Conference on Sandplay Therapy later. Last year, we got together again at the International Symposium for Expressive Psychotherapy held at Soochow University in Suzhou, China. I was the International Chair for that Symposium, and Prof. Shen was the host for my personal workshop. Though it was a reunion after many years, it immediately deepened our close friendship of two decades. That was a great joy for me.

    Prof. Shen has an in-depth understanding of the progress and process of Japanese Sandplay Therapy. I also took note of his intimate knowledge on the contributions made by Hayao Kawai, Kazuhiko Higuchi and Yasuhiro Yamanaka of Japan in regards of Sandplay therapy.

    I wish to give a special mention here of Prof. Hayao Kawai’s contribution in naming “Sandspiel” as “Hakoniwa/Sandplay Therapy”. He has made corrections where even Kalff had not realized the mistakes, and has then named it “Hakoniwa/Sandplay Therapy”. These corrections are all on point as far as I am concerned, particularly the emphasis he has placed on “Sandplay Therapy does not require any explanation in certain situations”, “The most important thing is that the therapist must be present when the client is making the sand tray”, etc. So I was beyond pleased to learn that Prof. Shen was of the same mind.

    In addition, Prof. Shen has a way of thinking that stemmed from the perspectives of Chinese philosophies and the origin of the Chinese characters. I have translated Kalff’s “Sandspiel, seine Therapeutische Wirkung auf die Psyche” (Sandplay: A Psychotherapeutic Approach to the Psyche) from the original German into Japanese for publication in Japan. Ms. Kalff has mentioned Lao Tzu’s “Tao De Jing” in her work, made references to the “Tai Chi” map that has been widely used since ancient times, and also quoted from the philosophy of Zhou Dunyi. It was clear that she had profound knowledge of traditional Chinese culture. There is no doubt that one of Kalff’s fundamental principles is Chinese philosophies and culture. As I myself am also deeply influenced by my background in Chinese philosophies and culture, I am very gratified about this.

    I completely agree with Prof. Shen’s emphasis on how we should return to the origin of the Chinese characters and must consider the original meanings of Chinese characters for concepts such as “healing” and “play”, and I have often expressed the same view. To fully understand the characters and words with such profound meaning and to comprehend the great wisdom China has to offer, I shall continue to learn from Prof. Shen.

    As the final words for this preface, I look forward to the future development of the China Society for Sandplay Therapy (CSST), and wish for good health to Prof. Shen.

Yasuhiro Yamanaka

Honorary Professor of Kyoto University, Japan

Founding member of the International Society for Sandplay Therapy (ISST)

October 27, 2014 at home in Uji

Dr. Kazuhiko Higuchi(2010):

When the Japanese version of Dr. Shen Heyong's book "Analytical Psychology—My Understanding and Experience" was published, I promised to write a preface for this book. Dr. Shen Heyong and I first met at conferences of IAAP conference many years ago, later especially the ISST conference held at the University of Washington in Seattle in 2003, and the Kyoto ISST conference held last fall (2009). Dr. Shen Heyong was the representative of Chinese analytical psychology, attended the conference. Shen Heyong impressed me very deeply. He has a magnificent physique and long black beard reminiscent of an ancient Chinese Taoist who would never forget it at first glance. I thought at first glance that he was a person who was truly suitable for a dream analyst.

He has been engaged in Jungian psychology for ten years at the Jungian Institute of Psychology in Zurich and San Francisco and obtained the qualification of analyst recognized by the International Association of Analytical Psychology (IAAP). As far as I know, Dr. Shen Heyong is the first Jungian analyst with international qualifications in China. From this, you can imagine the tremendous hardships and efforts that Shen Heyong has made to open up this new research field. In Japan, the first person to obtain the qualification for international analysis was the late Mr. Hayao Kawai, who obtained it at the Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland in 1965. Since then, there have been 30 people in my country who have obtained the qualifications of analysts, most of whom returned to Japan after studying at the Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland. For the research experience in this area, as described in the book by Mr. Shen Heyong, he mainly studied Jungian psychology at the Jungian Institute in Zurich and in San Francisco, accepting psychological analysis as an orientalist himself, and then becoming an analyst. Now, Mr. Shen Heyong is engaged in the teaching and research of Jungian psychology in his home country, with Guangzhou as the center. He is a diligent, enterprising and pioneering practitioner and scholar.

The C.G. Jung Institute in San Francisco is studying Analytical Psychology of Jung, and at the same time learning Freud's theory. Its educational curriculum is unique, the most colorful and complete, and it has a long history and a reputation among many research institutes in the world; it has trained a large number of Jungian analysts. In this book, Mr. Shen Heyong also describes his own experience and personal experience of learning these courses both in Zurich and San Francisco. I believe that the publication of this book will also bring new enlightenment to people studying Japanese Jungian psychology. Jung's psychology is endless. The book shows the actual situation of educational analysis that has not been described in detail so far. The publication of the book will be of great benefit to the research of Jungian psychology in my country.

You can learn a lot from this book. In particular, what I can learn from this book is through the eyes of modern Chinese people about the relationship between the oriental thoughts of ancient Chinese thinkers such as Laozi, Confucius and Zhuangzhi, who Jung was very interested in, and Jung's psychology.   At the same time, in the book, Mr. Shen also explained the basic concepts of Jungian psychology with his unique viewpoints and new perspectives. In terms of terminology, there are some differences between Japanese and Chinese, and some can make people feel a little esoteric and confusing. At the same time, it will make people feel mysterious, bring us new associations, and be fun.

   This book tells in detail the process and experience of a Chinese scholar who is far away from his motherland, embarked on arduous exploration, opened up new research fields, and worked hard to master Jungian psychology. There are many things that we Japanese can learn from, and we look forward to the book opening a new page in the research of Jungian psychology that pioneered the East.

Written in Kyoto Shugakuin Analysis Room

Kazuhiko Higuchi

Jungian psychoanalyst; Founding member of the International Society for Sandplay Therapy (ISST); Honorary President of the Jung Institute of Psychology, Japan; July 7, 2010

    One recorded story for this picture: In his later years, Dr. Kazuhiko Higuchi came to China for teaching and supervision quite often. Every time when he started his teaching in China, he would always say: “I am almost eighty”… “I am already eighty”… “I am over eighty years old… quite old”. “Why your teacher Shen Heyong invited me here for Sandplay teaching?”

    “Because”, Dr. Higuchi, lower his voice, spoke humorously, “because, the secret of Sandplay Therapy is in my hand. And I will give all of the secret to your teacher Shen Heyong”…

    Later, someone asked Prof. Shen, what kind of secret of Sandplay Therapy Dr. Higuchi gave to him. Prof. Shen responds, “there is no secret of Sandplay Therapy. If there is something you imaged as secret, then it’s the passion, the personality, like Dr. Kazuhiko Higuchi, like Dora Kalff; it’s the Self, and it is the Tao, the Way of Life.”

Ruth Ammann (2014):

Many years ago, when I for the first time touched at Chinese ground, I was very excited, but also pondering about this unknown land. I knew about China’s extraordinarily rich cultural past, it’s wonderful art, poetry and philosophy, but I did not know much about modern China. So, arriving in Guangzhou at the occasion of the first Sandplay conference 2002, was like standing in front of an untouched Sandtray: It was an encounter with the “Unknown”, with an unknown land, with an unknown language, with faces I could not read. My mind was full of fantasies, expectations and questions, but my body had no experience yet of the Chinese earth and air. I had to slowly touch, hear, sense, taste and see this country and its people.

However, more than ten years passed by and I learned and experienced a lot!

Since my first encounter with this great country and its Sandplay students Guangzhou and today, that is my recent stay in Hangzhou in March 2014 with many students of the same group, an enormous development took place, in myself and in my vis a vis, the Chinese Sandplay students and therapists.

In China, thanks to Heyong Shen and Gao Lan’s sedulous work, the method of Sandplay Therapy, and with it the Analytical Psychology of C.G.Jung solidly gained ground.   Heyong Shen and Gao Lan unceasingly learned about and taught Sandplay and they understood in a fine way to further Sandplay by inviting international Jungian Analysts and Sandplay Therapists for teaching in China’s cities. In this way this method got widely known and valued. More and more Chinese therapists were trained. A Chinese Sandplay community was growing up.

Regarding my own development, I experienced step by step some of China’s way of life and I learned to value and highly respect the efforts and learning aptitude of the Chinese Sandplay therapists and students.   And - I found some friends there, even though I still do not understand the Chinese language. The language and with it the way of Chinese thinking is very different of our/ my European thinking, but the language of the heart is very similar and makes friendship possible!

Sandplay Therapy is a very interesting method. It has not only the potential to develop the personalities of our patients and clients, but also of developing itself continuously. That means, that the methodology and the inherent possibilities of Sandplay refine themselves to the same extent as the Sandplay therapists develop their own knowledge and fantasy. Sandplay is not a “once for ever” defined technique. In the contrary, this method allows as well to integrate new developments in psychotherapy, as to take up and mirror personal and cultural changes in the therapist’s mode of   working. Therefore it is always a great pleasure for me to read and hear about young Sandplay therapist’s new insights and discoveries!

I also observe with great satisfaction, that Sandplay is more and more taught on a good foundation of Analytical Psychology. In this way C.G.Jung’s theory and Dora Kalff’s practical work come together and form an extraordinary open minded therapy method, which then allows specific modifications according to each new cultural context.

Now a Chinese Sandplay journal will be created. I hope that many papers of Chinese Sandplay therapists will be translated into English, because it seems to me very important to learn about the modifications and the personal and cultural contributions to Sandplay therapy coming from this culturally rich and interesting country.

I want to thank all the Chinese Sandplay therapists for their ongoing effort and love for this method, but I also want to thank very personally for a more than ten years long friendship and cultural enrichment!

We are so grateful to be a group member of the ISST family. We sincerely welcome our ISST friends to come and visit China for teaching, supervision, and to support CSST, to continue the task of building the bridge between East and West Psychology, to continue the work left by C.G. Jung and Richard Wilhelm, and Dora Kall.

Jung said, “We must continue Wilhelm’s work of translation in a wider sense if we wish to show ourselves worthy pupils of the master. The central concept of Chinese philosophy is tao, which Wilhelm translated as ‘meaning.’ Just as Wilhelm gave the spiritual treasure of the East a European meaning, so we should translate this meaning into life. To do this—that is, to realize tao—would be the true task of the pupil.” Of course, we should continue the task started by Jung and Wilhelm.

Dora Kalff says in her founding book of Sandplay Therapy: ……“While studying Chinese thought, I came across a diagram that seems to correspond to our viewpoint. It is the diagram of Chou Tun Yi, a philosopher of the Sung period, who lived around the year 1000 ce.” Dora Kallf’ s last words of her founding book of the Sandplay Therapy, after she described the image of water with the 29 hexagram of I Ching: “Remember this in Sandplay. And remember that when we do succeed with the work of bringing about the inner harmony that defines a personality, we speak of grace.”

Just for another recorded story: In the later years of Dora Kalff, she mentioned several times that her purpose for the Sandplay, and the nature of Sandplay, in fact, is not just a “technique”, nor “certification”, but is the Way of Life. The meaning of the Way of Life, for Dora Kalff, is related to I Ching, and to the Tao. Martin Kalff told Heyong Shen that The Way of Life and the Great Dao (by Richard Wilhelm) is the most favorite book for his mother. One time when Heyong Shen and Gao Lan, visited the house with our group for learning, Martin Kalff found this book, with reading signs and marks by Dora Kalff, and asked Heyong Shen to bring it back to China. Heyong Shen told Martin that the book should be in the house, but Martin insisted that Heyong Shen should bring this book back to China, and let people know the story, her mother’s wishes for Sandplay.

CSST, China Society for Sandplay Therapy

February, 2021