A Chinese classic of the "inner alchemy" of Taoism, this book was first translated by Richard Wilhelm (also translator, in the 1920s, of the Chinese philosophical classic the I Ching). Wilhelm, was German, and his translations from Chinese to German were later translated to English by Cary F. Baynes. According to Wilhelm, Lu Dongbin was the main originator of the material presented in the book suggests that the material is from Quanzhen School founder Wang Chongyang, a student of Lu Dongbin).

Despite the varieties of impressions, interpretation and opinion expressed by translators, the meditation technique described by The Secret of the Golden Flower is a straightforward, silent method; the book's description of meditation has been characterized as "Zen with details". The meditation technique, set forth in poetic language, reduces to a formula of sitting, breathing, and contemplating.

According to those in the modern mystical move several of the meditation techniques in the book are said to have been based on the Judeo-Christian Meditation practice known as Tohu Wa-Bohu which has been used as a precursor to the practices mentioned in the Secret of the Golden Flower.