Jung’s Alchemical Theory of Individuation and the Transformation of Sun Wukong: Toward a Culturally Embedded Model of Selfhood

Jung’s Alchemical Theory of Individuation and the Transformation of Sun Wukong: Toward a Culturally Embedded Model of Selfhood

This paper reconceptualizes Carl Gustav Jung’s theory of individuation through a cross-cultural psychological lens by examining the transformation of Sun Wukong in Journey to the West. While Jung conceptualized individuation as an intrapsychic process of integrating the self and the unconscious, his framework emerged within a Western intellectual tradition that emphasizes autonomy and self-realization. By contrast, Sun Wukong’s developmental trajectory reflects a culturally embedded form of individuation in which psychological integration unfolds through moral discipline, relational responsibility, and alignment with collective and cosmic order. Mapping the character’s transformation onto the four alchemical stages—nigredo,albedo, citrinitas, and rubedo—this study argues that individuation in the Chinese cultural context culminates not in autonomous individuation alone but in socially integrated selfhood. The analysis contributes to cross-cultural psychology by challenging the cultural neutrality of classical analytical psychology and proposing a model of socially embedded individuation. The findings highlight the importance of situating universal psychological theories within culturally specific moral and relational frameworks.