The Seal of the Unity of the Three - The Golden Elixir

Notes 25
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and Wood (2+3); and the third, only of Soil (5). The main symbolic
associations of each element are shown below:
(1) WATER 1 north dark warrior black lead kidneys son
METAL 4 west white tiger true lead lungs mother
(2) FIRE 2 south vermilion sparrow cinnabar heart daughter
WOOD 3 east green dragon true mercury liver father
(3) SOIL 5 center yellow dragon spleen forefather
The next verses mention the standard associations of the five
viscera (liver, heart, spleen, lungs, and kidneys) with the five agents,
here represented by their colors (green, red, yellow, white, and black)
and by the family relations that occur among them (father, daughter,
“forefather,” mother, and son). (*) The verse translated as “the son is
at the origin of the five agents” can be understood in two ways, and
the double meaning is certainly intended. In the first sense, zi
means “son”; the son is Water, which is generated by the One and is
the first element in the “cosmogonic sequence” of the five agents (see
above the notes to section 22). In the second sense, zi is the name
of the first earthly branch (see table 13), and the verse should be
translated as “zi is the origin of the five agents.” In any of the two
interpretations, the sense is the same: zi is the branch emblematic of
the North, and the North corresponds to the agent Water.
The final two verses reiterate the reversion process: from 5 to 3
(Metal and Water; Wood and Fire; Soil), and from 3 to 1, when True
Yin and True Yang are joined to one another in the Elixir. The One is
indicated by wu and ji , the two celestial stems that represent
Soil with its Yin and Yang halves.
(*) The associations of the five viscera with the five agents will play an
important role in Neidan, where the Elixir is often said to be formed by
joining the “fire of the heart,” which holds True Yin, with the “water of
the kidneys,” which holds True Yang.
5. These four, in indistinction. This expression is also found in 43:13 with
reference to Qian , Kun , Kan , and Li .
9–13. The liver is green and is the father . . . The spleen is yellow and is
the forefather. For the variants found in these verses among different
redactions of the Cantong qi, see the Textual Notes.
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