The Seal of the Unity of the Three — Vol. 2 - The Golden Elixir

186 II. Commentaries, Essays, and Related Works
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containing the Guwen cantong qi. 3 Supposedly recovered from a stone
casket, this version separates the sections in verses of four characters
from those in verses of five characters. Scholars from the Qing period
onward have often regarded the Ancient Text as spurious, and similar
criticism is echoed in several Ming- and Qing-dynasty commentaries to
the standard version, whose authors reject the new arrangement of the
work. 4 The prestige enjoyed by the Ancient Text within the Ming and
Qing lineages of Neidan—and also within certain present-day milieux
related to Neidan—suggests, however, that the verdict of non-authenticity
is inaccurate, and that it was to a large extent influenced by the
controversial personality of Yang Shen, who was often charged with
falsifying texts. 5
This accusation is ultimately irrelevant as far as the Cantong qi is
concerned, for in fact the Ancient Text is not Yang Shen’s own work.
Its origins can be traced back to at least three decades before him,
when Du Yicheng 杜 一 誠 (zi Tongfu 通 復 , hao Yunfeng Daoren 雲 巖
道 人 , a native of Suzhou like Yu Yan) wrote a now-lost commentary
on it in 1517. 6 Moreover, and more important, the Guwen cantong qi
3
Yang Shen’s statement is included as a preface in several commentaries
to the “Ancient Text,” including those by Jiang Yibiao (1614), Yuan Renlin
(1732), Liu Wulong (ca. 1735), and Lü Huilian (1879).
4
See the entries on Jiang Yibiao’s and Li Guangdi’s commentaries to the
Ancient Text in Siku quanshu zongmu, 146.1249 and 147.1257. See also Pan
Yuting, “Cantong qi zuozhe ji chengshu niandai”, 58, and Meng Naichang,
Zhouyi cantong qi kaobian, 60–61.
5
On Yang Shen’s life and work see Goodrich and Fang, eds., Dictionary
of Ming Biography, 1531–35; and Schorr, “Connoisseurship and the Defense
Against Vulgarity: Yang Shen (1488–1559) and his Work” (especially pp. 105–
8 on the Guwen cantong qi). In their account of Li Guangdi’s work (see the
previous footnote), the Siku editors plainly state that “[Yang] Shen liked to
falsify ancient books” (Shen hao weituo gushu 慎 好 偽 托 古 書 ).
6
Bibliographic materials on Du Yicheng’s work were collected by Yu
Jiaxi in his Siku tiyao bianzheng, 19.1214–18; see also Wang Ming, “Zhouyi
cantong qi kaozheng”, 288–90. In an essay entitled “Preface to a Commentary
to the Cantong qi” (“Zhu Cantong qi xu” 注 參 同 契 序 , in Xu Wei ji, 19.543–
44), Xu Wei provides several important details, including a statement that
Du’s work was already printed in 1533, a dozen years before Yang Shen’s
claim of discovery. The same does Qiu Zhao’ao in his Guben zhouyi cantong
qi jizhu, “Liyan ershi tiao”, 10b-11a. In another essay, entitled “Note on
Errors about the Ancient Text of the Cantong qi” (“Shu guben Cantong qi wu
shi” 書 古 本 參 同 契 誤 識 , in Xu Wei ji, 29.679–81), Xu Wei discusses again the
© Fabrizio Pregadio and Golden Elixir Press 2012