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

1. The Three Books 203
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conjecture is perhaps the best attempt made by a modern scholar to
bring the different traditions on the origins of the Cantong qi in line
with one another. It attempts to explain how Wei Boyang and Xu
Congshi—each of whom was tied to a different tradition, and respectively
came, according to those traditions, from the South and the
North—may have been the authors of the same text. However, Pan
Yuting’s view is entirely dependent on hagiographic accounts, and in the
first place, on the assumption that the Cantong qi was actually written
by Wei Boyang and Xu Congshi. In addition, Pan bases his suggestion on
Zhu Xi’s unique reading of the verse quoted above. In fact, the attempt
to coordinate the two different traditions to one another appears to have
been made first by Zhu Xi himself, or by the author of one of the earlier
redactions that Zhu Xi used to establish his own text.
In partial agreement with Pan Yuting, Meng Naichang suggests
that since the cryptogram hiding Wei Boyang’s name (found in
section 88) is set in four-character verses, Wei Boyang is the author of
all portions of the Cantong qi written in that meter. However, Meng
Naichang also notes divergences in the views of the five-character and
the four-character portions. One divergence concerns the eight minerals
(bashi 八 石 ), which are mentioned twice in the Cantong qi. The
first passage, in five-character verses, states that “the eight minerals set
the guiding thread in line” (32:4). The second passage, in four-character
verses, says instead: “Discard the eight minerals!” (87:20). On the
basis of this and other analogous (but less explicit) divergences, Meng
Naichang suggests that the five-character verses are the main text of
the Cantong qi and pertain to Waidan, while the four-character verses
are a commentary and pertain to Neidan. Since Wei Boyang wrote the
portions in four-character verses, Meng concludes that Wei Boyang is
not the author of the main text of the Cantong qi, but of its commentary.
This suggestion, however, conflicts with other passages of the
text. For example, section 62, which is in four-character verses, describes
the alchemical process using plain Waidan terminology. 3
One of the most evident, but also most enigmatic, features of
Books 1 and 2 is the fact that several sections written in different
meters mirror one another. Some of the main correspondences include
the section entitled “Filling Lacunae” see below. In all other redactions and
editions that I have seen, verses 86:9–10 read “Unhurried, dwelling at ease, I
wrote this book” ( 晏 然 閑 居 、 乃 撰 斯 文 ).
3
See Meng Naichang, Zhouyi cantong qi kaobian, 43–46.
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