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

204 Appendixes
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those between sections 1 and 43, on the representation of change by
trigrams and hexagrams; 3 and 45, on the sixty-hexagram cycle; 10
and 48, on the joining of the Sun and Moon; 13 and 49, on the cycle
of trigrams; and 39–40 and 62, on the alchemical conjunction of Lead
and Mercury. Several scholars have drawn attention to this feature and
have discussed the possible historical priorities among these portions
of the text. One point, however, does not seem to have been considered.
The Cantong qi describes three main cosmological cycles: those
of the sixty hexagrams during the days, of the eight trigrams during
the month, and of the twelve “sovereign hexagrams” (bigua 辟 卦 )
during the year. 4 The first cycle is described once in four-character
verses and once in five-character verses (sections 45 and 3,
respectively); the second cycle also is described once in four-character
verses and once in five-character verses (sections 49 and 13); but the
third cycle is described only in four-character verses (section 51). In
the extent to which the twelve-hexagram cycle is integral to the doctrines
of the Cantong qi, its description may be deemed to be part of
the original core of the text; and as long as this assumption is correct,
the original core would consist of the portions in four-character
verses. Whether and how this may be related to the view that the
Cantong qi includes a “Canon” and a “Commentary” remains
unclear. Nevertheless, the mirrored sections suggest that, in parallel to
the separate composition of the portions on cosmology, Taoism, and
alchemy, the individual sections that form Books 1 and 2 were written
in different times.
BOOK 3: ADDITIONAL WRITINGS
Book 3 contains three distinct additional compositions:
(1) “Epilogue” (“Luanci” 亂 辭 , sections 75–81)
(2) “Song of the Tripod” (“Dingqi ge” 鼎 器 歌 , section 82)
(3) “Filling Lacunae” (“Busai yituo” 補 塞 遺 脫 , sections 83–88)
In Peng Xiao’s, Zhu Xi’s, and Yu Yan’s redactions, moreover, Book 3
is concluded by a postface entitled “Eulogium” (“Zanxu” 讚 序 ).
These additional writings have given rise to further hypotheses con-
4
See The Seal, vol. 1, pp. 41–43.
© Fabrizio Pregadio and Golden Elixir Press 2012