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

12 Introduction
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Dongsheng, Zhouyi cantong qi yanjiu (A study of the Zhouyi cantong
qi, 2000) is noteworthy, but the authors’ attempt to find historical
grounds to hagiographic or other traditional data often leads them to
questionable evaluations. 17
Finally, with regard to cosmology, the chapter entitled “Shūeki
sandōkei no kenkyū” 周 易 參 同 契 の 研 究 (A study of the Zhouyi
cantong qi) in Suzuki Yoshijirō’s Kan Eki kenkyū 漢 易 研 究 (Studies
on the Book of Changes in the Han dynasty, revised edition, 1963), is
valuable to appreciate features shared by the Cantong qi with the Han
sources of the “Studies of the Book of Changes” (Yixue 易 學 ).
17
For example, Xiao and Guo attempt to identify Wei Boyang as the son
of Wei Lang 魏 朗 , a major officer who was a native of Shangyu and lived
during Huandi’s reign (r. 146–167). They suggest that Wei Boyang’s dates are
151–221, even though this contradicts other details of his hagiography. To
justify their claim, Xiao and Guo suggest, in particular, that the well-known
episode of Chunyu Shutong’s 淳 于 叔 通 prophesy based on the appearance of
a snake at court (see Mansvelt-Beck, The Treatises of Later Han, p. 169) did
not happen during Huandi’s reign in 146, but during Lingdi’s reign in 169.
Xiao and Guo’s book also includes a reconstruction of the supposedly
“original” text of the Cantong qi, which is not based on reliable text-critical
principles. Their reconstruction, furthermore, is based on one the latest
versions of the so-called “Ancient Text”, published in 1704 by Qiu Zhao’ao,
who created a highly peculiar variant of this version of the Cantong qi (see
below, p. 191).
© Fabrizio Pregadio and Golden Elixir Press 2012