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

2. Song and Yuan Dynasties 131
—————————————————————————————————————————
2
Song and Yuan Dynasties
Five commentaries to the Cantong qi dating from the Song (960–1279)
or the Yuan (1279–1368) dynasty are extant. The first was composed
in 1197 by Zhu Xi, whose redaction introduces several peculiar
readings; his text, as we have seen (above, pp. [Bookmark "_ @ Bao
Huanzhi" is missing.] ff.), was used by Bao Huanzhi in 1208 to edit
Peng Xiao’s redaction. Peng Xiao’s text, in its turn, is at the basis of
the anonymous Neidan commentary, written some time after Bao
Huanzhi’s remaniement; and of the commentary by Chen Xianwei,
dating from 1234. Zhu Xi’s redaction, instead, was followed by Chu
Yong (also known as Chu Huagu), whose work dates from ca. 1230;
and later by Yu Yan, whose remarkable commentary was completed—
according to Yu Yan’s own statement—in 1284, when the author was
in his mid-twenties, but may have undergone revisions before it was
published in 1310. Finally, a few decades before the end of the Yuan
period (ca. 1330), Chen Zhixu composed the redaction of the
Cantong qi that served as basis for several commentaries written
during the following five centuries (see below, p. 160). Whether the
same is or is not deemed to be also true of his exegesis, Chen
Zhixu’s redaction represents one of the best and most reliable
textual states of the Cantong qi before the Ming and Qing editions.
Except for the one composed by Zhu Xi, all the above-mentioned
commentaries are related to Neidan (Internal Alchemy), which
received new major codifications from the early Song period onward.
Dozens of works in the Daozang (Taoist Canon) of 1445 reflect the
influence of the Cantong qi on the Taoist alchemical traditions. By far
the most important of these works is the Wuzhen pian 悟 真 篇 (Awakening
to Reality), composed around 1075 by Zhang Boduan 張 伯 端 ,
the originator of the Southern Lineage (Nanzong 南 宗 ) of Neidan. As
shown below, several central notions in the Wuzhen pian are not only
drawn from the Cantong qi, but also formulated in language clearly
inspired by it.
Visit the Web page on this book • www.goldenelixir.com