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

2. Song and Yuan Dynasties 133
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influence on the history of Chinese alchemy, but only to cite a few
passages that reveal the analogies between the two texts. In the examples
that follow, the titles of the two works are abbreviated as “CTQ”
and “WZP”, respectively. For notes on the passages quoted from the
Cantong qi, see The Seal of the Unity of the Three, vol. 1. 2
1. Li and Kan
CTQ “Kan is man and is the Moon; Li is woman and is the
Sun” ( 坎 男 為 月 、 離 女 為 日 ; 70:1–2)
WZP “The Sun resides in the position of Li , but is a woman; Kan
matches the palace of the toad [i.e., the Moon], yet is a
man.” ( 日 居 離 位 反 為 女 、 坎 配 蟾 宮 卻 是 男 ; “Jueju” 15)
2. Cycle of the twelve “sovereign hexagrams” (bigua 辟 卦 )
CTQ “Moving in a ring in accordance with Jade-cog and Armil,
rising and falling, ascending and descending, it flows in cycles
through the six lines, and can hardly be beheld. Thus it has no
constant position: it is the ancestor of change” ( 循 環 璇 璣 、 昇
降 上 下 、 周 流 六 爻 、 難 可 察 、 故 無 常 位 、 為 易 宗 祖 ; 50:1–
6)
WZP “Between south and north, the ancestral source causes the
hexagrams to revolve; from daybreak to dusk, the fire times
accord with the Celestial Axis” 南 北 宗 源 翻 卦 象 、 晨 昏 火 侯 合
天 樞 ; “Lüshi” 5)
This example requires an explanation. In the Cantong qi, the “ancestor of
change” is the One Breath prior to Heaven (xiantian yiqi 先 天 一 氣 ),
which is distributed throughout the cosmos in accordance with the
directions of space and the cycles of time. Its circular movement along the
time cycles is represented by the twelve “sovereign hexagrams.” This
movement accords with the apparent rotation of the Northern Dipper at
the center of Heaven. The Wuzhen pian uses the same imagery and a
similar terminology. The “ancestor of change” of the Cantong qi is its
“ancestral source.” The “movement in a ring” is expressed by its words,
“between south and north.” Just as the “ancestor of change” in the
Cantong qi “flows in cycles through the six lines” of the hexagrams (from
2
The quotations from the Wuzhen pian derive from the text found in
Wang Mu, Wuzhen pian qianjie (wai san zhong).
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