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

134 II. Commentaries, Essays, and Related Works
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the rebirth of Yang to its exhaustion), so does the “ancestral source” of
the Wuzhen pian cause “the hexagrams to revolve” (from Fu , which
stands for the rebirth of Yang, to Kun , which stands for its
exhaustion). Finally, the rotation of the hexagrams is determined by the
Northern Dipper, which is referred to in the Cantong qi by its second and
third stars, Jade-cog and Armil; and in the Wuzhen pian by Celestial Axis,
which is the first star of the Dipper and denotes, by extension, the whole
constellation.
3. Inversion of the “generation” (xiangsheng 相 生 ) sequence of the
five agents
CTQ “Metal is the mother of Water — [but] the mother is hidden in
the embryo of her son” ( 金 為 水 母 、 母 子 胎 ; 23:1–2)
WZP “As the two things entirely depend on one another, the child
gives birth to its mother” ( 二 物 總 因 兒 產 母 ; “Jueju” 17)
4. “Three, Five, and One” (san wu yi 三 五 一 )
CTQ “The Three Fives combine into One, the ultimate essence of
Heaven and Earth” ( 三 五 與 一 、 天 地 至 精 ; 63:5–6) [See also
72:15–16 and 79:13–14]
WZP “Three, Five, One — all is in these three words” ( 三 五 一 都 三 箇
字 ; “Lüshi” 14)
5. “Two Eights” (erba 二 八 )
CTQ “Two times 8 corresponds to one pound” (or: “The Two Eights
correspond to one pound” 二 八 應 一 斤 ; 29:5)
WZP “For the Medicine to weigh one pound, the Two Eights are
needed” ( 藥 重 一 斤 須 二 八 ; “Lüshi” 7) [See also “Lüshi” 8, and
“Jueju” 18]
6. “Being of the same kind” (or: “category”, tonglei 同 類 )
CTQ “. . . Eggs are employed for hatching chicks . . . Like kinds yield
results with ease; unlike types are a challenge to craft” (. . . 覆
雞 用 其 卵 . . . 同 類 易 施 工 、 非 種 難 為 巧 ; 35:4 and 80:11–12)
WZP “. . . to hatch a chicken, you must use an egg. If all things are of
unlike kinds, you merely toil yourself” (. . . 覆 雞 當 用 卵 為 之 、
© Fabrizio Pregadio and Golden Elixir Press 2012