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

Preface
As I wrote in the preface to my translation of the Cantong qi (The
Seal of the Unity of the Three), I began my work in 1990 using the
edition of Peng Xiao’s redaction found in the Taoist Canon
(Daozang). Soon, however, I realized that I was working on a particular
edition of a particular redaction. How dependable was it as a
record of the text Trying to answer that question considerably
reduced the pace of my work, but introduced me to the large and
complex textual and bibliographic tradition of the Cantong qi, which
forms a substantial part of the literature of Taoist Neidan (Internal
Alchemy).
While my translation slowly progressed, I began to compile a
catalogue of extant and lost editions of the Cantong qi, and at the
same time, to acquire reproductions of editions found in different
libraries. The main result of those enquires was identifying the apparently
single extant exemplar of the earliest edition of Chen Zhixu’s
redaction, which was published in 1484 and is now preserved in the
Shanghai Library. My translation of the Cantong qi is based on that
exemplar. *
The present volume has evolved from the notes taken during those
years in parallel with my translation, and intends to be a survey of, and
a guide to, the vast amount and the remarkable variety of literature
directly related to the Cantong qi. The book is divided into two main
parts. Part I contains a catalogue of extant and lost commentaries,
essays, and related texts, listing altogether about 150 works with details
on their authors, dates, editions, reprints, bibliographic records, and—
where relevant—present whereabouts. Part II contains an overview of
the textual tradition originated by the Cantong qi, focused on the
composition and contents of about 40 major extant works.
*
The Seal of the Unity of the Three: A Study and Translation of the
Cantong qi, the Source of the Taoist Way of the Golden Elixir (Golden Elixir
Press, 2011). Although it is not formally marked as such, in the present work I
refer to my translation as “The Seal of the Unity of the Three, vol. 1.”
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