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

4
The Ancient Text and Its Commentaries *
In the early sixteenth century, a new version of the Cantong qi,
anachronistically called Guwen cantong qi 古 文 參 同 契 , or Ancient
Text of the Cantong qi, was created on the basis of a complete rearrangement
of the scripture. At the origin of this version are the sections
of Books 1 and 2 that mirror one another. Among the authors of extant
commentaries, Zhu Xi (1197) is the first to note these correspondences. 1
Almost one century later, Yu Yan (1284) not only points out that the
sections in which identical themes and terms recur more than once are
written in different meters, but also suggests that those portions should
be isolated from one another. This, he adds, would result in a text
divided into three parts: one in verses of four characters, one in verses
of five characters, and one in prose (sanwen 散 文 ). 2
Yu Yan’s suggestion was not unheeded, but led to complex developments.
In 1546, the well-known scholar, Yang Shen 楊 慎 (hao Sheng’an
升 庵 , 1488–1559), claimed to have come in possession of a manuscript
*
A shorter version of the introduction to this chapter is found in The
Seal, vol.1, pp. 31–33.
1
Zhouyi cantong qi [kaoyi] (CT 1001), 2.1a, 2a, 4a, 6a, and 8a-b. Zhu Xi
uses the term xiangbiao 相 表 to point out correspondences between different
sections.
2
Yu Yan’s remarks on this subject are found in his notes on the
“Eulogium” (“Zanxu” 讚 序 ), i.e., at the very end of his commentary; see
Zhouyi cantong qi fahui (CT 1005), 9.19b-21a. He refers to this as a sudden
realization that he had after he finished to write his work: “Suddenly one
evening, while I was in complete quietude, I heard something like a whisper
saying: ‘Wei Boyang wrote the Cantong qi, and Xu Congshi made a commentary.
The sequence of the bamboo slips was disrupted; this is why the portions
in four-character verses, those in five-character verses, and those in prose are
in disorder (butong 不 同 ).’ . . . I wish I could subdivide the text into three
parts, respectively made of four-character verses, five-character verses, and
prose, so that text and commentary are not confused, in order to facilitate the
inquiries of future students. However, my book is complete, and I cannot
change it.”
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