Cantuntsi

A significant part of the text is devoted to the analogy between the symbols of Yi Jing , celestial phenomena and the human body, as well as alchemical processes leading to immortality. ^[one]

The main ingredients of the elixir, Wei Boyan , apparently considered mercury and tin , possibly also sulfur . ^[2] Ijing hexagrams were intended to indicate the time of day, and hexagram sequences to reflect the arrival and decrease of heat. ^[1] Five elements were used in the book - wood, fire, earth, metal, water. ^[3]

In the epilogue in the last section, the author’s name is a cryptogram . ^[four]

Some authors believe that this book could reflect the research that led to the invention of gunpowder . ^{[2] [4]} The style of the book contains many metaphors and hidden analogies, and is ambiguous. Researchers also believe that Wei Boyan intentionally used ambiguous terms. ^{[2] It is} officially confirmed that the recipe for gunpowder in the 12th century belongs to Wujing Tsongyao .

According to the assumption of Joseph Needham in 1986, the invention of gunpowder occurred much later:

The origin of the text

The text was still controversial in the Middle Ages, according to critics it was late (of the Tang time), however modern scholars are inclined to believe that it is based on a Han source . A detailed study of the origin of the text was conducted by Pregadio ^[5]

There are several references to the presence of this text since the Han era. In addition, the treatise Lunghujing (古文 龙虎 经) - (The Scroll of the Dragon and the Tiger by ancient writings) was preserved, the first part of which largely coincides with the first part of Tsantuntsi with a number of variations, which led to disputes about which of the texts should be considered authentic.

The first surviving edition of Cantuntsi, according to researchers, dates back to the Tang era, although comments are attributed to Han author Yin Changsheng (阴长生). Mentioned, however, a few comments of the early times, the very first edition refers to the student of Wei Boyan, Xiu Kunshi.

Pregadio hypothesizes that Cantuntsi is based on the unreserved Confucian apocrypha. Arguments in favor of this hypothesis are parallels with Jing Fang , the mention of Confucius and, in places, a style that corresponds to the commenting tradition of Ijing. The treatise Longhujing (古文 龙虎 经) Pregadio considers Sun and late.

Richard Burchinger, in a preserved dance text from Yin Changsheng (阴长生), drew attention to a comment in an anonymous preface: “I heard that Cantongqi comes from the first volume of Longhujin written by Xu Kungshi” (a student of Wei Boyang) ^[6] . On this basis, Burchinger concludes that the entire first part of Cantongqi (repeating the first part of Longhujing) was written later by Xu Kunshi (the author of Longhujing), and only the second and third parts belong to Wei Boyan.

Commentary Tradition

Several dozen versions of the treatise and many references to lost versions and citations have been preserved ^[6] . In the Taoist canon, Cantuntsi is presented in 12 versions [1] , accompanied by various studies and comments.

The first comments that reached us are attributed to Han author Yin Changsheng (阴长生), however, studies have shown that the text of the comments was written in the Tang period. The first detailed comments belong to Peng Xiao (彭晓, 947 ). In the editorial office of Peng Xiao, the text is divided into 90 small sections.

The commentary from Yu Yan (俞 琰, XIII century ) is well known. In the editorial board of Yu Yan, the same text is divided into larger sections, of which there are 35. Zhu Xi wrote his comparative commentary.

Here is the complete list of editions of the main text in Daozang:

1. Zhouyi cantong qi zhu周易 參 同 契 注 (Comments on Cantongqi ). Without an author, dated about 700, contains the only representation of the treatise as work on external alchemy. Only part of the first chapter is present.
2. Zhouyi cantong qi . 周易 參 同 契, associated with the famous Taoist immortal Yin Changsheng 陰長生, dates from about 700.
3. Zhouyi cantong qi fenzhang tong zhenyi周易 參 同 契 分 章 通 真 義 The true meaning of Cantongqi ). Peng Xiao彭曉 (? -955), dates from 947.
4. Zhouyi cantong qi kaoyi周易 參 同 契 考 異 (Studies and problems of Cantongqi ). Zhu Xi朱熹 (1130-1200), dates from 1197.
5. Zhouyi cantong qi . Chu Yun 儲 泳 (also known as Chu Huagu 儲 華 谷, fl. Ca. 1230) dates from around 1230.
6. Zhouyi cantong qi jie周易 參 同 契 解 (Explanations for Cantongqi ). Chen Xianwei 陳 顯微 (? -After 1254), dates from after 1234.
7. Zhouyi cantong qi fahui周易 參 同 契 發揮 (Explanations of Cantongqi). Yu Yan 俞 琰 (1258-1314), dated after 1284.
8. Zhouyi cantong qi zhu周易 參 同 契 注 (Comments on Cantongqi ). The authorship is not indicated, with comments on internal alchemy, the Neidan commentary, dating from 1208.

There are other compositions with similar or derivative texes.

The Lunhujing treatise, in many respects coinciding or similar to Tsantuntsi, was preserved in three versions.

Ever since the Tang times, the treatise caused a lot of controversy. The problem of the origin, dating, and authorship of the treatise has acquired great importance, since Tsantuntsi is considered the earliest treatise on internal alchemy , which uses the cosmology of ijing . Truly the text of the treatise gained distribution only six hundred years later, and the question of how this tradition corresponds to the Han era is important.

Authorship

According to tradition, the author is Wei Boyan , which is primarily indicated by his biography in the collection of Shaanxian-zhuan (biography of Taoist saints) Ge Hong . ^[7]

Nevertheless, the nature of the citing of Cantongqi and references by early authors (including Tao Hongqing and Ge Hun himself ) raise doubts among researchers and make numerous assumptions. Peng Xiao, the author of the first commented edition of Tsantuntsi, already points out the ambiguity of the problem, citing the opinion of individual sources that the three chapters of Tsantuntsi were written by Wei Boyang , Xu Tsunshi (徐 從事) and Chunyu Shutong (淳于 叔 通), each with one chapter. Xu Tsunshi and Chunyu Shutun specialized in North Chinese cosmology (rather than internal alchemy), the most common version is that they both received the text of a treatise from Wei Boyan, but other sources believe that Wei Boyan received the text from them. (Pregadio, 2011: 7-9.). ^[8] On this basis, Pregadio (2011: 23-25) expressed doubts about the true antiquity of the indications in the biography from Ge Hun.

Dating

Fabrizio Pregadio, analyzing citation and borrowing, divides the text into layers, and draws various conclusions about the dating of different layers. In content, the first two (main) chapters consist of three parts - cosmology (ijing), Taoism and alchemy.

(1) Cosmology . The content of the treatise is fully consistent with the cosmological tradition of Yi Jing in the Han era, according to commentators Peng Xiao and Zhu Xi and researchers, goes back to the "apocrypha" ( weishu緯書), which circulated in the Han time and were almost completely lost. Since belonging to the Han cosmogonic tradition is considered by researchers to be quite proven, some authors (Fukui 1974: 27-31) suggest that the text of Tsantuntsi completely existed in the Han time, but contained a different text that is different from the modern one. Pregadio (2011: 16-17) also suggested the completion of the cosmological part of Cantuntsi shortly after the end of the Han era, relying on coincidences with the works of Yu Fang ^[9]

(2) Alchemy . According to Chen Guofu , who was considered to be an expert in research on internal alchemy, not one of the works on the external alchemy of the Han period and up to the Six Dynasties period (before the VI century) uses neither the doctrine, nor the symbolism, nor the expressions characteristic of Tsantuntsi, and the same it can be said about internal alchemy, the authentic texts of which were not found until the 8th century (Pregadio, 2011: 19-20). The earliest reference to Cantuntsi in the context of alchemy is the poem of the poet Jiang Yang (444-505), in which he mentions the preparation of an elixir according to Cantuntsi.

(3) Taoism . In the part of the treatise on Taoism, a distinction will be made between the higher de and the lower de , echoing the classical principles of daodezin and Chuang Tzu . However, the methods of meditation have a common terminology with the treatise of the Huantingjing School of Shangqing 364-70 (Pregadio 2011: 26-27), which made it possible for Pregadio to suggest the study of these parts no earlier than the end of the 4th century.

Based on this analysis, researcher Fabrizio Pregadio concludes that a version of the treatise, close to the final one, was formed either around 450 years, or a couple of hundred years later.

The first full translation was made into English and German by Richard Bercinger ( German Richard Bertschinger ), providing the translation with commentary on internal alchemy.

A detailed study of the treatise was carried out by Fabrizio Pregadio, who also published a detailed commentary on the translation. ^[ten]

• Taoism

• Pregadio, Fabrizio. 2011. 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 . Mountain View: Golden Elixir Press. [ ISBN 9780984308286 ]
• Richard Bertschinger: Cantong Qi, Das Dao der Unsterblichkeit. Frankfurt am Main 1997, ISBN 3-8105-2341-0
• Bertschinger, Richard. (1994). The Secret of Everlasting Life: The First Translation of the Ancient Chinese Text on Immortality. Element
• Torchinov E.A. Taoism. SPb., 1998, p. 105-110;
• Fukui Kojun. A Study of Chou-i Ts`an-t`ung-ch`i // Acta Asiatica. Bulletin of the Institute of Eastern Culture. Vol. 27. Tokyo, 1974;
• Needham J. Science and Civilization in China: Chemistry and Chemical Technology. Pt. 2. Cambridge, 1976; Sivin N. Chinese Alchemy: Preliminary Studies. Cambridge (Mass.), 1968.

• 《周易 参 同 契》 全文 (<Cantongqi> full text) , following the editorship of Yu Yan (Chinese)
• Zhouyi cantong qi by Fabrizio Pregadio , following the revision of Peng Xiao (big5 code) (Chinese)

• The Seal of the Unity of the Three ( Cantong qi )