Cān tóng qì fēn zhāng zhù 參同契分章註
Sectioned-by-Chapter Annotation of the Cāntóngqì
by 陳致虛 (Chén Zhìxū, hào 上陽子 Shàngyángzǐ, Lúlíng shānrén 廬陵山人; fl. 1289–1335)
The classical Yuán-era Cān tóng qì commentary by Chén Zhìxū, with the canonical text re-divided into 35 named chapters (上篇 15 章, 中篇 15 章, 下篇 5 章) — the standard chapter-division for almost all subsequent recensions. Chén Zhìxū is the principal northern-southern-fusion commentator of the late Yuán; his Cān tóng qì zhù (preserved as DZ 1006 Zhōu yì cān tóng qì fēn zhāng zhù) is one of the most influential pre-Míng readings of the scripture. The DZJY recension here re-prints the canonical 35-chapter text, each chapter followed by Chén’s running commentary in Shàngyángzǐ yuē 上陽子曰 form. The commentary is essentially complete textually but is here printed without separate preface or postface (the original Yuán self-preface preserved at DZ 1006 1.1a is omitted in DZJY). The chapter-titles — Dà yì zǒng xù, Qián kūn shè wèi, Rì yuè xuán xiàng, Shèng rén shàng guān, etc. — are Chén’s own classification of the Cān tóng qì base text.
Prefaces
No preface in the DZJY recension. The base commentary is dated by external evidence to 1335 (preserved in the Yuán Dào shū yuán shén qì compendium and elsewhere; cf. Boltz, Survey).
Abstract
Chén Zhìxū’s Cān tóng qì fēn zhāng zhù is the standard Yuán recension of the alchemical canon, dividing the previously continuous text into 35 chapters with topical titles, a division that became normative in subsequent commentary. Chén is the principal Yuán Quánzhēn / Nán zōng fusion master, integrating Wáng Chóngyáng’s northern Quánzhēn lineage with Bái Yùchán’s southern Nán zōng alchemical theory. His broader project of Cān tóng qì / Wù zhēn piān harmonisation set the framework for all subsequent late-imperial inner-alchemy reception. For his life and broader work see 陳致虛 and Boltz, Survey.
The DZJY recension of this commentary appears in juxtaposition with KR5i0037 Zhū Yuányù’s Chǎn yōu — the two together provide the editorial pair Yuán + early-Qīng on the Cān tóng qì in DZJY.
Translations and research
- Pregadio, Fabrizio. Cantong qi: Commentaries. Golden Elixir Press, 2014. — selected translation from Chén Zhì-xū.
- Boltz, Judith. A Survey of Taoist Literature. Berkeley: IEAS, 1987. — entry on Chén Zhì-xū.
- Schipper-Verellen, The Taoist Canon II, on DZ 1006 Zhōu yì cān tóng qì fēn zhāng zhù.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5i0038
- Annotator: 陳致虛.