Now that we are done Xue Xian Bi Cheng, I’d like to begin translating Chen Yingning’s annotation of Can Tong Qi.
Can Tong Qi is the first Alchemy classic and is known in English as The Kinship of the Three.
It is attributed to Wei Boyang, an ancient Daoist Alchemist and Scientist who was one of the earliest masters to explain the Alchemical process.
At that time in history, External and Internal Alchemy were not separate practices, but Chen Yingning’s twentieth century annotation of this important document treats it as an Internal Alchemy document.
Can Tong Qi is unique because it is based on the Book of Changes and the Sixty Four Changes.
Today’s chapter is all about the Hexagrams of Qian, Kun, Kan and Li, or Heaven, Earth, Water and Fire.
The chapters of the annotation are long and complex, so each chapter will probably take a few posts.
Today we are doing the first section of the first chapter.
Pictured: Can Tong Qi says that an Kan and Li are the Hub opening and Axle. Chen Yingning believed that the Axle represents the heart mind and that if it is not upright, it will lead to deviation and make it impossible to properly practice meditation.
周易参同章第一
Can Tong Qi,
Annotation by Chen Yingning:
Chapter 1:
Original Text:
乾坤者，易之门产，众卦之父母，坎离匡廓，运毂正轴。
“Qian and Kun, the product of change, the mother and father of all hexagrams, Kan and Li are the container and wall, the hub and upright axle of movement.”