Cantong qi

This article is about the Taoist text traditionally dated to the 2nd century. For the 8th century Buddhist poem, see Sandokai.
Cantong qi
Traditional Chinese參同契
Simplified Chinese参同契
Hanyu PinyinCāntóng qì
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinCāntóng qì
Wade–GilesTs'an1 T'ung2 Ch'i4
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingCaam1 tung4 kai3
Zhouyi cantong qi
Traditional Chinese周易參同契
Simplified Chinese周易参同契
Hanyu PinyinZhōuyì cāntóng qì
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhōuyì cāntóng qì
Wade–GilesChou1 Yi4 Ts'an1 T'ung2 Ch'i4

The Cantong qi is deemed to be the earliest book on alchemy in China. The title has been variously translated as Kinship of the Three, Akinness of the Three, Triplex Unity, The Seal of the Unity of the Three, and in several other ways. The full title of the text is Zhouyi cantong qi, which can be translated as, for example, The Kinship of the Three, in Accordance with the Book of Changes.

According to the well-established view in China, the text was composed by Wei Boyang in the mid-second century CE, and deals entirely with alchemy, in particular with Neidan (or Internal Alchemy). In agreement with its title, the Cantong qi is concerned with three major subjects, Cosmology (the system of the Book of Changes), Taoism (the way of "non-doing"), and Alchemy.