《周易參同契考異》是朱子晚年以「空同道士鄒訢」為名的作品，名雖為考異，但文字修訂之處並不多，反屬隨文注解的作品。朱子考異所據之版本為五代後蜀彭曉注本《周易參同契通真義》，在隨文注釋中顯出其考異的特色與貢獻，首先在內外丹學的注解方面，朱子並無顯出煉製外丹的興趣，內丹方面，朱子也僅取其對「心」的重視，將內丹修煉轉化為自我的修養工夫。其次朱子之考異尤為用力之處，乃在於易學的詮釋基調。朱子強化《周易》與《參同契》間的連結，使京房易學與邵雍先天易學成為理解《參同契》的媒介，將煉丹為主、易學為輔的原初求神仙之作，轉變為以易學為基本精神的儒家自我修養理論，多以儒家易學思想詮釋，顯明《周易參同契考異》非為慕好神仙修煉之作，而為以儒學易理出發之重塑道教經典的寫成定本之作。

Zhu Xi wrote "lnvestigation of Discrepancies in the Cantong qi" in his late years under the name "Zou Xin." Though having the title "investigation of discrepancies," it is not a work of textual revisions but more like a work of commentaries.Zhu Xi's "investigation of discrepancies" was based on Peng Xaio's "True Meaning of the Cantong qi", and the commentaries showed Zhu's own characteristics and contributions. Regarding the commentaries on internal alchemy and external alchemy, Zhu was not interested in the latter, and his attention to the former was also only because of its emphasis on "mind" and transformation from the training of internal alchemy to the cultivation of self.Furthermore, the focus of Zhu's investigation of discrepancies was his interpretation informed by the doctrine of yi (change). He reinforced the link between "Zhou yi and Canfong qi" and utilized Jingfang doctrine of yi and Xiantian doctrine of Yi as the means to understand "Canlong qi". Originally more about alchemy than about the doctrine of yi, "Cantong qi" was interpreted by Zhu Xi through the Confucian doctrine of yi and became a theory of self-cultivation based on the doctrine of yi. In this way, Zhu Xi pointed out that "lnvestigation of Discrepancies" in "the Cantong qi" was not about alchemy and divinization but a work to re-canonize Taoism by means of the Confucian doctrine of yi.