Bao Pu Zi Nei Pian (抱朴子內篇) · Volume 11

中經曰：鉤吻狼毒，太陰之精氣，主殺，故入口令人死。御覽九百九十。

The Middle Classic says: gelsemium and wolfsbane are the finest essences of the Greater Yin and rule over killing; therefore entering the mouth they make a man die. Yulan scroll 990.

洪體乏超逸晉書作進趣。之才，偶好無為之業。假令奮翅則能凌厲玄霄，騁足則能追風躡景，猶故晉書無此字。欲戢勁翮於鷦鷯晉書作鴳。之群，藏逸跡於跛驢之伍，豈況大塊稟我以尋常之短羽，造化假我於晉書作以。至駑之蹇足，以晉書無此字。自卜者審，不能者止。晉書有又字。豈敢力蒼蠅而慕沖天之舉，策跛鱉而追飛兔之軌，飾嫫母之陋醜晉書作篤陋，求媒揚晉書作陽。之美談，推沙礫之賤質，索千金於和肆哉！夫以晉書無此字。焦僥之步，而企及夸父之蹤，近才所以躓閡藏本作閔，晉書作礙。也。以晉書無此字。要離之羸，而強赴扛鼎之契，原校或作勢，晉書作勢。秦人所以斷筋也。是以望絕於榮華之途，而志安乎窮否晉書作圮。之域。藜藿有八珍之甘，而晉書無此字。蓬蓽有藻梲之樂也。故權貴之家，雖咫尺弗從也。知道之士，雖艱遠必造也。

My body lacks the talent for soaring excellence (the Book of Jin reads 'for advance'), and by chance I love the work of doing nothing. Even granting that beating my wings I could mount and soar in the dark empyrean, or stretching my legs chase the wind and tread the sunlight, still I would rather gather my strong pinions back among the wrens (the Book of Jin reads 'the quail') and hide my fleet tracks in the company of lame donkeys—how much more, when the Great Mass endowed me with common short feathers and Creation lent me (the Book of Jin reads 'gave') the lamest of nag feet, and careful self-reckoning says: where I cannot, there I stop. (The Book of Jin has the word 'moreover'.) How would I dare to spend my strength on a gadfly and long for heaven-piercing flight, whip a lame tortoise to pursue the track of the flying hare, touch up the homely ugliness of a Momu (the Book of Jin reads 'thorough ugliness') and sue for the matchmaker's flattering talk, or push the cheap stuff of sand and gravel to ask a thousand gold in the House of He's shop! To measure a Jiaoyao pygmy's stride against Kuafu's tracks—that is what trips up the near-talented ('hindered'; the Zang text reads 'pitied', the Book of Jin 'blocked'). To take Yao Li's frailty and force him to the tripod-lifting pact (the original collation has 'posture', the Book of Jin 'posture')—that is what snapped the man of Qin's sinews. So I cut off hope on the road of glory and rank and set my will at peace in the realm of straits and ruin ('failure'; the Book of Jin reads 'ruin'). Goosefoot and pulse have the sweetness of the eight delicacies; the bramble gate has the joy of carved beams. Therefore at the houses of the great and powerful, though a foot away I do not follow; men of true knowing, though far and hard, I unfailingly visit.

考覽奇書，既不少矣，率多隱語，難可卒解。自非至精，不能尋究，自非篤勤，不能悉見也。道士淵晉書作宏。博洽聞者寡，而意斷妄說者眾。至於時有好事者，欲有所修為，倉卒不知所從，而意之所疑，又無可晉書作足。諮問。晉書無此字。今為此書，粗舉長生之理，甚至妙者，不得宣之於翰墨。蓋粗言較略，以示一隅。冀悱憤之徒省之，可以思過半矣，豈為暗塞必能窮微暢遠乎！聊論其所先舉原校：先舉一本作“先覺者”。晉書作“先覺者”。耳。

The rare books I have examined and read are already not few, but most are in veiled speech, hard to explain at once. Without utmost devotion one cannot search them out; without steady diligence one cannot see them all. Among Daoists, the deep and broad and widely heard are few, while those who decide matters by whim and talk recklessly are many. When sometimes a lover of these things wishes to cultivate something, in haste he does not know where to begin, and if doubt enters his mind there is no one (the Book of Jin reads 'adequate one') to ask. So now I make this book, roughly setting out the principles of long life; the utterly subtle cannot be spread abroad in ink. I give broadly the main outline to show one corner. May earnest, striving men read it and grasp more than half; how could the benighted and blocked surely plumb the minute and reach the far! It is but a word for those who wake first (original collation: 'those who wake first'—one text reads 'those of earlier awakening'; the Book of Jin reads 'those of earlier awakening').

世儒徒知服膺周孔，桎梏皆死，晉書無此四字。莫信神仙之事，謂為妖妄之說，見餘此書，晉書無“事”至“此”共十字。不特大笑之。晉書作“不但大而笑之”。又將謗毀真正，故不以合於此下舊衍“世字”，今校刪。餘所箸子書之數，而別為此一部，名曰內篇，凡二十卷，與外篇各起次第也。晉書“故不”至“第也”作“故予所著子，言黃白之事，名曰內篇，其餘駁難通釋，名曰外篇，大凡內外一百一十六篇”，蓋史家刪改之耳。雖不足以藏晉書“以藏”作“藏諸”名山石室，晉書無此二字。且欲緘之金匱，以示識者。晉書止此，無下三十一字。其不可與言者，不令見也。貴使來世好長生者，有以釋其惑，豈求信於不信者乎！謹序。藏本作葛洪稚川謹序。後人所增。

The Confucians of the world know only to cherish the Duke of Zhou and Confucius, fettered till death (the Book of Jin lacks these four words), and do not believe the matter of spirits and immortals, calling it devil's nonsense; seeing this book of mine (the Book of Jin lacks the ten characters from 'matter' through 'this'), they do more than laugh at it (the Book of Jin reads 'not only greatly laugh at it'). They will also slander the true and upright, so I do not count it among my own master's writings (below this the old text erroneously repeats the character 'age', now deleted by collation) but make this separate part, called the Inner Chapters—twenty scrolls in all—each beginning its own sequence with the Outer Chapters. (The Book of Jin renders 'so I do not... sequences' as: 'therefore among my master's writings, those speaking of yellow-and-white are named the Inner Chapters, the rest refutations and general explanations named the Outer Chapters, in all a hundred and sixteen chapters, inner and outer'—presumably the historian's abridgment.) Though it is not worth hiding (the Book of Jin reads 'to hide it') in the stone chambers of famous mountains, still I want to seal it in a metal coffer to show to those who know. (The Book of Jin ends here, lacking the following thirty-one characters.) Those to whom it may not be spoken shall not see it. The worth lies in letting the men of later ages who love long life have something to untie their doubts—why seek belief among those who do not believe! Respectfully prefaced. (The Zang text reads 'respectfully prefaced by Ge Hong, Zhichuan'—a later addition.)

抱朴子者，姓葛，名洪，字稚川，丹陽句容人也。其先葛天氏，蓋古之有天下者也，後降為列國，因以為姓焉。洪曩祖為荊州刺史，王莽之篡，君恥事國賊，棄官而歸，與東郡太守翟義共起兵，將以誅莽，為莽所敗，遇赦免禍，遂稱疾自絕於世。莽以君宗強，慮終有變，乃徙君於琅邪。君之子浦廬，起兵以佐光武，有大功。光武踐祚，以廬為車騎，又遷驃騎大將軍，封下邳僮縣侯，食邑五千戶。開國初，侯之弟文，隨侯征討，屢有大捷。侯比上書為文藏本作文為，從舊寫本乙轉。訟功，而官以文私從兄行，無軍名，遂不為論。侯曰：弟與我同冒矢石，瘡痍周身，傷失右眼，不得尺寸之報，吾乃重金累紫，何心以安？乃自表乞轉封於弟。書至上請報。漢朝欲成君高義，故特聽焉。文辭不獲已受爵，即第為驃騎營立宅舍於博望裡，於今基兆石礎存焉。又分割租秩，以供奉吏士，給如二君焉。驃騎殷勤止之而不從。驃騎曰：此更煩役國人，何以為讓？乃託他行，遂南渡江，而家於句容。子弟躬耕，以典籍自娛。文累使奉迎驃騎，驃騎終不還。又令人守護博望宅舍，以冀驃騎之反，至於累世無居之者。

Baopuzi: surname Ge, personal name Hong, courtesy name Zhichuan, a man of Jurong in Danyang. His remote forebear was the Getian clan, who presumably in ancient times possessed all under heaven and afterwards descended among the ranked states, whence the surname came. Hong's forebear served as Inspector of Jingzhou. When Wang Mang usurped the throne, the lord was ashamed to serve a traitor to the state, resigned his office and returned, and together with Zhai Yi, Administrator of Dong commandery, raised troops to execute Mang; defeated by Mang, he met amnesty and escaped ruin, then pleaded illness and cut himself off from the world. Because the lord's clan was strong, Mang feared he might yet rise, and moved the lord to Langya. The lord's son Pu Lu raised troops in aid of Guangwu and did great service. When Guangwu ascended the throne he made Lu Chariots-and-Cavalry, then promoted him to General of Agile Cavalry, enfeoffed him Marquis of Tong county in Xiapi, with a fief of five thousand households. At the founding of the state the Marquis's younger brother Wen followed the Marquis on campaign and won repeated great victories. The Marquis repeatedly sent up memorials pleading Wen's merits (the Zang text reads 'Wen's', following the old manuscript's transposition), but the office held that Wen had followed his elder brother privately and had no name on the rolls, and so would not discuss it. The Marquis said: my brother braved arrows and stones with me, his whole body a mass of wounds, losing his right eye, and gets not a foot of reward, while I wear heavy gold and doubled purple cords—with what heart can I rest? So he memorialized himself begging to transfer his fief to his brother. The document went up and came back with approval. The Han court, wishing to perfect the lord's high rightness, specially granted it. Wen could not decline and accepted the rank, and at once built a house at the encampment of the General of Agile Cavalry in Bowang ward, whose foundations and plinth stones remain to this day. He also divided out his revenues and stipends to provide for the officers and men, supplying two lords' worth. The General earnestly tried to stop him but he would not listen. The General said: this further burdens and uses the men of the state—with what shall I requite it? So he excused himself on the pretext of other business, crossed the Yangzi south, and made his home in Jurong. His sons and younger brothers plowed with their own hands and entertained themselves with the classics. Wen repeatedly sent men to fetch the General back; the General would not return to the end. Wen also had men keep watch over the Bowang house, hoping the General would return, and for several generations none dwelt in it.

洪祖父學無不涉，究測精微，文藝之高，一時莫倫，有經國之藏本作史，從舊寫本改。才。仕吳，歷宰海鹽臨安山陰三縣，入為吏部侍郎、御史中丞、廬陵太守、吏部尚書、太子少傅、中書、大鴻臚、侍中、光祿勳、輔吳將軍，封吳壽縣侯。洪父以孝友聞，行為士表，方冊所載，罔不窮覽。仕吳五官郎、中正，建城南昌二縣令，中書郎、廷尉平、中護軍、拜會稽太守未辭，而晉軍順流，西境不守。博簡秉文經武之才，朝野之論，僉然推君，於是轉為五郡赴警。大都督給親兵五千，總統徵軍，戍遏疆場。天之所壞，人不能支，故主欽若，九有同賓。藏本作實，從舊寫本改。君以故官赴除郎中，稍遷至大中大夫，歷位大中正、肥鄉令，藏本無正字，肥作肐，從舊寫本補改。縣戶二萬，舉州最治，德化尤異，恩洽刑清，野有頌聲，路無奸跡，不佃公田，越界如市，秋毫之贈，不入於門，紙筆之用，皆出私財，刑厝而禁止，不言而化行。以疾去官，發詔見用為吳王郎中令，正色弼違，進可替不，舉善彈枉，軍國肅雍。遷邵陵太守，卒於官。

Hong's grandfather left no field of learning untouched; he plumbed the subtle and the refined. The height of his literary art had no peer in his time, and he had the talent for ordering the state [the Daozang text has a different character; emended following the old manuscript]. He held office in Wu, successively governing the three counties of Haiyan, Lin'an, and Shanyin, then entered the court as Vice Minister of Personnel, Palace Aide to the Censor-in-chief, Administrator of Luling, Minister of Personnel, Junior Tutor to the Heir Apparent, gentleman of the Central Secretariat, Grand Herald, Palace Attendant, Chamberlain for Attendants, and General Who Supports Wu, and was enfeoffed as Marquis of Wushou county. Hong's father was renowned for filial piety and brotherliness; his conduct was the model of gentlemen, and there was nothing recorded in the books that he did not read through to the end. In Wu he served as court gentleman of the Five Offices, as Rectifier, as magistrate of Jiancheng and Nanchang counties, as a gentleman of the Central Secretariat, as assistant to the Commandant of Justice, and as Central Protector of the Army. He had been appointed Administrator of Kuaiji but had not yet taken leave when the Jin armies came down the river and the western frontier was lost. Broadly versed, with talent for both civil letters and military affairs, he was unanimously recommended by opinion at court and in the country, and so was transferred to go to the aid of five commanderies. The commander-in-chief gave him five thousand picked troops; he commanded the expeditionary army and held the frontier fast. What Heaven destroys man cannot prop up: thus the former ruler submitted reverently, and all nine regions became guests together [the Daozang text has a different character; emended following the old manuscript]. He went up under his old rank and was appointed a court gentleman, gradually rising to Grand Master of the Palace, successively holding the posts of Grand Rectifier and magistrate of Feixiang [the Daozang text lacks a character and writes another differently; supplied and emended following the old manuscript]. The county had twenty thousand households and was judged the best governed in the whole province; his moral transformation was exceptional, his kindness pervasive and his punishments clear. There were songs of praise in the fields and no trace of crime on the roads. He did not till the public lands; folk crossed the borders as if going to market. Not so much as a hair's gift entered his gate; even paper and brush came out of his private purse. Punishments were set aside yet prohibitions held; without a word his transforming influence spread. He left office because of illness, then was summoned by edict to serve as Prefect of the Palace Gentlemen to the King of Wu. With stern countenance he corrected faults, advanced the acceptable and replaced the unfit, recommended the good and impeached the crooked, so that army and state were solemn and harmonious. He was promoted to Administrator of Shaoling and died in office.

洪者，君之第三子也。生晚，為二親所嬌饒，不早見督以書史。年十有三，而慈父見背，夙失庭訓，飢塞困瘁，躬執耕穡，承星履草，密勿疇襲。又累遭兵火，先人典籍蕩盡，農隙之暇無所讀。乃負笈徒步行借，又卒於一家，少得全部之書。益破功日伐薪賣之，以給紙筆，就營田園處，以柴火寫書。坐此之故，不得早涉藝文。常乏紙，每所寫，反覆有字，人鮮能讀也。年十六，始讀孝經論語詩易。貧乏無以遠尋師友，孤陋寡聞，明淺思短，大義多所不通。但貪廣覽，於眾書乃無不闇誦精持，曾所披涉，自正經諸史百家之言，下至短雜文章，近萬卷。既性暗善忘，又少文，意志不專，所識者甚薄，亦不免惑。而著述時猶得有所引用，竟不成純儒，不中為傳授之師。其河洛圖緯，一視便止，不得留意也。不喜星書、及算術、九宮、三棋、太一、飛符之屬，了不從焉，由其苦人而少氣味也。晚學風角、望氣、三元、遁甲、六壬、太一之法，粗知其旨，又不研精。亦計此輩率是為人用之事，同出身情，無急以此自勞役，不如省子書之有益，遂又廢焉。案別錄藝文志，眾有萬三千二百九十九卷，而魏代以來，群文滋長，倍於往者，乃自知所未見之多也。江表書籍，通同不具。昔欲藏本作故，從舊寫本改。詣京師，索奇異，而正值大亂，半道而還，每自藏本作具，從舊寫本改。嘆恨。今齒近不惑，素志衰頹，但含損之又損，為乎無為，偶耕藪澤，苟存性命耳。博涉之業，於是日沮矣。

Hong was that lord's third son. Born late, he was doted on by his parents and not early pressed to his books and histories. At thirteen his kind father passed away; early deprived of his father's instruction and suffering hunger, cold, and hardship, he himself took up ploughing and reaping, shouldering the stars and treading the dewy grass, toiling diligently among the fields. He also met repeated warfare and fire; his forebears' books were swept away entirely, and in the spare moments between farm work he had nothing to read. So he would shoulder a book box and go on foot to borrow; and stopping at a single house, he seldom obtained complete books. Moreover he spent his working days cutting firewood to sell in order to supply paper and brush, and at the field huts he copied out books by the light of burning firewood. For these reasons he could not early engage with letters and arts. Always short of paper, whatever he wrote was covered over and over with characters, so that few could read it. At sixteen he first read the Classic of Filial Piety, the Analects, the Odes, and the Changes. Poor and with no means to seek teachers and friends afar, isolated and ill-informed, shallow in insight and short in thought, he failed to grasp the great meaning in many places. Greedy only for wide reading, of the many books there was none he did not memorize and hold fast; all that he had leafed through — from the proper classics and the various histories and the sayings of the hundred schools down to short miscellaneous pieces — came to nearly ten thousand scrolls. Being by nature dull and forgetful, and moreover lacking polish, his will not single-minded, what he understood was very slight and he could not avoid perplexity. Still, when writing he could sometimes cite sources; in the end he did not become a pure Confucian, not fit to be a teacher of transmission. As for the River and Luo diagrams and the weft texts, he glanced at them and stopped, never lingering. He did not like the books of astrology, arithmetic and calculation, the Nine Palaces, the Three Boards, the Great Unity, flying tallies, and the like — he wholly avoided them, for they are toilsome and offer little savor. Later he studied the methods of wind-angle, watching the ethers, the Three Primes, the Hidden Stems, the Six Ren, and the Great Unity; he grasped their gist roughly but never refined it. He also calculated that these are mostly arts employed on others' behalf — matters of offering one's services — and there was no urgency to toil at them himself; better to economize with the books of the masters, which are of more benefit. So he abandoned them again. According to the Bie Lu and the Treatise on Literature, books amounted to thirteen thousand two hundred and ninety-nine scrolls, and since the Wei era writings have multiplied, doubling what came before; only then did he know how much he had not seen. South of the Yangzi, books were nowhere complete. Formerly he wished [the Daozang text has a different word; emended following the old manuscript] to go to the capital and seek out rare works, but he happened upon great disorder and turned back midway, sighing and regretting it to himself [the Daozang text has a different word; emended following the old manuscript] ever since. Now his years approach forty; his lifelong aims have waned. He merely holds to diminish and diminish again, acts in nonaction, tills by chance among the marshes, and barely preserves his life. The enterprise of broad learning has thus daily declined.

洪之為人也，（有脫文）而呆野，性鈍口訥，形貌醜陋，而終不辯自矜飾也。冠履垢弊，衣或襤縷，而或不恥焉。俗之服用，俄而屢改。或忽廣領而大帶，或促身本作身促，從意林乙轉。而修袖，或長裾曳地，或短不蔽腳。洪期於守常，不隨世變，言則率實，杜絕嘲戲，不得其人，終日默然。故邦人鹹稱之為抱朴之士，是以洪著書，因以自號焉。洪稟性尪羸，兼之多疾，貧無車馬，不堪徒行，行亦性所不好。又患弊俗，捨本逐末，交遊過差，故遂撫筆閒居，守靜蓽門，而無趨從之所。藏本作趨所之從，今從舊寫本改。至於權豪之徒，雖在密跡，而莫或相識焉。衣不闢寒，室不免漏，食不充虛，名不出戶，不能憂也。貧無僮僕，籬落頓決，荊棘叢於庭宇，蓬莠塞乎階溜，披榛出門，排草入室，論者以為意遠忽近，而不恕藏本作怒，從舊寫本改。其乏役也。不曉謁有脫文。以故初不修見官長，至於吊大喪，省困疾，乃心欲自勉強，令無不必至，而居疾少健，恆復不周，每見譏責於論者，洪引咎而不恤也。意苟無餘，而病使心違，顧不媿己而已，亦何理於人之不見亮乎？唯明鑑之士，乃恕其信抱朴，非以養高也。

Hong as a person [a passage is missing] is dull and rustic, slow of nature, halting of speech, ugly of feature, and in the end could not explain or adorn himself. His cap and shoes were soiled and worn, his clothes sometimes ragged, and he was not ashamed of it. Fashion in dress changes from moment to moment — now suddenly wide collars and broad sashes, now tight bodies [the word order is reversed in the text; transposed following the Yilin] and long sleeves, now long trains sweeping the ground, now too short to cover the ankles. Hong resolved to keep to the constant and not follow the world's shifts; his words stuck to fact, he cut out all joking and banter, and if he did not have the right man he would stay silent the whole day. Therefore his countrymen all called him 'the scholar who embraces simplicity', and so, when Hong wrote his book, he took this as his own style-name. Hong's constitution is frail and weak, and he is moreover much plagued by illness; poor, without carriage or horse, he cannot bear to go on foot — and going out is anyway not to his nature. He also loathes the corrupted custom of abandoning the root to chase the branches and of excessive social intercourse; therefore he holds his brush and lives at leisure, keeping still behind a wicker gate, and has no company he hurries after [the Daozang text's wording is transposed; corrected following the old manuscript]. As for the powerful and great, though they lived close by, he sometimes did not even know them. That his clothes could not keep out the cold, his room could not keep out the leaks, his food could not fill his hunger, and his name never left his door — none of this could worry him. Poor and without servants, his fences fallen to ruin, thorns and brambles crowding the courtyard, weeds and tares choking the steps and gutters — he pushed through the brushwood to go out and parted the grass to come in. Critics thought him intent on the distant and heedless of the near, and did not excuse [the Daozang text has 'resented', emended following the old manuscript] his lack of laborers. [Some text is missing concerning] not understanding how to pay calls. Therefore from the start he made no practice of calling on officials; as for condoling at great funerals or visiting those gravely ill, though his heart wished to force itself and there was no courtesy he could omit, living in sickness with little strength he always again fell short, and was often chided and blamed by critics — Hong took the blame on himself and did not mind. His intent was never lacking; illness made him fail his heart. He sought only not to be ashamed before himself — what did it matter that others did not forgive him? Only men of clear discernment could excuse him, trusting that he truly embraced simplicity, and was not using it to cultivate loftiness.

世人多慕豫親之好，推暗室藏本作至，從舊寫本改。之密，洪以為知人甚未易，上聖之所難，浮雜之交，口合神疕，舊寫本作離。無益有損，雖不能如朱公叔一切絕之，且必須清澄詳悉，乃處意焉。又為此見憎者甚眾而不改也。馳逐苟達，側立勢門者，又共疾洪之異於己而見疵毀，謂洪為泬物輕俗。而洪之為人，信心而行，譭譽皆置於不聞。藏本置作之，舊寫本作譭譽之皆如不聞，今從盧本。至患近人，或恃其所長而輕人所短。洪忝為儒者之末，每與人言，常度其所知而論之，不強引之以造彼所不聞也。及與學士有所辯識，每舉綱領，若值惜短，難解心義。藏本作家，從舊寫本改。但粗說意之與向，使足以發寤而已，不致苦理，使彼率不得自還也。彼靜心者存舊寫本存字空白，疑是衍文。詳而思之，則多自覺而得之者焉。度不可藏本無不字，從舊寫本補。與言者，雖或有問，常辭以不知，以免辭費之過也。

Most men of the world admire intimacy at first meeting and push for closeness in private [the Daozang text has a different character; emended following the old manuscript]; Hong holds that knowing men is very hard, difficult even for the highest sages. Shallow and mixed friendships — agreement of the lips while the spirits are divided [the old manuscript has 'divided'] — bring no benefit and much harm. Although he could not, like Zhu Gongshu, cut them all off entirely, yet he had to be clear and thorough before committing his heart. Moreover, many hated him for this, yet he did not change. Those who race for advancement at any cost and stand at the gates of the powerful together resented Hong for differing from them and attacked him as flawed, saying Hong was aloof from things and made light of the world. But Hong's way is to follow his heart in action; blame and praise he treats alike as unheard [the Daozang text and old manuscript differ in wording; the Lu edition is followed]. He also faults his contemporaries who rely on their own strengths to make light of others' shortcomings. Hong, an unworthy tail-end of the Confucians, whenever he talks with people always gauges what they know before discoursing, never forcing them toward what they have not heard. And when he debates and discriminates with scholars, he always raises the main outline; if he meets one who grudges admitting shortcomings and cannot grasp the meaning of the heart [the Daozang text has a different character; emended following the old manuscript], he only roughly conveys the drift and direction, enough to awaken the man, and does not press the reasoning hard, so that for the most part the man cannot come back at him. Those whose hearts are still keep it in mind [the old manuscript has a blank here; the character is perhaps an interpolation], ponder it carefully, and mostly awaken and gain it by themselves. To those he gauges to be unfit to speak with [the Daozang text lacks the negative; supplied following the old manuscript], though they may sometimes ask, he always excuses himself with 'I do not know', to avoid the fault of wasted words.

洪性深不好乾煩官長，自少及長，曾救知己之抑者數人，不得已藏本無已字，從舊寫本補。有言於在位者。然其人皆不知洪之恤也，不忍見其陷於非理，密自營之耳。其餘雖親至者，在事秉勢，與洪無惜者，終不以片言半字少累之也。至於糧用窮匱，急合湯藥，則喚求朋類，或見濟，亦不讓也。受人之施，必皆久久漸有以報之，不令覺也。非類則不妄受其饋致焉。洪所食有旬日之儲，則分以濟人之乏，若殊自不足，亦不割己也。不為皎皎之細行，不治察察之小廉。村裡凡人之謂舊寫本謂字空白，疑有誤。良守善者，用舊寫本用字空白，疑有誤。時或齎酒餚候洪，雖非儔匹，亦不拒也。後有以答之，亦不登時也。洪嘗謂史雲不食於昆弟，華生治潔於暱客，蓋邀名之偽行，非廊廟之遠量也。洪尤疾無義之人，不勤農桑之本業，而慕非義之奸利。持鄉論者，則賣選舉以取謝。有威勢者，則解符疏以索財。或有有字當誤，舊寫本空白。罪人之賂，或當作而。枉有理之家，或為逋逃之藪，而饗亡命之人，疑作入。或挾使民丁以妨本作妨以，從下文乙轉。公役，或強收錢物以求貴价，或占錮市肆，奪百姓之利，或割人田地，劫孤弱之業，愡恫官府之閒，以窺掊克之益，內以誇妻妾，外以釣名位，其如此者，不與交焉。由是俗人憎洪疾己，自然疏絕。故巷無車馬之跡，堂無異志之賓，庭可設雀羅，而几筵積塵焉。

By nature Hong deeply dislikes troubling those in office. From youth to age there have been several friends who were suppressed, on whose behalf he could not but [the Daozang text lacks a character; supplied following the old manuscript] say a word to those in power. Yet those men never knew that Hong pitied them and could not bear to see them trapped in injustice — he acted for them in secret. For the rest, even those closest to him who held affairs and wielded power, if they had no regard for Hong he never burdened them with so much as a word or half a syllable. As for times when grain and supplies ran out, or he urgently needed to compound a medicine, then he would call on and seek his friends; if he was helped, he did not decline. Whatever he received from others, he was sure over time, gradually, to find a means to repay without letting them notice. From those not of his kind he never wrongly accepted a gift. If Hong's own food had ten days' store, he would share it to relieve others' want; but if he was himself notably short, he would not cut into himself. He does not perform the glittering petty acts of virtue nor cultivate the scrupulous small probities. The common villagers whom people call [the old manuscript has a blank; possibly corrupt] good and decent sometimes [the old manuscript has a blank; possibly corrupt] bring wine and dishes to wait on Hong; though they are not his peers he does not refuse them. Later he finds means to answer them, but not at once. Hong once remarked that Shi Yun would not eat at his brothers' homes and that Huasheng kept aloof in purity before his intimates — these were probably false acts for fishing after fame, not the far-reaching measure of one who belongs in the halls of state. Hong especially hates men without righteousness who do not labor at the fundamental work of farming and sericulture yet covet wrongful gain. Those who hold village opinion sell recommendations and selections to take thanks. Those with power and influence release writs and requisitions to exact wealth. Some accept [the character is likely corrupt; the old manuscript has a blank] bribes from criminals; some [should read 'and'] twist the cause of houses in the right; some make themselves a marsh for fugitives and feast outlaws [the character is perhaps another]; some forcibly take commoners' labor to obstruct [the word order transposed, corrected following the text below] public service; some forcibly collect money and goods to demand inflated prices; some monopolize the markets and shops, snatching the people's profit; some cut away others' fields and rob the holdings of orphans and the weak — blustering among the offices to spy out the gains of extortion, inwardly to boast before wife and concubines, outwardly to angle for name and position. Men like this, he will not keep company with. Therefore worldly men hate Hong as an enemy of themselves and naturally shun him. So no tracks of carriages or horses are found in his lane, no guest of divided purpose in his hall; his courtyard could hold a sparrow net, and dust gathers on his mats and tables.

洪自有識以逮。將老，口不及人之非，不說人之私，乃自然也。雖僕豎有其所短所羞之事，不以戲之也。未嘗論評人物之優劣，不喜訶譴人交舊寫本作又人。之好惡。或為尊長所逼問，辭不獲已，其論人也，則獨舉彼體中之勝事而已。其論文也，則撮其所得之佳者，而不指摘其病累。故無譭譽之怨。貴人時或問官吏民甲乙何如。其清高閒舊寫本作賢。能者，洪指說其快事；其貪暴暗塞者，對以偶不識悉。洪由此頗見譏責，以顧護太多，不能明辯臧否，使皂白區分，而洪終不敢改也。每見世人有好論人物者，比方倫匹，未必當允，而褒貶與奪，或失準格。見譽者自謂已分，未必信德也；見侵者則恨之入骨，劇於血讎。洪益以為戒，遂不復言及士人矣。雖門宗子弟，其稱兩皆以付邦族，不為輕乎當作平，舊寫本作評。其價數也。或以譏洪。洪答曰：我身在我者也，法當易知。設令有人問我，使自比古人，及同時令我自求輩，則我實不能自知可與誰為匹也，況非我安可為取而。評定之耶？漢末俗弊，朋黨分部，許子將之徒，以口舌取戒，爭訟論議，門宗成讎。故汝南人士無復定價，而有月旦之評。魏武帝深亦疾之，欲取其首，爾乃奔波亡走，殆至屠滅。前鑑不遠，可以得師矣。且人之未易知也，雖父兄不必儘子弟也。同乎我者遽是乎？異於我者遽非乎？或有始無卒，唐堯公旦仲尼季札，皆有不全得之恨，無以近人信其嘍嘍管見熒舊寫本作螢。燭之明，而輕評人藏本作人評，從舊寫本乙轉。物，是皆賣賣字疑舊寫本空白。彼上聖大賢乎？

From the time Hong first knew anything until nearly old age, his mouth has never touched others' faults nor spoken of their private affairs — this is simply his nature. Even when a servant boy had some shortcoming or shameful matter, he would not use it to mock him. He has never debated the good and bad points of men, nor liked to scold or rebuke the likes and dislikes of men's friendships [the old manuscript has a different wording]. If sometimes pressed by the questions of elders, unable to decline, when he spoke of a man he would single out only the fine points in the man's makeup; when he spoke of a piece of writing he would gather the good in it and not pick at faults and flaws. Therefore he has incurred no resentment from blame or praise. When distinguished men occasionally ask him how this or that official, clerk, or commoner is — those who are pure, lofty, and capable [the old manuscript has 'worthy'], Hong points out their admirable deeds; those who are greedy, violent, and muddled he answers by pretending not to know them well. For this Hong has been rather chided and blamed, as being too protective, unable to judge good and bad plainly, to distinguish black and white; yet Hong to the end dares not change. Whenever he sees men of the world fond of judging persons, their comparisons and matchings are not necessarily fair, and their praise and blame, their grant and denial, sometimes miss the standard. The praised take it as their due and are not necessarily truly virtuous; the attacked hate it to the bone, more bitterly than a blood feud. Hong took this all the more as a warning, and thereafter no longer spoke about gentlemen. Even for the sons and brothers of his own clan — those they reckoned fit to hand to the state's service — he would not lightly assign [should read 'weigh'; the old manuscript has 'assess'] a rating for them. Some chide Hong for this. Hong answers: 'My person is in myself; by rights I should be easy to know. Yet if someone asked me to compare myself to the ancients, or to seek out a peer among my contemporaries, then I truly could not know myself whom I might match — how much less can I take up and fix the rating of those who are not me!' At the end of Han, customs decayed and cliques divided into factions; men of Xu Zijiang's sort won fame by their tongues, wrangling and judging until clan fought clan. Thus the gentlemen of Runan no longer had a fixed evaluation but only the verdicts of the first day of the month. Emperor Wu of Wei deeply hated this; he wanted the man's head, so that Xu fled in haste and wanderings, nearly to being slaughtered. The mirror of the past is not far; it may serve as a teacher. Moreover men are not easy to know — even fathers and elder brothers do not fully know their sons and brothers. Is one who agrees with me thereby right, and one who differs from me thereby wrong? Or is there beginning without end? Tang Yao, the Duke of Zhou, Confucius, and Ji Zha all suffered the regret of not getting it entirely right; there is no way to take the petty men close at hand, trust their paltry tube-view and firefly-candle glimmer [the old manuscript has 'firefly'], and lightly judge persons [the Daozang text's word order is transposed; corrected following the old manuscript] — are these not all betrayals [the character is doubtful; the old manuscript has a blank] of the highest sages and great worthies?

昔大安中，石冰作亂，六州之地，柯振葉藏本作鎮業，從舊寫本改。靡，違正黨逆，義軍大都督邀洪為將兵都尉，累見敦迫。既桑梓恐虜，禍深憂大，古人有急疾之義。又畏軍法，不敢任志。遂募合數百人，與諸軍旅進。曾攻賊之別將，破之日，錢帛山積，珍玩蔽地。諸軍莫不放兵收拾財物，繼轂連擔。洪獨約令所領，不得妄離行陣。士有摭得眾者，洪即斬之以徇。於是無敢委杖。而果有伏賊數百，出傷諸軍。諸軍悉發，無部隊，皆人馬負重，無復戰心，遂致驚亂，死傷狼藉，殆欲不振。獨洪軍整齊轂張，無所損傷，以救諸軍之大崩，洪有力焉。後別戰，斬賊小帥，多獲甲首，而獻捷幕府。於是大都督加洪伏波將軍。例給布百匹，諸將多封閉之，或送還家。而洪分賜將士，及施知故之貧者。餘之十匹，又徑以市肉酤酒，以饗將吏。於時竊擅一日之美談焉。

Formerly, in the Da'an era, Shi Bing raised a rebellion; in the lands of six provinces the branches shook and the leaves fell flat [the Daozang text has different characters; emended following the old manuscript], and men departed the right and banded with the rebels. The commander-in-chief of the loyalist army invited Hong to be a commandant leading troops, pressing him repeatedly. Since his homeland was in danger of capture, the calamity deep and the care great, and since the ancients held it right to answer dire emergency — and moreover he feared martial law and dared not indulge his own will — he raised and gathered several hundred men and advanced with the various armies. Once they attacked a detached rebel commander; on the day of the victory, coins and silk lay heaped like hills and precious trifles covered the ground. None of the armies failed to loose their men to gather up the goods, carts hub to hub and loads pole to pole. Hong alone held his command in order, forbidding them to leave the ranks without leave. When a soldier picked up a quantity of goods, Hong had him beheaded as an example; thereafter none dared quit their arms. And in fact several hundred rebels lay in ambush and came out to strike the armies. The armies all broke ranks, lost their units, men and horses laden down, with no more heart to fight, and so fell into panic and rout, dead and wounded strewn about, nearly past recovery. Hong's army alone stayed in order and deployed its carts, suffering no loss; that the collapse of the armies was relieved owed much to Hong. Later, in another battle, he beheaded a minor rebel leader, took many armored heads, and presented the victory at headquarters. Thereupon the commander-in-chief made Hong General Who Calms the Waves. By regulation he was granted a hundred bolts of cloth; most generals sealed them away or sent them home, but Hong divided them among his officers and men, and even bestowed some on poor old acquaintances. Of the ten bolts left, he straightway took them to buy meat and wine to feast his officers — and for a day it was the fine story on everyone's lips.

事平，洪投戈釋甲，徑詣洛陽，欲廣尋異書，了不論戰功。竊慕魯連不受聊城之金，包胥不納存楚之賞，成功不處之義焉。正遇上國大亂，北道不通，而陳敏又反於江東，歸塗隔塞。會有故人譙國嵇君道，本作居道，從意林及晉書改，下放此。見用為廣州刺史，乃表請洪為參軍，雖非所樂，然利可避地於南，故黽勉就焉。見遣先行催兵，而君道於後遇害，遂停廣州，頻為節將見邀用，皆不就。永惟富貴可以漸得，而不可頓合，其閒屑屑亦足以勞人。且榮位勢利，譬如寄客，既非常物，又其去不可得留也。隆隆者絕，赫赫者滅，有若春華，須臾凋落。得之不喜，失之安悲？悔吝百端，憂懼兢戰，不可勝言，不足為也。且自度性篤懶而才至短，以篤懶而御短才，雖翕肩屈膝，趨走風塵，猶必不辦，大致名位而免患累，況不能乎？未若修松喬之道，在我而已，不由於人焉。將登名山，服食養性，非有廢也。事不兼濟，自非藏本作不，從舊寫本改。絕棄世務，則曷緣修習玄靜哉？且知之誠難，亦不得惜問而與人議也。是以車馬之跡，不經貴勢之域；藏本作貴世之域，從舊寫本改。片字之書，不交在位之家。又士林之中，雖不可出，而見造之賓，意不能拒，妨人所作，不得專一。乃嘆曰，山林之中無道也。而古之修道者，必入山林者，誠欲以違遠讙譁，使心不亂也。今將遂本志，委桑梓，適嵩嶽，以尋方平梁公之軌。先所作子書內外篇，幸已用功夫，聊復撰次，以示將來云爾。

When the affair was settled, Hong threw down his spear and doffed his armor and went straight to Luoyang, wishing to seek widely for rare books, saying nothing at all of his war service. In his heart he admired the righteousness of Lu Lian, who would not accept the gold of Liaocheng, and of Shen Baoxu, who would not take the reward for preserving Chu — to succeed and not dwell on it. It happened that the realm fell into great disorder and the northern roads were closed, while Chen Min rebelled in Jiangdong; the way home was cut off. He met an old friend, Ji Jundao of Qiao [the text has a different name; emended following the Yilin and the Book of Jin; so below], who was being employed as Inspector of Guangzhou and who petitioned to have Hong as his adjutant. Though the post was not to his liking, it had the advantage of letting him take refuge in the south, so he forced himself to take the office. Sent ahead to hurry on troops, he learned that Jundao had been killed behind him; so he stayed on in Guangzhou, and though the commanding generals repeatedly invited his service, he accepted none of them. Long he pondered that wealth and honor can be gradually gained but cannot be grasped in an instant, and that in between the petty fuss is enough to wear a man down. Moreover glorious station, power, and profit are like a lodged guest: since they are no lasting thing, once they go they cannot be kept. Their thunderous passing, their brilliant extinction, is like a spring flower that fades in a moment. To gain them is no cause for joy; why then grieve to lose them? Regret and vexation a hundredfold, care and trembling past all telling — not worth doing. Moreover, measuring himself, his nature is staunchly lazy and his talent exceedingly short; to harness staunch laziness to short talent, though one shrug one's shoulders and bend one's knees and hurry through the dust and wind, one still could not accomplish it — let alone roughly gain name and station while escaping trouble. Better to cultivate the way of Master Redpine and Wangzi Qiao, which lies in oneself and does not depend on others. He resolved to climb a famed mountain, take elixirs and nourish his nature — this is not abandoning anything. Since affairs cannot both be carried through, if he did not [the Daozang text has a different reading; emended following the old manuscript] utterly cast off worldly business, whence could he cultivate mystery and stillness? Moreover, knowing this is truly hard, and he cannot begrudge asking and debating with others. So the tracks of his carriages never cross the domains of the honored and powerful [the Daozang text has a different wording; emended following the old manuscript], and no note of a single character passes to the houses of those in office. Again, among the forest of gentlemen, though one cannot wholly withdraw, guests who come visiting cannot in conscience be refused; they hinder one's work and leave no single-mindedness. He sighed that amid the mountains and forests there is, they say, no Way — yet the ancients who cultivated the Way always entered the mountains and forests, truly because they wished to keep far from clamor and keep the heart unconfused. Now he is about to fulfill his original intent, leave his homeland behind, and go to Mount Song, to seek the tracks of Fangping and Lord Liang. The inner and outer chapters of the master's book he wrote earlier are, fortunately, already worked out; he has merely arranged them again to hand to later viewers.

洪年十五六時，所作詩賦雜文，當時自謂可行於代。本脫於代二字，從意林補。至於弱冠，更詳省之，殊多不稱意，天才未必為增也，直所覽差廣，而覺妍媸之別。於是大有所制，棄十不存一。今除所作子書，但雜尚餘百所卷，猶未盡損益之理，而多慘憤，不遑復料護之。他人文成，便呼快意。餘才鈍思遲，實不能爾。作文章每一更字，輒自轉勝，但患懶，又所作多，不能數省之耳。

When Hong was fifteen or sixteen, the poems, rhapsodies, and miscellaneous pieces he wrote he at the time thought fit to circulate in the age [the text omits two characters; supplied following the Yilin]. By the time he was capped at twenty, examining them again in detail, he found most of them very unsatisfying — his natural talent had not necessarily grown; it was only that his reading had widened a little and he now perceived the difference between lovely and ugly. So he made great cuts: he threw away nine tenths and kept not one in ten. Now, apart from the master book he wrote, only about a hundred scrolls of miscellany remain, not yet fully brought to the measure of gain and loss; and since much of it is bitter and indignant, he has had no leisure to tend it further. Other men finish a piece and at once cry out in delight. My talent is dull and my thought slow — I truly cannot do that. Each time I change a single character in an essay, I find it turned for the better; my only fault is laziness, and since what I have written is much, I cannot keep reviewing it all.

洪年二十餘，乃計作細碎小文，妨棄功日，未若立一家之言，乃草創子書。會遇兵亂，流離播越，有所亡失，連在道路，不復投筆十餘年，至建武中乃定，凡著內篇二十卷，外篇五十卷，碑頌詩賦百卷，軍書檄移章表箋記三十卷。又撰俗所不列者為神仙傳十卷，又撰高尚藏本作上，今從舊寫本。不仕者為隱逸傳十卷，又抄五經七史百家之言，兵事方伎短雜奇要三百一十卷，別有目錄。其內篇言神仙方藥鬼怪變化養生延年禳邪卻禍之事，屬道家。其外篇言人閒得失，世事臧否，屬儒家。洪見魏文帝典論藏本作典目，從舊寫本改。自敘，末藏本作未，從舊寫本改。及彈棋擊劍之事，有意於略說所知，而實不數少所便能，不可虛自稱揚，今將具言，所不閒焉。

When Hong was just past twenty, he reckoned that writing petty trifles and small pieces wasted working days — better to establish the words of a single school — and began drafting the master book. He happened to meet war and disorder; fleeing and wandering, he lost part of it and was constantly on the road, not taking up his brush again for over ten years. It was only settled in the Jianwu era. In all he wrote twenty scrolls of Inner Chapters, fifty scrolls of Outer Chapters, a hundred scrolls of stele inscriptions, eulogies, poems, and rhapsodies, and thirty scrolls of military letters, proclamations, missives, memorials, and notes. He also compiled the Biographies of Divine Immortals in ten scrolls for those whom the common lists do not record; he compiled the Biographies of Recluses in ten scrolls for the lofty [the Daozang text has a different character; the old manuscript is followed] who would not serve; and he excerpted the sayings of the Five Classics, the seven histories, and the hundred schools, together with military matters, arts, and sundry rare essentials, in three hundred and ten scrolls, with a separate catalogue. The Inner Chapters speak of divine immortals, recipes and drugs, ghosts and marvels, transformations, nourishing life and lengthening years, repelling evils and warding off calamities — they belong to the Daoist school. The Outer Chapters speak of gain and loss among men and the good and bad of worldly affairs — they belong to the Confucian school. Hong saw that Emperor Wen of Wei in the Self-Account in his Dianlun [the Daozang text has a different title; emended following the old manuscript], at the end [the Daozang text has a different character; emended following the old manuscript], touched on pellet chess and fencing, and meant to speak briefly of what he knew; yet in truth he does not reckon up the few things he can do, and must not praise himself emptily. So now he will set out in full those in which he is not practiced.

洪體鈍性駑，寡所玩好，自總髮垂髫，有脫句。又擲瓦手搏，不及兒童之群，未曾鬥雞鶩走狗馬。見人博戲，了不目眄，或強牽引觀之，殊不入神，有若晝睡。是以至今不知棋局上有幾道，樗蒲齒名。亦念此輩末伎，亂意思而妨日月，在位有損政事，儒者則廢講誦，凡民則忘稼穡，商人則失貨財。至於勝負未分，交爭都市，心熱於中，顏愁於外，名之為樂，而實煎悴。喪廉恥之操，興爭競之端，相取重貨，密結怨隙。昔宋閔公吳太子致碎首之禍，生叛亂之變，覆滅七國，幾傾天朝，作戒百代，其鑑明矣。每觀戲者，慚恚交集，手足相交，醜詈相加，絕交壞友，往往有焉。怨不在大，亦不在小，多召悔吝，不足為也。仲尼雖有晝寢之戒，以洪較之，洪實未許其賢於晝寢。何者，晝寢但無益，而未有怨恨之憂，鬥訟之變。聖者猶韋編三絕，以勤經業，凡才近人，安得兼修。惟諸戲盡不如示一尺之書，故因本不喜而不為，蓋此俗人所親焉。

Hong's body is dull and his nature slow; from boyhood, when his hair was bound in tufts and hung loose, [a passage is missing] he took little delight in games. At throwing tiles or wrestling he could not keep up with the children's band; he never fought cocks or raced ducks, dogs, or horses. Seeing others at board games, he would not so much as glance sidelong; if someone dragged him over to watch, it never caught his spirit — it was like sleeping by day. Therefore to this day he does not know how many lines the chessboard has, nor the names of the throws in the game of chupu. He also reflects that these trivial arts disorder the mind and waste the days: those in office harm the affairs of government by them, scholars neglect lecture and recitation, common people forget ploughing and harvest, merchants lose their goods and wealth. And when victory and defeat hang undecided, men quarrel in the marketplaces, hearts burning within, faces wretched without — calling it pleasure when in truth it is torment and waste. They lose the discipline of shame and honor, breed the beginnings of contention, snatch each other's heavy goods, and secretly knot grudges and feuds. Of old, Duke Min of Song and the Heir of Wu brought on the calamity of shattered skulls, gave birth to the change of rebellion, overthrew seven kingdoms, and nearly toppled the celestial dynasty — a warning for a hundred generations; the lesson is bright and clear. Whenever one watches gamesters, shame and rage crowd together, hands and feet fly at each other, foul curses are heaped up, friendships broken off — it happens again and again. Resentment lies neither in the great nor in the small; it mostly summons regret and vexation — not worth doing. Though Confucius gave his warning against sleeping by day, comparing the two, Hong truly does not grant that gaming is better than sleeping by day. Why? Daytime sleep is merely unprofitable; it breeds no cares of resentment, no calamities of brawling and litigation. Even the sage thrice wore out the leather bindings of his book in his diligence at the classics; how can ordinary talent, barely above the crowd, cultivate both? On reflection, none of the games can compare with unrolling a foot of writing; therefore, since I have never liked them, I do not play them — though they are perhaps what common folk hold dear.

少嘗學射，但力少不能挽強，若顏高之弓耳。意為射既在六藝，又可以禦寇闢劫，及取鳥獸，是以習之。昔在軍旅，曾手射追騎，應弦而倒，殺二賊一馬，遂以得免死。又曾受刀楯及單刀雙戟，皆有口訣要術，以待取人，乃有秘法，其巧入神。若以此道與不曉者對，便可以當全獨勝，所向無前矣。晚又學七尺杖術，可以入白刃，取大戟。然亦是不急之末學，知之譬如麟角鳳距，何必用之？過藏本脫過字，從舊寫本補。此已往，未之或知。

In youth he once studied archery, but his strength was too slight to draw a strong bow like Yan Gao's. He reflected that archery is both among the Six Arts and can be used to repel raiders and ward off robbers, and to take birds and beasts, so he practiced it. Once, in the army, he himself shot a pursuing rider who fell at the twang of the string, killing two rebels and a horse, and by this he escaped death. He also received instruction in saber-and-shield, single saber, and double halberd; all have oral formulas and essential techniques for taking men, and there are secret methods whose skill enters the divine. If one who knows this art faces men who do not, he can count on complete and solitary victory, with none to stand before him. Later he also studied the art of the seven-foot staff, which can enter naked blades and take great halberds. Yet these are likewise unessential last studies: knowing them is like having a unicorn's horn or a phoenix's spur — what use are they? Beyond [the Daozang text omits this character; supplied following the old manuscript] this, he knows nothing more.

洪少有定志，決不出身。每覽巢許子州北人石戶二姜兩袁法真子龍之傳，嘗廢書前席，慕其為人。念精治五經，著一部子書，令後世知其為文儒而已。後州郡及車騎大將軍闢，皆不就。薦名琅邪王丞相府。昔起義兵，賊平之後，了不修名，詣府論功，主者永無賞報之冀。晉王應天順人，撥亂反正，結皇綱於垂絕，修宗廟之廢祀，念先朝之滯賞，並無報以勸來。洪隨例就彼。庚寅詔書，賜爵關中侯，食句容之邑二百戶。竊謂藏本作詔，從舊寫本改。討賊以救桑梓，勞不足錄，金紫之命，非其始願，本欲遠慕魯連，近引田疇，上書固辭，以遂微志。適有大例，同不見許。昔仲由讓應受之賜，而沮為善。醜虜未夷，天下多事，國家方欲明賞必罰，以彰憲典，小子豈敢苟潔區區之懦志，而距弘通之大制，故遂息意而恭承詔命焉。

From youth Hong had a fixed resolve never to enter official life. Whenever he read the biographies of Chaofu, Xu You, Zizhou, the Man of the North, Shihu, the two Jiangs, the two Yuans, Fa Zhen, and Zilong, he would set down the book and lean forward on his mat, admiring the men they were. His thought was to master the Five Classics thoroughly and write one master book, so that later ages would know him as a lettered Confucian — that was all. Later the province, the commandery, and the General of Chariots and Cavalry all summoned him; he accepted none. His name was recommended to the ministerial office of the King of Langye. Formerly, when he raised loyal troops and the rebels were pacified, he did not at all cultivate a name nor go to headquarters to discuss his merit, so those in charge never had any prospect of rewarding him. The King of Jin, answering Heaven and following men's hearts, brought order out of chaos, tied up the imperial bonds where they were about to break, restored the neglected sacrifices of the ancestral temple, and, mindful of the unrewarded merits of the former reign, sought to repay them and thereby encourage what was to come. Hong accordingly went to take his part. By edict of the gengyin day he was granted the rank of Marquis of the Interior, with a fief of two hundred households in Jurong. Privately he held [the Daozang text has a different character; emended following the old manuscript] that campaigning against rebels to save his homeland was a service not worth recording, and that the appointment to gold and purple was not his original wish. He had meant to follow Lu Lian at a distance and cite Tian Chou near at hand, to submit a letter firmly declining, and so fulfill his slight intent. But it happened there was a general ruling and, like the rest, he was not permitted. Formerly Zhong You declined a reward he was entitled to and discouraged the doing of good. The foul foe was not yet pacified; the world was full of troubles; the state wished to make rewards clear and punishments sure in order to give glory to its statutes. How could a petty fellow presume to keep spotless his small fainthearted resolve and refuse the great far-reaching rule? So he stilled his intent and respectfully received the edict's command.

洪既著自敘之篇。或人難曰：昔王充年在耳順，道窮望絕，懼身名之偕滅，故自紀終篇。先生以始立之盛，值乎有道之運，方將解申公之束帛，登穆藏本作枚，從舊寫本改。生之蒲輪，耀藻九五，絕聲昆吾，何憾芬芳之不揚，而務老生之彼務。洪答曰：夫二儀彌邈，而人居若寓，以朝菌之耀秀，不移晷而殄瘁，類春華之暫榮，未改旬而凋墜，雖飛飆之經霄，激電之乍照，未必速也。夫期頤猶奔星之騰煙，藏本作炯，從舊寫本改。黃髮如激箭之過隙，況或未萌藏本作明，從舊寫本改。而殞籜，逆秋而零瘁者哉？故項子有含穗之嘆，揚烏有夙折之哀。歷覽遠古逸倫之士，或以文藝而龍躍，或以武功而虎踞，高勳著於盟府，德音被乎管絃，形器雖沈鑠於淵壤，美談飄颻而日載，故雖千百代，猶穆如也。餘以庸陋，沈抑婆娑，用不合時，行舛於世，發音則響與俗乖，抗足則跡與眾迕，內無金張之援，外乏彈冠之友，循塗雖坦，而足無騏驎，六虛雖曠，而翼非大鵬，上不能鷹揚匡國，下無以顯親垂名，美不寄於良史，聲不附乎鍾鼎。故因著述之餘，而為自敘之篇，雖無補於窮達，亦賴將來之有述焉。

When Hong had written the autobiographical chapter, someone objected: 'Formerly Wang Chong, in his sixtieth year, at the end of his road and with all hope gone, feared that his body and name would perish together, and so wrote a self-record as the final chapter. You, sir, in the prime of early establishment and meeting a fortunate age, are just the one to undo Shengong's bundle of silk and mount Musheng's cushioned wheel [the Daozang text has a different name; emended following the old manuscript], to shine your luster at the sovereign's seat and leave even Kunwu behind in renown — what regret could you have that your fragrance should not spread, that you busy yourself with the tasks of an old man?' Hong answered: The two realms stretch on without end, yet man's dwelling in them is but a lodging; take the morning mushroom that blooms in splendor and withers before the sundial's shadow moves, like the spring flower whose brief glory falls before a fortnight has turned — even a flying whirlwind crossing the sky or a sudden blaze of lightning is not necessarily quicker. A hundred years is still like a rushing star, like rising smoke [the Daozang text has a different character; emended following the old manuscript]; yellowed old age is like a driven arrow through a crack — how much more those who perish unbudded [the Daozang text has a different character; emended following the old manuscript], shed like sheaths, or fall blighted before autumn! Thus Xiang Tuo had his sigh for the unripe ear, and Yang Wu had his grief for the early cutting. Surveying the surpassing men of remote antiquity: some leapt like dragons by literary art, some crouched like tigers by martial deed; their high merit was recorded in the archives of covenants, their virtuous fame spread through pipe and string. Though their forms sank and melted into the deep earth, the fine talk of them floats and is borne on from day to day — so that after a hundred thousand generations they are still reverent and near. I, mediocre and mean, sunk low and drifting, useless and out of season, my conduct at odds with the world — when I utter a sound its echo clashes with the common run, when I lift a foot my track crosses the multitude. Within I have no backing of a Jin or a Zhang; without, no friend to dust off the cap for me. The way along the path may be smooth, but my feet are no thoroughbred; the six voids may be vast, but my wings are no great Peng's. Above, I cannot soar like a hawk to set the state right; below, I have no means to glorify my parents or hand down a name; my goodness is not lodged with a fine historian, my sound not attached to bell or tripod. Therefore, on the margins of my writing, I have made this autobiographical chapter; though it adds nothing to failure or success, it may yet give later men something to relate.

道家宗旨，清淨沖虛而已。其弊或流為權謀，或流為放誕，無所謂金丹仙藥、黃白玄素、吐納導引、禁祝符■之術也。秦漢方士，絕不附會老子。即依託黃帝，亦非道家之說。漢書藝文志以黃帝諸篇，分屬道家神仙，蓋本七略。七略又本於別錄。劉子政固誦習鴻寶，篤信神仙者，而典校秘書，仍別方技於諸子之外，不相殽也。

The essence of the Daoist school is nothing more than purity, stillness, and empty receptivity. Its corruptions flowed some into scheming and strategy, some into unrestrained license; it had none of the so-called arts of gold elixirs and immortal drugs, the yellow-and-white (the smelting of gold and silver), the dark-and-pale (the bedchamber arts), exhaling and inhaling and guiding-and-stretching, prohibitions, invocations, and talismans [a character is missing in the base text]. The adepts of Qin and Han never attached themselves to Laozi. Even when they lodged themselves in the Yellow Emperor, that was not a Daoist doctrine. The Treatise on Literature in the Book of Han assigns the various Huangdi texts partly to the Daoists and partly to the adepts of immortality, probably following the Qilüe, which in turn followed the Bie Lu. Although Liu Zizheng chanted and studied the Hongbao and firmly believed in immortals, when he collated the palace library he still placed the recipes and arts in a class apart from the masters, not mixing them together.

東漢之季，桓帝好神仙，祠老子。張陵之子衡，使人為祭酒，主以老子五千文都習。神仙之附會道家，實昉於此。抱朴子內篇，古之神仙家言也。雖自以內篇屬之道家，然所舉仙經神符，多至二百八十二種，絕無道家諸子。且謂老子泛論較略，莊子文子關尹喜之徒，祖述黃老，永無至言，去神仙千億裡。尋其旨趣，與道家判然不同。又後世學仙者，奉魏伯陽為正宗。是書偶及伯陽內篇之名，並無一語稱述，惟神仙傳中言參同契假爻象以說作丹之意而已。是稚川之學，匪特與道家異，並與後世神仙家無幾微之合。

At the end of Eastern Han, Emperor Huan loved the divine immortals and offered sacrifices to Laozi. Zhang Ling's son Zhang Heng appointed libationers to preside over the universal recitation of Laozi's text of five thousand characters. The attachment of the immortality cult to the Daoist school truly began here. The Inner Chapters of Baopuzi is a work of the ancient adepts of immortality. Although Ge Hong himself assigned the Inner Chapters to the Daoists, the immortal classics and divine talismans he cites number as many as two hundred and eighty-two, and among them are none of the Daoist masters. Moreover he says Laozi's general discussion is comparatively slight, and that Zhuangzi, Wenzi, Guanyin Xi, and their like, in transmitting Huang-Lao, never offer the ultimate word — they are a hundred billion leagues from the immortals. Tracing its aim, it is markedly different from the Daoist school. Further, later students of immortality honor Wei Boyang as the orthodox ancestor. This book only occasionally mentions the title of Boyang's Inner Chapters without a single word of praise; only in the Biographies of Divine Immortals does it say that the Cantong qi borrows the images of the hexagrams to expound the making of the elixir. This shows that Zhichuan's learning is not only different from the Daoists' but shares not a jot with the later immortality school either.

餘嘗謂漢之仙術，元與黃老分途。魏晉之世，玄言日盛，經術多歧。道家自詭於儒，神仙遂溷於道。然第假借其名，不易其實也。迨及宋元，乃緣參同爐火而言內丹，煉養陰陽，混合元氣，斥服食胎息為小道，金石符祝為旁門，黃白玄素為邪術，惟以性命交修，為谷神不死，羽化登真之訣。其說旁涉禪宗，兼附易理，襲微重妙，且欲並儒釋而一之。自是而漢晉相傳神仙之說，盡變無餘，名實交溷矣。然則葛氏之書，墨守師傳，不矜妙悟。譬之儒者說經，其神仙家之漢學乎！

I once said that the immortal arts of Han were originally a separate path from Huang-Lao. In the Wei-Jin age, mysterious discourse grew stronger by the day and the learning of the classics divided into many branches. The Daoists falsely called themselves near to the Confucians, and immortality was thus mixed into the Way. Yet this was only borrowing the name; it did not change its substance. It was not until Song and Yuan that the inner elixir was expounded along the lines of the Cantong qi's furnace and fire — refining and nourishing yin and yang, blending the primal ethers — while dismissing elixir-eating and embryo-breathing as petty ways, metals-and-stones and talismans-and-spells as side gates, and the yellow-and-white and dark-and-pale as heterodox arts, taking only the joint cultivation of inner nature and life-destiny as the oral formula for 'the valley spirit does not die' and 'growing feathers and mounting to the Real'. That doctrine reached sideways into the Chan school and attached itself to the principles of the Changes; it took over subtle words and prized the mysterious, and even sought to fuse Confucianism and Buddhism into one. From then on, the lore of immortals handed down from Han and Jin was wholly transformed, name and substance mingled and confused. So Ge Hong's book, guarding its teacher's transmission and not priding itself on wondrous enlightenment — comparing it to the Confucians' commenting on the classics, is it not precisely the Han learning of the immortality school!

孫伯淵漕司，篤好古義，兼綜九流，以明刻抱朴子及天一閣鈔本錯亂脫誤，手自校讎，復屬餘與顧澗●各以家藏諸本，參證他書，覆校數過，伯淵敘錄篇目，將以刊行。餘因舉神仙與道家者流，古今分合之故，論次為序，覽者或有考焉。嘉慶十七年七月甲戌桐城方維甸撰。

Sun Boyuan of the Grain Transport Office deeply loved ancient learning and mastered the nine schools as well. Because the Ming printing of Baopuzi and the Tianyi Pavilion manuscript were in disorder with omissions and errors, he collated them with his own hand, and further charged me and Gu Jian [the character is incomplete in the base text] to take the various editions in our family collections, verify them against other books, and collate them again several times over. Boyuan arranged the catalogue of chapters and was about to print it. I therefore set out the reasons for the divisions and joins between the immortality school and the Daoist school in ancient and modern times, composed them in order as a preface, so that readers may have something to examine. Written by Fang Weidian of Tongcheng, on the jiaxu day of the seventh month of the seventeenth year of Jiaqing.

按：明刻抱朴子於內篇之後，附入別旨一篇，專論吐納導引，與內篇本意不合，辭義亦甚淺近，不似晉人手筆。考之稚川自敘，本無此書。隋唐諸志，皆不著錄。惟宋史藝文志道家有抱朴子別旨二卷。注云，不知作者。亦不謂為稚川所著也。晚出之書，元不可信。且今本五百六十餘言，不盈一卷，並非宋元舊本。故削去之，不復附於篇末雲。維甸又跋。

Note: the Ming printing of Baopuzi appended a piece called Separate Purport after the Inner Chapters, treating only breathing exercises and gymnastic conduction; it does not agree with the original intent of the Inner Chapters, and its phrasing and sense are quite shallow, unlike the hand of a Jin man. Examining Zhichuan's own account, this book is not among them. The various bibliographies of Sui and Tang do not record it. Only the Treatise on Literature in the History of Song lists under the Daoists a Separate Purport of Baopuzi in two scrolls; the note says the author is unknown — it does not say Zhichuan wrote it. A book that appears late is not to be trusted. Moreover the present text is five hundred and sixty-odd characters, less than a full scroll, and is not the Song-Yuan old edition. Therefore it has been cut out and is no longer appended at the end of the chapters. A further postscript by Weidian.

暢玄卷第一，論仙卷第二，對俗卷第三，金丹卷第四，至理卷第五，微旨卷第六，塞難卷第七，釋滯卷第八，道意卷第九，明本卷第十，仙藥卷第十一，辨問卷第十二，極言卷第十三，勤求卷第十四，雜應卷第十五，黃白卷第十六，登涉卷第十七，地真卷第十八，遐覽卷第十九，袪惑卷第二十。

Expounding the Mystery, scroll one; Discoursing on Immortals, scroll two; Answering the Common World, scroll three; The Golden Elixir, scroll four; The Ultimate Principle, scroll five; The Subtle Purport, scroll six; Blocking Objections, scroll seven; Dissolving Obstructions, scroll eight; The Meaning of the Way, scroll nine; Making the Root Clear, scroll ten; The Medicines of the Immortals, scroll eleven; Resolving Questions, scroll twelve; Exhaustive Words, scroll thirteen; Earnest Seeking, scroll fourteen; Sundry Replies, scroll fifteen; The Yellow and the White, scroll sixteen; Climbing and Crossing, scroll seventeen; The Terrestrial Real, scroll eighteen; A Far-reaching Survey, scroll nineteen; Dispelling Delusions, scroll twenty.

右目錄依道藏本定。按抱朴子內篇敘云，別為此一部名曰內篇，凡二十卷，與外篇各起次第也。又外篇自敘云，凡著內篇二十卷，外篇五十卷。又云，其內篇言神仙方藥、鬼怪變化、養生延年、禳邪卻禍之事，屬道家。其外篇言人閒得失、世事臧否、屬儒家。隋書經籍志內篇亦屬道家，與外篇分行。道藏雖並收外篇，原未合為一部。觀其內篇之後，外篇之前，以抱朴子別旨一種閒隔之，可曉然矣。明人刻此書，從道藏取出，而不知其為三種，遂總名曰抱朴子，非也。今校刊內篇二十卷，不連外篇，以復葛氏之舊，兼正明人之誤。舊唐書經籍志及各家書目俱為二十卷。隋志二十一卷，音一卷者，或加序目及音為二十二卷也。音久不傳。道藏序在第一卷前，故不復列數雲。或疑別旨既自為一種，何以不見於自敘。考道藏所收，又有抱朴子養生論及稚川真人較證術一卷，抱朴子神仙金汋經三卷，葛稚川金木萬靈論，俱不見於自敘。然則別旨，正同斯例，蓋皆非稚川所撰也。嘉慶十六年十月五松居士孫星衍敘錄。

The catalogue above follows the Daozang edition. According to the Preface to the Inner Chapters of Baopuzi: 'I separately made this part called the Inner Chapters, twenty scrolls in all, numbering separately from the Outer Chapters.' Also the Self-Account of the Outer Chapters says: 'In all I wrote twenty scrolls of Inner Chapters and fifty scrolls of Outer Chapters,' and further: 'The Inner Chapters speak of divine immortals, recipes and drugs, ghosts and marvels, transformations, nourishing life and lengthening years, repelling evils and warding off calamities — they belong to the Daoist school; the Outer Chapters speak of gain and loss among men and the good and bad of worldly affairs — they belong to the Confucian school.' The Treatise on Bibliography in the Book of Sui likewise classes the Inner Chapters with the Daoists, circulating separately from the Outer Chapters. Although the Daozang received the Outer Chapters too, they were originally never united in one work. That it placed a piece called Separate Purport of Baopuzi between the Inner Chapters and the Outer Chapters makes this plain. When Ming men printed this book, they took it from the Daozang but did not know it was three works, and so gave the whole the single name Baopuzi — which is wrong. Now the Inner Chapters are collated and printed in twenty scrolls without the Outer Chapters, restoring the old arrangement of the Ge family and correcting the Ming men's error. The Treatise on Bibliography of the Old Book of Tang and the catalogues of all houses give twenty scrolls. The Sui Treatise gives twenty-one scrolls plus one scroll of pronunciation — perhaps the preface-catalogue and the pronunciation were added to make twenty-two. The pronunciation has long been lost. In the Daozang the preface stands before scroll one, so it is not listed separately. Some may wonder: since the Separate Purport formed a work of its own, why does it not appear in the Self-Account? Consider that the Daozang also contains a Treatise on Nourishing Life of Baopuzi, a Method of Verification of the Perfected Man Zhichuan in one scroll, a Classic of the Golden Ladle of Divine Immortals of Baopuzi in three scrolls, and a Discourse on Metals, Woods, and the Myriad Numina of Ge Zhichuan — none of which appear in the Self-Account. The Separate Purport is exactly the same case: presumably none of them are by Zhichuan. Tenth month of the sixteenth year of Jiaqing; catalogue note by the Recluse of Five Pines, Sun Xingyan.

道家宗旨，清淨沖虛而已。其弊或流為權謀，或流為放誕，無所謂金丹仙藥、黃白玄素、吐納導引、禁咒符籙之術也。秦漢方士，絕不附會老子。即依託黃帝，亦非道家之說。漢書藝文志以黃帝諸篇，分屬道家神仙，蓋本七略。七略又本於別錄。劉子政固誦習鴻寶，篤信神仙者，而典校秘書，仍別方技於諸子之外，不相殽也。

The essence of the Daoist school is nothing more than purity, stillness, and empty receptivity. Its corruptions flowed some into scheming and strategy, some into unrestrained license; it had none of the so-called arts of gold elixirs and immortal drugs, the yellow-and-white (the smelting of gold and silver), the dark-and-pale (the bedchamber arts), exhaling and inhaling and guiding-and-stretching, incantations, talismans, and registers. The adepts of Qin and Han never attached themselves to Laozi. Even when they lodged themselves in the Yellow Emperor, that was not a Daoist doctrine. The Treatise on Literature in the Book of Han assigns the various Huangdi texts partly to the Daoists and partly to the adepts of immortality, probably following the Qilüe, which in turn followed the Bie Lu. Although Liu Zizheng chanted and studied the Hongbao and firmly believed in immortals, when he collated the palace library he still placed the recipes and arts in a class apart from the masters, not mixing them together.

東漢之季，桓帝好神仙，祠老子。張陵之子衡，使人為祭酒，主以老子五千文都習。神仙之附會道家，實昉於此。抱朴子內篇，古之神仙家言也。雖自以內篇屬之道家，然所舉仙經神符，多至二百八十二種，絕無道家諸子。且謂老子泛論較略，莊子文子關尹喜之徒，祖述黃老，永無至言，去神仙千億裡。尋其旨趣，與道家判然不同。又後世學仙者，奉魏伯陽為正宗。是書偶及伯陽內篇之名，並無一語稱述，惟神仙傳中言參同契假爻象以說作丹之意而已。是稚川之學，匪特與道家異，並與後世神仙家無幾微之合。

At the end of Eastern Han, Emperor Huan loved the divine immortals and offered sacrifices to Laozi. Zhang Ling's son Zhang Heng appointed libationers to preside over the universal recitation of Laozi's text of five thousand characters. The attachment of the immortality cult to the Daoist school truly began here. The Inner Chapters of Baopuzi is a work of the ancient adepts of immortality. Although Ge Hong himself assigned the Inner Chapters to the Daoists, the immortal classics and divine talismans he cites number as many as two hundred and eighty-two, and among them are none of the Daoist masters. Moreover he says Laozi's general discussion is comparatively slight, and that Zhuangzi, Wenzi, Guanyin Xi, and their like, in transmitting Huang-Lao, never offer the ultimate word — they are a hundred billion leagues from the immortals. Tracing its aim, it is markedly different from the Daoist school. Further, later students of immortality honor Wei Boyang as the orthodox ancestor. This book only occasionally mentions the title of Boyang's Inner Chapters without a single word of praise; only in the Biographies of Divine Immortals does it say that the Cantong qi borrows the images of the hexagrams to expound the making of the elixir. This shows that Zhichuan's learning is not only different from the Daoists' but shares not a jot with the later immortality school either.

餘嘗謂漢之仙術，元與黃老分途。魏晉之世，玄言日盛，經術多歧。道家自詭於儒，神仙遂溷於道。然第假借其名，不易其實也。迨及宋元，乃緣參同爐火而言內丹，釒柬養陰陽，混合元氣，斥服食胎息為小道，金石符祝為旁門，黃白玄素為邪術，惟以性命交修，為谷神不死，羽化登真之訣。其說旁涉禪宗，兼附易理，襲微重妙，且欲並儒釋而一之。自是而漢晉相傳神仙之說，盡變無餘，名實交溷矣。然則葛氏之書，墨守師傳，不矜妙悟。譬之儒者說經，其神仙家之漢學乎！

I once said that the immortal arts of Han were originally a separate path from Huang-Lao. In the Wei-Jin age, mysterious discourse grew stronger by the day and the learning of the classics divided into many branches. The Daoists falsely called themselves near to the Confucians, and immortality was thus mixed into the Way. Yet this was only borrowing the name; it did not change its substance. It was not until Song and Yuan that the inner elixir was expounded along the lines of the Cantong qi's furnace and fire — refining [the base text misprints this character by splitting it in two] and nourishing yin and yang, blending the primal ethers — while dismissing elixir-eating and embryo-breathing as petty ways, metals-and-stones and talismans-and-spells as side gates, and the yellow-and-white and dark-and-pale as heterodox arts, taking only the joint cultivation of inner nature and life-destiny as the oral formula for 'the valley spirit does not die' and 'growing feathers and mounting to the Real'. That doctrine reached sideways into the Chan school and attached itself to the principles of the Changes; it took over subtle words and prized the mysterious, and even sought to fuse Confucianism and Buddhism into one. From then on, the lore of immortals handed down from Han and Jin was wholly transformed, name and substance mingled and confused. So Ge Hong's book, guarding its teacher's transmission and not priding itself on wondrous enlightenment — comparing it to the Confucians' commenting on the classics, is it not precisely the Han learning of the immortality school!

孫伯淵漕司，篤好古義，兼綜九流，以明刻抱朴子及天一閣鈔本錯亂脫誤，手自校讎，復屬餘與顧澗●各以家藏諸本，參證他書，覆校數過，伯淵敘錄篇目，將以刊行。餘因舉神仙與道家者流，古今分合之故，論次為序，覽者或有考焉。嘉慶十七年七月甲戌桐城方維甸撰。

Sun Boyuan of the Grain Transport Office deeply loved ancient learning and mastered the nine schools as well. Because the Ming printing of Baopuzi and the Tianyi Pavilion manuscript were in disorder with omissions and errors, he collated them with his own hand, and further charged me and Gu Jian [the character is incomplete in the base text] to take the various editions in our family collections, verify them against other books, and collate them again several times over. Boyuan arranged the catalogue of chapters and was about to print it. I therefore set out the reasons for the divisions and joins between the immortality school and the Daoist school in ancient and modern times, composed them in order as a preface, so that readers may have something to examine. Written by Fang Weidian of Tongcheng, on the jiaxu day of the seventh month of the seventeenth year of Jiaqing.

按：明刻抱朴子於內篇之後，附入別旨一篇，專論吐納導引，與內篇本意不合，辭義亦甚淺近，不似晉人手筆。考之稚川自敘，本無此書。隋唐諸志，皆不著錄。惟宋史藝文志道家有抱朴子別旨二卷。注云，不知作者。亦不謂為稚川所著也。晚出之書，元不可信。且今本五百六十餘言，不盈一卷，並非宋元舊本。故削去之，不復附於篇末雲。維甸又跋。

Note: the Ming printing of Baopuzi appended a piece called Separate Purport after the Inner Chapters, treating only breathing exercises and gymnastic conduction; it does not agree with the original intent of the Inner Chapters, and its phrasing and sense are quite shallow, unlike the hand of a Jin man. Examining Zhichuan's own account, this book is not among them. The various bibliographies of Sui and Tang do not record it. Only the Treatise on Literature in the History of Song lists under the Daoists a Separate Purport of Baopuzi in two scrolls; the note says the author is unknown — it does not say Zhichuan wrote it. A book that appears late is not to be trusted. Moreover the present text is five hundred and sixty-odd characters, less than a full scroll, and is not the Song-Yuan old edition. Therefore it has been cut out and is no longer appended at the end of the chapters. A further postscript by Weidian.