1
唐檀字子产，豫章南昌人也。 少游太学，习《京氏易》、《韩诗》、《颜氏春秋》，尤好灾异星占。 后还乡里，教授常百余人。
Tang Tan, styled Zichan, came from Nanchang in Yuzhang. As a young man he attended the Imperial Academy, mastering the Jing Yi, the Han Poetry, and Yan's Spring and Autumn Annals, with a particular passion for omens, prodigies, and astrology. He later went home and taught, often keeping well over a hundred students.
2
元初七年，郡界有芝草生，太守刘祗欲上言之，以问檀。 檀对曰：“方今外戚豪盛，阳道微弱，斯岂嘉瑞乎？ ”祗乃止。 永宁元年，南昌有妇人生四子，祗复问檀变异之应。 檀以为京师当有兵气，其祸发于萧墙。 至延光四年，中黄门孙程扬兵殿省，诛皇后兄车骑将军阎显等，立济阴王为天子，果如所占。
In Yuanchu 7, auspicious fungus appeared inside the commandery. Prefect Liu Zhi wanted to report it to the court and consulted Tang Tan. Tan answered, "The imperial in-laws are rampant and the masculine principle is enfeebled—can this really count as an auspicious sign? " Liu Zhi dropped the idea. In Yongning 1 a Nanchang woman bore four sons at once. Liu Zhi again pressed Tan on what such a prodigy foretold. Tan believed the capital would soon see the shadow of civil strife, with the harm arising inside the court itself. In Yanguang 4 the Yellow Gate eunuch Sun Cheng mobilized forces in the palace, killed the empress's brother, the chariots-and-cavalry general Yan Xian, and his faction, and enthroned the prince of Jiyin—exactly as Tan had predicted.
3
永建五年，举孝廉，除郎中。 是时白虹贯日，檀因上便宜三事，陈其咎征。 书奏，弃官去。 著书二十八篇，名为《唐子》。 卒于家。
Yongjian 5 he was nominated filial and incorrupt and made a gentleman of the palace. When a white rainbow spanned the sun, Tan memorialized three practical proposals, spelling out the ominous portents they implied. After his memorial went in, he resigned his post and walked away. He composed twenty-eight chapters collected under the title Master Tang. He died at home.
4
公沙穆
Gongsha Mu
5
公沙穆字文乂，北海胶东人也。 家贫贱，自为兒童不好戏弄，长习《韩诗》、《公羊春秋》，尤锐思《河》、《洛》推步之术。 居建成山中，依林阻为室，独宿无侣。 时，暴风震雷，有声于外，呼穆者三，穆不与语。 有顷，呼者自牖而入，音状甚怪，穆诵经自若，终亦无它妖异，时人奇之。 后遂隐居东莱山，学者自远而至。
Gongsha Mu, styled Wenyi, was a native of Jiaodong in Beihai. Though his household was humble, he shunned childish games, and as an adult he trained in the Han Poetry and the Gongyang commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals, devoting special energy to the Hetu-Luoshu methods of celestial calculation. He lived deep in the Jian range, roofed a hut against the woods and cliffs, and slept there utterly alone. Once, amid howling wind and thunder, something outside called his name three times; he refused to answer. Presently the voice slipped in through the window, weird in timbre and shape, yet Mu went on chanting his texts undisturbed, and nothing further happened—onlookers marveled at his composure. He later withdrew to Mount Donglai, where students journeyed from distant places to study with him.
6
有富人王仲，致产千金。 谓穆曰：“方今之世，以货自通，吾奉百万与子为资，何如？ ”对曰：“来意厚矣。 夫富贵在天，得之有命。 以货求位，吾不忍也。”
A wealthy local, Wang Zhong, had amassed a fortune of a thousand catties of gold. Wang said to Mu, "These days connections are bought with money. I will give you a million cash as seed money—will you take it? Mu replied, "Your kindness is deep. Riches and rank rest with Heaven; who receives them is a matter of destiny. I will not trade cash for an appointment.
7
后举孝廉，以高第为主事，迁缯相。 时缯侯刘敞，东海恭王之后也，所为多不法，废嫡立庶，傲很放恣。 穆到官，谒曰：“臣始除之日，京师咸谓臣曰‘缯有恶侯’，以吊小相。 明侯何因得此丑声之甚也？ 幸承先人之支体，传茅土之重，不战战兢兢，而违越法度，故朝廷使臣为辅。 愿改往修来，自求多福。 ”乃上没敞所侵官民田地，废其庶子，还立嫡嗣。 其苍头兒客犯法，皆收考之。 因苦辞谏敞，敞涕泣为谢，多从其所规。
He was later nominated filial and incorrupt, placed first in the cohort, made a principal clerk, and promoted to magistrate of Zeng. The marquis of Zeng, Liu Chang, was a descendant of the prince of Donghai; his conduct was often lawless—he deposed his rightful heir in favor of a younger son by a concubine and ruled with swaggering brutality. On taking office Mu presented himself and said, "The day my commission was issued, everyone at court told me, 'Zeng is cursed with a vicious marquis,' and condoled me as if I were walking into a trap. How, my lord, did you earn a name this foul? You have inherited your forebears' flesh and blood and the solemn charge of your fief, yet you trample the law instead of walking in fear—so the court dispatched me to stand at your side. I urge you to mend your ways and win your own good fortune. " He then reported the lands Chang had seized from officials and commoners for confiscation, annulled the concubine's son as heir, and reinstated the legitimate successor. Every bondservant or client who broke the law was seized and examined. Mu remonstrated until it hurt; Chang wept and apologized, and largely yielded to his counsel.
8
迁弘农令。 县界有螟虫食稼，百姓惶惧。 穆乃设坛谢曰：“百姓有过，罪穆之由，请以身祷。 ”于是暴雨，不终日，既霁而螟虫自销，百姓称曰神明，永寿元年，霖雨大水，三辅以东莫不湮没。 穆明晓占候，乃豫告令百姓徙居高地，故弘农人独得免害。
He was promoted to magistrate of Hongnong. Crop-eating caterpillars swarmed the county, and the people panicked. Mu built an altar and took the blame: "If the people have sinned, the fault is mine; let me offer myself in prayer. " A cloudburst followed, and before nightfall the skies cleared; the pests disappeared on their own, and the locals hailed him as a spirit. In Yongshou 1 ceaseless rains brought floods that drowned everything east of the capital region. Mu read the omens and warned everyone to relocate to high ground, so Hongnong alone was spared.
9
迁辽东属国都尉，善得吏人欢心。 年六十六，卒官。 六子皆知名。
He rose to commandant of the Liaodong dependent state and won the affection of officials and commoners alike. He died in post at sixty-six. All six of his sons made a name for themselves.
10
许曼者，汝南平舆人也。 祖父峻，字季山，善卜占之术，多有显验，时人方之前世京房。 自云少尝笃病，三年不愈，乃谒太山请命，行遇道士张巨君，授以方术。 所著《易林》，至今行于世。
Xu Man came from Pingyu in Runan. His grandfather Xu Jun, styled Jishan, excelled at yarrow divination and racked up striking hits; contemporaries likened him to the Jing Fang of old. He said that in youth he lay gravely ill for three years without recovery, then climbed Mount Tai to plead for his life and met the Daoist Zhang Jujun, who handed down esoteric methods. His Forest of Changes is still read today.
11
曼少传峻学。 桓帝时，陇西太守冯绲始拜郡，开绶笥，有两赤蛇分南北走。 绲令曼筮之，封成，曼曰：“三岁之后，君当为边将，官有东名，当东北行三千里。 复五年，更为大将军，南征。 ”延熹元年，绲出为辽东太守，讨鲜卑，至五年，复拜车骑将军，击武陵蛮贼，皆如占。 其余多此类云。
Man in his youth inherited his grandfather's art. When Emperor Huan's Longxi prefect Feng Huan first took office and opened his seal box, two crimson snakes shot out, one south, one north. Huan had Man cast the stalks. When the pattern formed, Man said, "Three years hence you will hold a border command; your title will contain the word 'east,' and you will campaign three thousand li toward the northeast. Five years later you will hold the post of Grand General once more and lead a southern expedition. " In Yanxi 1 he left for Liaodong to fight the Xianbei; by year five he was named chariots-and-cavalry general and crushed the Wuling Man rebels—each step matched the oracle. His other hits followed the same pattern, it is said.
12
赵彦者，琅邪人也。 少有术学。 延熹三年，琅邪贼劳丙与太山贼叔孙无忌杀都尉。 攻没琅邪属县，残害吏民。 朝廷以南阳宗资为讨寇中郎将，杖钺将兵，督州郡合讨无忌。 彦为陈“孤虚”之法，以贼屯在莒，莒有五阳之地，宜发五阳郡兵，从孤击虚以讨之。 资具以状上，诏书遣五阳兵到。 彦推遁甲，教以时进兵，一战破贼，燔烧屯坞，徐、兗二州，一时平夷。
Zhao Yan hailed from Langye. From boyhood he studied occult techniques. Yanxi 3 saw the Langye rebel Lao Bing and the Taishan rebel Sun Wuji murder a commandant. They overran Langye's satellite counties, slaughtering officials and civilians. The court named Zong Zi of Nanyang bandit-quelling general-in-chief, gave him the ceremonial axe, and ordered him to coordinate commandery forces against Sun Wuji. Yan taught him the "orphan-and-void" doctrine: the rebels held Ju, a place of the "five yangs," so Zong should mobilize the five yang commanderies and strike their weak points from the void side. Zong laid out the plan; an edict routed the five yang levies to the front. Yan ran the Dunjia calendar and timed the assault; one engagement broke the rebels, torched their forts, and settled Xu and Yan in a single stroke.
13
樊志张
Fan Zhizhang
14
樊志张者，汉中南郑人也。 博学多通，隐身不仕。 尝游陇西，时破羌将军段颎出征西羌，请见志张。 其夕，颎军为羌所围数重，因留军中，三日不得去。 夜谓颎曰：“东南角无复羌，宜乘虚引出，住百里，还师攻之，可以全胜。 ”颎从之，果以破贼。 于是以状表闻。 又说其人既有梓慎、焦、董之识，宜冀圣朝，咨询奇异。 于是有诏特征，会病终。
Fan Zhizhang was from Nanzhong in Hanzhong. Erudite and widely read, he hid from the world and never took a post. On a journey through Longxi he crossed paths with General Who Smashes the Qiang, Duan Jiong, marching west; Jiong asked to meet him. That night Jiong's camp was ringed by Qiang layers deep; detaining Fan in headquarters, he could not break out for three days. Fan whispered to Jiong, "The southeast corner is clear—slip through there, rest the army a hundred li out, then wheel back for a full victory. " Jiong did so and routed the enemy. He then memorialized the court with a full account. He added that Fan rivaled Zi Shen, Jiao, and Dong in foresight and deserved a summons to advise the throne on prodigies. An edict called for his extraordinary recruitment, but he died of illness before he could answer.
15
单飏字武宣，山阳湖陆人也。 以孤特清苦自立，善明天官、算术。 举孝廉，稍迁太史令，侍中。 出为汉中太守，公事免。 后拜尚书，卒于官。
Dan Yang, styled Wuxuan, came from Hulu in Shanyang. He rose through lonely austerity, skilled at reading the sky and working numbers. Nominated filial and incorrupt, he climbed to grand astrologer and palace attendant. He served as Hanzhong prefect until routine business cost him the job. He was later appointed secretary of the masters of writing and died in that post.
16
初，熹平末，黄龙见谯，光禄大夫桥玄问飏：“此何祥也？ ”飏曰：“其国当有王者兴。 不及五十年，龙当复见，此其应也。 ”魏郡人殷登密记之。 至建安二十五年春，黄龙复见谯，其冬，魏受禅。
Near the close of the Xiping reign a yellow dragon showed itself at Qiao; Minister Qiao Xuan asked Yang what it portended. Yang said, "A true king will rise in that domain. Within fifty years the dragon will appear again—that will be the proof. Yin Deng of Wei commandery quietly wrote it down. In the spring of Jian'an 25 the yellow dragon reappeared at Qiao; that winter Wei accepted the Han abdication.
17
董扶字茂安，广汉绵竹人也。 少游太学，与乡人任安齐名，俱事同郡杨厚，学图谶。 还家讲授，弟子自远而至。 前后宰府十辟，公车三征，再举贤良方正、博士、有道，皆称疾不就。
Dong Fu, styled Mao'an, was a native of Mianzhu in Guanghan. In youth he studied at the Imperial Academy alongside his townsman Ren An; both studied charts and apocrypha under Yang Hou of their commandery. Back home he taught, and students traveled from afar to hear him. Prefectural mansions summoned him ten times, the coach office thrice, and he twice received nominations as worthy, good, incorrupt, erudite, and possessed of the Way—each time he pleaded illness and stayed home.
18
灵帝时，大将军何进荐扶，征拜侍中，甚见器重。 扶私谓太常刘焉曰：“京师将乱，益州分野有天子气。 ”焉信之，遂求出为益州牧，扶亦为蜀郡属国都尉，相与入蜀。 去后一岁，帝崩，天下大乱，乃去官还家。 年八十二卒。
Emperor Ling's regent He Jin recommended him; summoned as palace attendant, he won deep favor. Privately he told Minister Liu Yan, "The capital will soon convulse; the Yizhou sky sector carries the qi of an emperor. " Yan believed him, begged a posting as Yi provincial shepherd, and entered Shu with Fu, who became commandant of Shu's dependent state. A year after they departed the emperor died and the empire collapsed, so Fu resigned and went home. He died at eighty-two.
19
后刘备称天子于蜀，皆如扶言。 蜀丞相诸葛亮问广汉秦密，董扶及任安所长。 密曰：“董扶褒秋毫之善，贬纤介之恶。 任安记人之善，忘人之过”云。
When Liu Bei later declared himself emperor in Shu, every word of Fu's prophecy had come true. Shu chancellor Zhuge Liang asked the Guanghan scholar Qin Mi what Dong Fu and Ren An respectively excelled at. Mi replied, "Dong Fu magnifies goodness no larger than an autumn hair and magnifies fault no smaller than a mote. Ren An remembers others' virtues and forgets their slips," or so the story goes.
20
郭玉者，广汉雒人也。 初，有老父不知何出，常渔钓于涪水，因号涪翁。 乞食人间，见有疾者，时下针石，辄应时而效，乃著《针经》、《诊脉法》传于世。 弟子程高，寻求积年，翁乃授之。 高亦隐迹不仕。 玉少师事高，学方诊六微之技，阴阳隐侧之术。 和帝时，为太医丞，多有效应。 帝奇之，仍试令嬖臣美手腕者与女子杂处帷中，使玉各诊一手，问所疾苦。 玉曰：“左阳右阴，脉有男女，状若异人。 臣疑其故。 ”帝叹息称善。
Guo Yu came from Luo in Guanghan. Long ago a vagrant elder appeared from nowhere, always angling on the Fu River, so folk called him the Fu Fisher. He begged meals in the markets, yet whenever he saw the sick he needled and lanced them to instant cure, then set down the Canon of Acupuncture and Methods of Pulse Diagnosis for posterity. His pupil Cheng Gao hunted him for years before the old man consented to teach him. Cheng Gao likewise vanished into reclusion and never served. As a boy Guo Yu apprenticed himself to Cheng Gao, mastering pulse lore, the six pulse subtleties, and the yin-yang arts of hidden diagnosis. Under Emperor He he rose to assistant director of the imperial medical office, with a long record of cures. The emperor, intrigued, hid a favorite with fine wrists among women behind a curtain, thrust out two wrists for Yu to read, and asked him to name the complaint. Yu said, "The left pulse is male, the right female—the rhythms differ as if two people wore those wrists. I smell a trick here. " The emperor sighed and called it masterful.
21
玉仁爱不矜，虽贫贱厮养，必尽其心力，而医疗贵人，时或不愈。 帝乃令贵人羸服变处，一针即差。 召玉诘问其状。 对曰：“医之为言意也。 腠理至微，随气用巧，针石之间，毫芒即乖。 神存于心手之际，可得解而不可得言也。 夫贵者处尊高以临臣，臣怀怖慑以承之。 其为疗也，有四难焉； 自用意而不任臣，一难也； 将身不谨，二难也； 骨节不强，不能使药，三难也； 好逸恶劳，四难也。 针有分寸，时有破漏，重以恐惧之心，加以裁慎之志，臣意且犹不尽，何有于病哉！ 此其所为不愈也。 ”帝善其对。 年老卒官。
He was gentle and never condescending: for paupers and bondsmen he gave his whole heart, yet nobles sometimes walked away uncured. The emperor then had a consort dress as a commoner and sit apart; one needle and she mended. He called Yu in and pressed him for an explanation. Yu answered, "The word 'physician' really means 'intention.' The textures beneath the skin are minute; skill must ride the patient's breath, and between needle and stone a hair's width of error misses the mark. The spirit lives between heart and hand—known in the doing, impossible to lecture. A grandee sits aloft while I cower below—that alone warps the cure. Treating such men involves four obstacles: They insist on their own notions and refuse to trust the doctor—that is the first; they neglect their own regimen—that is the second; their sinews are too weak to bear the drug—that is the third; they crave comfort and shun exertion—that is the fourth. Needles demand exact depth, timing has its leaks; stack fear and overcaution on top, and even my full attention cannot land—how should the illness yield! That is why their treatment fails. " The emperor judged the answer sound. He died in post at an advanced age.
22
华佗字元化，沛国谯人也，一名旉。 游学徐土，兼通数经。 晓养性之术，年且百岁而犹有壮容，时人以为仙。 沛相陈珪举孝廉，太尉黄琬辟，皆不就。
Hua Tuo, styled Yuanhua, hailed from Qiao in Pei—also known as Hua Fu. He wandered the Xu region for study and absorbed more than one classic. He knew the arts of nurturing life: nearing a century he still looked robust, so folk took him for a transcendent. Pei chancellor Chen Gui nominated him filial and incorrupt; Minister Huang Wan called him to office—he declined both.
23
精于方药，处齐不过数种，心识分铢，不假称量，针灸不过数处。 若疾发结于内，针药所不能及者，乃令先以酒服麻沸散，既醉无所觉，因刳破腹背，抽割积聚。 若在肠胃，则断截湔洗，除去疾秽，既而缝合，傅以神膏，四五日创愈，一月之间皆平复。
He excelled at formulary: a handful of drugs sufficed, each dose weighed in his mind to the fraction of a coin, and his needles never needed many points. When a malady knotted deep inside, beyond needle or herb, he dosed the patient with hemp-boil powder in wine; once insensible he opened belly or back and cut the growth away. Organs in the gut he sectioned, flushed, and cleansed, then sewed the cavity and painted on his miracle paste; within four or five days the wound closed, and in a month the body was whole again.
24
佗尝行道，见有病咽塞者，因语之曰：“向来道隅有卖饼人，萍齑甚酸，可取三升饮之，病自当去。 ”即如佗言，立吐一蛇，乃悬于车而候佗。 时佗小兒戏于门中，逆见，自相谓曰：“客车边有物，必是逢我翁也。 ”及客进，顾视壁北，悬蛇以十数，乃知其奇。
Once on the road he met a man choking on something stuck in the throat and told him, "Back at the lane's bend a baker sells sour duckweed brine—drink three pints and it will clear. " The man did so, vomited a live snake, hung it on his cart, and waited for Tuo. Tuo's child was playing at the gate, spied the visitor, and muttered, "Something hangs from that cart—another soul who met Father. " When the man stepped inside and glanced at the north wall, a dozen serpents dangled there—then he grasped how uncanny Tuo was.
25
又有一郡守笃病久，佗以为盛怒则差。 乃多受其货而不加功。 无何弃去，又留书骂之。 太守果大怒，令人追杀佗，不及，因□恚，吐黑血数升而愈。
Another prefect lay desperately ill; Tuo judged that only a towering rage would cure him. So he pocketed rich fees yet did no work. Soon he walked off, leaving behind a letter that showered abuse on the man. The prefect raged and sent men to murder Tuo, failed to catch him, then spewed several pints of black blood in bilious wrath and recovered.
26
又有疾者，诣佗求疗，佗曰：“君病根深，应当剖破腹。 然君寿亦不过十年，病不能相杀也。 ”病者不堪其苦，必欲除之，佗遂下疗，应时愈。 十年竟死。
Another patient begged for help; Tuo said, "Your sickness runs too deep—we must open the abdomen. Yet you will not live out ten years; this ailment cannot shorten your span. " The man could not bear the pain and demanded surgery; Tuo operated and cured him at once. Ten years later he died anyway.
27
广陵太守陈登，忽患匈中烦懑，面赤不食。 佗脉之，曰：“府君胃中有虫，欲成内疽，腥物所为也。 ”即作汤二升，再服，须臾，吐出三升许虫，头赤而动，半身犹是生鱼脍，所苦便愈。 佗曰：“此病后三期当发，遇良医可救。 登至期疾动，时佗不在，遂死。
Guangling prefect Chen Deng was seized by tightness and burning in the chest, a flushed face, and loss of appetite. Tuo felt his pulse and said, "Your stomach harbors worms turning into an inner abscess—blame rank fish. " He brewed two pints of draught; after two doses the man brought up three pints of worms, red-headed and squirming, half still shaped like sashimi—the torment lifted. Tuo warned, "It will return three years hence; only a true master can save you then. When the day came the sickness returned and Tuo was away, so Chen Deng died.
28
曹操闻而召佗，常在左右，操积苦头风眩，佗针，随手而差。
Cao Cao heard of him and kept him close. Plagued by blinding migraines, Cao found instant relief the moment Tuo set needle to skin.
29
有李将军者，妻病，呼佗视脉。 佗曰：“伤身而胎不去。 ”将军言间实伤身，胎已去矣。 佗曰：“案脉，胎未去也。 ”将军以为不然。 妻稍差，百余日复动，更呼佗。 佗曰：“脉理如前，是两胎。 先生者去血多，故后兒不得出也。 胎既已死，血脉不复归，必燥著母脊。 ”乃为下针，并令进汤。 妇因欲产而不通。 佗曰：“死胎枯燥，势不自生。 ”使人探之，果得死胎，人形可识，但其色已黑。 佗之绝技，皆此类也。
General Li's wife fell ill; Li summoned Tuo to read her pulses. Tuo said, "The womb is hurt but the child remains inside. " Li protested that she had miscarried—the fetus was gone. Tuo answered, "The pulse says the baby is still there. " Li refused to believe him. She rallied for a hundred days, then the pain returned; they called Tuo back. Tuo said, "The pulses match the earlier reading—you carried twins. The first child bled away so heavily that the second could not follow. That second fetus is dead; its blood no longer flows, so it has dried fast to your wife's backbone. " He needled her lower belly and gave a draught. She labored yet nothing emerged. Tuo said, "The corpse is mummified; it cannot birth itself. A midwife reached in and drew out a black, recognizable stillbirth. Tuo's marvels ran in this vein.
30
为人性恶，难得意，且耻以医见业，又去家思归，乃就操求还取方，因托妻疾，数期不反。 操累书呼之，又敕郡县发遣，佗恃能厌事，独不肯至。 操大怒，使人廉之，知妻诈疾，乃收付狱讯，考验首服。 荀彧请曰：“佗方术实工，人命所悬，宜加全宥。 ”操不从，竟杀之。 佗临死，出一卷书与狱吏，曰：“此可以活人。 ”吏畏法不敢受，佗不强与，索火烧之。
Proud and restless, he scorned life as a mere doctor, longed for home, begged Cao for leave to fetch recipes, pleaded his wife's sickness, and overstayed every promised return. Cao wrote again and again and ordered local officials to escort him; Tuo, confident in his gift, sneered at bureaucratic errands and stayed away. Cao boiled over, sent agents, learned the wife sham sick, jailed Tuo, and tortured a confession. Xun Yu pleaded, "Tuo's art is superb—lives ride on him—spare him. " Cao refused and executed him. At the block he handed the warden a scroll: "This will save lives. " The man feared the statute and declined; Tuo did not insist—he burned the book.
31
初，军吏李成苦咳，昼夜不寐。 佗以为肠痈，与散两钱服之，即吐二升脓血，于此渐愈。 乃戒之曰：“后十八岁，疾当发动，若不得此药，不可差也。 ”复分散与之，后五六岁，有里人如成先病，请药甚急，成愍而与之，乃故往谯更从佗求，适值见收，意不忍言。 后十八年，成病发，无药而死。
A camp clerk named Li Cheng coughed himself sleepless. Tuo diagnosed gut abscess, gave two measures of powder, and Li vomited two pints of pus and blood before mending. Tuo warned, "In eighteen years it will return; without this same drug you die. " He split the leftover powder for Li. Five years later a neighbor with the same cough begged desperately; Li, moved, gave up his store, then rode to Qiao for more—only to find Tuo in chains, too ashamed to ask. Eighteen years on the cough returned; Li had no medicine and perished.
32
广陵吴普、彭城樊阿，皆从佗学。 普依准佗疗，多所全济。
Guangling's Wu Pu and Pengcheng's Fan A both trained under Tuo. Wu Pu copied his master's methods and kept countless patients alive.
33
佗语普曰：“人体欲得劳动，但不当使极耳。 动摇则谷气得销，血脉流通，病不得生，譬犹户枢，终不朽也。 是以古之仙者，为导引之事，熊经鸱顾，引挽腰体，动诸关节，以求难老。 吾有一术，名五禽之戏：一曰虎，二曰鹿，三曰熊，四曰猿，五曰鸟。 亦以除疾，兼利蹄足，以当导引。 体有不快，起作一禽之戏，恰而汗出，因以著粉，身体轻便而欲食。 ”普施行之，年九十余，耳目聪明，齿牙完坚。
Tuo told him, "The body wants motion—just never to exhaustion. Stir the frame and grain qi digests, blood courses, sickness finds no foothold—like a hinge that never rusts. Ancient transcendents therefore practiced guided stretching—bear hangs, owl twists—flexing every joint to stall old age. He taught the Five-Animal Frolic: tiger, deer, bear, ape, and bird. It drives out disease, limbers the legs, and replaces formal daoyin. Whenever you feel off, perform one animal until you lightly sweat, dust yourself, and hunger returns with a light step. " Wu Pu followed the regimen past ninety with sharp senses and firm teeth.
34
阿善针术。 凡医咸言背及匈藏之间不可妄针，针之不可过四分，而阿针背入一二寸，巨阙匈藏乃五六寸，而病皆瘳。 阿从佗求方可服食益于人者，佗授以漆叶青黏散：漆叶屑一斗，青黏十四两，以是为率。 言久服，去三虫，利五藏，轻体，使人头不白。 阿从其言，寿百余岁。 漆叶处所而有。 青黏生于丰、沛、彭城及朝歌间。
Fan A excelled at acupuncture. Doctors warned that needling between spine and vitals must stay shallow—never past four fen—yet Fan drove needles a cun or two into the back and five or six cun into the great-que chest point, curing every case. Fan A begged for a tonic formula; Tuo passed down lacquer-leaf and green-mugwort powder—one peck of powdered lacquer leaves to fourteen ounces of green mugwort as the ratio. Long use, he claimed, purges the three worms, tones the five viscera, lightens the body, and keeps hair dark. Fan A took it and passed a century in age. Lacquer trees grow almost everywhere. Green mugwort flourishes between Feng, Pei, Pengcheng, and Zhaoge.
35
汉世异术之士甚众，虽云不经，而亦有不可诬，故简基美者列于传末：
Han China swarmed with wonder-workers; though many tales skirt orthodoxy, some cannot be dismissed, so I close with the soundest marvels:
36
泠寿光、唐虞、鲁女生三人者，皆与华佗同时。 寿光年可百五六十岁，行容成公御妇人法，常屈颈鷮息，须发尽白，而色理如三四十时，死于江陵。 唐虞道赤眉、张步家居里落，若与相及，死于乡里不其县。 鲁女生数说显宗时事，甚明了，议者疑其时人也。 董卓乱后，莫知所在。
Leng Shouguang, Tang Yu, and Lu Nüsheng moved in Hua Tuo's generation. Shouguang lived perhaps a hundred and sixty years, practiced Rongcheng's sexual yoga, and hissed through a crane neck until hair went white while his face stayed thirty; he died at Jiangling. Tang Yu walked among Red Eyebrows and Zhang Bu as if neighbor to neighbor, and died in Buqi county. Lu Nüsheng recounted Emperor Ming's reign with eerie clarity, leading some to think he had lived then. After Dong Zhuo's coup he vanished without trace.
37
徐登者，闽中人也。 本女子，化为丈夫。 善为巫术。 又赵炳，字公阿，东阳人，能为越方。 时遭兵乱，疾疫大起，二人遇于乌伤溪水之上，遂结言约，共以其术疗病。 各相谓曰：“今既同志，且可各试所能。 ”登乃禁溪水，水为不流； 炳复次禁枯树，树即生荑，二人相视而笑，共行其道焉。
Xu Deng came from the Min interior. She had been born a woman but turned into a man. She excelled at shaman craft. Zhao Bing, styled Gong'a, of Dongyang, wielded southern exorcist rites. Amid war and epidemic they met on the Wushang brook, swore an oath, and pooled their arts to heal the sick. They said to each other, "We are of one mind—let each prove his art. " Xu Deng stopped the brook midstream until the current froze; Zhao Bing then charmed a dead tree until it leafed out; they exchanged a smile and went on demonstrating their craft.
38
登年长，炳师事之。 贵尚清俭，礼神唯以东流水为酌，削桑皮为脯。 但行禁架，所疗皆除。
Xu Deng was the senior, so Zhao Bing treated him as master. Zhao Bing, having apprenticed himself to the austere Deng, poured only east-running water for the gods and shaved mulberry bark into jerky for offerings. Their sealing spells lifted every ailment they touched.
39
后登物故，炳东入章安，百姓未之知也。 炳乃故升茅屋，梧鼎而爨，主人见之惊□，炳笑不应。 既而□孰，屋无损异。 又尝临水求度，船人不和之，炳乃张盖坐其中，长啸呼风，乱流而济，于是百姓神服，从者如归。 章安令恶其惑众，收杀之。 人为立祠室于永康，至今蚊蚋不能入也。
After Xu Deng died, Zhao Bing moved east to Zhang'an, still unknown to the locals. Zhao Bing climbed a thatched roof, braced a cauldron, and lit a cookfire; the innkeeper stared speechless while Zhao laughed and said nothing. Soon the meal was ready, yet the thatch never scorched. Once he needed a ferry and the boatman refused; Zhao spread his umbrella, sat beneath it, whistled up a wind, and shot across the chop—onlookers hailed him as a god, and disciples flocked like kin coming home. The Zhang'an magistrate, hating his sway over the crowd, had him seized and executed. The people built him a shrine at Yongkang where, even today, no mosquito may enter.
40
费长房
Fei Zhangfang
41
费长房者，汝南人也。 曾为市掾。 市中有老翁卖药，悬一壶于肆头，及市罢，辄跳入壶中。 市人莫之见，唯长房于楼上睹之，异焉，因往再拜奉酒脯。 翁知长房之意其神也，谓之曰：“子明日可更来。 ”长房旦日复诣翁，翁乃与俱入壶中。 唯见玉堂严丽，旨酒甘肴，盈衍其中，共饮毕而出。 翁约不听与人言之。 后乃就楼上候长房曰：“我神仙之人，以过见责，今事毕当去，子宁能相随乎？ 楼下有少酒，与卿与别。 ”长房使人取之，不能胜，又令十人扛之，犹不举。 翁闻，笑而下楼，以一指提之而上。 视器如一升许，而二人饮之终日不尽。
Fei Zhangfang came from Runan. He had served as a market clerk. An old apothecary hung a gourd above his stall and, when the market emptied, leapt inside it. Shoppers noticed nothing, but Zhangfang, watching from a balcony, saw the trick, descended, and twice bowed with wine and meat. The elder saw his intent and said, "Return tomorrow. " At dawn Zhangfang returned, and the sage walked him into the gourd. Inside stood a palace of jade, tables groaning with wine and dainties; they feasted, then stepped back into the world. The old man forbade him to speak of it. Later the immortal met him upstairs and said, "I belong to the transcendents, banished for a fault; my term is up and I must go—will you follow? There is a little wine downstairs for our farewell. " Zhangfang sent servants to lift the keg; they could not budge it, nor could ten men with poles. The sage laughed, strolled down, and carried it up on one finger. The jar looked to hold a single pint, yet the two drank all day without emptying it.
42
长房遂欲求道，而顾家人为忧。 翁乃断一青竹，度与长房身齐，使悬之舍后。 家人见之，即长房形也，以为缢死，大小惊号，遂殡葬之。 长房立其傍，而莫之见也。 于是遂随从入深山，践荆棘于群虎之中，留使独处，长房不恐。 又卧于空室，以朽索悬万斤石于心上，众蛇竞来啮索且断，长房亦不移。 翁还，抚之曰：“子可教也。 ”复使食粪，粪中有三虫，臭秽特甚，长房意恶之。 翁曰：“子几得道，恨于此不成，如何！”
Zhangfang yearned for the Way yet feared for his kin. The sage cut a green bamboo to Zhangfang's height and hung it behind the house. His household mistook the staff for his corpse—believing he had hanged himself they wailed and buried it. Zhangfang stood nearby, invisible to all. He followed into tiger-haunted mountains, was left alone among the brutes, and felt no fear. They laid him in an empty room with a rotting cord holding a ten-thousand-jin rock over his heart; serpents gnawed the strand nearly through, yet he never stirred. When the master returned he stroked him and said, "You may be taught. " Next they fed him ordure crawling with three worms; Zhangfang gagged at the stench. The sage sighed, "You nearly attained the Way—this disgust alone undid you!
43
长房辞归，翁与一竹杖，曰：“骑此任所之，则自至矣。 既至，可以杖投葛陂中也。 ”又为作一符，曰：“以此主地上鬼神。 ”长房乘杖，须臾来归，自谓去家适经旬日，而已十余年矣。 ”即以杖投陂，顾视则龙也。 家人谓其久死，不信之。 长房曰：“往日所葬，但竹杖耳。 ”乃发冢剖棺，杖犹存焉。 遂能医疗众病，鞭笞百鬼，及驱使社公。 或在它坐，独自恚怒，人问其故，曰：“吾责鬼魅之犯法者耳。”
Dismissed with a bamboo staff, he was told, "Straddle this and wish yourself anywhere—you will arrive. When you land, throw the staff into Ge Marsh. " He added a charm: "This commands every ghost below heaven. " He flew home in an instant, thinking he had been gone ten days; a decade had passed. " He hurled the staff into the pool and saw a dragon coil away. His kin had mourned him for dead and refused to credit his return. Zhangfang said, "You buried only bamboo. " They opened the grave and found the staff intact. Henceforth he healed every sickness, lashed legions of ghosts, and commanded the village earth-god. Sometimes he sat alone, visibly furious; asked why, he said, "I am disciplining lawbreaking sprites.
44
汝南岁岁常有魅，伪作太守章服、诣府门椎鼓者，郡中患之。 时魅适来，而逢长房谒府君，惶惧不得退，便前解衣冠，叩头乞活。 长房呵之云：“便于中庭正汝故形！ ”即成老鳖，大如车轮，颈长一丈。 长房复令就太守服罪，付其一札，以敕葛陂君。 魅叩头流涕，持札植于陂边，以颈绕之而死。
Each year Runan suffered a demon who donned the prefect's robes, rode to the yamen gate, and beat the drum—the whole commandery dreaded it. One day the creature arrived just as Zhangfang called on the prefect; trapped, it stripped its costume and begged for mercy. Zhangfang barked, "Show your true shape in the courtyard! " It turned into a giant softshell turtle, wheel-wide, with a neck ten feet long. He sent the creature to confess its guilt to the prefect and gave it a writ addressed to the spirit lord of Ge Marsh. The demon wept, planted the slip by the marsh, wound its neck about the post, and strangled itself.
45
后东海君来见葛陂君，因淫其夫人，于是长房劾系之三年，而东海大旱。 长房至海上，见其人请雨，乃谓之曰：“东海君有罪，吾前系于葛陂，今方出之，使作雨也。 ”于是雨立注。
Later the Eastern Sea god visited Ge Marsh and seduced its goddess; Zhangfang jailed him three years, and the Eastern Sea withered in drought. Zhangfang walked the shore where priests begged rain and said, "The Eastern Sea deity sinned; I chained him at Ge Marsh and have only now freed him to pour storms. " Rain fell at once.
46
长房曾与人共行，见一书生黄巾被裘，无鞍骑马，下而叩头，长房曰：“还它马，赦汝死罪。 ”人问其故，长房曰：“此狸也，盗社公马耳。 ”又尝坐客，而使至宛市鲊，须臾还，乃饭。 或一日之间，人见其在千里之外者数处焉。
Walking with a friend he saw a scholar in yellow headcloth and fur cloak riding bareback; the man kowtowed. Zhangfang said, "Give back the horse and I spare your life. " Asked to explain, he said, "A fox-thief borrowed the village god's mount. Once he feasted guests and sent a runner to Wan for pickled fish; the runner returned in moments and they dined. In a single day folk spotted him a thousand li apart in many towns.
47
后失其符，为众鬼所杀。
He lost his charm and the ghosts tore him apart.
48
蓟子训
Ji Zixun
49
蓟子训者，不知所由来也。 建安中，客在济阴宛句。 有神异之道。 尝抱邻家婴兒，故失手□地而死，其父母惊号怨痛，不可忍闻，而子训唯谢以过误，终无它说，遂埋藏之。 后月余，子训乃抱兒归焉。 父母大恐，曰：“死生异路，虽思我兒，乞不用复见也。 ”兒识父母，轩渠笑悦，欲往就之，母不觉揽取，乃实兒也。 虽大喜庆，心犹有疑。 乃窃发视死兒，但见衣被，方乃信焉。 于是子训流名京师，士大夫皆承风向慕之。
Ji Zixun's origins are unknown. During Jian'an he lodged at Wanyu in Jiyin. He worked wonders beyond nature. He once dandled a neighbor's infant, let it slip to the stones, and killed it; the parents howled while he muttered only an apology, then helped them bury the corpse. A month later he walked in carrying the same child, alive. They recoiled: "Dead and living do not mingle—we long for our son but beg you not to show him. " The boy knew them, crowed with joy, and leapt into his mother's arms—a living child. Joy overwhelmed them, yet doubt lingered. They secretly opened the tiny grave and found only wrappings—then they believed. His fame rushed to Luoyang; every scholar-official yearned to meet him.
50
后乃驾驴车，与诸生俱诣许下。 道过荥阳，止主人舍，而所驾之驴忽然卒僵，蛆虫流出，主遽白之。 子训曰：“乃尔乎？ ”方安坐饭，食毕，徐出以杖扣之，驴应声奋起，行步如初，即复进道。 其追逐观者常有千数。 既到京师，公卿以下候之者，坐上恒数百人，皆为设酒脯，终日不匮。
He later hitched a donkey cart and rode to the capital with a train of pupils. At an Xingyang inn his donkey dropped dead, maggots pouring from its hide; the innkeeper panicked. Zixun murmured, "So soon? " He finished dinner in calm, tapped the carcass with his staff, and the beast sprang up sound as ever. Crowds in the thousands chased his cart. At Luoyang hundreds packed his hall; he fed them wine and meat all day without running dry.
51
后因遁去，遂不知所止。 初去之日，唯见白云腾起，从旦至暮，如是数十处。 时有百岁翁，自说童兒时见子训卖药于会稽市，颜色不异于今。 后人复于长安东霸城见之，与一老公共摩挲铜人，相谓曰：“适见铸此，已近五百岁矣。 ”顾视见人而去，犹驾昔所乘驴车也。 见者呼之曰：“蓟先生小住。 ”并行应之，视若迟徐，而走马不及，于是而绝。
Then he vanished, and none could trace him. The day he left, white pillars of cloud rose in dozens of places from dawn to dusk. A centenarian swore he had bought Zixun's physic in Kuaiji as a boy—the man's face had not aged. Later witnesses saw him east of Chang'an at Bawang, polishing a bronze statue with a greybeard, murmuring, "We watched them cast this—nearly five hundred years ago. " Spotting onlookers, they drove off in the same donkey cart as before. "Wait, Master Ji!" a bystander cried. " They answered while ambling, yet no horse could close the gap—and then they were gone.
52
刘根者，颍川人也。 隐居嵩山中。 诸好事者，自远而至，就根学道，太守史祈以根为妖妄，乃收执诣郡，数之曰：“汝有何术，而诬惑百姓？ 若果有神，可显一验事。 不尔，立死矣。 ”根曰：“实无它异，颇能令人见鬼耳。 ”祈曰：“促召之，使太守目睹，尔乃为明。 ”根于是左顾而啸，有顷，祈之亡父祖近亲数十人，皆反缚在前，向根叩头曰：“小兒无状，分当万坐。 ”顾而叱祈曰：“汝为子孙，不能有益先人，而反累辱亡灵！ 可叩头为吾陈谢。 ”祈惊惧悲哀，顿首流血，请自甘罪坐。 根嘿而不应，忽然俱去，不知在所。
Liu Gen hailed from Yingchuan. He hid himself on Mount Song. Curious seekers trekked to study under him; Prefect Shi Qi branded him a charlatan, hauled him in, and demanded, "What trick lets you beguile the people? If spirits truly attend you, prove it once. Otherwise you die on the spot. " Liu Gen said, "I have no marvel except this—I can make you see ghosts. " Shi Qi barked, "Call them now—let this prefect see with his own eyes. " Liu Gen glanced left and whistled; scores of Shi's dead kin appeared bound, kowtowed to Gen, and cried, "Our descendant is worthless—he deserves death a thousandfold. " They wheeled on Shi Qi: "You honor no ancestor yet heap shame on our shades! Kowtow and beg his pardon on our behalf. Shi Qi blanched, beat his brow bloody, and begged to suffer in their stead. Liu Gen sat silent; the phantoms vanished without trace.
53
左慈字元放，庐江人也。 少有神道。 尝在司空曹操坐，操从容顾众宾曰：“今日高会，珍羞略备，所少吴松江鲈鱼耳。 ”放于下坐应曰：“此可得也。 ”因求铜盘贮水，以竹竿饵钓于盘中，须臾引一鲈鱼出。 操大拊掌笑，会者皆惊。 操曰：“一鱼不周坐席，可更得乎？ ”放乃更饵钩沉之，须臾复引出，皆长三尺余，生鲜可爱。 操使目前□会之，周浃会者。 操又谓曰：“既已得鱼，恨无蜀中生姜耳。 ”放曰：“亦可得也。 ”操恐其近即所取，因曰：“吾前遣人到蜀买锦，可过敕使者，增市二端。 ”语顷，即得姜还，并获操使报命。 后操使蜀反，验问增锦之状及时日早晚，若符契焉。
Zuo Ci, styled Yuanfang, came from Lujiang. Even young he commanded uncanny arts. Once at a banquet hosted by Minister Cao Cao, Cao surveyed his guests and said, "We have every delicacy—only the perch of the Wu-Song is missing. " From the lower seats Zuo Ci answered, "That can be arranged. " He asked for a copper pan of water, baited a bamboo rod in it, and in moments hauled up a Song perch. Cao roared with laughter and slapped his thighs; every guest gaped. Cao said, "One fish will not feed the table—can you fetch more? " Zuo baited again, dipped the line, and pulled up more perch, each over three feet long, gleaming and firm. Cao had the fish sliced on the spot and passed the platters until every guest was served. Cao added, "We have the fish, but no Sichuan ginger to season it. " Zuo said, "Ginger can be had as well. " Fearing he would conjure the root from thin air, Cao said, "I lately sent a man to Shu for brocade—tell that envoy to add two extra bolts to his order. " A moment later he produced the ginger along with Cao's courier, clutching the receipt. When the real envoy returned from Shu, his report of the extra brocade matched Zuo's tale to the hour.
54
后操出近郊，士大夫从者百许人，慈乃为赍酒一升，脯一斤，手自斟酌，百官莫不醉饱。 操怪之，使寻其故，行视诸垆，悉亡其酒脯矣。 操怀不喜，因坐上收，欲杀之，慈乃却入壁中，霍然不知所在。 或见于市者，又捕之，而市人皆变形与慈同，莫知谁是。 后人逢慈于阳城山头，因复逐之，遂入走羊群。 操知不可得，乃令就羊中告之曰：“不复相杀，本试君术耳。 ”忽有一老羝屈前两膝，人立而言曰：“遽如许。 ”即竞往赴之，而群羊数百皆变为羝，并屈前膝人立，云“遽如许”，遂莫知所取焉。
Once Cao rode to the suburbs with a hundred officials; Zuo produced a pint of wine and a pound of jerky, poured for each man himself, and left every guest drunk and stuffed. Cao sent runners to trace the miracle—every tavern in town was missing the same wine and meat. Suspicious and angry, Cao ordered his arrest at table; Zuo stepped backward into the plaster and vanished. Spotters cornered him in the market, yet every shopper wore Zuo's face—no one could tell which was real. Later they sighted him on Yangcheng peak; chasing him, they watched him bolt into a flock of sheep. Cao saw capture was futile and shouted into the flock, "No more killing—I was only testing your skill. " An old ram rose on its knees like a man and bleated, "Why such haste?". " The hunters rushed the speaker—only to see hundreds of rams kneel upright, each crying the same phrase, so none could pick the sage.
55
计子勋
Ji Zixun
56
计子勋者，不知何郡县人，皆谓数百步，行来于人间。 一旦忽言日中当死，主人与之葛衣，子勋服而正寝，至日中果死。
Ji Zixun's home county is lost; folk said he paced a few hundred steps at a time as he wandered among them. One dawn he announced he would die at noon; his host gave him a hemp robe, he lay down composed—and at noon he was dead.
57
上成公者，密县人也。 其初行久而不还，后归，语其家云：“我已得仙。 ”因辞家而去。 家人见其举步稍高，良久乃没云。 陈寔、韩韶同见其事。
The adept Shang Chenggong came from Mi county. He once vanished for ages, then returned to tell his kin, "I have become an immortal. " He bade them farewell and left. They watched each stride lift him higher until he faded into the clouds. Chen Shi and Han Shao both saw it happen.
58
解奴辜、张貂
Xie Nugu and Zhang Diao
59
解奴辜、张貂者，亦不知是何郡国人也。 皆能隐沦，出入不由门户。 奴辜能变易物形，以诳幻人。
Xie Nugu and Zhang Diao likewise left no record of their native place. Both could melt from view and pass through walls without doors. Nugu could reshape objects to bewilder the eye.
60
又河南有□圣卿，善为丹书符劾，厌杀鬼神而使命之。
Henan also had a certain Shengqing—one character of his name is lost in the text—who painted cinnabar talismans, smothered malignant spirits, and drafted them as servants.
61
又有编盲意，亦与鬼物交通。
Another wonder-worker, Bian Mangyi, trafficked with ghosts as well.
62
初，章帝时有寿光侯者，能劾百鬼众魅，令自缚见形。 其乡人有妇为魅所病，侯为劾之，得大蛇数丈，死于门外。 又有神树，人止者辄死，鸟过者必坠，侯复劾之，树盛夏枯落，见大蛇长七八丈，悬死其间。 帝闻而征之。 乃试问之：“吾殿下夜半后，常有数人，绛衣被发，持火相随，岂能劾之乎？ ”侯曰：“此小怪，易销耳。 ”帝伪使三人为之，侯劾三人，登时仆地无气。 帝大惊曰：“非魅也，朕相试耳。 ”解之而苏。
In Emperor Zhang's reign Marquis Shouguang could arraign legions of sprites and force each to show its true body. When a neighbor's wife fell under a demon, he bound the creature and produced a dead serpent many yards long outside her gate. A "spirit tree" killed every traveler and dropped every bird that flew past; he exorcised it in midsummer until it shed its leaves, revealing a seven- or eight-yard serpent strangled in the crown. The court summoned him on report of these feats. The emperor tested him: "After midnight beneath my hall crimson phantoms with loose hair parade with torches—can you bind them? " Shouguang said, "Petty sprites—easily dismissed. " The emperor sent three living attendants to fake the apparition; Shouguang's spell flattened all three, breathless. " The emperor cried, "Those were living men. I was only testing you." " He lifted the curse and they stirred awake.
63
甘始、东郭延年、封君达三人者，皆方士也。 率能行容成御妇人术，或饮小便，或自倒悬，爱啬精气，不极视大言。 甘始、元放、延年皆为操所录，问其术而行之。 君达号“青牛师”。 凡此数人，皆百余岁及二百岁也。
Gan Shi, Dongguo Yannian, and Feng Junda were wandering adepts. They practiced Rongcheng's sexual yoga, drank their own urine, hung head-down, hoarded vital breath, and shunned strain and shouting. Cao Cao retained Gan Shi, Zuo Ci, and Yannian, questioned their regimens, and tried them himself. Feng Junda was known as the Black Ox Master. Each of them passed a century, some two hundred years.
64
王真、郝孟节
Wang Zhen and Hao Mengjie
65
王真、郝孟节者，皆上党人也。 王真年且百岁，视之面有光泽，似未五十者。 自云：“周流登五岳名山，悉能行胎息胎食之方，嗽舌下泉咽之，不绝房室。 ”孟节能含枣核，不食可至五年十年。 又能结气不息，身不动摇，状若死人，可至百日半年。 亦有室家。 为人质谨不妄言，似士君子。 曹操使领诸方士焉。
Wang Zhen and Hao Mengjie came from Shangdang. Wang Zhen neared a hundred yet glowed like a man under fifty. He claimed to have climbed the five sacred peaks, to swallow embryonic breath and embryonic essences, to press the saliva under his tongue and drink it down, and never to renounce sexual life. " Hao Mengjie could hold a date stone under his tongue and fast five or ten years. He could seal his breath, lie motionless as a corpse, for half a year at a stretch. He still kept a household. Plain-spoken and cautious, he bore himself like a scholar. Cao Cao put him in charge of the court's roster of adepts.
66
刘和平
Liu Heping
67
北海王和平，性好道术，自以当仙。 济南孙邕少事之，从至京师。 会和平病殁，邕因葬之东陶。 有书百余卷，药数囊，悉以送之。 后弟子夏荣言其尸解，邕乃恨不取其宝书仙药焉。
Wang Heping of Beihai loved Daoist arts and was sure he would transcend. Sun Yong of Jinan studied under him in youth and followed him to Luoyang. When Wang died of illness, Sun buried him at East Tao. Over a hundred fascicles of scripture and several sacks of elixirs went into the tomb with the corpse. Later the disciple Xia Rong claimed Wang had "released the corpse"; Sun Yong rued the lost scriptures and elixirs he had left underground.
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赞曰：幽贶罕征，明数难校。 不探精远，歇感灵效？ 如或迁讹，实乖玄奥。
Verdict: Heaven's covert signs rarely show themselves; reason cannot easily test them. Without plumbing the farthest depths, who can fathom such powers? Distorted tales only betray the mystery they claim to praise.