Volume 461 Biographies 220: Medicine and Divination 1 - Zhao Xiuji, Wang Chunezi:xiyuan, Miao Xun and son: Shouxin, Ma Shao, Chu Zhilan, Han Xianfu, Shi Xu, Zhou Keming, Liu Han, Wang Huaiyin, Zhao Zihua, Feng Wenzhi, Sha Menhongyun, Su Chengyin, Ding Shaowei, Zhao Ziran

方技上

Medicine and Divination, Part One

○趙修己王處訥〈（子熙元）〉苗訓〈（子守信）〉馬韶楚芝蘭韓顯符史序周克明劉翰王懷隱趙自化馮文智沙門洪蘊蘇澄隱丁少微趙自然

Zhao Xiuji; Wang Chune Son: Xiyuan) Miao Xun Son: Shouxin) Ma Shao, Chu Zhilan, Han Xianfu, Shi Xu, Zhou Keming, Liu Han, Wang Huaiyin, Zhao Zihua, Feng Wenzhi, the Buddhist monk Hongyun, Su Chengyin, Ding Shaowei, and Zhao Ziran

昔者少皞氏之衰，九黎亂德，家為巫史，神人淆焉。顓頊氏命南正重司天以屬神，北正黎司地以屬民，其患遂息。厥後三苗復棄典常，帝堯命羲、和修重、黎之職，絕地天通，其患又息。然而天有王相孤虛，地有燥濕高下，人事有吉凶悔吝、疾病劄瘥，聖人欲斯民趨安而避危，則巫醫不可廢也。後世占候、測驗、厭禳、禬，至於兵家遁甲、風角、鳥占，與夫方士修煉、吐納、導引、黃白、房中，一切焄蒿妖誕之說，皆以巫醫為宗。漢以來，司馬遷、劉歆又亟稱焉。然而歷代之君臣，一惑於其言，害於而國，凶於而家，靡不有之。宋景德、宣和之世，可鑒乎哉！然則歷代方技何修而可以善其事乎？「曰：「人而無恒，不可以作巫醫。」漢嚴君平、唐孫思邈呂才言皆近道，孰得而少之哉。宋舊史有《老釋》、《符瑞》二誌，又有《方技傳》，多言禨祥。今省二誌，存《方技傳》雲。

In antiquity, as the house of Shaohao waned, the Jiuli threw virtue into disorder; shamans and recorders filled every home, and the realms of spirits and men grew indistinguishable. Zhuanxu appointed Nan Zheng Chong to govern heaven on behalf of the spirits and Bei Zheng Li to govern earth on behalf of the people, and the disorder was stilled. Later the Three Miao once more cast aside the established order; Emperor Yao charged Xi and He with reviving the posts of Chong and Li, sundering earth from heaven and breaking the link between them, and the trouble subsided again. Yet heaven has its cycles of flourishing and decline, earth its dryness and damp, height and depth, and human life its fortune and misfortune, regret and affliction, sickness and recovery. Because the sage would have the people move toward safety and away from peril, shamans and physicians cannot be cast aside. In later ages, prognostication and verification, exorcism and plague-averting rites, military dunjia, wind-angle and bird augury, and the adepts' cultivation, breath-work, guided movement, elixir-making, and bedroom arts—all those hazy, vaporous, and fantastic doctrines trace their lineage back to shamans and healers. Since the Han, Sima Qian and Liu Xin have praised such arts again and again. Yet time and again, when rulers and ministers have been beguiled by such talk, states have suffered and families have been destroyed. The Jingde and Xuanhe reigns of Song—are they not warning enough?! By what discipline, then, can specialists in these arts through the ages truly excel at their calling? As it is said: "Without steadfastness, a man cannot serve as shaman or physician." The teachings of Yan Junping of Han and of Sun Simiao and Lü Cai of Tang all drew near the Way—who could belittle them. The former Song histories included treatises on Laozi and Buddhism and on portents, as well as a Biography of Technical Specialists, most of it devoted to omens and auspicious signs. Here the two treatises are omitted, and only the Biography of Technical Specialists is kept.

趙修己，開封浚儀人，少精天文推步之學。晉天福中，李守真掌禁軍，領滑州節制，表為司戶參軍，留門下。守真每出征，修己必從，軍中占候多中。奏試大理評事，賜緋。漢乾祐中，守真鎮蒲津，陰懷異志，修己屢以禍福諭之，不聽，遂辭疾歸鄉里。明年，守真果叛，幕吏多伏誅，獨修己得免。朝廷知其能，召為翰林天文。

Zhao Xiuji, a native of Junyi in Kaifeng, mastered astronomy and calendrical calculation while still young. During the Tianfu reign of Later Jin, Li Shouzhen, who commanded the palace guards and held Huazhou as his military district, recommended Xiuji as revenue registrar and kept him on his staff. Whenever Shouzhen took the field, Xiuji went with him, and his military prognostications proved accurate again and again. He was nominated for trial appointment as a Dali reviewer and was granted scarlet official robes. In the Qianyou era of Later Han, while Shouzhen held Pu Ferry and secretly nursed rebellious designs, Xiuji warned him repeatedly with omens of fortune and disaster, but Shouzhen would not heed him, so Xiuji pleaded illness and returned to his home district. The next year Shouzhen did rebel; many of his staff were put to death, but Xiuji alone escaped punishment. The court, recognizing his talent, summoned him to serve as Hanlin astronomer.

周祖嘗與處納同事漢祖，雅相厚善，及自鄴舉兵入汴，遽命訪求處訥，得之甚喜，因問以劉氏祚短事。對曰：「人君未得位，嘗務寬大；既得位，即思復仇。漢氏據中土，承正統，以曆數推之，其大祀猶永。第以高祖得位之後，多報仇殺人及夷人之族，結怨天下，所以運祚不長。」周祖蹶然太息。適發兵圍漢大臣蘇逢吉、劉銖等家，待旦將行孥戮，遽命止之。逢吉已自殺，止誅劉銖，餘悉全活。

The Zhou founder had once served the Han founder together with Wang Chune, and the two were on excellent terms. When he raised his army from Ye and entered Bian, he urgently ordered Chune sought out; on finding him he was overjoyed and asked why the Liu house's fortune would be brief. Chune answered: "Before a ruler gains the throne, he is always eager to show magnanimity; but once he has it, he turns at once to revenge. The Han hold the central realm and the orthodox succession; by the reckoning of dynastic cycles, their great rites ought still to endure. Only after Gaozu took the throne he killed widely in vengeance and exterminated whole clans, earning the hatred of all under heaven—hence the dynasty's fortune could not last. The Zhou founder started as if struck and sighed deeply. At that very moment troops had been sent to surround the homes of Han ministers Su Fengji, Liu Zhu, and others, waiting for dawn to slaughter their families to the last; he urgently ordered the operation halted. Fengji had already taken his own life; only Liu Zhu was executed, and all the rest were spared.

廣順中，遷司天少監。世宗以舊曆差舛，俾處訥詳定。曆成未上，會樞密使王樸作《欽天曆》以獻，頗為精密，處訥私謂樸曰：「此曆且可用，不久即差矣。」因指以示樸，樸深然之。

During Guangshun he was promoted to Vice Director of the Astronomical Service. Emperor Shizong found the old calendar in error and ordered Chune to revise it in detail. Before Chune's calendar could be submitted, Privy Councilor Wang Pu presented the Qintian Calendar, which was quite precise. Chune told Pu privately, "This calendar will serve for the moment, but before long it will go wrong." He pointed out the reasons to Pu, who was fully convinced.

至建隆二年，以《欽天曆》謬誤，詔處訥別造新曆。經三年而成，為六卷，太祖自製序，命為《應天曆》。處訥又以漏刻無準，重定水秤及候中星、分五鼓時刻。俄遷少府少監。太平興國初，改司農少卿，並判司天事。六年，又上新曆二十卷，拜司天監。歲餘卒，年六十八。子熙元。

In the second year of Jianlong, because the Qintian Calendar was found erroneous, an edict ordered Chune to compile a new calendar on his own. After three years' work it was finished in six fascicles; Taizu wrote the preface himself and named it the Yingtian Calendar. Chune also found the clepsydra and night-watches unreliable and redetermined the water balance, the observation of culmination stars, and the division of the five night-watch periods. Soon afterward he was promoted to Vice Director of the Palace Workshops. At the opening of the Taiping Xingguo era he was made Vice Minister of Agriculture while retaining charge of astronomical affairs. In the sixth year he submitted a new calendar in twenty fascicles and was appointed Director of the Astronomical Service. A little more than a year later he died, at the age of sixty-eight. His son was Xiyuan.

熙元，幼習父業，開寶中，補司天曆算。端拱初，改監丞，累遷太子洗馬兼春官正，加殿中丞，景德中，同判監事。東封，隨經度製置使詣祠所。禮畢，授權知司天少監。祠汾陰，真拜少監。奉詔於後苑纘陰陽事十卷上之，真宗為製序，賜名《靈台秘要》，及作詩紀之。

Xiyuan studied his father's craft from childhood; during Kaibao he was appointed to calendrical computation in the Astronomical Service. At the start of Duan Gong he became a supervisory commissioner, rose through Groom-in-Waiting of the Heir Apparent and concurrent Director of the Spring Office to Palace Administration Commissioner, and in the Jingde era served as co-administrator of the directorate. During the eastern Fengshan rite he accompanied the commissioner for longitudinal measurement to the sacrificial site. When the rites were finished he was granted acting authority as Vice Director of the Astronomical Service. At the sacrifice to Mount Fen at the Fen River he was formally appointed Vice Director. By imperial order he compiled ten fascicles on yin-yang matters in the rear garden and presented them; Zhenzong wrote the preface, gave the work the title Secret Essentials of the Spirit Terrace, and composed a poem to commemorate it.

初，上所修《儀天曆》，秋官正趙昭益言其二年後必差，又熒惑度數稍謬，後果驗。熙元頗伏其精一。上常對宰相言及曆算事，曰：「曆象，陰陽家流之大者，以推步天道，平秩人時為功。」且言：「昭益能專其業，人鮮及也。」

Earlier, for the Yitian Calendar that Xiyuan had compiled, Autumn Office Director Zhao Zhaoyi said it would inevitably drift within two years and that the degree positions of Mars were slightly wrong—and this later proved true. Xiyuan deeply admired Zhaoyi's precision. The emperor often spoke to his chief ministers about calendrical affairs, saying: "Calendars and heavenly phenomena are the greatest achievement of the yin-yang specialists: their merit lies in pacing the way of heaven and setting the seasons in order for mankind." He added: "Zhaoyi can devote himself wholly to this craft—few can equal him."

玉清昭應宮成，以祗事之勤，授司天監。坐擇日差謬，降為少監。以目疾，改將作監，致仕。天禧二年卒，年五十八。

When the Yuqing Zhaoying Palace was completed, he was appointed Director of the Astronomical Service for his devoted service in the rites. For errors in choosing auspicious dates he was demoted to Vice Director. Because of eye trouble he was transferred to Director of Palace Construction and retired from office. He died in the second year of Tianxi, at the age of fifty-eight.

苗訓，河中人，善天文占候之術。仕周為殿前散員右第一直散指揮使。顯德末，從太祖北征，訓視日上復有一日，久相摩蕩，指謂楚昭輔曰：「此天命也。」夕次陳橋，太祖為六師推戴，訓皆預白其事。既受禪，擢為翰林天文，尋加銀青光祿大夫、檢校工部尚書。年七十餘卒。子守信。

Miao Xun, a native of Hedong, was skilled in astronomy and the observation of omens. Under Zhou he served as commander of the first right scatter guard of the palace front. At the end of Xiande, on Taizu's northern campaign, Xun saw a second sun above the sun, grinding against it for a long while; pointing, he told Chu Zhaofu, "This is Heaven's mandate." That evening the army halted at Chenqiao, where Taizu was raised up by the Six Armies—and Xun had foretold the whole affair to him in advance. After he received the abdication, Xun was promoted to Hanlin astronomer and soon given the titles Silver-Green Glory Grandee and Acting Minister of Works. He died in his seventies. His son was Shouxin.

守信，少習父業，補司天曆算。尋授江安縣主簿，改司天台主簿，知算造。太平興國中，以《應天曆》小差，詔與冬官正吳昭素、主簿劉內真造新曆。及成，太宗命衛尉少卿元象宗與明律曆者同校定，賜號《乾元曆》，頗為精密，皆優賜束帛。雍熙中，遷冬官正。端拱初，改太子洗馬、判司天監。淳化二年，守信上言：「正月一日為一歲之首。每月八日，天帝下巡人世，察善惡。太歲日為歲星之精，人君之象。三元日，上元天官，中元地官，下元水官，各主錄人之善惡。又春戊寅、夏甲午、秋戊申、冬甲子為天赦日，及上慶誕日，皆不可以斷極刑事。」下有司議行。未幾，轉殿中丞、權少監事，立本品之下，俄賜金紫。

Shouxin studied his father's craft from youth and was appointed to calendrical computation. Soon he was made magistrate of Jiang'an County, then chief clerk of the Astronomical Bureau with charge of calendrical production. During Taiping Xingguo, because the Yingtian Calendar showed small errors, an edict ordered him, together with Winter Office Director Wu Zhaosu and chief clerk Liu Neizhen, to compile a new calendar. When it was finished, Taizong ordered Vice Minister of the Guard Yuan Xiangzong and experts in calendars to examine it jointly; it was granted the name Qianyuan Calendar, proved quite precise, and all received rich gifts of silk. During Yongxi he was promoted to Winter Office Director. At the start of Duan Gong he was made Groom-in-Waiting of the Heir Apparent and concurrent administrator of the Astronomical Directorate. In the second year of Chunhua, Shouxin submitted a memorial: "The first day of the first month is the beginning of the year. On the eighth day of each month the Heavenly Emperor descends to tour the human realm and inspect good and evil. The Tai Sui day is the essence of the Year Star and the image of the ruler. On the Three Primes days—the Upper Prime is the celestial official, the Middle Prime the earthly official, the Lower Prime the water official—each records the good and evil of mankind. Spring wuyin, summer jiawu, autumn wushen, and winter jiazi are also Heaven's pardon days, as is the emperor's birthday—on none of these may capital punishment be imposed. The memorial was referred to the relevant offices for deliberation and implementation. Before long he was promoted to Palace Administration Commissioner and acting Vice Director, ranked below his proper grade; soon he was granted the gold seal and purple robe.

至道二年，上以梁、雍宿兵，彌歲凶歉，心憂之，令宰相召守信問以天道咎證所在。守信奏曰：「臣仰瞻玄象，及推驗太一經歷宮分，其荊楚、吳越、交廣並皆安寧。自來五緯陵犯、彗星見及水神太一臨井鬼之間，屬秦、雍分及梁、益之地，民罹其災。水神太一來歲入燕分，歲在房心，正當京都之地，自茲朝野有慶。」詔付史館。明年，真授少監。咸平三年卒，年四十六。子舜卿，為國子博士。

In the second year of Zhidao, because Liang and Yong had long-standing garrisons and famine had lasted a full year, the emperor was deeply troubled and ordered the chief ministers to summon Shouxin and ask where heaven's reproof and omens lay. Shouxin memorialized: "Your subject, gazing up at the dark heavens and verifying by the Taiyi classic's passage through the palace sectors, finds Jingchu, Wu-Yue, and Jiao-Guang all at peace. Whenever the five planets have trespassed, comets have appeared, or the Water Spirit Taiyi has dwelt between Jing and Gui, the sectors of Qin-Yong and Liang-Yi have suffered, and the people there have borne the calamity. Next year the Water Spirit Taiyi will enter the Yan sector, and the year star will stand in Fang and Xin, directly over the capital—from this time forward court and countryside will have cause for rejoicing. An edict ordered the memorial filed in the History Office. The following year he was formally appointed Vice Director. He died in the third year of Xianping, at the age of forty-six. His son Shunqing became an Erudite of the National University.

馬韶，趙州平棘人，習天文三式。開寶中，太宗以晉王尹京，申嚴私習天文之禁，韶素與太宗親吏程德玄善，德玄每戒韶不令及門。九年冬十月十九日，既夕，韶忽造德玄，德玄恐甚，詰其所以來，韶曰：「明日乃晉王利見之辰，韶故以相告。」德玄惶駭，止韶一室，遽入白太宗。太宗命德玄以人防守之，將聞於太祖。及詰旦，太宗入謁，果受遺踐阼。韶以赦獲免。逾月，起家為司天監主簿。太平興國二年，擢太僕寺丞，改秘書省著作佐郎。曆太子中允、秘書丞，出為平恩令。歸朝，復守舊任，與楚芝蘭同判司天監事，就遷太常博士。淳化五年，坐事，出為博興令，移長山令。秩滿歸鄉里，卒於家。

Ma Shao, a native of Pingji in Zhao prefecture, studied the three forms of heavenly astronomy. During Kaibao, when Taizong as Prince of Jin governed the capital, private study of astronomy was strictly forbidden; Shao was on good terms with Taizong's intimate aide Cheng Dexuan, who often warned Shao not to come to his gate. On the nineteenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year, after nightfall, Shao suddenly called on Dexuan; Dexuan was terrified and demanded why he had come; Shao said, "Tomorrow is the Prince of Jin's day of favorable vision—I have come to tell you." Dexuan, in alarm, locked Shao in a room and hurried in to inform Taizong. Taizong ordered Dexuan to set men to guard Shao, intending to report the matter to Taizu. At dawn Taizong went to audience and indeed received the succession and ascended the throne. Shao was spared through the general amnesty. A month later he entered service as chief clerk of the Astronomical Directorate. In the second year of Taiping Xingguo he was promoted to Vice Director of the Imperial Stud and then made Assistant in the Secretariat's works section. He passed through Groom of the Heir Apparent and Secretariat Commissioner, then went out to serve as magistrate of Ping'en. He returned to court, resumed his former duties, and together with Chu Zhilan served as concurrent administrator of Astronomical Directorate affairs before being promoted to Erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. In the fifth year of Chunhua he was punished for an offense, demoted to magistrate of Boxing, and later transferred to magistrate of Changshan. When his term of office ended he returned home and died there.

楚芝蘭，汝州襄城人，初習《三禮》，忽自言遇有道之士，教以符天、六壬、遁甲之術。屬朝廷博求方技，詣闕自薦，得錄為學生。以占候有據，擢為翰林天文。授樂源縣主簿，遷司天春官正、判司天監事。占者言五福太一臨吳分，當於蘇州建太一祠。芝蘭獨上言：「京師帝王之都，百神所集。且今京城東南一舍地名蘇村，若於此為五福太一建宮，萬乘可以親謁，有司便於祗事，何為遠趨江外，以蘇台為吳分乎？」輿論不能奪，遂從其議，仍令同定本宮四時祭祀儀及醮法。宮成，特遷尚書工部員外郎，賜五品服。淳化初，與馬韶同判監，俱坐事，芝蘭出為遂平令。卒，年六十。錄其子繼芳為城父縣主簿。

Chu Zhilan, a native of Xiangcheng in Ruzhou, had first studied the Three Rites when he suddenly claimed to have met a man of the Way who taught him Futian, Liuren, and Dunjia divination. When the court was broadly recruiting specialists in the technical arts, he went to the capital to recommend himself and was enrolled as a student. Because his astrological prognostications proved reliable, he was promoted to Hanlin Astronomer. He was appointed chief clerk of Leyuan County, then promoted to Spring Office Director of the Astronomical Directorate and concurrent administrator of directorate affairs. Prognosticators reported that the Five Blessings Grand Unity deity was positioned over the Wu asterism and that a Grand Unity shrine should be built at Suzhou. Zhilan alone submitted a memorial: "The capital is the city of emperors, where all the spirits assemble. Moreover, a place called Sucun lies just one li southeast of the capital; if a palace to the Five Blessings Grand Unity were built there, the emperor could visit in person and the officials could conveniently perform the rites—so why travel far beyond the Yangzi and treat Suzhou as the Wu asterism? Public opinion could not overturn his view, so the court adopted his proposal and also ordered him to help establish the four-season sacrificial rites and jiao rituals for the new palace. When the palace was completed, he received a special promotion to Secretary in the Ministry of Works and was granted fifth-rank court robes. At the beginning of the Chunhua era he served with Ma Shao as concurrent administrator of the directorate; both were punished for offenses, and Zhilan was demoted to magistrate of Suiping. He died at the age of sixty. His son Jifang was granted appointment as chief clerk of Chenggu County.

韓顯符，不知何許人。少習三式，善察視辰象，補司天監生，遷靈台郎，累加司天冬官正。顯符專渾天之學，淳化初，表請造銅渾儀、候儀。詔給用度，俾顯符規度，擇匠鑄之。至道元年渾儀成，於司天監築台置之，賜顯符雜彩五十匹。顯符上其《法要》十卷，序之云：

Han Xianfu was a man of unknown origin. In his youth he studied the Three Styles and was skilled at observing the heavens; he entered service as a student of the Astronomical Directorate, rose to Spirit Platform Gentleman, and was eventually promoted to Winter Office Director of the Astronomical Directorate. Xianfu specialized in armillary-sphere astronomy, and at the beginning of the Chunhua era he submitted a memorial requesting the casting of a bronze armillary sphere and observational instruments. An edict granted the necessary funds and ordered Xianfu to design the instruments, take measurements, select craftsmen, and cast them. In the first year of Zhidao the armillary sphere was completed; a platform was built at the Astronomical Directorate to house it, and Xianfu was granted fifty bolts of assorted silks. Xianfu submitted his ten-juan work "Essential Methods," writing in the preface:

自伏羲甲寅年至皇朝大中祥符三年庚戌歲，積三千八百九十七年。五帝之後訖今，明曆象之玄，知渾天之奧者，近十餘朝，考而論之，臻至妙者不過四五。自餘徒誇重於一日，不深圖於久要，致使天象無準，曆算漸差，占候不同，盈虛難定。陛下講求廢墜，爰造渾儀，漏刻星躔，曉然易辨。若人目窺於下，則銅管運於上，七曜之進退盈縮，眾星之次舍遠近，占逆順，明吉凶，然後修福俾順其度，省事以退其災，悉由斯器驗之。

From the jiayin year of Fuxi to the gengxu year, the third year of Dazhong Xiangfu in our dynasty, the accumulated span is three thousand eight hundred ninety-seven years. From the age after the Five Emperors down to the present, among the nearly dozen dynasties of men who understood the mysteries of calendrics and astronomy and grasped the profundities of the armillary sphere, no more than four or five ever reached true mastery. The rest merely boasted of short-term success and gave no deep thought to long-term needs, with the result that celestial phenomena lost their standards, calendar calculations gradually drifted, prognostications disagreed, and waxing and waning could no longer be reliably determined. Your Majesty has sought to revive what had fallen into ruin and has therefore had this armillary sphere made, so that clepsydra graduations and stellar positions are clear and easy to discern. When the eye looks down below, the bronze tubes move above; the advance, retreat, expansion, and contraction of the seven luminaries and the stations near and far of the myriad stars can be examined for compliance or reversal and interpreted for good or ill fortune—so that merit may be cultivated to accord with their measures and affairs simplified to avert disaster—all verified through this instrument.

昔漢洛下閎修渾儀，測《太初曆》云：「後五百年必當重製。」至唐李淳風，果合前契。貞觀初。淳風又言前代渾儀得失之差，因令銅鑄。七年，太宗起凝暉閣於禁中，俾侍臣占驗。既在宮掖，人莫得見，後失其處所。玄宗命沙門一行修《大衍曆》，蓋以渾儀為證。又有梁令瓚造渾儀木式，一行謂其精密，思出古人，遂以銅鑄。今文德殿鼓樓下有古本銅渾儀一，製極疏略，不可施用。且曆象之作，非渾儀無以考真偽；算造之士，非占驗不能究得失。渾儀之成，則司天歲上細行曆。益可致其詳密。

Formerly in Han, Luoxia Hong repaired the armillary sphere and, while working on the Taichu Calendar, said, "After five hundred years it must be remade." By the Tang, when Li Chunfeng came, the prophecy indeed proved true. In the early Zhenguan reign. Li Chunfeng then explained the strengths and weaknesses of earlier armillary spheres and ordered a new one cast in bronze. In the seventh year Taizong built Ninghui Pavilion within the inner palace and had his attendant ministers use it for astronomical observation and verification. Because it stood within the inner palace, ordinary people could not see it, and in time its location was lost. Emperor Xuanzong ordered the monk Yixing to revise the Dayan Calendar, using the armillary sphere as verification. Liang Lingzan also made a wooden model armillary sphere; Yixing judged it precise and superior to the ancients, and so had it cast in bronze. Today beneath the drum tower of Wende Hall stands an old bronze armillary sphere whose construction is extremely crude and unusable. Moreover, in calendrical and astronomical work, without an armillary sphere there is no way to test what is true and what is false; and for those who calculate and construct calendars, without observation and verification they cannot determine what succeeds and what fails. Once the armillary sphere is completed, the Astronomical Directorate can submit a detailed annual ephemeris each year. This can achieve still greater precision.

其制有九，事具《天文志》。自是顯符專測驗渾儀，累加春官正，又轉太子洗馬。

Its construction has nine parts, which are fully described in the Astronomical Treatise. From then on Xianfu devoted himself to testing and verifying the armillary sphere, rose to Spring Office Director, and was later transferred to Groom of the Heir Apparent.

大中祥符三年，詔顯符擇監官或子孫可以授渾儀法者。顯符言長子監生承矩善察躔度，次子保章正承規見知算造，又主簿杜貽範、保章正楊惟德皆可傳其學。詔顯符與貽範等參驗之。顯符後改殿中丞兼翰林天文。六年卒，年七十四。又詔監丞丁文泰嗣其事焉。

In the third year of Dazhong Xiangfu an edict ordered Xianfu to select directorate officials or descendants who could be taught the methods of the armillary sphere. Xianfu reported that his eldest son, the student Chengju, was skilled at observing stellar motion; his second son Chenggui, a Baozhang Director, was known for calendrical calculation; and Chief Clerk Du Yifan and Baozhang Director Yang Weide were all capable of passing on his art. An edict ordered Xianfu to verify the candidates together with Yifan and the others. Xianfu was later made Palace Supervisory Commissioner with concurrent appointment as Hanlin Astronomer. He died in the sixth year, at the age of seventy-four. An edict also ordered Supervising Commissioner Ding Wentai to succeed to his duties.

史序字正倫，京兆人。善推步曆算，太平興國中，補司天學生。太宗親較試，擢為主簿。稍遷監丞，賜緋魚，隸翰林天文院。雍熙二年，廷試中選者二十六人，而序為之首，命知算造，又知監事。

Shi Xu, styled Zhenglun, was a native of Jingzhao. Skilled in calendrical calculation and astronomical computation, he entered service as a student of the Astronomical Directorate during the Taiping Xingguo era. Taizong personally examined him and selected him for appointment as chief clerk. He was gradually promoted to supervising commissioner, granted the crimson fish pouch, and assigned to the Hanlin Astronomical Academy. In the second year of Yongxi twenty-six candidates passed the palace examination, with Xu ranking first; he was put in charge of calendrical calculation and also given responsibility for directorate affairs.

淳化三年，司天鄭昭宴言：「臣測金、火行度須有相犯。今驗之天，而火行漸南，金度漸北，有若相避，遂不相犯。」序又言：「木、火、金三星初夜在午，木在東，火在中，金最西，漸北行去火尺餘。此國家欽崇天道，聖德所感也。」

In the third year of Chunhua, Zheng Zhaoyan of the Astronomical Directorate reported, "My calculations indicate that the degrees of Venus and Mars in motion ought to produce a mutual violation. Yet when I verify this against the sky, Mars gradually moves south while Venus moves north, as though avoiding each other, and so no violation occurs. Xu added, "At first watch Jupiter, Mars, and Venus stood in the Wu sector: Jupiter in the east, Mars in the middle, and Venus farthest west, gradually moving north and drawing more than a chi away from Mars. This shows that the state reveres Heaven's Way and that sacred virtue has moved the heavens."

序後累遷夏官正、河西、環慶二路隨軍轉運、太子洗馬。修《儀天曆》上之，又嘗纂天文曆書為十二卷以獻，改殿中丞，賜金紫，俄權監事。景德二年遷權知少監，大中祥符初即真。三年卒，年七十六。序慎密勤職，在監三十年，未嘗有過，眾賴稱之。

Xu was later promoted to Summer Office Director, served as army transport commissioner with the armies on the Hexi and Huanqing circuits, and was appointed Groom of the Heir Apparent. He revised the Yitian Calendar and submitted it to the throne, also compiled a twelve-juan book on astronomy and calendrics for presentation, was promoted to Palace Supervisory Commissioner, granted gold and purple insignia, and soon served as acting administrator of the directorate. In the second year of Jingde he was promoted to acting Vice Director of the Astronomical Directorate, and at the beginning of Dazhong Xiangfu received the full appointment. He died in the third year, at the age of seventy-six. Xu was careful, discreet, and diligent in office; he served at the directorate for thirty years without a single fault, and his colleagues relied on and praised him.

周克明字昭文。曾祖德扶，唐司農卿。祖傑，開成中進士，解褐獲嘉尉，曆弘文館校書郎。中和中，僖宗在蜀，傑上書言治亂萬餘言。擢水部員外郎，三遷司農少卿。傑精於曆算，嘗以《大衍曆》數有差，因敷衍其法，著《極衍》二十四篇，以究天地之數。時天下方亂，傑以天文占之，惟嶺南可以避地，乃遣其弟鼎求為封州錄事參軍。傑天復中亦棄官攜家南適嶺表。劉隱素聞其名，每令占候天文災變。傑自以年老，嘗策名中朝，恥以星曆事僭偽，乃謝病不出。 襲位，強起之，令知司天監事，因問國祚脩短。傑以《周易》筮之，得《比》之《復》，曰：「卦有二土，土數生五，成於十，二五相比，以歲言之，當五百五十。」 大喜，賞賚甚厚。 以梁貞明三年僭號，至開寶四年國滅，止五十五年。蓋傑舉成數以避害爾。大有中，遷太常少卿，卒，年九十餘。傑生茂元，亦世其學，事至司天少監，歸宋授監丞而卒，即克明之父也。

Zhou Keming, styled Zhaowen. His great-grandfather Defu served as Tang Minister of Revenue. His grandfather Jie passed the jinshi examination in the Kaicheng period, began his career as captain of Huojia County, and later served as collator in the Hongwen Academy. During the Zhonghe period, when Emperor Xizong was in Shu, Jie submitted a memorial of more than ten thousand words on the causes of order and disorder. He was promoted to Vice Director of the Water Ministry and after three transfers rose to Vice Minister of Revenue. Jie was skilled in calendrical calculation; finding errors in the numbers of the Dayan Calendar, he elaborated its methods and wrote twenty-four chapters of "Extreme Extension" to investigate the numbers of heaven and earth. When the realm was in turmoil, Jie read the heavens and concluded that only Lingnan offered refuge; he therefore sent his younger brother Ding to seek appointment as recording officer of Feng Prefecture. During the Tianfu period Jie also resigned his office, took his family, and moved south to Lingnan. Liu Yin had long heard of his reputation and repeatedly ordered him to prognosticate celestial calamities and portents. Jie, considering himself old and having once held office at the central court, was ashamed to practice astronomy and calendrics for a usurping regime and therefore pleaded illness and refused to serve. When Liu Chang succeeded to the throne, he forcibly summoned Jie back to service, put him in charge of Astronomical Directorate affairs, and asked how long the dynasty would endure. Jie divined with the Book of Changes and obtained Bi changing to Fu; he said, "The hexagram contains two earth lines; the number of earth generates five and completes at ten; two and five stand in mutual relation—counted in years, the span should be five hundred fifty. Liu Chang was greatly pleased and rewarded him very generously. Liu Chang's regime had usurped imperial title in the third year of Liang Zhenming; by the fourth year of Kaibao the state was destroyed—only fifty-five years in all. Jie had simply chosen a flattering round number to protect himself. During the Dayou period he was promoted to Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices; he died in his nineties. Jie's son Maoyuan also inherited the family art, served Liu Chang until he reached the post of Vice Director of the Astronomical Directorate, submitted to the Song and was appointed supervising commissioner before his death—he was Keming's father.

克明精於數術，凡律曆、天官、五行、讖緯及三式、風雲、龜筮之書，靡不究其指要。開寶中授司天六壬，改台主簿，轉監丞，五遷春官正。克明頗修詞藻，喜藏書。景德初，嘗獻所著文十編，召試中書，賜同進士出身。三年，有大星出氐西，眾莫能辨；或言國皇妖星，為兵凶之兆。克明時使嶺表，及還，亟請對，言：「臣按《天文錄》、《荊州占》，其星名曰周伯，其色黃，其光煌煌然，所見之國大昌，是德星也。臣在塗聞中外之人頗惑其事，願許文武稱慶，以安天下心。」上嘉之，即從其請。拜太子洗馬、殿中丞，皆兼翰林天文，又權判監事。屬修兩朝國史，其天文律曆事，命克明參之。大中祥符九年，坐本監擇日差互，例降為洗馬。

Keming was skilled in the numerical arts and mastered the essentials of every branch of learning—from pitch pipes and calendars, celestial offices, and the five phases to prophecy texts, the Three Styles, wind and cloud divination, and tortoise and milfoil oracle books. During Kaibao he was appointed Six Ren officer of the Astronomical Directorate, then served as Spirit Platform chief clerk, supervising commissioner, and after five promotions became Spring Office Director. Keming was also accomplished in literary composition and delighted in collecting books. At the beginning of the Jingde era he presented ten compilations of his own writings, was summoned to examination at the Secretariat, and was granted jinshi status by special decree. In the third year a great star appeared west of the Di asterism, and no one could identify it; some said it was the demon star Guohuang, a portent of war and disaster. Keming was then on mission to Lingnan; when he returned he urgently requested an audience and said, "Your subject has consulted the Astronomical Records and Jingzhou Prognostications: the star is called Zhou Bo, its color is yellow, and its light is brilliant; the country that sees it will greatly prosper—it is a virtue star. On the road I heard that people throughout the realm were troubled by the matter; I ask that civil and military officials be permitted to proclaim celebration and thereby reassure the hearts of the people. The emperor approved and immediately granted his request. He was appointed Groom of the Heir Apparent and Palace Supervisory Commissioner, both with concurrent appointment as Hanlin Astronomer, and also served as acting administrator of directorate affairs. When the court was compiling the national history of the two dynasties, Keming was ordered to assist with its sections on astronomy and calendrics. In the ninth year of Dazhong Xiangfu he was demoted to Groom of the Heir Apparent under precedent for a date-selection error by the directorate.

天禧元年夏，火犯靈台，克明語所親曰：「去歲太白犯靈台，掌曆者悉被降譴，上天垂象，深可畏也。今熒惑又犯之，吾其不起乎！」八月，疽發背，卒，年六十四。克明久居司天之職，頗勤慎，凡奏對必據經盡言。及卒，上頗悼惜，遣內侍諭其婿直龍圖閣馮元，令主喪事，賜賻甚厚。

In the summer of the first year of Tianxi, Mars entered the Spirit Platform asterism; Keming told those close to him, "Last year Venus entered the Spirit Platform, and the calendar keepers were all demoted and punished; when Heaven displays such signs, they are deeply to be feared. Now Mars has violated it again—I fear I shall not recover! In the eighth month a carbuncle erupted on his back, and he died at the age of sixty-four. Keming long held office in the Astronomical Directorate, was diligent and careful, and whenever he addressed the throne he spoke fully and always grounded his words in the classics. When he died the emperor was deeply grieved, sent a palace attendant to instruct his son-in-law Feng Yuan, Director of the Longtu Pavilion, to manage the funeral, and granted a very generous burial gift.

初，諸僭國皆有纂錄，獨嶺南闕焉。惟胡賓王、胡元興二家纂述，皆不之備。克明訪耆舊，采碑誌，孳孳著撰，裁十數卷，書未成而卒。

At first every separatist regime had its history compiled, but Lingnan alone had none. Only the works compiled by Hu Binwang and Hu Yuanxing existed, and neither was complete. Keming interviewed elders, collected stele inscriptions, and worked diligently at writing, producing more than ten juan before he died with the book still unfinished.

劉翰，滄州臨津人。世習醫業，初攝護國軍節度巡官。周顯德初，詣闕獻《經用方書》三十卷、《論候》十卷、《今體治世集》二十卷。世宗嘉之，命為翰林醫官，其書付史館，再加衛尉寺主簿。

Liu Han was a native of Linjin in Cangzhou. His family had practiced medicine for generations; he first served as adjutant patrol officer under the Huguo Army military commission. At the beginning of the Xiande reign of Later Zhou, he went to court and presented thirty juan of Essential Prescriptions for Regular Use, ten juan of Treatises on Diagnosis, and twenty juan of A Collection on Contemporary Forms of Governing the Age. Emperor Shizong commended him, appointed him a Hanlin medical officer, had his books deposited in the Historiography Institute, and further promoted him to registrar of the Court of Imperial Regalia.

太祖北征，命翰從行。建隆初，加朝散大夫、鴻臚寺丞。時太祖求治，事皆核實，故方技之士必精練。乾德初，令太常寺考較翰林醫官藝術，以翰為優，絀其業不精者二十六人。自後，又詔諸州訪醫術優長者籍其名，仍量賜裝錢，所在廚傳給食，遣詣闕。開寶五年，太宗在藩邸有疾，命翰與馬誌視之。及愈，轉尚藥奉御，賜銀器、緡錢、鞍勒馬。

When Emperor Taizu marched north on campaign, he ordered Han to accompany the army. At the beginning of the Jianlong reign, he was further promoted to Grandee of Dispersed Leisure and vice director of the Court of State Ceremonial. At that time Emperor Taizu sought to govern well and insisted that every matter be verified in substance, so specialists in medicine and divination had to be thoroughly accomplished. At the beginning of the Qiande reign, the Court of Imperial Sacrifices was ordered to examine and rank the skills of Hanlin medical officers; Han was judged the best, and twenty-six whose skills were found deficient were removed from office. Thereafter an edict ordered every prefecture to seek out physicians of outstanding skill, register their names, grant them traveling expenses as appropriate, provide meals at relay stations along the route, and send them to court. In the fifth year of Kaibao, the future Emperor Taizong fell ill at his princely residence, and Han and Ma Zhi were ordered to treat him. When the prince recovered, Han was promoted to chief attendant of the Imperial Pharmacy and was granted silver vessels, cash, and a saddled horse.

嘗被詔詳定《唐本草》，翰與道士馬誌、醫官翟煦、張素、吳復珪圭、王光祐、陳昭遇同議，凡《神農本經》三百六十種，《名醫錄》一百八十二種，唐本先附一百一十四種，有名無用一百九十四種，翰等又參定新附一百三十三種。既成，詔翰林學士中書舍人李昉、戶部員外郎知制誥王祐、左司員外郎知制誥扈蒙詳覆畢上之。昉等序之曰：

He was once ordered to collate the Tang Materia Medica. Han joined the Daoist Ma Zhi and the medical officers Zhai Xu, Zhang Su, Wu Fugui, Wang Guangyou, and Chen Zhaoyu in the work. The text included three hundred sixty entries from Shennong's Root Classic, one hundred eighty-two from Records of Famous Physicians, one hundred fourteen in the Tang edition's first appendix, and one hundred ninety-four listed by name but deemed useless; Han and his colleagues further collated one hundred thirty-three newly appended entries. When the work was finished, Li Fang, Hanlin academician and Secretariat drafter; Wang You, vice director of the Ministry of Revenue and drafter of edicts; and Hu Meng, vice director of the Left Department and drafter of edicts, were ordered to review it thoroughly and submit the final version. Li Fang and his colleagues wrote a preface, saying:

《三墳》之書，神農預其一。百藥即辨，《本草》序其錄。舊經三卷，世所流傳。《名醫別錄》，互為編纂。至梁陶弘景乃以《別錄》參其《本經》，朱墨雜書，時謂明白。而又考彼功用，為之注釋，列為七卷，南國行焉。逮乎有唐，別加參校，增藥餘八百味，添注為二十卷。《本經》漏缺則補之，陶氏誤說則證之。然而載曆年祀，又逾四百，朱字墨字，無本得同；舊注新注，其文互闕。非聖主撫大同之運，永無疆之休，其何以改而正之哉！

Among the books ascribed to the Three Sovereigns, Shennong's work was one. When the myriad drugs had been distinguished, the Materia Medica arranged them in ordered entries. The original classic, in three juan, circulated widely. Separate Records of Famous Physicians was compiled alongside it. In Liang times Tao Hongjing collated the Separate Records with the Root Classic, marking the texts in red and black, and contemporaries praised the result as lucid. He further examined their medicinal properties, supplied annotations, arranged the work in seven juan, and it circulated throughout the southern states. In Tang times the text was again collated, more than eight hundred drugs were added, and the annotated edition was expanded to twenty juan. Omissions and gaps in the Root Classic were filled in, and erroneous statements by Master Tao were corrected by verification. Yet more than four hundred years had passed, and with red text and black text alike, no two copies agreed; Old annotations and new annotations were incomplete and inconsistent with one another. Had it not been for a sage ruler who embraced the fortune of universal harmony and everlasting peace, how could the text have been reformed and set right!

乃命盡考傳誤，刊為定本。類例非允，從而革焉。至如筆頭灰，兔毫也，而在草部，今移附兔頭骨之下；半天河、地漿，皆水也，亦在草部，今移附土石類之間；敗鼓皮，移附於獸名；胡桐淚，改從於木類；紫礦，亦木也，自玉石品而改焉；伏翼，實禽也，由蟲魚部而移焉；橘柚，附於果實；食鹽，附於光鹽；生薑、乾薑，同歸一類；至於雞腸、蘩蔞，陸英、蒴藋，以類相似，從而附之。仍采陳藏器《拾遺》、李含光《音義》，或窮源於別本，或傳效於醫家，參而較之，辨其臧否。至如突屈白，舊說灰類，今是木根；天麻根，解似赤箭，今又全異。去非取是，特立新條。自餘刊正，不可悉數。

The court therefore ordered a full examination of transmitted errors and the publication of an authoritative edition. Where the categories and classifications were unsatisfactory, they were revised accordingly. Brush-tip ash, for example, is rabbit hair, yet it had been placed in the herbs section; it is now moved and placed under rabbit skull; Celestial river water and earth broth are both forms of water, yet they too had been listed among herbs; they are now moved among the earth and stone entries; Decayed drum hide is now placed under animal products; Poplar resin is reclassified under woods; Purple lac, which is also a tree product, is moved out of the jades and stones; The bat, which is in fact a bird, is moved out of the insects and fish section; Oranges and pomelos are grouped with fruits; Table salt is grouped with light salt; Fresh ginger and dried ginger are placed in a single category; Chicken intestine, chickweed, boneset, and teasel, being of similar kind, were likewise grouped together. They also drew on Chen Cangqi's Supplementary Records and Li Hanguang's Phonetic and Semantic Notes, tracing some entries to alternate editions and others to medical practitioners' experience, then compared the evidence and judged what was valid and what was not. Tuju bai, for example, had formerly been described as an ash product but is now identified as a tree root; Gastrodia root had been explained as identical with red arrow, but is now shown to be entirely distinct. Rejecting error and affirming truth, they established new entries of their own. The remaining corrections are too numerous to list in full.

下采眾議，定為印板。乃以白字為神農所說，墨字為名醫所傳，唐附今附，各加顯注，詳其解釋，審其形性。證謬誤而辨之者，署為今注；考文意而述之者，又為今按。義既判定，理亦詳明。今以新舊藥合九百八十三種，並目錄二十一卷，廣頒天下，傳而行焉。

After consulting widely, they fixed the text for printing. White characters mark what Shennong is said to have stated, black characters what famous physicians transmitted; Tang and present appendices each receive explicit notes, with full explanations and careful identification of form and properties. Notes that verify and correct errors are marked as present annotations; Commentaries that examine textual meaning and explain it are marked as present commentaries. Meaning has been settled and principle set forth in full clarity. The edition now comprises nine hundred eighty-three old and new drugs in twenty-one juan including the table of contents, to be distributed throughout the realm and put into practice.

翰後加檢校工部員外郎。太平興國四年，命為翰林醫官使，再加檢校戶部郎中。雍熙二年，滑州劉遇疾，詔翰馳往視之。翰還，言遇必瘳，既而即死，坐責授和州團練副使。端拱初，起為尚藥奉御。淳化元年，復為醫官使。卒，年七十二。

Han was later given the additional title of acting vice director of the Ministry of Works. In the fourth year of Taiping Xingguo he was appointed Hanlin medical commissioner and further given the additional title of acting director of the Ministry of Revenue. In the second year of Yongxi, Liu Yu of Huazhou fell ill, and Han was ordered to go at once to treat him. Han returned and reported that Liu Yu would certainly recover, but Liu Yu died shortly afterward; for this Han was punished and demoted to deputy military commissioner of Hezhou. At the beginning of the Duangong reign he was restored to chief attendant of the Imperial Pharmacy. In the first year of Chunhua he was again appointed medical commissioner. He died at the age of seventy-two.

王懷隱，宋州睢陽人。初為道士，住京城建隆觀，善醫診。太宗尹京，懷隱以湯劑祗事。太平興國初，詔歸俗，命為尚藥奉御，三遷至翰林醫官使。三年。吳越遣子惟濬入朝，惟濬被疾，詔懷隱視之。

Wang Huaiyin was a native of Suiyang in Songzhou. He was originally a Daoist priest at the Jianlong Abbey in the capital and was skilled in diagnosis. When the future Emperor Taizong governed the capital, Huaiyin attended him with medicinal decoctions. At the beginning of Taiping Xingguo he was ordered to leave the priesthood, appointed chief attendant of the Imperial Pharmacy, and promoted three times until he reached the post of Hanlin medical commissioner. In the third year of that reign, Wuyue sent Prince Weijun to court; when Weijun fell ill, Huaiyin was ordered to treat him.

初，太宗在藩邸，暇日多留意醫術，藏名方千餘首，皆嘗有驗者。至是，詔翰林醫官院各具家傳經驗方以獻，又萬餘首，命懷隱與副使王祐、鄭奇、醫官陳昭遇參對編類。每部以隋太醫令巢元方《病源候論》冠其首，而方藥次之，成一百卷。太宗御製序，賜名曰《太平聖惠方》，仍令鏤板頒行天下，諸州各置醫博士掌之。懷隱後數年卒。

Earlier, while still at his princely residence, the future Emperor Taizong had often devoted his leisure to medicine and collected more than a thousand proven prescriptions. At this point the Hanlin Medical Institute was ordered to submit its physicians' family prescriptions and experiential formulas, yielding more than ten thousand additional entries; Huaiyin, together with deputy commissioner Wang You, Zheng Qi, and medical officer Chen Zhaoyu, was ordered to collate and classify them. Each section opened with the Sui grand medical director Chao Yuanfang's Treatise on the Origins and Manifestations of Diseases, followed by prescriptions and drugs, producing a work of one hundred juan. Emperor Taizong wrote the preface himself, named the work Imperial Formulas of the Taiping Sacred Beneficence, ordered it carved and printed for distribution throughout the realm, and directed each prefecture to appoint a medical director to oversee its use. Huaiyin died several years later.

昭遇本嶺南人，醫術尤精驗，初為醫官，領溫水主簿，後加光錄寺丞，賜金紫。

Zhaoyu was a native of Lingnan and was especially accomplished in medicine. He first served as a medical officer while also holding the post of registrar of Wenshui, was later promoted to director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments, and was granted the gold seal and purple robe.

趙自化，本德州平原人。高祖常，為景州刺史，後舉家陷契丹。父知嵓脫身南歸，寓居洛陽，習經方名藥之術，又以授二子自正、自化。周顯德中，偕來京師，悉以醫術稱。知嵓卒，自正試方技，補翰林醫學。

Zhao Zihua was originally from Pingyuan in Dezhou. His grandfather Chang had served as prefect of Jingzhou, but later the entire family fell into Khitan hands. His father Zhuyan escaped and returned south, settled in Luoyang, mastered classical prescriptions and celebrated drugs, and passed the art on to his two sons Zizheng and Zihua. During the Xiande reign of Later Zhou they came together to the capital, and both were celebrated for their medical skill. After Zhuyan died, Zizheng passed the examination in medicine and divination and was appointed a Hanlin medical student.

會秦國長公主疾，有薦自化診候者，疾愈，表為醫學，再加尚藥奉御。淳化五年，授醫官副使。時召陳州隱士萬適至，館於自化家。會以適補慎縣主簿，適素強力無疾，詔下日，自化怪其色變，為切脈曰：「君將死矣。」不數日，適果卒。

When the Princess of Qin fell ill, someone recommended Zihua to examine her; after she recovered he was appointed a medical student and later promoted to chief attendant of the Imperial Pharmacy. In the fifth year of Chunhua he was appointed deputy medical commissioner. At that time the Chenzhou recluse Wan Shi was summoned to court and lodged in Zihua's household. When Shi was appointed registrar of Shen County, he had always been robust and free of illness; yet on the day the edict arrived Zihua was struck by the change in his complexion, felt his pulse, and said, "You are going to die." Within a few days Shi did indeed die.

至道中，有布衣鄭元輔者，嘗依自化之姻吏部令史張崇敏家。元輔時從自化丐索，無所得，心銜之。乃詣檢上書，告自化漏泄禁中語及指斥、非所宜言等事。太宗初甚駭，命王繼恩就御史府鞫之，皆無狀，斬元輔於都市。自化坐交遊非類，黜為郢州團練副使。未幾，復舊職。咸平三年，加正使。

During the Zhidao reign a commoner named Zheng Yuanfu had once lived as a dependent in the household of Zhang Chongmin, a clerk in the Ministry of Personnel and a relative by marriage of Zihua. Yuanfu had often begged favors from Zihua without success and nursed a grudge against him. He then went to the censorate and submitted a memorial accusing Zihua of leaking palace secrets and of making improper and slanderous remarks. Emperor Taizong was at first greatly alarmed and ordered Wang Jien to investigate the case at the censorate; the charges proved entirely false, and Yuanfu was executed in the capital marketplace. Zihua was punished for keeping improper company and was demoted to deputy military commissioner of Yingzhou. Before long he was restored to his former post. In the third year of Xianping he was promoted to chief medical commissioner.

自化頗喜為篇什，其貶郢州也，有《漢沔詩集》五卷，宋白、李若拙為之序。又嘗纘自古以方技至貴仕者，為《名醫顯秩傳》三卷。

Zihua was fond of writing poetry; during his demotion to Yingzhou he compiled five juan of Han and Mian Poetry Collection, for which Song Bai and Li Ruozhuo wrote prefaces. He also compiled a three-juan Biographies of Famous Physicians in Distinguished Rank, recording physicians from antiquity onward who had risen through medicine and divination to high office.

馮文智，并州人。世以方技為業。太平興國中詣都自陳，召試補醫學，加樂源縣主簿。端拱初，授少府監主簿，逾年轉醫官，加少府監丞。嘗隸並代部署。淳化五年，府州折禦卿疾，文智診療獲愈，禦卿表薦之，賜緋，加光祿寺丞。咸平三年，明德太后不豫，文智侍醫，既愈，加尚藥奉御，賜金紫。六年，直翰林醫官院。東封，轉醫官副使。祀汾陰，又加檢校主客員外郎。大中祥符五年卒，年六十。

Feng Wenzhi was a native of Bingzhou. His family had practiced medicine and divination for generations. During Taiping Xingguo he went to the capital to offer his services, passed the examination, was appointed a medical student, and was also given the post of registrar of Leyuan County. At the beginning of Duangong he was appointed registrar of the Directorate of Palace Manufactories; a year later he was transferred to medical officer and promoted to vice director of the directorate. He once served on the staff of the Bingdai headquarters. In the fifth year of Chunhua, Zhe Yuqing of Fuzhou fell ill; Wenzhi treated him successfully. Yuqing submitted a recommendation, and Wenzhi was granted a crimson robe and promoted to director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments. In the third year of Xianping, Empress Dowager Mingde fell ill; Wenzhi served as her attending physician, and after she recovered he was promoted to chief attendant of the Imperial Pharmacy and granted the gold seal and purple robe. In the sixth year he was assigned directly to the Hanlin Medical Institute. During the eastern tour of Mount Tai he was promoted to deputy medical commissioner. At the sacrifice at Fenyin he was further given the additional title of acting vice director of the Bureau of Receptions. He died in the fifth year of Dazhong Xiangfu at the age of sixty.

自建隆以來，近臣皇親、諸大校有疾，必遣內侍挾醫療視，群臣中有特被眷遇者亦如之。其有效者，或遷秩、賜服色。邊郡屯帥多遣醫官、醫學隨行，三年一代。出師及使境外、貢院鎖宿，皆令醫官隨之。京城四面，分遣翰林祗候療視將士。暑月，即令醫官合藥，與內侍分詣城門寺院散給軍民。上每便坐閱兵，有被金瘡者，即令醫官處療。

From Jianlong onward, whenever close ministers, imperial relatives, or senior commanders fell ill, palace attendants were dispatched with physicians to treat them; favored ministers received the same care. Physicians who succeeded might be promoted or granted honorary robe colors. Commanders of border garrisons generally had medical officers and medical students attached to their staffs, rotated every three years. Medical officers accompanied troops on campaign, envoys abroad, and candidates during the locked seclusion of the civil service examinations. On all four sides of the capital, Hanlin attendants were dispatched to treat the troops. During the hot summer months, medical officers were ordered to prepare medicines and, together with palace attendants, sent to city gates and temples throughout the capital to distribute them to soldiers and civilians. Whenever the emperor reviewed the troops in informal session, anyone with a wound from blade or arrow was immediately sent to a medical officer for treatment.

咸平中，有軍士嘗中流矢，自頰貫耳，眾醫不能取，醫官閻文顯以藥傅之，信宿而鏃出。上嘉其能，命賜緋。

During the Xianping era, a soldier was hit by a crossbow bolt that passed through his cheek and pierced his ear. No physician could extract it, but medical officer Yan Wenxian applied a poultice, and within two days the arrowhead worked free. The emperor commended his skill and ordered that he be granted the crimson robe.

又有醫學劉贇亦善此術。天武右廂都指揮使韓晸從太祖征晉陽，弩矢貫左髀，鏃不出幾三十年。景德初，上遣贇視晸，贇傅以藥出之，步履如故。晸請見，自陳感激，願得死所，又極稱贇之妙。特賜贇白金，遷醫官。

Medical student Liu Yun was also adept at this art. Han Jiao, commander-in-chief of the Right Wing of the Celestial Martial Guard, had accompanied Taizu on the campaign against Jinyang when a crossbow bolt pierced his left thigh. The arrowhead remained embedded for nearly thirty years. At the beginning of the Jingde era, the emperor sent Yun to treat Jiao. Yun applied a medicinal poultice and removed the arrowhead, and Jiao walked as he had before. Jiao requested an audience, poured out his gratitude, declared that he wished to die in the emperor's service, and spoke at length of Yun's extraordinary skill. Yun was specially rewarded with white gold and promoted to medical officer.

沙門洪蘊，本姓藍，潭州長沙人。母翁，初以無子，專誦佛經，既而有娠，生洪蘊。年十三，詣郡之開福寺沙門智巴，求出家，習方技之書，後遊京師，以醫術知名。太祖召見，賜紫方袍，號廣利大師。太平興國中，詔購醫方，洪蘊錄古方數十以獻。真宗在蜀邸，洪蘊嘗以方藥謁見。咸平初，補右街首座，累轉左街副僧錄。洪蘊尤工診切，每先歲時言人生死，無不應。湯劑精至，貴戚大臣有疾者，多詔遣診療。景德元年卒，年六十八。

The Buddhist monk Hongyun, whose original surname was Lan, was a native of Changsha in Tanzhou. His mother Weng had long been childless and devoted herself to reciting Buddhist sutras. She then conceived and gave birth to Hongyun. At thirteen he went to the Buddhist monk Zhiba at Kaifu Temple in the prefecture to take ordination, studied works on medicine and divination, and later traveled to the capital, where he became famous for his medical art. Taizu summoned him to court, granted him a purple square robe, and invested him with the title Great Master Guangli. During Taiping Xingguo the court issued an edict soliciting medical prescriptions, and Hongyun copied out several dozen ancient formulas and presented them. While Zhenzong was still at his princely residence in Shu, Hongyun once visited him bearing prescriptions and medicines. At the beginning of Xianping he was appointed chief seat of the Right Avenue and was eventually promoted to deputy registrar of monks of the Left Avenue. Hongyun was especially skilled at pulse diagnosis. Each year he would predict in advance who would live and who would die, and without fail his predictions came true. His medicinal decoctions were prepared with exceptional care, and when members of the imperial clan or senior ministers fell ill, the court frequently ordered him sent to diagnose and treat them. He died in the first year of Jingde at the age of sixty-eight.

又有廬山僧法堅，亦以善醫著名，久遊京師，嘗賜紫方袍，號廣濟大師，後還山。景德二年，以雍王元份久被疾，召赴闕，至則元份已薨。法堅復歸山而卒。

There was also the Mount Lu monk Fajian, who was likewise famous for his medical skill. He spent many years in the capital, was once granted a purple square robe and the title Great Master Guangji, and later returned to his mountain. In the second year of Jingde, Prince Yong Yuan Fen had long been gravely ill, and Fajian was summoned to court—but by the time he arrived, the prince was already dead. Fajian returned to his mountain and died there.

蘇澄隱字棲真，真定人。為道士，住龍興觀，得養生之術，年八十餘不衰老。後唐明宗嘗下詔召之，又令宰相馮道致書諭旨，曆清泰、天福中繼有聘命，並辭疾不至。開運末，契丹主兀欲立，求有名稱僧道加以恩命，惟澄隱不受。當時公卿自馮道、李崧、和凝而下，皆在鎮陽，日造其室與談宴，各賦詩以贈。周廣順、顯德中，詔存問之。

Su Chengyin, styled Qizhen, was a native of Zhending. He became a Daoist priest and lived at Longxing Abbey, where he mastered methods of nourishing life. Though past eighty, he showed no sign of age. Later Tang Mingzong once issued an edict summoning him and had Chancellor Feng Dao write to convey the imperial wish. Appointments continued through the Qingtai and Tianfu eras, but Chengyin always declined on grounds of illness and never came. At the end of Kaiyun, when the Khitan ruler Wuyu took the throne, he sought out eminent monks and Daoists to honor with imperial favor. Chengyin alone refused to accept. At that time the leading officials, from Feng Dao, Li Song, and He Ning downward, were all at Zhenyang. They visited his dwelling daily for conversation and feasting, and each composed poems to present to him. During the Guangshun and Xiande eras of Later Zhou, the court sent edicts inquiring after his welfare.

太祖征太原還，駐蹕鎮陽，召見行宮，命中使掖升殿，謂之曰：「京師作建隆觀，思得有道之士居之，師累辭召命，豈懷土耶？」對曰：「大梁帝宅，浩穰繁會，非林泉之士所可寄跡也。」上察其意，亦不強之，賜茶百斤、絹二百匹。又幸其觀，問曰：「師年逾八十而氣貌益壯，善養生者也。」因問其術，對曰：「臣之養生，不過精思練氣爾，帝王養生即異於是。老子曰：『我無為而民自化，我無欲而民自正。』無為無欲，凝神太和，昔黃帝、唐堯享國永年，得此道也。」上大悅，賜紫衣一襲、銀器五百兩、帛五百匹。年僅百歲而卒。

When Taizu returned from his campaign against Taiyuan and halted at Zhenyang, he summoned Chengyin to his traveling palace and had a palace attendant help him up the steps to the hall. The emperor said to him, "We are building Jianlong Abbey in the capital and wish to install a man of the Way there. You have repeatedly declined our summons—is it because you are unwilling to leave your home?" Chengyin replied, "Daliang is the imperial capital—vast, crowded, and bustling. It is no place for one who dwells among forests and springs." The emperor understood his meaning and did not press him further. He granted him a hundred jin of tea and two hundred bolts of silk. On another visit to his abbey, the emperor asked, "Master, you are past eighty, yet your vital energy and bearing grow ever stronger. You must be skilled in the art of nourishing life." He then asked about his method. Chengyin replied, "My way of nourishing life is nothing more than refined meditation and breath cultivation. The way an emperor nourishes life is quite different. Laozi said, 'When I do nothing, the people transform themselves; when I am without desire, the people set themselves right.' Through nonaction and freedom from desire, concentrating the spirit in perfect harmony—this is how the Yellow Emperor and Tang Yao ruled long and well. They attained this Way." The emperor was greatly pleased and granted him a set of purple robes, five hundred liang of silver vessels, and five hundred bolts of silk. He died at nearly one hundred years of age.

丁少微，毫州真源人。為道士，持齋戒，奉科儀尤為精至。嘗隱華山潼穀，密通陳摶所居，與摶齊名，少微誌尚清潔，摶嗜酒適性，其道不同，未嘗相往還。少微善服氣，多餌藥，年百餘歲，康強無疾。始，卜居山上，起壇場淨室，通夕朝禮，五十餘年未嘗稍懈。太平興國三年，召赴闕，以金丹、巨勝、南芝、玄芝為獻。留數月，遣還山。七年冬卒。

Ding Shaowei was a native of Zhenyuan in Bozhou. He became a Daoist priest, kept strict fasts and precepts, and performed liturgical rites with exceptional precision. He once lived in seclusion in Tong Valley on Mount Hua, which had a secret path to Chen Tuan's dwelling. He was as famous as Tuan, but Shaowei aspired to purity while Tuan loved wine and followed his own inclinations. Their ways differed, and they never visited one another. Shaowei was skilled at breath cultivation and often took medicinal elixirs. He lived to be over a hundred, vigorous and free of illness. From the start, having settled on the mountain, he built ritual platforms and pure chambers and performed dawn worship through the night. For more than fifty years he never slackened even slightly. In the third year of Taiping Xingguo he was summoned to court and presented gold elixir, giant mushrooms, southern lingzhi, and dark lingzhi. He remained at court for several months before being sent back to his mountain. He died in the winter of the seventh year.

趙自然，太平繁昌人，家荻港旁，以鬻茗為業，本名王九。始十三，疾甚，父抱詣青華觀，許為道士。後夢一人狀貌魁偉，綸巾素袍，鬢髮班白，自雲姓陰，引之登高山，謂曰：「汝有道氣，吾將教汝辟穀之法。」乃出青柏枝令啖，夢中食之。及覺，遂不食，神氣清爽，每聞火食氣即嘔，惟生果清泉而已。歲餘，復夢向見老人教以篆書數百字，寤悉能記。寫以示人，皆不能識。或云：「此非篆也，乃道家符籙耳。」嘗為《元道歌》，言修練之要。知州王洞表其事，太宗召赴闕，親問之，賜道士服，改名自然，賚錢三十萬。月餘遣還，住青華觀。後因病，飲食如故。大中祥符二年，詔曰：「如聞自然頗精修養之術。」委發轉使楊覃訪其行跡，命內侍武永全召至闕下，屢得對，賜紫衣，改青華觀曰延禧。自然以母老求還侍養，許之。

Zhao Ziran was a native of Fanchang in Taiping. His family lived beside Digiang and made their living selling tea. His original name was Wang Jiu. When he was thirteen he fell gravely ill. His father carried him to Qinghua Abbey and pledged him to become a Daoist priest. Later he dreamed of a man of imposing stature, wearing a silk headcloth and plain robe, his temples and hair streaked with white. The man said his surname was Yin, led him up a high mountain, and told him, "You possess the breath of the Way. I shall teach you the method of abstaining from grain." He then produced a green cypress branch and had him chew it, and in the dream Ziran ate it. When he awoke he could no longer eat. His spirit was clear and refreshed, but the smell of cooked food made him vomit. He subsisted on raw fruit and clear spring water alone. More than a year later he dreamed again of the same old man, who taught him several hundred characters in seal script. When he awoke he could remember every one. He copied them out to show others, but no one could read them. Someone said, "These are not seal script at all—they are Daoist talismans." He also composed the "Song of the Primordial Way," setting forth the essentials of spiritual cultivation. Prefect Wang Dong memorialized his case to the throne. Taizong summoned him to court, questioned him in person, granted him Daoist robes, changed his name to Ziran, and bestowed three hundred thousand cash. After a little more than a month he was sent back to live at Qinghua Abbey. Later, when he fell ill, he resumed eating ordinary food. In the second year of Dazhong Xiangfu an edict declared, "We have heard that Ziran is highly skilled in the arts of spiritual cultivation." The court entrusted transit commissioner Yang Tan with investigating his conduct and ordered palace attendant Wu Yongquan to summon him to court. He had many audiences with the emperor, was granted purple robes, and Qinghua Abbey was renamed Yanxi. Ziran asked to return home to care for his aged mother, and the request was granted.

大中祥符中，又有鄭榮者，本禁軍，戌壁州還，夜遇神人謂曰：「汝有道氣，勿火食。」因授以醫術救人。七年，賜名自清，度為道士，居上清宮。所傳藥能愈大風疾，民多求之。皆刺臂血和餅給焉。

During Dazhong Xiangfu there was also Zheng Rong, formerly of the palace guard. Returning from garrison duty at Bichou, he encountered a divine being at night who told him, "You possess the breath of the Way. Do not eat cooked food." The being then taught him medical arts with which to heal others. In the seventh year he was granted the name Ziqing, ordained as a Daoist priest, and installed at Shangqing Palace. The medicine he dispensed could cure leprosy, and the people came to him in great numbers. He would prick his own arm for blood, mix it into cakes, and give these to those who sought his aid.

又有秦州民家子趙抱一者，常牧羊田間。一夕，有叩門召之者，以杖引行，杖端有氣如煙，其香可悅。俄至山崖絕頂，見數人會飲，音樂交奏，與人間無異。抱一駭而不測。會巡檢司過其下，聞樂聲，疑群盜歡聚，集村民梯崖而上。至則無所睹，抱一獨在，援以下之，具言其故。凡經夕，若俄頃。自是不喜熟食，凡火化者未嘗曆口。茹甘菊、柏葉、果實、井泉，間亦飲酒，貌如嬰兒。素不習文墨，口占辭句，頗成篇詠。有道家之趣。遂不親農事，野行露宿。大中祥符四年，至京師，猶丱角，詔賜名，度為道士。自是間歲或一至京師，常令居太一宮，與人言多養生事焉。

There was also Zhao Baoyi, a commoner's son from Qinzhou, who often tended sheep in the fields. One evening someone knocked at his door and summoned him. The visitor led him along with a staff whose tip emitted fragrant vapor like smoke. Before long they reached the sheer summit of a cliff, where he saw several people feasting together to the sound of interwoven music—it was no different from life in the human world. Baoyi was terrified and could not comprehend what he saw. Meanwhile a patrol detachment passed below, heard the music, and suspected a band of robbers carousing. They gathered villagers and climbed the cliff on ladders. When they reached the top they found nothing—Baoyi alone was there. They helped him down, and he told them the whole story. A whole night had passed, yet to him it seemed but a moment. From that time on he would not eat cooked food; nothing touched by fire ever passed his lips. He lived on sweet chrysanthemum, cypress leaves, fruit, and well water, occasionally drinking wine as well. His face looked like that of an infant. Though he had never studied letters, he could compose verses extemporaneously that formed complete poems. There was something of the Daoist about him. He then gave up farming altogether, wandering the wilds and sleeping under the open sky. In the fourth year of Dazhong Xiangfu he came to the capital, still wearing the topknot of youth. An edict granted him a name and ordained him as a Daoist priest. Thereafter he visited the capital every year or two and was regularly assigned to reside at Taiyi Palace, where his conversations with others centered on the art of nourishing life.

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