Library

*Boji Fang* (Universal Relief Formulas) consists of five volumes, authored by Wang Gun of the Song Dynasty. Wang Gun was from Taiyuan. His official career details are unknown; only Lang Jian's original preface mentions that he once served as a wine official in Qiantang. This book is recorded in various bibliographies. However, *History of Song: Treatise on Literature* and Chen Zhensun's *Record of Books* list it as three volumes, while Chao Gongwu's *Reading Record* lists it as five volumes. The slight discrepancy is likely due to the visual similarity between the characters for "three" and "five," resulting in a transcription error. Chao Gongwu also stated that during the Qingli era, while serving in Huatai, Wang Gun took advantage of his leisure time to select excellent prescriptions from over 700,000 entries in his family collection to compile this book. Famous physicians remarked that the formulas were universally effective, such as *Caohuan Dan* (Grass Return Pill), formulas for treating *Da Feng* (Leprosy/Malignant Wind), *Taiyi Dan* (Great One Pill), and formulas for treating *Gui Tai* (Ghost Pregnancy), which were particularly miraculous. Upon examining Wang Gun's self-preface, it states: "While attending my father in his post at Huatai, I fell ill on the road..." (The text contains gaps/corruptions).

The Great Potter (Heaven/Nature) distributes all things, fusing and condensing them into myriad species. Among these, humans are the most spiritual and precious. Although people differ in their innate endowments—some wise, some foolish—all value their lives and cannot avoid illness and suffering. Did not ancient gentlemen, while holding office and practicing the Way, always keep the minds of relieving others' emergencies and eliminating the people's ailments? If people lack food, they can be relieved and fed; if they lack clothing, they can be undressed [to give] warmth. But when internal meridians collapse and the five viscera generate disasters, causing mental confusion, crying out in agony, and coughing with a sense of impending death, at such times, unless there are exquisite diagnoses and spiritual remedies that can revive the dying and preserve life, then even if one has rooms full of gold and jade, with flesh-and-blood relatives surrounding them, cutting off affection and enduring love, feeling heartbroken and pained, what remedy would there be? I have held official posts for more than several decades. Encountering extraordinary figures or hiding in mountains and forests, I collected prescription records. Those that were clearly miraculous were used to benefit people. To this day, I have never slackened. I often worried about not being able to reach every household and inform everyone, so that all under heaven could benefit. Thus, I felt urgently insufficient. This spring, Wang Jun, the wine official of Qiantang, kindly visited me, presenting three compiled fascicles of prescription books, saying, "Wang Gun has long loved medical diagnosis. He has gathered selected essential formulas. Not daring to hoard them, he wishes to print and distribute them to all directions, hoping everyone may survive." I gladly listened, instantly fulfilling an old wish, praising and sighing for a long time. Having heard that he is a scholar who loves novelty and broad learning, I myself selected dozens of prescriptions I had previously found miraculous and effective, requesting to append them to the categories to help complete this work. Alas! Rescuing from disaster and comforting the afflicted is the great righteousness of the Spring and Autumn period. Bestowing widely and relieving the masses is the primary virtue of the benevolent. I only hope that each pill and decoction brings cure and joy, so that the vast population suffers no plague or pestilence, but instead reaches the end of their natural lifespan. This is my wish. Having appreciated his kind heart and praised this good deed, I briefly outline the main points and record them at the end. Preceded by the Preface by Lang Jian.