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*Nan Jing* (Classic of Difficult Issues) is a work authored by Bian Que. Why is it named *Jing* (Classic)? It is named so because it is based on the *Nei Jing* (Inner Classic). The *Nei Jing* consists of Huang Di's *Ling Shu* (Spiritual Pivot) and *Su Wen* (Basic Questions). It elucidates the principles of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements of heaven and earth, as well as the natures of animals, plants, flying creatures, and aquatic life, aligning them with the subtle aspects of the Zang-Fu organs (Viscera), sounds, colors, tastes, and odors. It allows one to know the approach of disease before it occurs, and to understand the origin of disease after it has manifested. Because it does not adhere to fixed methods, there is no method that is not miraculous; because it does not rely on fixed prescriptions, there is no prescription that is not comprehensive. This is akin to how the *Six Classics* have been passed down for ten thousand generations. Bian Que lived not long after ancient times and was able to thoroughly comprehend its source and details. He integrated the eighteen volumes of *Ling Shu* and *Su Wen*, each containing eighty-one chapters, critiquing and guiding through them, analyzing them thread by thread, and collectively listing eighty-one difficult issues. This also reflects the intent of "transmitting but not creating" (elaborating on predecessors' theories without creating new ones). Although its language originates from *Ling Shu* and *Su Wen*, it clarifies what was obscure, condenses what was verbose, supplements what was missing, and abbreviates what was repetitive. Nothing is left unexamined, and no meaning is excluded. Therefore, following *Ling Shu* and *Su Wen*, *Nan Jing* is ranked first. Although many renowned sages have come since, none could exceed its scope. For thousands of years, those who still understood the meaning of *Ling Shu* and *Su Wen* relied solely on the preservation of this book. Due to the passage of time, copying errors led to distortion, causing inconsistencies between preceding and succeeding sections, resulting in disjointed textual flow and obscured profound meanings. Modern commentators, perpetuating errors upon errors, made the text even more obscure with each explanation. Continuing to the present day, there are indeed many who know the name of *Nan Jing* but do not understand its essence.

In the autumn of the Gengxu year, I traveled to Wuchang and stayed at the residence of Vice Director Zhu. He had always loved medicine and took out an ancient edition of *Nan Jing* from his chest, which is one of the three classics in Wang Shuhe's *Yi Fan* (Medical Standards) from the Jin Dynasty. Upon opening the scroll, I found it different from the commercial editions. For instance, the third difficulty in the ancient version was mistakenly listed as the eighteenth; the twelfth difficulty was mistakenly listed as the seventy-fifth, totaling over thirty errors. Furthermore, the format did not resemble the commercial editions. In the question phrases, one extra character was added, representing the main text (Jing); in the answer phrases, one character was omitted, representing the citation of classic texts to explain the main text. Comparing it with the current version, I suddenly gained insight. From this, deducing its discussions on pulse diagnosis (Mai Zhen), symptoms (Zheng Zhuang), and treatment (Zhi Liao), everything was thoroughly expounded and logically connected. This is truly a bridge for saving the world and a supreme treasure in the medical forest. I remained in Chu for three years and gained deep insights from this book. In the winter of the Guichou year, I returned home and found that half of my relatives and old friends had passed away. Asking the reasons, some said they died from disease, others from improper medication. I could not help but feel sorrowful and fearful. I then recalled the words of the ancients: "A minister must know medicine; a son must know medicine." These words are indeed true. Thus, I entrusted this book to my nephews and younger generation to read during their spare time from their civil service examinations. The answer phrases in the original text represent the purport of Bian Que citing classics to explain classics, which constitutes Bian Que's commentary. Where the commentary was unclear, I provided sub-commentaries to clarify it. The precedents of the Six Classics are fully presented earlier. Therefore, based on my occasional findings and adopting appropriate views from Hua Shi (Hua Sui) and other scholars, I annotated the characters and explanations, appending them to the end of each section. I named it *Gu Ben Nan Jing Chan Zhu* (Ancient Edition of Nan Jing Explicated and Annotated). This is my humble contribution, daring to attach myself to the former sages, having devoted painstaking effort to this work. If readers can thereby penetrate the source of *Nan Jing*, it may perhaps offer some small benefit to this field.

Written in the second month of spring in the Bingchen year of the Qianlong era by Ding Jin, the Old Man of Shilu Yunjian.