张君兆嘉着本草便读共两卷。既自序其书。邑侯安仁吴公。同邑恽竹坡大令。皆邃于医
者。
亦序之。而从子宇怀。又为张君问序于余。夫干莫之宝。非张华不能审其气。篪钟之操。非
钟期不能识其曲。余不知医。余乌乎序其书。虽然。固有不能已于言者。余自束发受读。壮
岁挟策都下。历官皖鄂浙三省。晚憩吴门。尝见通人学士。著作如林。往往裒古今兴衰治乱
是非得失之要。与夫律历方舆行陈战守之略。中国四裔强弱向背之几。纬以诸子。旁及稗野
。汇为一编。系之论说。见者欢为经世才。一旦受事丛脞。立见贻笑后世。其于医也亦然。
盖医之为道。橐龠于农轩。发挥于岐跗。自是厥后。代有其贤。书亦大备。然而学人怵然于
堂奥之深。津涯之广。则相与掇拾糟粕以欺世。不复寻途索径。由易入难。以几于神化。是
犹经济家之矜奇好古而不适于用。良可慨也。余夙耳张君名。今岁之初。宇怀年七十。得痛
痹疾甚剧。乃延张君治之。两月而复。余方以为神。及读是书。而知张君之为医。固循循然
示人以易者。于 。其易也。其神也。庖丁一日解十二牛不顿芒刃。若张君者。微特善医。
亦可谓善着书矣。若夫是书之用。则前序已言之。余又奚言。
光绪二十有一年。岁次乙未季春之月。武进盛康拜撰。时年八十有二。
Mr. Zhang Zhaojia authored *Bencao Bian Du* (Convenient Reading of Materia Medica), consisting of two volumes. He first wrote a preface for his own book. Mr. Wu, the magistrate of Anren County, and Mr. Yun Zhupo, a county magistrate from the same locality, both being profound in medicine, also wrote prefaces for it. Furthermore, Mr. Zhang's nephew, Yu Huai, requested me to write a preface on behalf of Mr. Zhang.
The preciousness of the swords Gan Jiang and Mo Ye cannot be discerned by anyone other than Zhang Hua; the melody of the tune *Chizhong* cannot be recognized by anyone other than Zhong Ziqi. I do not understand medicine, how could I write a preface for this book? Nevertheless, there are words I cannot refrain from saying. Since my youth, when I began my studies, through my prime years when I carried books in the capital, serving as an official in the provinces of Anhui, Hubei, and Zhejiang, and resting in my late years in Wumen (Suzhou), I have seen scholars and men of learning whose works were numerous as trees. They often compiled the essentials of rise and fall, governance and chaos, right and wrong, gain and loss from ancient and modern times, along with strategies regarding calendar calculations, geography, military formations, and defense and attack. They incorporated the trends of strength and allegiance among the central regions and the four frontiers, woven with the teachings of the Hundred Schools of Thought and extending to unofficial histories, compiling them into a single volume accompanied by essays. Readers rejoiced in seeing them as talents capable of governing the world. Yet, once they took on complex administrative duties, they immediately exposed themselves to ridicule by later generations. The same applies to medicine.
Medicine, as a Dao (Way/Path), originated with Nongxuan (Shennong and the Yellow Emperor) and was elaborated upon by Qifu (Qibo and Fu). Since then, virtuous individuals have appeared in every generation, and medical texts have become abundant. However, students are daunted by the depth of its inner chambers and the breadth of its boundaries. Consequently, they pick up dregs to deceive the world, no longer seeking the proper paths and methods, entering from the easy to the difficult, thereby approaching divine transformation. This is akin to those who govern the world boasting of novelty and antiquity without practical utility, which is truly lamentable.
I had long heard of Mr. Zhang's reputation. At the beginning of this year, my nephew Yu Huai, aged seventy, suffered from severe Tongbi (Painful Bi Syndrome). He invited Mr. Zhang to treat him, and after two months, he recovered. I initially considered his skills miraculous. Upon reading this book, I realized that Mr. Zhang’s practice of medicine indeed proceeds step-by-step, showing people the accessible aspects. In what appears easy lies the miraculous. Just as Cook Ding could dissect twelve oxen a day without dulling his blade, Mr. Zhang can be said not only to be skilled in medicine but also in writing. As for the utility of this book, it has already been stated in the previous prefaces; what more need I say?
In the twenty-first year of Guangxu, during the third month of Yiwei year. Bowing to compose, Sheng Kang of Wujin. At the age of eighty-two.