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First, this book has been in circulation for a long time; the bamboo slips are broken and chapters are missing. It was once recompiled by Lü Guang, yet the wording remains uneven. Furthermore, numbers were appended to the character "Nan" (Difficulties), which is likely an addition made by Lü during his compilation, establishing it as an unchangeable format for later generations. However, this did not exist in the original ancient text. I have now deleted all such additions.

Second, the character "Nan" in "Nanwen" (Interrogations/Difficulties) carries its correct ancient meaning. Huangfu Mi stated in the *Diwang Ji* (Records of Emperors and Kings): "The Yellow Emperor had Bian Que conduct eighty-one rounds of side-to-side interrogation." This likely reflects the ancient original intent. The views of two scholars, Lu Qi, recorded by Hua Shou in his *Huikao* (Comprehensive Examination), are correct.

Third, some commentators claim that the *Nan Jing* (Classic of Difficult Issues) is merely fragmented text surviving from the burning of books. I disagree. Ancient texts and classics inevitably suffer from loss and insect damage; this is natural. Is it only the *Nan Jing* that suffers thus? Even the *Su Wen* (Basic Questions) and *Ling Shu* (Spiritual Pivot) are no different. Moreover, just because Hua Tuo burned his *Huo Ren Shu* (Book of Saving Lives), one cannot therefore label the *Nan Jing* as ash residue. Yet later generations often praise it disparagingly or view it as burnt debris. Thus, I offer these words to clear its name.

Fourth, the *Nan Jing* primarily discusses profound principles, analyzing the mysteries of the *Ling Shu* and *Su Wen*. Consequently, where its Q&A content differs from the *Nei Jing* (Inner Canon), earlier scholars suspected these discrepancies. Some blindly concurred and added baseless theories, while others viewed them with hostility and attacked them, or treated the book as chicken ribs (worthless), leading to its gradual decline and potential abandonment. There is no other reason than their failure to grasp the fundamental essence of Xuanyuan (Yellow Emperor) medicine; they were careless, rigid, and relied on subjective speculation, making their arguments unworthy of discussion. Let me cite a few examples: The *Ling Shu* states, "Mingmen (Gate of Life) refers to the eyes," whereas the *Nan Jing* considers it the right kidney. The *Su Wen* states, "The Three Parts refer to the head and limbs, and the Nine Palms correspond to arterial pulses at nine acupoints," while the *Nan Jing* interprets them as the Floating, Middle, and Sinking pulses at the Cun, Guan, and Chi positions. Other instances include merging the Chong Mai (Penetrating Vessel) into the Kidney Meridian or misclassifying it as the Stomach Meridian. Such cases are frequent and too numerous to list. Students should observe carefully.

Fifth, my annotations specifically clarify the rationale behind the questions and answers. As for explaining characters and defining terms, previous commentators have already covered this extensively, so I will not repeat myself.

Sixth, commentators from previous dynasties often included diagrams of various pulses at the beginning of volumes to facilitate beginners. I consider this merely drawing a cake to satisfy hunger; how can one know the true flavor? Pulse diagnosis is like water; there is a method to observing water, and thus sages deeply understood it internally and used metaphors to illustrate it, establishing names and categories to encourage later generations to comprehend through reflection. Can diagrams truly elucidate this? Students should not seek horses by following pictures (rely solely on diagrams).

Seventh, each sentence in the full text is annotated with white and black characters. White characters supplement the grammatical flow of the main text, while black characters directly explain the meaning. Since the main text is originally concise and archaic, without lexical glosses, the language would be difficult to understand smoothly. Moreover, terms like Yin-Yang and Deficiency-Excess are easily confused. In this book, "Yin-Yang" may refer to Blood and Qi, meridians, or Cun-Guan-Chi positions and interior-exterior relationships. "Deficiency-Excess" also distinguishes between pathogenic and healthy factors, or blood and qi. Without adding lexical explanations, how can their meanings be distinguished? Readers should not treat the white-character annotations as trivial.

Eighth, among the eighty-one chapters, half contain missing text and misplaced slips. In Hua Shou's *Benyi* (Original Meaning), only nineteen errors or omissions were identified, and some of his corrections may not be entirely appropriate. My compilation references the continuity of preceding and succeeding Q&A sections and privately examines the slip order. Although I may not fully recover the original essence, I prefer that students find it easier to read continuously.