难经者。扁鹊之所着也。何为乎而名经。本于内经故名也。内经黄帝之灵枢素问也。其阐发天
地阴阳五行之理。动植飞潜之性。合于五脏六腑。声色臭味之微。未病而知其病之来。已病而
知其病之源。不定法故法无不神。不立方故方无不备。犹夫六经之垂于万世也。扁鹊去古未
远。能彻其源委。合灵素之一十八卷。各八十一篇。批却导 。条分缕析。共列八十一难。亦述而
不作之意也。其辞虽出于灵素。而晦者明之。繁者省之。缺者补之。复者略之。无微不彻。无义不
该。故灵素而下。首推难经。虽有继起名贤。安能出其范围哉。数千年来。尚有人知灵素之义者。
独赖此书之存。历世久远。传写失真。前后舛错。以致文气失贯。精义不彰。近代注家。因讹就
讹。愈解愈晦。沿至今日。徒知难经之名。而不明难经之蕴者。盖不少矣。予自庚戌之秋游武昌。客
参政朱公所。公素好医。出箧中古本难经。乃晋王叔和医范三经之一也。开卷观之。异于坊本。
如古之三难。误列十八难。古之十二难。误列七十五难。共误三十余条。而式亦不类于坊本。其
问词升一字。经也。其对词降一字。引经以释经也。以今本对校。心目之间。恍若有见。由是而推
其论脉论症论治。莫不曲畅旁通。此诚济世之津梁。医林之至宝也。余留楚三载。深有得于此
书。癸丑冬归里。亲族故交。凋零殆半。问其故。或曰卒于病也。或曰卒于药也。余不禁愀然思
。惕
然惧。因忆昔人之为人臣者。不可不知医。为人子者。不可不知医。信哉言乎。遂以是书命子侄
于举业之暇读之。其原文对词。乃扁鹊引经以释经之旨。是即扁鹊之注也。注有未详。疏以通
之。六经成例。具见于前。是以据所偶得。并采滑氏诸家之切当者。注解字释。赘于各条之末。名
之曰古本难经阐注。刍荛一得。敢附前贤。以其尝苦心于斯也。倘读者藉此以洞难经之源。未
必无小补于斯道云尔。
乾隆丙辰春仲云间适庐老人丁锦书
《难经》是扁鹊所著的著作。为什么称之为“经”呢？因为它以《内经》为本，所以称为“经”。《内经》包括黄帝的《灵枢》和《素问》。它阐发了天地阴阳五行的道理，以及动、植、飞、潜各类生物的习性，并与五脏六腑、声色臭味等细微之处相契合。在疾病尚未发生时就能预知疾病的到来，在疾病发生后就能知晓疾病的根源。因为不拘泥于固定的法则，所以没有不神妙的法则；因为不局限于固定的方剂，所以没有不完备的方剂。这就像《六经》流传万世一样。扁距离古代未远，能够透彻了解其源流本末，将《灵枢》和《素问》共十八卷、各八十一篇的内容进行批驳疏解、引导疏通，条理分明地分析，共列出八十一难，这也体现了“述而不作”（只阐述前人学说，不创作新说）的意思。虽然它的言辞出自《灵枢》和《素问》，但晦涩的地方使之明了，繁杂的地方使之简省，缺失的地方予以补充，重复的地方予以删略，无一处不透彻，无一义不涵盖。因此，在《灵枢》和《素问》之后，首推《难经》。虽然有后来众多著名的贤才，怎能超出它的范围呢？几千年来，还有人能理解《灵枢》和《素问》深意的，唯独依靠这本书的保存。由于年代久远，传抄过程中出现失真，前后错乱，导致文气不通贯，精微义理不彰显。近代的注解家，因袭错误而继续犯错，越解释越晦涩。延续到今天，只知道《难经》的名字，却不明白《难经》内涵的人，大概不少了。
我在庚戌年秋天游览武昌，寄居在参政朱公家中。朱公一向喜好医学，从箱中取出古本《难经》，这是晋代王叔和《医范》三经之一。打开书卷观看，与坊间流行的版本不同。例如古本的第三难，误列为第十八难；古本的第十二难，误列为第七十五难，共有三十余条错误，而且体例也不像坊间版本那样。其中提问的词句多一字，是正文（经）；回答的词句少一字，是引用经文来解释经文。用现在的版本对照校勘，心中忽然有了见解。由此推究其论述脉象、症状、治疗的理论，无不曲折畅达、旁通无阻。这确实是救世渡人的桥梁，医学界的至宝。我留在楚地三年，对这本书深有心得。癸丑年冬天回到家乡，亲戚故交凋零了一半。询问原因，有的说是死于疾病，有的说是死于用药不当。我不禁忧愁深思，警惕恐惧。于是想起古人说：作为臣子，不可不知医；作为子女，不可不知医。这话确实可信啊。于是就把这本书交给子侄们，在他们完成科举学业之余阅读。原文中的回答词句，就是扁鹊引用经文来解释经文的宗旨，这也就是扁鹊的注。如果注释中有不详之处，就通过疏证来贯通它。六经成例在前面已有体现，所以我根据偶然所得，并采纳滑寿等各家恰当的观点，注解字词含义，附在各条末尾，命名为《古本难经阐注》。这是我如刍荛般浅陋的一得之见，敢于附在前贤之后，因为我曾对此书苦心钻研。倘若读者借此能洞察《难经》的源头，未必不会对这门学问有所补益吧。
乾隆丙辰年春季二月，云间适庐老人丁锦书写。
*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.