一斯书历年之久。简残篇缺。曾经吕广重编。文辞 尚差池。且以数目蒙诸难字上。恐吕氏编次时所加。以为后世
不可更易之式。顾是古之所无也。今悉削去。
一难问难之难为是。皇甫谧帝王纪曰。黄帝使扁鹊旁通问难八十一。盖古之义也。滑寿汇考中所载卢岐二氏之说得
之。
一说者言曰。难经乃烬余之文。余乃谓不然。夫古籍旧典。不免乎散逸蠹鱼之患。固其所。岂唯难经。虽素灵亦复
尔尔。矧华佗焚活人书云云。则不可指为难经。而后人动辄啧啧。以煨烬目之。故予言以雪其冤云。
一难经一书。大月氏论辩灵素之奥。故其问答与内经异义者。前修稍疑其异。故徒根据违竽滥其说。不则仇视攻击。
或鸡肋斯书。将厌厌以废焉。是无他。不知其所以斡轩辕之蛊。卤莽枘凿。断以臆度。不足论已。试举一二。灵枢云。
命门目也。难经以为右肾。素问云。三部者头及手足。九候九穴动脉。而难经以为寸关尺浮中沉。其余或冲脉并肾经。
反为胃经之类。每每若是。不暇枚数。学人察诸。
一余所撰注。专晰所以立问答之由。若夫训字释名。诸家既已具。故不复赘。
一前代注家卷首。多图各篇诸脉。以备初学便览。余谓徒画饼耳。安得知其真味哉。矧脉之为物。其犹水邪。观水
有术。故圣人深得诸心。而象诸物。建名立号。欲令后人思以得之。图岂能明之哉。学人莫按图索骥。
一全篇每句以白黑字分解者。白以弥缝正文语路。黑以直释其义。盖正文本简古。故不介以字诂。则其言难通畅。
矧阴阳虚实字。最易混同。凡此书所谓阴阳。有指血气言。有指经脉言。有指尺寸及表里而言之。其虚实亦有邪正血气
之分。非添字诂。何缘能别其义。览者莫以白字解为等闲看。
一八十一篇。阙文错简。十居其半。滑氏本义中。仅出阙误十九条。其间所是正。或有未妥贴。余所撰次。备考前
后问答接续。私考其简编。设虽未必得其本色。宁使学人连读易了尔。
其一，此书流传年代久远，竹简残破、篇章缺失。曾经过吕广重新编纂，但文辞仍有参差不齐之处。并且将数字附加在“难”字之上，这恐怕是吕氏在编排时所添加的，将其作为后世不可更改的格式。然而这是古人原本所没有的。如今我全部删去这些内容。
其二，“难问”之“难”字读音为正确之义。皇甫谧在《帝王纪》中说：“黄帝让扁鹊旁通问难八十一（篇）。”这大概是古人的本义。滑寿在《汇考》中记载的卢岐两位学者的观点是正确的。
其三，有解说者说：“《难经》是秦火之后遗留下来的残文。”我却认为不是这样。古代书籍和旧典，难免遭受散失和被虫蛀蚀的祸患，这本是常理，难道只有《难经》如此吗？即使是《素问》和《灵枢》也是如此。况且华佗焚烧《活人书》等事，就不能因此指称《难经》是灰烬之余。而后人动不动就啧啧称赞，将其视为煨烬之物。所以我发表这番言论，以洗刷它的冤屈。
其四，《难经》一书，主要论述大月氏（此处指代深奥医理或特定学派，原文语境下指代对经典奥义的辨析）探讨《灵枢》与《素问》的深奥义理。因此，其中问答内容与《内经》不同的地方，前代学者稍加怀疑其差异，于是有的盲目附和、滥竽充数，有的则敌视攻击，或者视此书如鸡肋，导致该书逐渐衰微甚至废弃。这没有别的原因，是因为他们不知道如何把握轩辕（黄帝）医学的根本宗旨，粗疏且生搬硬套，仅凭主观臆断，不值得谈论。试举一两个例子：《灵枢》说：“命门就是眼睛。”而《难经》认为是右肾；《素问》说：“三部是指头部及手足，九候对应九个穴位的动脉。”而《难经》认为是寸、关、尺三部脉的浮、中、沉取法。其余像冲脉并入肾经，反而归为胃经之类，每每都是这种情况，来不及一一列举。希望学习的人明察。
其五，我所撰写的注释，专门阐明设立问答缘由的道理。至于解释字义、阐明名物，各家已经详尽具备，所以我不再赘述。
其六，前代注家在卷首，大多绘制各篇的各种脉象图，以备初学者方便查阅。我认为这只是画饼充饥罢了，怎么能知道其中的真味呢？况且脉象这种东西，就像水一样，观察水有观察的方法，所以圣人心中深得其中奥秘，并借物象来比喻，建立名称确立号数，想要让后人通过思考来领悟它。图画怎么能把它讲清楚呢？学习的人不要按图索骥。
其七，全篇每句用黑白字体分解标注，白色字体用于弥补正文语路的不足，黑色字体直接解释其含义。因为正文本来简略古朴，如果不借助字词训诂，那么言语难以通畅。况且“阴阳”、“虚实”这些字，最容易混淆。凡本书所说的“阴阳”，有的指血气，有的指经脉，有的指尺寸部位及表里关系而言。“虚实”也有邪正、血气的区分。不添加字词训诂，怎么能分辨它们的含义？阅读的人不要把白色字体的注解当作寻常小事看待。
其八，八十一篇中，缺文和错简的情况占了一半。滑氏在《本义》中，仅仅指出阙误十九条，其中所校正的地方，或许还有不够妥帖之处。我所编次的内容，参考了前后问答的接续，私下考证其简编次序。虽然未必能完全恢复其本来面目，但宁愿让学习者连读起来容易理解罢了。
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.