Sun Simiao’s Biography in the Jiu Tang Shu

《舊唐書：孫思邈傳》

To provide a bit of background information, this text was completed in 945, in the Latter Jìn 後晉 Period by Liú Xù 劉昫 et al. Originally entitled “Táng History” (Táng Shū 唐書), the name was altered in order to distinguish it from the Xīn Táng Shū 新唐書 (“New Táng History”) composed by Oūyáng Xiū 歐陽修 et als. in 1060. The comparative merits and demerits of both texts as sources of biographical information on Sūn Sīmiǎo have been hotly debated by scholars for centuries. In regard to the Jiù Táng Shū, its sources of information are often questioned because it was composed during times of unrest and general upheaval. Nevertheless, Gān Zǔwàng, for example, considers it to be more reliable than the Xīn Táng Shū because it is more explicit and concrete. Nathan Sivin, on the other hand, criticizes both texts extensively and considers the biographical information as mostly hagiographical since it cannot be substantiated with other primary sources. In general, he considers the information from the Xīn Táng Shū more reliable because it was composed during a time of greater peace and social stability, when more extensive historical information was available to the editors. He does admit, however, that stylistic concerns motivated the editors to exclude some significant material but that otherwise no substantial discrepancies exist between the two texts.

Translation of 《舊唐書》191, pp. 5094-5097

孫思邈，京兆華原人也。七歲就學，日誦千余言。弱冠，善談庄、老及百家之說，兼好釋典。洛州總管獨孤信見而嘆曰：此聖童也。但恨其器大，適小難為用也。周宣帝時，思邈以王室多故，乃隱居太白山。隋文帝輔政，征為國子博士，稱疾不起。嘗謂所親曰：過五十年，當有聖人出，吾方助之以濟人。

Sūn Sīmiǎo was from Huáyuán in Jīngzhào. At age seven, he took up studying, daily reciting thousands of characters. In his twenties, he excelled at discussing the theories of Zhuāngzi, Lǎozi, and the Hundred Schools [of classical philosophy], and was equally skilled in Buddhist literature. When the governor of Luò Zhōu, Dúgū Xìn, saw him, he sighed: “This is a sagely youth. But regrettably his talent is so great that his suitability is diminished and he will be difficult to employ.” At the time of Emperor Xuān of Zhōu (578-579), when the ruling house was embroiled in frequent upheavals, Sūn lived in retreat on Mount Tàibó. When Emperor Wén of the Suí dynasty was regent of the government (580-589), he was summoned to become an Erudite of the National University, but he declined under the pretext of illness. Addressing a close friend, he said: “After fifty years have passed, there should be a sage emerging [as ruler] and I will assist him with my prescriptions in saving people.”

及太宗即位，召詣京師，嗟其容色甚少，謂曰：故知有道者誠可尊重，羨門、廣成，豈虛言哉。將授以爵位，固辭不受。顯慶四年，高宗召見，拜諫議大夫，又固辭不受。

When [Táng Emperor] Tàizōng ascended the throne [in 627], he summoned Sūn to the metropolitan area. Stunned by the great youthfulness of his appearance, [the emperor] addressed him: “Thus I know that there are people who have obtained the Dào and can be sincerely revered. How could talk about Xiàn Mén and Guāng Chéng (two famous immortals from Daoist mythology) be empty words!” When [Sūn] was about to be conferred the rank of a noble, he firmly refused to accept it. In the fourth year of Xiǎnqìng (659), emperor Gāozōng summoned him to an audience, appointing him Grand Master of Remonstrance, and again he firmly refused and did not accept.

上元元年，辭疾請歸，特賜良馬，及鄱陽公主邑司以居焉。當時知名之士宋令文、孟詵、盧照鄰等，執師資之禮以事焉。思邈嘗從幸九成宮，照鄰留在其宅。時庭前有病梨樹，照鄰為之賦，其序曰：癸酉之歲，余臥疾長安光德坊之官舍。父老云：是鄱陽公主邑司,昔公主未嫁而卒，故其邑廢。時有孫思邈處士居之。邈道合古今，學殫數術。高談正一，則古之蒙庄子﹔深入不二，則今之維摩詰。其推步甲乙，度量乾坤，則洛下閎、安期先生之儔也。

In the first year of Shàngyuán (674), he requested to return home on the grounds of illness. He was presented with a horse of exceptional quality and with the administrative office of Princess Póyáng’s estate for his residence. At that time, well-known scholars such as Sòng Lìngwén, Mèng Shēn, and Lú Zhàolín treated him with the decorum accorded a teacher in order to serve him. [Sūn] Sīmiǎo once followed in the Emperor’s retinue to Jiǔchéng Palace and Zhàolín stayed behind in his house. At that time, there was a diseased pear tree in front of the main hall. Zhàolín made a poem about it, its preface saying: “In the year Guǐyǒu, I lay down with illness at an official building in the Guāngdé Precinct in Chángān. An old man said: ‘This is the administrative office of Princess Póyáng’s estate. Long ago, the princess died before getting married, and her estate has fallen into disrepair.’ Currently, the hermit Sūn Sīmiǎo is in residence there. Miǎo’s way harmonizes the past with the present, and he has studied the arts of calculation to the extreme. His eminent discussion of Orthodox Oneness (a branch of religious Daoism that combined the Celestial Master tradition with the Shàngqīng and Língbǎo traditions, in medieval Daoism used as a reference to Orthodox Daoist practices) is on a par with that of the ancient Zhuāngzi. His deep penetration of non-duality is on a par with that of his contemporary Vimalakirti. His astrological prognostications and measurements of the masculine and feminine are on a par with Luòxià Hóng and Ānqī Shēng.”

照鄰有惡疾，醫所不能愈，乃問思邈：名醫愈疾，其道何如？思邈曰：吾聞善言天者，必質之於人﹔善言人者，亦本之於天。天有四時五行，寒暑迭代，其轉運也，和而為雨，怒而為風，凝而為霜雪，張而為虹蜺，此天地之常數也。人有四肢五臟，一覺一寐，呼吸吐納，精氣往來，流而為榮衛，彰而為氣色，發而為音聲，此人之常數也。陽用其形，陰用其精，天人之所同也。及其失也，蒸則生熱，否則生寒，結而為瘤贅，陷而為癰疽，奔而為喘乏，竭而為焦枯。診發乎面，變動乎形。推此以及天地亦如之。故五緯盈縮，星辰錯行，日月薄蝕，孛彗飛流，此天地之危診也。寒暑不時，天地之蒸否也。石立土踴，天地之瘤贅也。山崩土陷，天地之癰疽也。奔風暴雨，天地之喘乏也。川瀆竭涸，天地之焦枯也。良醫導之以藥石，救之以針劑。聖人和之以至德，輔之以人事。故形體有可愈之疾，天地有可消之災。

Zhàolín had a malignant illness which physicians were unable to cure, so he went and asked Sīmiǎo: “What principles do the famous physicians employ to cure illness?” Sīmiǎo answered: “I have heard that if one is skilled at talking about Heaven, one must substantiate it in the human realm; if one is skilled at talking about humans, one must also root it in Heaven. In Heaven, there are four seasons and five phases; winter cold and summer heat alternate with each other. When this cyclical revolution is harmonious, it forms rain; when it is angry, wind; when it congeals, frost and snow; when it stretches out, rainbows. These are the constancies of Heaven and Earth. Humans have four limbs and five internal organs. They alternate between being awake and sleeping. In exhaling and inhaling, spitting out and sucking in, essence and qi leave and come. In their flow, they constitute provision and defense (i.e., 營氣 and 衛氣], they manifest as facial color, and they erupt as sound. These are the constancies of humanity. Yang employs the form, yin employs the essence. This is where Heaven and humanity are identical. When [the constancies] are lost, if [qi and essence] steam upward, they cause heat; if they are blocked, they cause cold; if they are bound, tumors and excrescences; if they sink, abscesses; if they scatter wildly, panting and dyspnea; and if they are exhausted, scorching and withering. Their symptoms arise on the face, and their transformations move around in the body. When one extends this analogy to apply it to Heaven and Earth, it is also likewise. Thus the waxing and waning of the Five Planets, the irregular motions of the constellations, the eclipses of the sun and moon, the flight of shooting stars, these are Heaven and Earth’s symptoms of danger. Unseasonable winter cold and summer heat are the ascent or blockage [of qi and essence] in Heaven and Earth. Uprighted boulders and thrust-up earth are the tumors and excrescences of Heaven and Earth. Collapsing mountains and caved-in ground are the abscesses of Heaven and Earth. Scattered winds and violent rains are the panting and dyspnea of Heaven and Earth. Dried-up streams and parched marshes are the scorching and withering of Heaven and Earth. An excellent physician guides [qi] with medicines and [lancing] stones and rescues with needles and prescriptions. A sage[ly ruler] harmonizes [qi] to perfect his power and uses this as support in order to manage the affairs of humanity. Thus, the human body has illnesses that can be cured, and Heaven and Earth have calamities that can be dispersed.”

又曰：膽欲大而心欲小，智欲圓而行欲方。《詩》曰：如臨深淵，如履薄冰，謂小心也﹔糾糾武夫，公侯干城，謂大膽也。不為利回，不為義疚，行之方也﹔見機而作，不俟終日，智之圓也。

Again, he said: “Wish for a gallbladder that is large, and a heart that is small, for knowledge that is round, and for action that is square. The Shī Jīng (“Classic of Poetry”) passage, “like approaching a deep abyss or treading on thin ice,” refers to a small heart. “The elegant warrior, he is a protection and wall to the prince,” refers to a large gallbladder. “He does not take a crooked course for gain, nor does he consider acting in righteousness a distress,” refers to square action. “He perceives the first signs and immediately takes action; he does not wait even a whole day,” refers to rounded knowledge.

思邈自云：開皇辛酉歲生，至今年九十三矣。詢之鄉裡，咸雲數百歲人。話周、齊間事，歷歷如眼見。以此參之，不啻百歲人矣。然猶視聽不衰，神採甚茂，可謂古之聰明博達不死者也。

Sīmiǎo himself said that he was born in the Xīnyǒu year of the Kāihuáng period (581-600), and that he was presently 93 years old. When inquiries were made in his home village, people unanimously stated that he had been a person of several hundred years of age. When he spoke of affairs during the [Northern] Zhōu (557-581) and Qí (550-577) periods, it was as vivid as from an eyewitness. Considering this, he cannot have been a person of a mere hundred years. But nevertheless, his sight and hearing were not weakened, and his spirit flourishing. He can be called one of the extensively illuminated immortals of ancient times.

初，魏徵等受詔，修齊、梁、陳、周、隋五代史，恐有遺漏，屢訪之，思邈口以傳授，有如目睹。東台侍郎孫處約將其五子——侹、儆、俊、佑、佺以謁思邈。思邈曰：俊當先貴，佑當晚達，佺最名重，禍在執兵。后皆如其言。太子詹事盧齊卿童幼時，請問人倫之事。思邈曰：汝后五十年位登方伯，吾孫當為屬吏，可自保也。后齊卿為徐州刺史，思邈孫溥果為徐州蕭縣丞。思邈初謂齊卿之時，溥猶未生，而預知其事。凡諸異跡，多此類也。

Previously, Wèi Wēi and others received an imperial order to compile the histories of the Five Dynasties, of Qí, Liáng, Chén, Zhōu, and Suí. Fearful of leaving out anything, they paid frequent calls to him. Among Sīmiǎo’s oral transmissions, there were some that were [as vivid] as if he had seen them with his own eyes. When the Vice Director of the Chancellery Sūn Chǔyuē presented his five sons Tǐng, Jǐng, Jùn, Yòu, and Quán to Sīmiǎo, Sīmiǎo said: “Jùn will be the first to obtain high office, Yòu will reach it later, Quán will be the most famous and important, but disaster will strike when he serves in the military.” Afterwards, all this occurred as he had said. When the Supervisor of the Household of the Heir Apparent, Lú Qíqīng, was in his youth, he requested to inquire about his prospects and Sīmiǎo said: “Fifty years from now, you will have risen to the post of Regional Inspector and my grandson will serve as your subordinate. You will personally be able to protect him.” Subsequently, when Qíqīng was serving as head of Xú Prefecture, Sīmiǎo’s grandson Pǔ was indeed employed as an aid in Xiāo County in Xúzhōu. When Sīmiǎo had initially talked to Qíqīng, Pǔ had not even been born yet, and still he had known of this affair in advance. In all cases, the various traces of marvel stories are mostly of this kind.

永淳元年卒。遺令薄葬，不藏冥器，祭祀無牲牢。經月余，顏貌不改。舉尸就木，猶若空衣，時人異之。自注《老子》、《庄子》，撰《千金方》三十卷行於代。又撰《福祿論》三卷，《攝生真錄》及《枕中素書》、《會三教論》各一卷。

Sīmiǎo died in the first year of Yǒngchún (682). He left behind orders for a simple funeral, to not be buried with any funerary objects, and to worship the spirits without sacrificing any animals. After more than a month had passed, his outward appearance was unchanged and when lifting the corpse, it was stiff as wood as if it were merely empty clothes. His contemporaries regarded this as a miracle.

He wrote commentaries on Lǎozi and Zhuāngzi and composed the Qiān Jīn Fāng 千金方 (“Thousand Gold Formulas”), which has been circulated through the generations. He also composed the Fú Lù Lùn in three volumes, the Shè Shēng Zhēn Lù, the Zhěn Zhōng Sù Shū, and the Huì Sān Jiào Lùn, each in one volume.

子行，天授中為鳳閣侍郎。

His son Xíng held the post of Vice Director of the Imperial Secretariat in the reign period Tiānshòu (690-692).

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