A Study of Shen hsien chuan (神仙伝) : Its Difference from 'fan shu chuan' (方術伝) in Hou han shu, (後漢書) with Special Reference to Zuo-Ci (左慈) and Liu-Gen (劉根)

Go-hong, (葛洪) a Chinese thinker in the 4th century, is well known as the author of Bao pu zi, (抱朴子) in the 'nei pien' (内篇) of which he argues that man can learn to he a hermit, adducing a lot of valuable materials in the history of Taoism. Go-hong is also the author of Shen hsien chuan, which records the lives of successive hermits in the manner of history and aims to demonstrate the existence of hermits. This book, developed from the 'nei pien' of his Bao pu zi, throws important sidelights on Go-hong's ideas. The fact is, however, that, collated with fragmentary quotations from it in the other books, it is doubtful in many respects whether the Shen hsien chuan available today in the same as Go hong's original work. The present study attempts, through a critical comparison of the biographies of Zuo-Ci and Liu-Gen in Hou han shu compiled by Fan Ye (范曄) (398-445) and other materials on the one hand and the popular edition of Shen hsien chuan on the other, to consider what the original work was like and what bearing it has upon Go-hong's ideas