Preface to Volume II

This volume contains the translation of chapters III-XVII, XIX-XXXIX, XLI-XLIII, and a summary of the Fragments of the Po hu t'ung.

The text used is that edited by Lu Wên-ch'ao; in the headings of the paragraphs the references are to the pages of this edition.

I have endeavoured to keep my notes within reasonable limits, my chief aim being to make the text comprehensible, and thereby to avoid irrelevant excursions into adjacent fields.

The Fragments, for which Lu Wên-ch'ao's and Ch'ên Li's editions were used, are not offered in literal translation; I have only indicated the subjects which are under discussion, and the titles of the works quoted as 'proofs'. Neither have I utilised Liu Shih-p'ei's supple- mentary material (for which see Volume One, pp. 4 and 62). The state of these Fragments is still fragmentary, and new material may be expected from sources hitherto unexplored by the Chinese scholars interested in the subject. As it is, I think that, after the full translation of the 43 chaptes of the current edition of the Po hu t'ung, it is not necessary to extend the laborious work to the Fragments: it would not, in any case, improve our knowledge of the nature of the Po hu t'ung.

My thanks are due to the 'Nederlandse Organisatie voor Zuiver Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek' at The Hague for its liberal grant, which has made the publication of this book possible, and to Messrs. E. J. Brill for their readiness to be its publishers.

I have also to thank Professor J. J. L. Duyvendak, who went through the whole work in manuscript. As in the case of the first volume I have again greatly benefited from his corrections and suggestions. Mrs. Duyvendak has put me under great obligatioin by taking the trouble of correcting the mistakes of my English.

Leiden, April 1952