列仙传

《列仙传》是中国第一部流传下来的关于神仙人物的传记，凡二卷，作者不可考，但一般署名刘向。

葛洪最早称刘向是《列仙传》作者。但自南宋以来，不断有人质疑其真实性。至今仍聚讼纷纭。北宋黄伯思以为“不类向文，恐非其笔。”陈振孙《书录解题》谓“不似西汉文字，必非向撰。”清代四库馆臣以为“魏晋间方士为之，托名于向”。清人杨守敬认为《列仙传》为东汉方士所托。余嘉锡认为此书盛行于东汉，“盖明帝以后，顺帝以前人之所作”。鲁迅认为现存汉人小说皆伪托，“惟此外有刘向的《列仙传》是真的”，但未说明理由。

《列仙传》搜索和整理了散见于先秦诸子中关于神仙的事迹，用意在宣扬世上存在神仙，凡人也可以成为神仙。全书记上古、三代、秦汉之神仙，起于赤松子，终于玄俗（汉成帝时仙人），还有山图、赤斧、江妃二女、朱仲、桂父、赤须子等，篇幅短小，叙事简略，并附赞语。或说曹操时人鬷弘又续作一卷。《正统道藏》本列传70人，但据《真诰》记载“刘向撰列仙亦七十二人”。《云笈七签》节载48人。《列仙传》经过长时间的流传过程中，已非原貌，可能有古本与今本之分。东汉末王逸注《楚辞·天问》，最早引文《列仙传》，但不云撰人。王逸注引《列仙传》曰：“有巨灵之鳌，背负蓬莱之山而抃舞。”此文已不见于今本《列仙传》。学者汤炳正认为“王逸注盖引之古本《列仙传》”。《昭明文选》收录西晋刘渊林注左思《三都赋》中引《列仙传》文字，则可见于今本《列仙传》。

《列仙传》开后世神仙传记的先河，后来的神仙传记如葛洪《神仙传》、沈汾《续仙传》多依此为据。

The Liexian Zhuan, sometimes translated as Biographies of Immortals, is the oldest extant Chinese hagiography of Daoist xian "transcendents; immortals; saints; alchemists". The text, which compiles the life stories of about 70 mythological and historical xian, was traditionally attributed to the Western Han dynasty editor and imperial librarian Liu Xiang (77–8 BCE), but internal evidence dates it to the 2nd century CE during the Eastern Han period. The Liexian Zhuan became a model for later authors, such as Ge Hong's 4th century CE Shenxian zhuan ("Biographies of Divine Immortals").

Title

Liexian Zhuan combines three words:

liè (列, "rank; array; order; line up; list")

xiān (仙, "transcendent being; celestial being; 'immortal'")

zhuàn (傳, " tradition; biography; commentary on a classic (e.g., Zuozhuan)"(—cf. chuán (傳, "transmit; pass along; hand down; spread")

The compound lièzhuàn (列傳, lit. "arrayed lives") is a Classical Chinese term meaning "[non-imperial] biographies". The Liexian Zhuan follows the liezhuan biographical format of traditional Chinese historiography, which was established by Sima Qian in his c. 94 BCE Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian). Many later texts adopted the liezhuan format, for example, the Daoist Shenxian zhuan and the Buddhist Gaoseng zhuan (Memoirs of Eminent Monks).

There is no standard translation of Liexian Zhuan, and renderings include:

A Gallery of Chinese Immortals

Biographies of the Many Immortals

Biographies of Illustrious Genii

Collections of the Biographies of the Immortals

Immortals' Biographies

Arrayed Lives of Transcendents

Biographies of the Immortals

Biographies of Exemplary Immortals

Biographies of Immortals

Arrayed Traditions of Transcendents

Traditions of Exemplary Transcendents

Biography of the Immortal Deities

Lives of the Immortals

The difficulty of translating this title is demonstrated by Campany's three versions. Note the modern shift to translating xian as "transcendent" rather than "immortal"; Daoist texts describe xian as having extraordinary "longevity" or "long life" but not eternal "immortality" as understood in Western religions.

Liu Xiang

The traditional attribution of the Liexian Zhuan to the Western Han scholar Liu Xiang is regarded as dubious, and modern scholars generally believe it was compiled during the Eastern Han (25-220 CE). There are two kinds of evidence that Liu was not the compiler.

First, the Liexian Zhuan was not listed in Ban Gu's 111 CE Book of Han Yiwenzhi ("Treatise on Literature") imperial bibliography, and the 636 Book of Sui was the first official dynastic history to record it bibliographically. However, the Yiwenzhi does list many works written and compiled by Liu Xiang, including two with similar titles: Lienǚ Zhuan (列女傳, Biographies of Exemplary Women) and Lieshi zhuan (列士傳, Biographies of Exemplary Officials).

Second, some sections of the Liexian Zhuan refer to events after Liu Xiang's death in 8 or 6 BCE. Eastern Han historical books dating from the early 2nd century CE cite a version (or versions) of the hagiography. Internal evidence shows that some sections of the text were added in the 2nd century, and later editing occurred. The hagiography contains some phrases dating from the Jin dynasty (266–420), but remains the oldest surviving collection of Taoist hagiography.

The attribution of the Liexian zhuan to Liu Xiang occurred relatively early, and it was accepted by the Eastern Jin Daoist scholar Ge Hong. Ge's c. 330 Baopuzi describes how Liu redacted his Liexian Zhuan in a context explaining the reason Liu failed to produce an alchemical gold elixir using the private method of Liu An was because no teacher had transmitted the necessary oral explanations to him.

As for his compilation (撰) of Liexian zhuan, he revised and extracted (自刪…出) passages from the book by the Qin grandee Ruan Cang 阮倉, and in some cases [added] things he had personally seen (或所親見), and only thus (然後) came to record (記) it. It is not an unwarranted fabrication ([or "fiction"] 非妄言也).