Life

A native of Wenxi County, in what is now southwest Shanxi Province, Guo studied Daoist occultism and prognostication in his youth, and mainly worked as a prognosticator for various local officials and leaders, interpreting omens and portents in order to predict the success or failure of various endeavors. In AD 307 a Xiongnu clan invaded the area and Guo's family relocated south of the Yangtze River, reaching Xuancheng and eventually settling in Jiankang (modern Nanjing). Guo served as an omen-interpreter to military leaders and Eastern Jin chancellor Wang Dao before being appointed to official court positions in 318 and 320. Guo's mother died in 322, which caused Guo to resign his position and spend a year in mourning. In 323 Guo joined the staff of warlord Wang Dun, who controlled much of the modern Hunan and Hubei areas, but was executed in 324 after he failed to produce a favorable omen toward Wang's planned usurpation of the Eastern Jin throne.

Influence

Guo was likely the most learned person of his era, and is one of the foremost commentators on ancient Chinese works. He wrote commentaries to the Chu Ci, Shan Hai Jing, Mu Tianzi Zhuan, Fangyan, Erya, Sima Xiangru's "Fu on the Excursion Hunt of the Son of Heaven", and three ancient dictionaries: Cang Jie, Yuanli, and Boxue. Guo's commentaries, which identify and explain rare words and allusions, are often the only surviving sources of these glosses, and without which leave the original work mostly incomprehensible to modern readers. In particular, Guo's commentaries to the Erya, Shan Hai Jing, and Fangyan are considered sufficiently authoritative that they are included in all standard versions of those texts. Without his glosses and commentaries, large portions of these texts would be unintelligible today.

Guo was also an accomplished poet, and his 11 surviving fu poems display his extensive command of the ancient Chinese language. One of them, entitled "Fu on the Yangtze River" (Jiang fu 江賦), used the image of the Yangtze to praise the restoration of the Jin dynasty, and established his reputation as a leading literary figure. His best known poems are a series entitled "Wandering as an Immortal" (youxian 遊仙), of which 14 survive. The bibliography monograph of the Records of the Sui dynasty list Guo's works in 17 volumes; by the Tang dynasty only 10 volumes remained, and by the end of the Song dynasty all of Guo's writings not included in the Wen Xuan had been lost. All that remains today are his writings from the Wen Xuan and reconstructions from quotations in other surviving works.

生平

• 西晉末年戰亂將起，郭璞躲避江南，歷任宣城、丹陽參軍。

• 晉元帝時期，升至著作佐郎，遷尚書郎，又任將軍王敦的記室參軍。郭璞本人嗜酒好色，時或過度，桓彞造訪他時，看見他都在和婦人嬉戲。友人幹寶曾勸他曰：「此伐性之斧也。」郭璞不以為然說：「吾所受有分。恆恐用之不盡。豈酒色之能害。」郭璞曾告訴桓彞，不可在他如廁時闖入，否則「客主有殃」。桓彞一次大醉後走進郭璞家的廁所，只見他「裸身被髮，銜刀設醊」，郭璞大驚失色說「此天命，不可逃也！」

• 324年，駐守荊州的王敦打算謀逆，事前命郭璞占卜，結果不吉，王敦怒殺之，時年49歲。事後，郭璞被追賜為「弘農太守」。

• 晉明帝在玄武湖邊建了郭璞的衣冠塚，名「郭公墩」。據說，郭璞生前通過易占，把自己的墓址選在江中。郭璞之子敦驁被封為臨賀太守。

學術

• 郭璞曾注釋《周易》、《山海經》、《穆天子傳》、《方言》和《楚辭》等古籍，古籍中常引郭璞的注釋作為參証。

• 郭璞花18年的時間研究和註解《爾雅》，以當時通行的方言名稱，解釋了古老的動、植物名稱，並為它注音、作圖，使《爾雅》成為歷代研究本草的重要參考書。而郭璞開創的動、植物圖示分類法，也為唐代以後的所有大型本草著作所沿用。

• 在學術淵源上，郭璞除家傳易學外，還承襲了道教的術數學理論，是兩晉時代最著名的方術士，傳說擅長諸多奇異的方術。

• 郭璞一生的詩文著作多達百卷以上，數十萬言，《晉書·郭璞傳》稱「詞賦為中興之冠」。其中以《遊仙詩》為主要代表，現僅存14首，是中國遊仙詩體的鼻祖。

• 相傳著有《葬書》，是風水堪輿名著。王禕《青岩叢錄》曰：「擇地以葬，其術本於晉郭璞。」

詩選

• 《答賈九州愁詩三首》之二

:顧瞻中宇，一朝分崩。天網既紊，浮鯢橫騰。運首北眷，邈哉華恆。雖欲凌翥，矯翮靡登。

:俯懼潛機，仰慮飛罾。惟其嶮哀，難辛備曾。庶睎河清，混焉未澄。

• 《遊仙詩》選五

:一

:京華遊俠窟，山林隱遯棲。朱門何足榮，未若托蓬萊。臨源挹清波，陵岡掇丹荑。靈溪可潛盤，安事登雲梯。

:漆園有傲吏，萊氏有逸妻。進則保龍見，退為觸藩羝。高蹈風塵下，長揖謝夷齊。

:二

:青溪千餘仞，中有一道士。雲生梁棟間，風出窻戶裡。借問此何誰，云是鬼谷子。翹跡企穎陽，臨河思洗耳。

:閶闔西南來，潛波渙鱗起。靈妃顧我笑，粲然啟玉齒。蹇修時不存，要之將誰使。

:三

:翡翠戲蘭苕，容色更相鮮。綠蘿結高林，蒙籠蓋一山。中有冥寂士，靜嘯撫清弦。放情凌霄外，嚼蘂挹飛泉。

:赤松臨上游，駕鴻乘紫煙。左挹浮丘袖，右拍洪崖肩。借問蜉蝣輩，寧知龜鶴年。

:四

:雜縣寓魯門，風暖將為災。吞舟湧海底，高浪駕蓬萊。神仙排雲出，但見金銀台。陵陽挹丹溜，容成揮玉杯。

:姮娥揚妙音，洪崖頷其頤。升降隨長煙，飄颻戲九垓。奇齢邁五龍，千歲方嬰孩。燕昭無靈氣，漢武非仙才。

:五

:採藥游名山，將以救年頹。呼吸玉滋液，妙氣盈胸懷。登仙撫龍駟，迅駕乘奔雷。鱗裳逐電曜，雲蓋隨風回。

:手頓羲和轡，足蹈閶闔開。東海猶蹄涔，崑崙螻蟻堆。遐邈冥茫中，俯視令人哀。