格致鏡原 (Gezhi Jingyuan: Mirror of Scientific Origins) 100 Volumes

Some are missing or not comprehensive. I wished to encompass all creation in one book, but I had no leisure time. In the Jia-shen year of the Kangxi reign 1704, I petitioned to return home to care for my elders. By imperial decree, I compiled the Collection of Rhymed Essays on All Matters original: "歷代賦彙" (Lidai Fuhui) while at home. From the vast complexity of astronomy, geography, and human affairs down to the minutiae of plants, trees, insects, and worms, I arranged them in order so they were clear to the mind and eye. Following the objects described in the poems of the ancients, I pushed further to include objects the ancients had not written about. For every form and substance, I verified its source and clarified its name and category. This accumulated into one hundred volumes, titled Mirror of Scientific Origins. I stored the manuscript at home. Ten years later, I went to Guangdong to supervise the education of the region; the cost of woodblock carving was quite low, so I began the printing. Just as it was finished, I returned to the capital and stored the blocks at home. More than ten years later, I received the imperial favor to resign and return to my hometown. With abundant leisure among the forests and springs, I took them out to read again. Although it was not without some omissions, the compilation gathered here for the use of scholars' reference is somewhat more detailed and complete than other books.

The "ospreys and fish" mentioned by Zisi Refers to a passage in the Doctrine of the Mean regarding the visibility of the Way, the "yellow flowers and green bamboo" mentioned by the Buddhists, and the "ants, broken tiles, and weeds" mentioned by Zhuangzi are all things seen and heard constantly. If one does not know them, it is as if they do not exist. If one knows them, one is not hindered by things. Do not say that this book merely discusses small matters and seeks trivial knowledge. Those superior men who browse and study many things may find value in it. I have therefore written this preface to introduce it to the world. Other details are seen in the compilation rules.

Written in the first month of the Yi-mao year of the Yongzheng reign 1735 by the eighty-four-year-old elder Chen Yuanlong.