| Daoxu: |
Liu An, prince of Huainan, lived contemporaneously with the emperor Xiao Wudi. His father Liu Chang was banished to Yan Dao in Shu for some offence, but died on the road, when he arrived at Yong Zhou. Liu An, who succeeded him in his princedom, bore a grudge against the emperor for having caused his father's death in exile, and thought of making rebellion. He attracted all sorts of schemers, and intended great things. Men like Wu Bei filled his palaces, busy in writing books on the Daoist arts, and publishing essays on the most miraculous subjects. They were bustling about and putting their heads together.
In the "Memoir of the Eight Companions" they wished to prove supernatural forces, as if they had attained to Dao. But they never reached it, and had no success. Then Huainanzi plotted a rebellion together with Wu Bei. The scheme was discovered, and he committed suicide or, as some say, was done to death. Whether this be the case, or whether he committed suicide is about the same. But people finding his writings very deep, abstruse, and mysterious, and believing that the predictions of the "Bagongzhuan" had been fulfilled, divulged the story that he had become a genius, and went up to heaven, which is not in accordance with truth. |
