Outer Chapters of the Baopuzi 抱朴子外篇

Written by Ge Hong of the Jin Dynasty.

It consists of fifty volumes and is included in the Taiqing (Supreme Purity) section of the Daozang (Daoist Canon).

In his preface, Ge Hong stated that this book "discusses gains and losses in human society and the merits and demerits of worldly affairs, and it belongs to Confucianism". The book comments on the political successes and failures from the late Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin dynasties, criticizes the good and evil in secular behaviors, and differentiates and analyzes academic thoughts. It holds that the way of governing a state should be to appoint virtuous and capable people, love the people and restrain desires, and transform social traditions and customs, with its core purport rooted in Confucianism. Its last chapter, Preface to Myself, modeled after Wang Chong’s Lunheng·Self-Record, narrates the Ge family’s lineage and the author’s life story as well as the essence of his works. Baopuzi Waipian Jiaoshi (Collated Annotations on the Outer Chapters of Baopuzi), compiled by Yang Mingzhao, a modern scholar, is a relatively comprehensive annotated edition. The ideological perspective of this book also has certain connections with the practical governance concepts implied in the theoretical system of Taoism, reflecting the integration of Confucian and Taoist thoughts in the Jin Dynasty, and its content can be mutually verified with the philosophical propositions in the Laozi.