The Inner Biography of Emperor Wu of the Han 汉武帝内传

Traditionally attributed to Ban Gu of the Han Dynasty.

Textual research by later scholars has confirmed it was actually written by literati during the Wei and Jin dynasties.

The Inner Biography of Emperor Wu of the Han

Yu Jiaxi, in his Notes and Verification on the Abstracts of the Four Treasuries, argued that the work was compiled by Ge Hong of the Jin Dynasty under the pseudonym of Ban Gu. The Book of Sui · Bibliography recorded three volumes of this book, while both the Old and New Book of Tang · Bibliography listed it as two volumes. Existing editions, including those from the Wenyuan Chamber, the Collection of Han and Wei Works, and the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries, all contain abridgments and omissions. Only the edition collated and engraved by Qian Xizuo in the Collection of Shoushan Studio is the most precise. The edition in the The Daozang is divided into two parts: The Inner Biography of Emperor Wu of the Han in one volume and The Outer Biography in one volume, both included in the Biographical Category of the The Dongzhen Section.

The Inner Biography narrates the story of Emperor Wu of the Han seeking immortality. It states that the emperor was obsessed with the art of longevity and often offered sacrifices to famous mountains and great lakes in search of immortals. On the night of the seventh day of the seventh lunar month in the first year of Yuansfeng, the Queen Mother of the West descended to the Han Palace and bestowed upon the emperor the Scripture of the Radiance of the Spirit and the True Form Diagrams of the Five Great Mountains. She also ordered the Lady of the Upper Origin to teach the emperor twelve scriptures including the Essence of the Left and Right Cejing of the Six Jia Spirit Flight. Later, because the emperor indulged in sensual pleasures, acted arbitrarily, and waged endless wars and killings, disregarding the words of the Queen Mother of the West and the admonitions of the Lady of the Upper Origin, all the bestowed scriptures were burned. The book also records the miraculous events after the emperor's death, several immortal songs, the titles of the twelve scriptures taught by the Lady of the Upper Origin, and seven kinds of books buried with the emperor.

In terms of content, literary style, and the titles of the scriptures mentioned, this book is very similar to the immortal biographies compiled by Taoist priests of the Shangqing School in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, such as The Biography of Lady Wei of Nanyue, The Biography of Perfected Qingling Lord Pei, as well as Declarations of the Perfected and Secrets of Ascension to Perfection. It is suspected to have been created by Taoist believers from the aristocratic clans of the Jin Dynasty.