曹植書《洛神賦》，雲：背下陵高，足往神留，遺情想像，顧望懷愁。冀靈體之復形，禦輕舟而上溯。浮長川而忘返，思綿綿而增慕。夜耿耿而不寐，沾繁霜而至曙。命仆夫而就駕，吾將歸乎東路。攬騑轡以抗策，悵盤桓而不能去。

張彥遠《歷代名畫記》，錄碩愷之繪事。曰：遍观众画，唯顧生畫古贤而得其妙理，對之令人終日不倦，疑神退思，妙悟自然，物我兩忘，離形去智。身固可使如槁木，心固可使如死灰，不亦臻於妙理哉。所謂畫道文道情道皆如是。

曹植顧愷之張彥遠皆讀《莊子》，並得其道：南郭子綦隱機而坐，仰天而噓，答焉似喪其耦，顏成子遊立是侍乎前，曰：何居乎？形固可使如稿木，而心固可使如死灰乎。今之隱機者，非昔之隱機者也。子綦曰：偃，不亦善乎，而問之也！今者吾喪我，汝知之乎？

吾今繪洛神賦，曹植年少情深，眼神深邃，年少而心如死灰，曰：命運如是，洛水彼岸，植見老之將至，洛水瀟然。而暮年曹植心如死灰，後形如槁木，高山流水相随也。無我之心，見無形之時。曹植宓妃二人成三體，少年老年，生離死別，皆歸大夢尔。植曾書宓妃之美，“翩若驚鴻，婉若遊龍。”故開篇為遊龍藏水中也。

吾友丹兄書洛神賦，吾之最愛，離別時洛靈感焉，徒倚彷徨，神光離合，乍陰乍陽，為洛水中灵魂初現也，故白鶴風中宓妃無形也，世间情皆如是矣。

Cao Zhi wrote the Rhapsody on the Luo River Goddess, it says:
I turned my back on the lowland and climbed the height;
My feet went forward but my soul remained behind
Thoughts taken up with the memory of her image,
I turned to look back, a heart full of despair.
Hoping that the spirit form might show itself again,
I embarked in a small boat to journey upstream,
Drifting over the long river, forgetting to return,
Wrapped in endless remembrances that made my longing greater
Night found me fretful, unable to sleep;
Heavy frosts soaked me until the break of day
I ordered the groom to ready the carriage,
Thinking to return to my eastern road,
But though I seized the reins and lifted up my whip,
I stayed lost in hesitation and could not break away.

In his Records of Famous Paintings of All Dynasties, Zhang Yanyuan includes a record of Gu Kaizhi, he comments: After viewing thousands of paintings, you will find that only Gu Kaizhi are able to capture the essence of the ancient masters. One will never get tired facing a painting by Gu, it allows you to empty your thoughts and bear a concentrated mind, to perceive and understand the subtlety of nature at a transcendent level, forgetting both the physical world and the inner self, detached from the constraint of form and consciousness. The body can be like a piece of withered wood, and the heart can be like cold ashes, this is the way to achieve the essence of the principle. The way of painting, the way of literature, as well as the way of emotions, are all the same as this.

Cao Zhi, Gu Kaizhi and Zhang Yanyuan all read Zhuang Zi, and understood its underlying principles: Nan-Guo Zi-Qi, sitting and leaning on a small table, was looking up to the sky and sighed deeply as if he has abandoned his body. Yan Cheng Zi-You, who was standing before him in attendance, said: What is this? Can the body be made to become thus like a withered wood, and the heart to become like dead ashes? The one who at this moment is leaning against his table is not he who leaned against it a while back. Zi-Qi said: Yan [Zi-You], you did well to ask such a question. I had just now lost myself, did you know that?

Now that I painted the Rhapsody on the Luo River Goddess. Cao Zhi was very affectionate when he was young, with deep and profound eyes, though at a young age, his heart is like dead ashes, he said: such is my fate, on the other side of the Luo river, I see that age is approaching, the Luo river is cold and quiet. In his later years, Cao Zhi’s heart is like dead ashes, then his body is like a piece of withered wood, only the high mountains and flowing water accompanies him. The self-less heart is able to witness the time of the formless. Cao Zhi and his concubine Mi, they are two individuals, but form three entities, young and old, life and death, all end up as a dream. Cao Zhi once wrote about Mi’s beauty, praising that she is “as elegant as a startled swan and as graceful as a wandering dragon.” Thus, this scroll opens with the scene of a wandering dragon hidden in the water.

My dear friend Dan wrote the Rhapsody on the Luo River Goddess, it is my favourite. Upon departure, the spirit of the Luo river was touched, confused and hesitated. The divine light dispersed and combined, flickered between yin and yang, this is the first appearance of the spirit of the Luo river. Thus, the white crane is flying in the wind and concubine Mi is without a concrete form, and this is the case with all kinds of emotions in the world.