郭璞，字景純，河東聞喜人。他在兩頁裡出現的樣子不同：《晉書》本傳是完整的傳記，從師承寫到歷官與死；《世說新語·術解》只取幾則軼事，短，帶對話。兩頁都不是同時代人所寫——本傳是唐初所修，世說是南朝宋人所編；劉孝標的注又引了《璞別傳》《晉書》等。本文把「傳文」「軼事」「注引」三層分開。
一、來歷
本傳先寫學問：「璞好經術，博學有高才，而訥於言論，詞賦為中興之冠。好古文奇字，妙於陰陽算曆。」傳授也有名有姓：「有郭公者，客居河東，精于卜筮，璞從之受業。公以《青囊中書》九卷與之，由是遂洞五行、天文、卜筮之術，攘災轉禍，通致無方，雖京房、管輅不能過也。」書後來沒了：「璞門人趙載嘗竊《青襄書》，未及讀，而為火所焚。」（「青囊」「青襄」兩見，照頁面。）
南渡的緣由，本傳與注引各有寫法。本傳：「惠懷之際，河東先擾。璞筮之，投策而嘆曰：『嗟乎！黔黎將湮於異類，桑梓其翦為龍荒乎！』」世說注引《璞別傳》作：「璞少好經術，明解卜筮。永嘉中，海內將亂，璞投策嘆曰：『黔黎將同異類矣！』便結親暱十餘家，南渡江，居於暨陽。」注引作「十餘家」，本傳作「數十家」，兩處並列。
二、活馬與豆子
第一件事是活馬。趙固的良馬死了，閉門不見客；郭璞到門說「吾能活馬」：「得健夫二三十人，皆持長竿，東行三十里，有丘林社廟者，便以竿打拍，當得一物，宜急持歸。得此，馬活矣。」照做，「果得一物似猴，持歸。此物見死馬，便噓吸其鼻。頃之馬起，奮迅嘶鳴，食如常，不復見向物」。人數、里程、動作照錄。
第二件是豆子。廬江太守胡孟康被召為軍諮祭酒，無意南渡；郭璞占曰「敗」，他不信。郭璞要走，又「愛主人婢，無由而得，乃取小豆三斗，繞主人宅散之」。主人晨見赤衣人數千圍其家，就視則滅，驚而請卦。他說「君家不宜畜此婢，可于東南二十里賣之，慎勿爭價，則此妖可除也」；主人照辦，他「陰令人賤買此婢」；再把符投進井裡，「數千赤衣人皆反縛，一一自投于井」。他帶婢而去，「後數旬而廬江陷」。
三、驢鼠
宣城太守殷祐引他為參軍。城下來了一物：「大如水牛，灰色卑腳，腳類象，胸前尾上皆白，大力而遲鈍。」眾人異之，捕住，令郭璞作卦，得《遁》之《蠱》。卦辭是韻語：「《艮》體連《乾》，其物壯巨。山潛之畜，匪兕匪武。身與鬼並，精見二午。法當為禽，兩靈不許。遂被一創，還其本墅。按卦名之，是為驢鼠。」——占完，伏著的人用戟刺它，「深尺餘，遂去不復見」。郡裡上報請殺，巫傳廟神的話：「此是䢼亭驢山君鼠，使詣荊山，暫來過我，不須觸之。」
本傳又說他的處境：「璞既好卜筮，縉紳多笑之。」又說「性輕易，不修威儀，嗜酒好色，時或過度」，著作郎干寶常勸他；他答：「吾所受有本限，用之恆恐不得盡，卿乃憂酒色之為患乎！」
四、震厄
本傳裡最緊的一條是王導。王導看重他，「引參己軍事。嘗令作卦，璞言：『公有震厄，可命駕西出數十里，得一柏樹，截斷如身長，置常寢處，災當可消矣。』導從其言。數日果震，柏樹粉碎。」
《世說新語》的版本有對話：「王丞相令郭璞試作一卦，卦成，郭意色甚惡，云：『公有震厄！』王問：『有可消伏理不？』郭曰：『命駕西出數里，得一柏樹，截斷如公長，置床上常寢處，災可消矣。』王從其語。數日中，果震柏粉碎，子弟皆稱慶。」——「數里」對「數十里」，異文並列。注引王隱《晉書》說「璞消災轉禍，扶厄擇勝，時人咸言京、管不及」——這是注家引別人的話，不是本傳的評語；末了還有一句「大將軍云：『君乃復委罪於樹木。』」
五、龍耳、墓地與收束
世說另有一則，主角是晉明帝：「晉明帝解占塚宅，聞郭璞為人葬，帝微服往看。因問主人：『何以葬龍角？此法當滅族！』主人曰：『郭云：此葬龍耳，不出三年，當致天子。』帝問：『為是出天子邪？』答曰：『非出天子，能致天子問耳。』」——郭璞沒有出場，「龍角」「龍耳」一字之差，是這則的關節。
還有他自己的墓地：「郭景純過江，居于暨陽，墓去水不盈百步，時人以為近水。景純曰：『將當為陸。』今沙漲，去墓數十里皆為桑田。其詩曰：『北阜烈烈，巨海混混；壘壘三墳，唯母與昆。』」——「今」是編書人的時間，不是郭璞的；沙漲數十里，照錄。
兩頁給的是故事，不是占法：起卦、蓍策、卦象怎麼斷，兩頁都沒有，本文也不補。數字（二三十人、三十里、三斗、二十里、深尺餘、去水不盈百步）照錄，不折今值。本文不寫「迷信／科學」一類評價，也不把他寫成預言家：他在這兩頁裡是一個博學、口訥、好酒色、被人笑好卜筮的人。
延伸閱讀：司馬相如：四壁、一張琴、一間酒舍 · 投壺：一場酒席上的禮與賭 · 亳社：亡國的社怎麼處置
參考來源與延伸閱讀
- 《世说新语·术解》（南朝宋刘义庆撰，刘孝标注；维基文库本，页面白文夹注，未与中华书局点校本复核） — Four anecdotes about Guo Pu: he wept over the death of Chen Shu and called out 'how do you know it is not a blessing?', and the general's rebellion followed; Emperor Ming of Jin, who read grave-sites, went in disguise to see a grave Guo Pu had sited and asked why it was placed on the dragon's horn, which should destroy the clan — the owner said Guo called it the dragon's ear, and that within three years it would bring the Son of Heaven; the emperor asked whether it would produce one, and was told it would bring the Son of Heaven to ask. Guo's own grave at Jiyang stood less than a hundred paces from the water, and he said it would become dry land, which it did, with his poem on the three graves quoted. And Wang Dao's divination: Guo's face fell, he said the duke had a thunder calamity, had him fetch a cypress west of the city and cut it to his height; the tree was shattered by lightning. The commentary quotes the Separate Biography for his early mastery of divination and his move south.
- 《晋书》卷七十二·郭璞传（唐房玄龄等撰；维基文库本，页面白文无注，未与中华书局点校本复核） — The official life: Guo Pu of Wenxi in Hedong, master of the classics, broad learning, slow of speech, first in letters of the revival, devoted to ancient graphs and skilled in yin-yang and calendrical calculation; he studied divination under a Master Guo, who gave him the nine scrolls of the Qingnang zhongshu, and his pupil Zhao Zai stole the book and had it burned before reading it. Then the cases: he tells General Zhao Gu he can revive his dead horse, sending thirty men east with long poles to beat a thing like a monkey out of a grove shrine, which breathes into the horse's nose and revives it; at Lujiang he scatters three dou of small beans around a house to make a thousand red-coated figures, so that the owner sells him the maid he wanted, and the commandery falls weeks later; at Xuancheng he casts on a beast like a water buffalo and names it the 'donkey-rat', with the hexagram text quoted; and he tells Wang Dao he has a thunder calamity, has a cypress cut to his height, and the tree is shattered by lightning. The life also says gentlemen laughed at his fondness for divination, and records Gan Bao's warning about his drinking and women and his answer.
