"About Penetration into the Book of Changes" is a philosophical essay. "About Music" expresses ideas on the nature of a world order. Other works are "About Penetration into Laozi" and "About Understanding Zhuangzi". Ruan Ji achieved the most fame with his almanac "Poems from My Heart", which contains 82 poems. His contemporaries said of Ruan Ji's work "The Life of a Great Man" that it revealed all his innermost thoughts. The main character of the work is a nameless hermit, whose characteristics are described at the beginning of the essay: