Bao Pu Zi Nei Pian (抱朴子內篇)

晉·葛洪著

Written by Ge Hong of the Jin dynasty.

抱朴子曰：“玄者，自然之始祖，而萬殊之大宗也。眇眛乎其深也，故稱微焉。綿邈乎其遠也，故稱妙焉。其高則冠蓋乎九霄，其曠則籠罩乎八隅。光乎日月，迅乎電馳。或倏爍而景逝，或飄滭而星流，或滉漾於淵澄，或雰霏而云浮。因兆類而為有，託潛寂而為無。淪大幽而下沈，凌辰極而上游。金石不能比其剛，湛露不能等其柔。方而不矩，圓而不規。來焉莫見，往焉莫追。乾以之高，坤以之卑，雲以之行，雨以之施。胞胎元一，範鑄兩儀，吐納大始，鼓冶億類，佪旋四七，匠成草昧，轡策靈機，吹噓四氣，幽括沖默，舒闡粲尉，抑濁揚清，斟酌河渭，增之不溢，挹之不匱，與之不榮，奪之不瘁。故玄之所在，其樂不窮。玄之所去，器弊神逝。夫五聲八音，清商流徵，損聰者也。鮮華豔採，彧麗炳爛，傷明者也。宴安逸豫，清醪芳醴，亂性者也。冶容媚姿，鉛華素質，伐命者也。其唯玄道，可與為永。不知玄道者，雖顧眄為生殺之神器，唇吻為興亡之關鍵，綺榭俯臨乎雲雨，藻室華綠以參差。組帳霧合，羅幬雲離。西毛陳於閒房，金觴華以交馳，清弦嘈囋以齊唱，鄭舞紛糹柔蜲，哀簫鳴以凌霞，羽蓋浮於漣漪，掇芳華於蘭林之囿，弄紅葩於積珠之池，登峻則望遠以忘百憂，臨深則俯攬以遺朝飢，入宴千門之焜熀，出驅朱輪之華儀。然樂極則哀集，至盈必有虧。故曲終則嘆發，燕罷則心悲也。寔理勢之攸召，猶影響之相歸也。彼假借而非真，故物往若有遺也。

Baopuzi said: "The Mysterious (profound and unfathomable) is the first ancestor of nature (being so of itself, not 'the natural world'), and the great progenitor of the myriad differing things. It is so deep that it cannot be seen distinctly, and so it is called the Subtle. It is so remote that it stretches on without end, and so it is called the Marvelous. In its height it crowns the nine heavens; in its breadth it envelops the eight quarters. It is brighter than sun and moon, swifter than the lightning's flash. Now it flickers and glints like a departing gleam, now it drifts and darts like a star streaming by, now it floats upon the limpid abyss, now it hangs thick like a mist of cloud. Borrowing the visible classes of things it appears as being; lodging in hidden stillness it appears as nonbeing. Downward it sinks into the great darkness; upward it soars beyond the North Pole. Metal and stone cannot match its hardness; clear dew cannot match its softness. Square, it is yet not bound by the carpenter's square; round, it is yet not bound by the compass. It comes and no one sees it; it goes and no one can overtake it. Heaven is high because of it, earth is low because of it, clouds move because of it, rain falls because of it. It gestates the Primal One, casts the Two Powers in its mold, breathes the Grand Beginning in and out, fans the forge that smelts out the hundreds of millions of kinds, wheels the twenty-eight lodges round their circuit, fashions the dawn of primal chaos, reins in the numinous workings, breathes forth the four qi (the flowing stuff that forms and pervades all things), gathers the deep and dark into empty silence, unfolds the brilliant and splendid, presses down the turbid and lifts the clear, and measures out the Yellow River and the Wei. Add to it and it does not overflow; ladle from it and it is not drained; give to it and it grows no more flourishing; take from it and it does not wither. Therefore where the Mysterious abides, the joy is inexhaustible; where the Mysterious departs, vessels decay and spirit dies away. The five notes and the eight timbres, the clear shang and the gliding zhi, are what injure the hearing. Fresh blooms and gaudy colors, ornate and dazzling, are what injure the sight. Feasting, ease, and pleasure, clear wine and fragrant brews, are what disturb the inborn nature. Seductive looks and charming poses, lead powder and white skin, are what hew down the lifespan. Only the Mysterious Way (the word Laozi borrowed to name the source and workings of all things, itself beyond naming) can keep company with it long. As for one who does not know the Mysterious Way, though his glance be the instrument of life and death and his lips the hinge of rise and ruin, though ornamented terraces lean over the clouds and rain and decorated palaces stand in uneven ranks of blue-green, though curtains of gauze close like mist and hangings of gossamer part like clouds, though Xishi and Maoqiang be arrayed in his inner chambers, golden goblets cross in flight, clear strings clamor in unison, and the dances of Zheng trail and wind (the base text is damaged here), while mournful pipes resound through cloud and mist and feathered canopies float upon the ripples; though he pluck fragrant blooms in a park of orchid groves and toy with red petals upon a pond of gathered pearls, climb high to gaze afar and forget a hundred cares, lean over the deep and forget morning hunger, go in to a feast amid the blaze of a thousand gates and drive out in the ceremony of vermilion wheels—yet when joy reaches its height sorrow arrives, and fullness must be paid with loss. So when the tune ends a sigh escapes; when the feast is over the heart grieves. This is truly what the nature and circumstance of things summon, like the shadow chasing the form and the echo answering the sound. All those things are borrowed and not genuine, so once they are gone it feels like something has been lost."

夫玄道者，得之乎內，守之者外，用之者神，忘之者器，此思玄道之要言也。得之者貴，不待黃鉞之威。體之者富，不須難得之貨。高不可登，深不可測。乘流光，策飛景，凌六虛，貫涵溶。出乎無上，入乎無下。經乎汗漫之門，遊乎窈眇之野。逍遙恍惚之中，倘佯彷佛之表。咽九華於雲端，咀六氣於丹霞。俳徊茫昧，翱翔希微，履略蜿虹，踐跚旋璣，此得之者也。

As for the Mysterious Way, obtaining it lies within; those who merely keep it remain outside; those who use it enter the realm of spirit; those who forget it are stuck fast among mere things—this is the essential saying for pondering the Mysterious Way. He who obtains it is honored, without waiting for the majesty of the yellow battle-axe. He who embodies it is rich, without needing rare and precious goods. Its height cannot be climbed; its depth cannot be plumbed. Riding the streaming light, whipping the flying shadows, one surmounts the six voids and threads through the all-pervading flux; one emerges where there is no further above, enters where there is no further below, passes through the gate of the boundless sweep, and roams the fields of dim remoteness; carefree within the blur and dream, strolling beyond the seeming and the shadowed; one swallows the Nine Blossoms among the clouds and chews the Six Qi in the cinnabar mist, lingering in the vast obscurity, soaring in the faint and tenuous, treading the winding rainbow and pacing the jeweled turning-sphere—such is the man who has obtained it.

其次則真知足，知足者則能肥遁勿用，頤光山林。紆鸞龍之翼於細介之伍，養浩然之氣於蓬蓽之中。襤縷帶索，不以貿龍章之煒曄也。負步杖策，不以易結駟之駱驛也。藏夜光於嵩岫，不受他山之攻。沈鱗甲於玄淵，以違鑽灼之災。動息知止，無往不足。棄赫奕之朝華，避僨車之險路。吟嘯蒼崖之閒，而萬物化為塵氛。怡顏豐柯之下，而朱戶變為繩樞。握耒甫田，而麾節忽若執鞭。啜荈漱泉，而太牢同乎藜藿。泰爾有餘歡於無為之場，忻然齊貴賤於不爭之地。含醇守樸，無慾無憂，全真虛器，居平味澹。恢恢蕩蕩，與渾成等其自然。浩浩茫茫，與造化鈞其符契。如暗如明，如濁如清，似遲而疾，似虧而盈。豈肯委尸祝之坐，釋大匠之位，越樽俎以代無知之庖，舍繩墨而助傷手之工。不以臭鼠之細瑣，而為庸夫之憂樂。藐然不喜流俗之譽，坦爾不懼雷同之毀。不以外物汩其至精，不以利害汙其純粹也。故窮富極貴，不足以誘之焉，其餘何足以悅之乎？直刃沸鑊，不足以劫之焉，謗讟何足以戚之乎？常無心於眾煩，而未始與物雜也。

Next comes true contentment. He who knows contentment can withdraw in ease without seeking employment, nourishing his radiance among the mountain forests. He folds the wings of luan-bird and dragon into the ranks of tiny shelled insects, and within a door of brambles and brushwood nurtures his vast, flood-like qi. Ragged, with a rope for a belt, he would not trade it for the blaze of a dragon-embroidered robe; carrying his bundle and leaning on a staff, he would not trade it for an unbroken file of four-horse chariots. He hides the night-glowing pearl in the cliffs of Mount Song rather than accept the cutting and polishing of foreign stone; he sinks his scales in the dark abyss to escape the calamity of being bored and burned. In motion and in rest he knows when to stop; wherever he goes there is no want. He casts off the dazzling morning flower and shuns the road where carts overturn. Whistling and chanting among the gray cliffs, the myriad things turn to dust for him; smiling at ease beneath the lush branches, vermilion gates and grand households become poor homes hung on rope hinges. Gripping the plow to till the great field, the marshal's baton suddenly feels light as a carter's whip; sipping tea and rinsing in spring water, the grand sacrificial meats are the same as pigweed. At peace, he has joy to spare in the field of nonaction (not forcing things by subjective will but letting them run their own nature, not merely doing nothing); content, in the land of noncontention he sees noble and mean as one. Holding the mellow, guarding the uncarved block (unworked wood, the image of the genuine state before human carving), he has neither desires nor cares; he preserves the genuine and treats mere things as empty, his dwelling plain, his flavors mild. Broad and unbound, he shares the self-so of the unhewn whole; immense and shoreless, he tallies with the tokens of creation. Like dark yet bright, like turbid yet clear, like slow yet swift, like empty yet full—how could he quit the seat of the impersonator of the dead or forsake the master's place, reach over the sacrificial vessels to cook for the ignorant cook, or drop the marking-line to help a workman who will only hurt his hand? He does not take trifles like a stinking rat for the worries and delights of a vulgar man. Aloof, he takes no joy in the praise of the common crowd; serene, he does not fear their parroted slander. He lets no outward thing disturb his utmost essence, lets no profit or harm soil his purity. So utter poverty or utmost wealth and honor cannot tempt him—what else could possibly please him? A drawn blade and a boiling cauldron cannot coerce him—how could slander grieve him? Toward every kind of vexation he is ever without a mind to meet it, and he has never once mingled with outward things.

若夫操隋珠以彈雀，舐秦痔以屬車，登朽緡以探巢，泳呂梁以求魚，旦為稱孤之客，夕為狐鳥之餘。棟撓餗覆，傾溺不振，蓋世人之所為載馳企及，而達者之所為寒心而悽愴者也。故至人嘿韶夏而韜藻梲。。奮其六羽於五城之墟，而不煩銜蘆之衛。翳其鱗角乎勿用之地，而不恃曲穴之備。俯無倨鴟之呼，仰無亢極之悔，人莫之識，邈矣遼哉！”

As for using the Marquis of Sui's pearl to shoot a sparrow, licking the King of Qin's piles to win a carriage in his train, climbing a rotten line to grope into a nest, or swimming the Lüliang rapids for fish—a man may be an honored guest calling himself lord in the morning and the scraps of foxes and crows by evening. The ridge-beam snaps, the sacrificial meat tips from the cauldron, and he is sunk beyond all raising—these are exactly what the men of the world rush headlong after, and what makes the accomplished man go cold with pity. Therefore the utmost man puts the music of Shao and Xia away in silence and hides the carved capitals of his beams. On the ruins of the five cities he raises his six pinions without troubling to hold a reed in his beak for defense; he hides his scale and horn in the land where nothing is put to use, relying on no crooked burrow for protection. Looking down he has no shriek of the arrogant owl; looking up he has no regret of having gone too far—no one knows him, remote and unbounded to the very end!"

或問曰：“神仙不死，信可得乎？”抱朴子答曰：“雖有至明，而有形者不可畢見焉。雖稟極聰，而有聲者不可盡聞焉。雖有大章豎亥之足，而所常履者，未若所不履之多。雖有禹益齊諧之智，而所嘗識者未若所不識之眾也。萬物云云，何所不有，況列仙之人，盈乎竹素矣。不死之道，曷為無之？”

Someone asked: "That divine immortals never die—can this truly be attained?" Baopuzi replied: "Even given the utmost sight, one cannot see everything that has form. Even endowed with the utmost hearing, one cannot hear everything that has sound. Even with legs like Dazhang and Shuhai, what one has walked is less than what one has not walked. Even with the wisdom of Yu, Yi, and Qixie, what has been known is less than what has not been known. The myriad things swarm in confusion—what is there that does not exist? Moreover, the ranks of the immortals already fill the bamboo and silk records. Why should the way of deathlessness alone not exist?"

於是問者大笑曰：“夫有始者必有卒，有存者必有亡。故三五丘旦之聖，棄疾良平之智，端嬰隨酈之辯，賁育五丁之勇，而鹹死者，人理之常然，必至之大端也。徒聞有先霜而枯瘁，當夏而凋青，含穗而不秀，未實而萎零，未聞有享於萬年之壽，久視不已之期者矣。故古人學不求仙，言不語怪，杜彼異端，守此自然，推龜鶴於別類，以死生為朝暮也。夫苦心約己，以行無益之事，鏤冰雕朽，終無必成之功。未若攄匡世之高策，招當年之隆祉，使紫青重紆，玄牡龍跱，華轂易步趨，鼎餗代耒耜，不亦美哉？每思詩人甫田之刺，深惟仲尼皆死之證，無為握無形之風，捕難執之影，索不可得之物，行必不到之路，棄榮華而涉苦困，釋甚易而攻至難，有似喪者之逐遊女，必有兩失之悔，單張之信偏見，將速內外之禍也。夫班狄不能削瓦石為芒針，歐冶不能鑄鉛錫為干將。故不可為者，雖鬼神不能為也；不可成者，雖天地不能成也。世間亦安得奇方，能使當老者復少，而應死者反生哉？而吾子乃欲延蟪蛄之命，令有曆紀之壽，養朝菌之榮，使累晦朔之積，不亦謬乎？願加九思，不遠迷復焉。”

At this the questioner laughed loudly and said: "Whatever has a beginning must have an end; whatever exists must perish. So the Three August Ones and the Five Thearchs, sages like Kong Qiu and the Duke of Zhou Dan, men of wit like Qiji, Zhang Liang, and Chen Ping, men of eloquence like Duanmu Ci, Yan Ying, Sui He, and Li Yiji, men of valor like Meng Ben, Xia Yu, and the Five Strongmen—all of them died. This is the constant course of human order, the certain and great conclusion. We have heard only of things withering before the frost arrives, shedding their green leaves in midsummer, holding ears of grain yet never flowering, withering away before they bear—never of anyone enjoying a lifespan of ten thousand years, a term of long sight that does not end. So the ancients in their learning did not seek immortality, and in their speech did not speak of prodigies; they dammed up such heterodoxies and kept to the natural, pushing tortoises and cranes off among other kinds of creature and treating death and life as morning and evening. To labor the heart and bind oneself, to do what brings no benefit—carving flowers on ice, engraving rotten wood—in the end there is no assured achievement. Better to unfold lofty policies for setting the age aright, summon the flourishing blessings of one's own day, let purple and azure ribbons wind once more, bring the black-bulled dragon carriage to a halt, trade walking for ornate hubs and the plow for the meat in the cauldron—is that not splendid? Whenever I ponder the poet's satire in 'Great Fields' and think deeply on Confucius's testimony that all die, I say: do not grasp at the shapeless wind, chase the shadow that cannot be caught, seek what cannot be had, walk a road that can never be finished, cast off glory to enter bitter straits, or lay aside the easy to attack the hardest. Like a man who has lost his house chasing after a wandering maiden, he is sure to repent at both ends; like Shan Bao and Zhang Yi each trusting a one-sided view, he will invite calamity from within and without. Gongshu Ban and Mozi could not pare tile and stone into needle points; Ou Yezi could not cast lead and tin into a Ganjiang blade. So what cannot be done, even ghosts and spirits cannot do; what cannot be completed, even heaven and earth cannot complete. Where in the world is there a wondrous recipe that can make what must grow old young again, and bring what must die back to life? Yet you wish to lengthen the cicada's life until it lasts a full twelve-year cycle, to nurse the morning fungus's glory until it piles up many new and full moons—is that not absurd? I hope you will think on it again and again: the stray path is not yet far, and you can still come back."

抱朴子答曰：“夫聰之所去，則震雷不能使之聞，明之所棄，則三光不能使之見，豈輷磕之音細，而麗天之景微哉？而聾夫謂之無聲焉，瞽者謂之無物焉。又況管絃之和音，山龍之綺粲，安能賞克諧之雅韻，煒曄之鱗藻哉？故聾瞽在乎形器，則不信豐隆之與玄象矣。而況物有微於此者乎？闇昧滯乎心神，則不信有周孔於在昔矣。況告之以神仙之道乎？夫存亡終始，誠是大體。其異同參差，或然或否，變化萬品，奇怪無方，物是事非，本鈞末乖，未可一也。夫言始者必有終者多矣，混而齊之，非通理矣。謂夏必長，而薺麥枯焉。謂冬必凋，而竹柏茂焉。謂始必終，而天地無窮焉。謂生必死，而龜鶴長存焉。盛陽宜暑，而夏天未必無涼日也。極陰宜寒，而嚴冬未必無暫溫也。百川東注，而有北流之浩浩。坤道至靜，而或震動而崩弛。水性純冷，而有溫谷之湯泉；火體宜熾，而有蕭丘之寒焰；重類應沈，而南海有浮石之山；輕物當浮，而牜羊柯有沈羽之流。萬殊之類，不可以一概斷之，正如此也久矣。

Baopuzi replied: "Take away the hearing and even crashing thunder cannot make a man hear; cast off the sight and even the three luminaries—sun, moon, and stars—cannot make him see. Is it that the booming sound is faint, or the light that adorns the sky dim? Yet the deaf say there is no sound and the blind say there are no things. Still less could such men savor the harmonies of pipes and strings or the splendid patterns of mountain dragons and flowered fowl—how could they appreciate elegant cadences in perfect accord, or glittering scaled embroideries? So when deafness and blindness lodge in the bodily frame, a man does not believe in Fenglong the thunderer or in the mysterious images hung in the sky. How much less things subtler still! When darkness and dimness clog the spirit, a man does not believe there ever were a Duke of Zhou or a Confucius—how much less when you tell him the way of divine immortals! Survival and extinction, ending and beginning, are indeed the great outline. But same and different come unevenly; some cases are so and some are not; transformations take ten thousand shapes and oddities have no fixed quarter; the thing may be right while the event is wrong; roots agree while branches diverge—one cannot lay a single rule over all. To say that whatever has a beginning must have an end fits many cases, but to lump them together and view them as one is not a comprehensive truth. Say that summer must make things grow—yet shepherd's-purse and wheat wither in it. Say that winter must make things fade—yet bamboo and cypress flourish in it. Say that whatever has a beginning must end—yet heaven and earth are unending. Say that whatever lives must die—yet tortoises and cranes live on and on. High yang should bring heat, yet summer is not without cool days; extreme yin should bring cold, yet deep winter is not without a brief warmth. The hundred streams flow east, yet there are those that roll grandly north. The way of earth is utmost stillness, yet it sometimes quakes and collapses. Water's nature is cold, yet there are boiling springs in the Warm Vale; fire's body should blaze, yet there are cold flames at Xiaoqiu; the heavy kind should sink, yet the South Sea has mountains of floating stone; the light sort should float, yet Zangke has water in which a feather sinks (the base text's damaged characters are restored as 'Zangke'). That the myriad differing kinds cannot be fixed by one sweeping judgment has been exactly so for a very long time.

有生最靈，莫過乎人。貴性之物，宜必鈞一。而其賢愚邪正，好醜修短，清濁貞淫，緩急遲速，趨舍所尚，耳目所欲，其為不同，已有天壤之覺，冰炭之乖矣。何獨怪仙者之異，不與凡人皆死乎？

The most numinous among living things—none surpasses man. Creatures that receive an esteemed nature ought to be uniform. Yet worthy and foolish, crooked and upright, fair and ugly, tall and short, clear and turbid, chaste and wanton, quick and slow, hasty and tardy—what men pursue or shun, what their ears and eyes desire—differ from one another as far as heaven from earth, as irreconcilable as ice and coals. Why then single out for astonishment the distinctness of the immortals, that they do not all die like ordinary men?

若謂受氣皆有一定，則雉之為蜃，雀之為蛤，壤蟲假翼，川蛙翻飛，水蠣為蛉，荇苓為蛆，田鼠為鴽，腐草為螢，鼉之為虎，蛇之為龍，皆不然乎？

If you say that the qi each creature receives is fixed, then the pheasant turns into a great sea-clam, the sparrow into an oyster, the soil-worm borrows wings, the frogs of the rivers take wing, the water-oyster becomes a dragonfly, the xing-ling becomes a maggot, the field rat becomes a quail, rotting grass becomes fireflies, the alligator becomes a tiger, and the snake becomes a dragon—are all these not so?

若謂人稟正性，不同凡物，皇天賦命，無有彼此，則牛哀成虎，楚嫗為黿，枝離為柳，秦女為石，死而更生，男女易形，老彭之壽，殤子之夭，其何故哉？苟有不同，則其異有何限乎？

If you say that man alone receives the correct nature, unlike all common creatures, and that the fate august heaven bestows makes no distinction between them, then what of Niu Ai turning into a tiger, the old woman of Chu turning into a great turtle, Zhili Shu turning into a willow, the Qin girl turning into stone, the dead coming back to life, men and women exchanging form, the great age of Lao Peng and the early death of Shangzi—what accounts for all these? Once there is divergence, what limit is there to difference?

若夫仙人，以藥物養身，以術數延命，使內疾不生，外患不入，雖久視不死，而舊身不改，苟有其道，無以為難也。而淺識之徒，拘俗守常，鹹曰世閒不見仙人，便雲天下必無此事。夫目之所曾見，當何足言哉？天地之間，無外之大，其中殊奇，豈遽有限，詣老戴天，而無知其上，終身履地，而莫識其下。形骸己所自有也，而莫知其心志之所以然焉。壽命在我者也，而莫知其修短之能至焉。況乎神仙之遠理，道德之幽玄，仗其短淺之耳目，以斷微妙之有無，豈不悲哉？

As for the immortals: they nourish the body with medicines and extend their years with arts and numbers, so that inward illness does not arise and outward harm does not enter. Though they see long and do not die, their old bodies undergo no change; so long as that Way exists, the thing is not held to be hard. But men of shallow sight, bound by the common ways of the age, all say that no immortal is to be seen in the world, and conclude that such a thing cannot exist under heaven. How could what a man's own eyes have seen suffice as the standard? Between heaven and earth, vast beyond any outside, can the exceptional and the strange have a limit? To old age a man bears the sky overhead yet does not know what lies above it; all his life he treads the earth yet does not know what lies beneath it. His bodily frame is his own, yet he does not know why his will works as it does. His lifespan rests on his own person, yet he does not know how far its length or shortness may run. Still less the remote principle of divine immortals, the deep and mysterious reach of the Way and its power (the efficacy the Way shows when embodied in particular things, not moral 'virtue')—to lean on short-sighted ears and eyes and pronounce on whether the subtle exists or not, is that not pitiful?

設有哲人大才，嘉遁勿用，翳景掩藻，廢偽去欲，執太璞於至醇之中，遺末務於流俗之外，世人猶鮮能甄別，或莫造志行於無名之表，得精神於陋形之裡，豈況仙人殊趣異路，以富貴為不幸，以榮華為穢汙，以厚玩為塵壤，以聲譽為朝露，蹈炎飆而不灼，躡玄波而輕步，鼓翮清塵，風駟雲軒，仰凌紫極，俯棲崑崙，行屍之人，安得見之？假令遊戲，或經人間，匿真隱異，外同凡庸，比肩接武，孰有能覺乎？若使皆如郊閒兩曈之正方，邛疏之雙耳，出乎頭巔。馬皇乘龍而行，子晉躬御白鶴。或鱗身蛇軀，或金車羽服，乃可得知耳。自不若斯，則非洞視者安能覿其形，非徹聽者安能聞其聲哉？世人既不信，又多疵毀，真人疾之，遂益潛遁。且常人之所愛，乃上士之所憎。庸俗之所貴，乃至人之所賤也。英儒偉器，養其浩然者，猶不樂見淺薄之人，風塵之徒。況彼神仙，何為汲汲使芻狗之倫，知有之何所索乎，而怪於未嘗知也。目察百步，不能了了，而欲以所見為有，所不見為無，則天下之所無者，亦必多矣。所謂以指測海，指極而云水盡者也。蜉蝣校巨鰲，日及料大椿，豈所能及哉？魏文帝窮覽洽聞，自呼於物無所不經，謂天下無切玉之刀，火浣之布，及著典論，嘗據言此事。其閒未期，二物畢至。帝乃嘆息，遽毀斯論。事無固必，殆為此也。陳思王著釋疑論云，初謂道術，直呼愚民詐偽空言定矣。及見武皇帝試閉左慈等，令斷谷近一月，而顏色不減，氣力自若，常雲可五十年不食，正爾，復何疑哉？又云，令甘始以藥含生魚，而煮之於沸脂中，其無藥者，熟而可食，其銜藥者，遊戲終日，如在水中也。又以藥粉桑以飼蠶，蠶乃到十月不老。又以住年藥食雞雛及新生犬子，皆止不復長。以還白藥食白犬，百日毛盡黑。乃知天下之事，不可盡知，而以臆斷之，不可任也。但恨不能絕聲色，專心以學長生之道耳。

Suppose there is a philosopher of great talent who withdraws in admirable seclusion and never seeks employment, veils his brilliance and hides his literary gifts, discards pretense and casts off cravings, guards the great uncarved block within utmost purity, and lets trivial pursuits fall away among the common crowd—ordinary men can hardly even single such a man out; some cannot discern his resolve beneath a nameless exterior or reach his spirit inside a shabby frame. How much less the immortals, whose aims are strange and whose roads run elsewhere: they see wealth and rank as misfortune, glory and splendor as filth, rich baubles as dust, and fame as the morning dew. They tread the fiery whirlwind unscorched, step lightly over the black waves, beat their wings and sweep away the dust, hitch the wind as their team and the clouds as their chariot, mount beyond the Purple Pole above and lodge on Kunlun below—how could walking corpses ever see them? If in play they chance to pass through the human world, they hide the true and conceal the extraordinary; outwardly one with the common run, shoulder to shoulder and heel to heel, who could detect them? Only if they were all like Jiaojian with his two square pupils, Qiongshu with both ears growing above his head, Ma Shihuang riding a dragon, or Prince Jin himself driving a white crane; or bore scaly trunks and serpent bodies; or rode golden carriages in feathered dress—only then could they be recognized. Short of that, who but one with penetrating sight could see their forms, who but one with thorough hearing could hear their voices? Since the world neither believes nor refrains from slander, the true men detest this and hide away the deeper. Moreover, what ordinary men love is exactly what the highest gentlemen loathe; what the vulgar prize is exactly what the utmost men despise. Outstanding scholars of great capacity who nourish a flood-like qi still dislike meeting shallow men and the wind-blown crowd—how much more the divine immortals! Why should they hasten to let men worth less than straw dogs know that immortals exist, or seek anything from them? Yet men blame them for never having been made known. The eye cannot even make things out at a hundred paces, yet men would take what they see as existing and what they do not see as nothing—then surely much under heaven must not exist! This is what is meant by measuring the sea with a finger and declaring the water exhausted where the finger ends; a mayfly sizing up the great sea-turtle, a morning fungus appraising the great chun tree—how could they reach it? Emperor Wen of Wei read exhaustively and heard widely; he claimed there was nothing among things he had not met, said the world held no jade-cutting knife and no cloth cleansed by fire, and when he wrote the Dianlun he cited these as proof. Within less than a year both things arrived; the emperor sighed and at once destroyed that essay. That affairs are never fixed and certain is roughly for this reason. The Prince of Chen, Cao Zhi, wrote the Essay Resolving Doubts, saying that at first he had taken the arts of the Way to be nothing but empty words with which charlatans gull the people, and had settled it in his mind. Then he saw Emperor Wu shut up Zuo Ci and his fellows and make them abstain from grain for nearly a month, yet their color did not fade and their vigor stayed the same; they even said they could go fifty years without eating—this being so, what room remained for doubt? He also told how Gan Shi had a drug put in the mouths of live fish, which were then dropped into boiling oil: those without the drug cooked through and were fit to eat, while those holding the drug played all day as if still in water. Again, the drug's powder was dusted on mulberry leaves and fed to silkworms, and the worms lived past the tenth month without aging. Again, the age-holding drug was fed to chicks and newborn puppies, and all of them stopped growing. Again, the turn-back-from-white drug was fed to a white dog, and after a hundred days its fur had all gone black. Only then did he learn that the affairs of the world cannot all be known, and that deciding by conjecture is unreliable; he only regretted he could not forsake music and women to devote himself wholly to learning the way of long life.

彼二曹學則無書不覽，才則一代之英，然初皆謂無，而晚年乃有窮理盡性，其嘆息如此。不逮若人者，不信神仙，不足怪也。劉向博學則究微極妙，經深涉遠，思理則清澄真偽，研核有無，其所撰列仙傳，仙人七十有餘，誠無其事，妄造何為乎？邃古之事，何可親見，皆賴記籍傳聞於往耳。列仙傳炳然其必有矣。然書不出周公之門，事不經仲尼之手，世人終於不信。然則古史所記，一切皆無，何但一事哉？俗人貪榮好利，汲汲名利，以己之心，遠忖昔人，乃復不信古者有逃帝王之禪授，薄卿相之貴任，巢許之輩，老萊莊周之徒，以為不然也。況於神仙，又難知於斯，亦何可求今世皆信之哉？多謂劉向非聖人，其所撰錄，不可孤據，尤所以使人嘆息者也。夫魯史不能與天地合德，而仲尼因之以著經。子長不能與日月並明，而揚雄稱之為實錄。劉向為漢世之名儒賢人，其所記述，庸可棄哉？凡世人所以不信仙之可學，不許命之可延者，正以秦皇漢武求之不獲，以少君欒太為之無驗故也。然不可以黔婁原憲之貧，而謂古者無陶朱猗頓之富。不可以無鹽宿瘤之醜，而謂在昔無南威西施之美。進趨尤有不達者焉，稼穡猶有不收者焉，商販或有不利者焉，用兵或有無功者焉。況乎求仙，事之難者，為之者何必皆成哉？彼二君兩臣，自可求而不得，或始勤而卒怠，或不遭乎明師，又何足以定天下之無仙乎？

Those two Caos, speaking of learning, left no book unread; speaking of talent, were the heroes of their age—yet at first both declared there were no immortals, and only in old age, having exhausted pattern and nature, came to sigh as they did. That men who fall short of such figures do not believe in divine immortals is no cause for wonder. Liu Xiang's broad learning probed the minute and reached the marvelous; he experienced the deep and journeyed far; in reasoning he clarified true and false distinctly, examining being and nonbeing. The Liexian zhuan he compiled records more than seventy immortals: if none of it were real, why would he have fabricated it? The affairs of remote antiquity cannot be witnessed with one's own eyes; they come down to us only through written records. That the Liexian zhuan is so clear shows the thing must be so. Yet because the book did not come from the school of the Duke of Zhou and its contents never passed through Confucius's hands, the world refuses in the end to believe it. By that reasoning, everything recorded in the ancient histories would be nothing—far more than this one matter. Vulgar men covet glory and love profit, scrambling after name and gain; measuring the ancients from afar by their own hearts, they then disbelieve that in antiquity there were men who fled the throne's offers and thought lightly of the high offices of minister and chancellor—men like Chaofu and Xu You, Laolaizi and Zhuang Zhou—and hold that none of them were so. Still less are the divine immortals easy to know—how can one demand that everyone in the present age believe? Many say that Liu Xiang was no sage, and that what he compiled cannot stand alone as proof—this especially makes one sigh. The chronicle of Lu could not match the power of heaven and earth, yet Confucius wrote a classic on its basis; Sima Qian could not shine alongside sun and moon, yet Yang Xiong called his work a veracious record. Liu Xiang was a famed scholar and worthy of the Han—can what he recorded simply be thrown away? In general, the reason the world does not believe immortality can be learned, nor allow that the allotted lifespan can be extended, is precisely that Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han sought and did not obtain, and that Li Shaojun and Luan Da practiced it without the promised results. But one cannot, because Qianlou and Yuanxian were poor, declare that in ancient times there was no wealth of Tao Zhu or Yi Dun; nor, because Wuyan and Suliu were ugly, declare that in former days there was no beauty of Nanwei or Xishi. Advancement still has those who never reach it; farming still has crops that yield nothing; traders sometimes make no profit; armies sometimes win no success. Seeking immortality is harder still—why should all who practice it succeed? Those two rulers and two ministers may well have sought and failed: perhaps they were diligent at first and slack later, or perhaps they never met an enlightened teacher. How could that suffice to decide that there are no immortals under heaven?

夫求長生，修至道，訣在於志，不在於富貴也。苟非其人，則高位厚貨，乃所以為重累耳。何者？學仙之法，欲得恬愉澹泊，滌除嗜慾，內視反聽，屍居無心，而帝王任天下之重責，治鞅掌之政務，思勞於萬幾，神馳於宇宙，一介失所，則王道為虧，百姓有過，則謂之在予。醇醪汩其和氣，豔容伐其根荄，所以翦精損慮削乎平粹者，不可曲盡而備論也。蚊噆膚則坐不得安，蝨群攻則臥不得寧。四海之事，何祗若是。安得掩翳聰明，歷藏數息，長齋久潔，躬親爐火，夙興夜寐，以飛八石哉？漢武享國，最為壽考，已得養性之小益矣。但以升合之助，不供鍾石之費，畎澮之輸，不給尾閭之洩耳。

Seeking long life and cultivating the utmost Way—the crux lies in resolve, not in wealth and rank. For anyone not of that kind, high office and rich goods are instead a heavy encumbrance. Why? The method of learning immortality requires tranquil joy and calm detachment, washing away cravings, gazing inward and hearing inward, dwelling like a corpse with the mind free of affairs. But a thearch-king carries the heavy charge of all under heaven and governs a tangle of affairs of state; his thought labors over ten thousand springs of business and his spirit gallops across the cosmos. If one affair falls out of place, the kingly way is diminished; if the common folk err, he says the fault is his. Rich wine disturbs his harmonious qi; seductive faces hew at his rootstock. The ways these pare down his spirit, wound his thought, and thin his simple purity cannot all be told in their twists and turns. With a mosquito biting the skin, a man cannot sit at ease; with lice attacking in swarms, he cannot lie in peace. The affairs of the four seas are far worse than this. How could such a man veil his keenness of sight and hearing, pass his breath through the five viscera counting it, keep long fasts and purifications, tend the furnace-fire in person, rise early and retire late, and go on to refine the eight minerals in flight? Emperor Wu of Han enjoyed, in the length of his reign, nearly the longest of lives, and had already gained a small benefit in nourishing his nature. But a subsidy measured in pints and pecks cannot supply an expenditure in bells and piculs; the trickle of a field ditch cannot fill what drains away through the tail-gate of the sea.

仙法欲靜寂無為，忘其形骸，而人君撞千石之鍾，伐雷霆之鼓，砰磕嘈囐，驚魂蕩心，百技萬變，喪精塞耳，飛輕走迅，釣潛弋高。仙法欲令愛逮蠢蠕，不害含氣，而人君有赫斯之怒，芟夷之誅，黃鉞一揮，齊斧暫授，則伏屍千里，流血滂沱，斬斷之刑，不絕於市。仙法欲止絕臭腥，休糧清腸，而人君烹肥宰腯，屠割群生，八珍百和，方丈於前，煎熬勺藥，旨嘉饜飫。仙法欲溥愛八荒，視人如己，而人君兼弱攻昧，取亂推亡，闢地拓疆，泯人社稷，驅合生人，投之死地，孤魂絕域，暴骸腐野，五嶺有血刃之師，北闕懸大宛之首，坑生煞伏，動數十萬，京觀封屍，仰幹雲霄，暴骸如莽，彌山填谷。秦皇使十室之中，思亂者九。漢武使天下嗷然，戶口減半。祝其有益，詛亦有損。結草知德，則虛祭必怨。眾煩攻其膏肓，人鬼齊其毒恨。彼二主徒有好仙之名，而無修道之實，所知淺事，不能悉行。要妙深秘，又不得聞。又不得有道之士，為合成仙藥以與之，不得長生，無所怪也。

The method of immortality requires stillness, silence, and nonaction, forgetting the bodily frame; but a ruler strikes bells of a thousand piculs and beats thunderous drums, a banging clamor that startles the soul and shakes the heart; the hundred entertainments in their ten thousand changes dissipate his spirit and stuff his ears; he sends nimble hawks flying and swift hounds running, angles for what lies hidden and shoots at what flies high. The method of immortality requires extending love even to wriggling worms and harming nothing that holds the breath of life; but a ruler has blazing rages and executions that mow men down: with a wave of the yellow axe and one granting of the executioner's blade, corpses lie for a thousand leagues and blood flows in torrents, while the cutting and severing punishments go on unbroken in the marketplace. The method of immortality requires cutting off rank odors, halting grain and clearing the bowels; but a ruler boils the fat and slaughters the plump, butchers herds of living things, blends the eight delicacies and hundred flavors, and sets before himself a feast a whole length square, simmering peony sauces and eating fine flavors to satiety. The method of immortality requires spreading love over the eight reaches and looking on other men as on oneself; but a ruler swallows the weak and attacks the benighted, seizes amid disorder and topples the nearly fallen, opens up land and stretches his borders, destroys other men's altars of soil and grain, drives the living together and hurls them into deadly ground—lonely souls in far-off wastes, corpses left bare to rot in the fields, armies of bloody blades beyond the Five Ranges, the heads of Dayuan hanging at the Northern Gate, burying the living and slaughtering the surrendered by the hundred thousand at a stroke, piling the grand mound and sealing in the corpses until it rises to the clouds, exposed bones strewn like weeds, paving the ridges and filling the valleys. Qin Shi Huang made nine houses in ten wish to rebel; Emperor Wu of Han left the whole realm wailing and the registered households halved. If prayers bring benefit, then curses bring harm. If the ghost that bound the grass knew to repay kindness, then sacrifices performed as mere form must summon resentment. All these vexations assault the vitals of such men; men and ghosts together hate them with poison. Those two rulers bore the empty name of loving immortality without the substance of cultivating the Way; even the shallow things they knew they could not carry out, and the deepest secrets they could not hear. Nor did they obtain men of the Way to compound the immortal medicine for them. That they never won long life is nothing to wonder at.

吾徒匹夫，加之罄困，家有長卿壁立之貧，腹懷翳桑絕糧之餒，冬抱戎夷後門之寒，夏有儒仲環堵之映，欲經遠而乏舟車之用，欲有營而無代勞之役，入無綺紈之娛，出無遊觀之歡，甘旨不經乎口，玄黃不過乎目，芬芳不歷乎鼻，八音不關乎耳，百憂攻其心曲，眾難萃其門庭，居世如此，可無戀也。

I am but a commoner, and moreover poor and empty to the last. At home I have the poverty of Sima Changqing, whose rooms were nothing but bare walls; in my belly the hunger of the starving man of Yisang, whose grain ran out; in winter the cold of Rong Yi shut out beyond the gate; in summer the glare of Wang Ruzhong's ring of earthen walls. I wish to travel far but lack the fare for boat and carriage; I wish to build something but have no servant to labor in my place; indoors no pleasure of silk and satin, outdoors no joy of roaming sights; sweetness never passes the mouth, fine colors never meet the eye, fragrance never reaches the nose, the eight sounds never touch the ear; a hundred cares assault the heart's recesses and every hardship gathers at the gate. Dwelling in the world like this, one may well leave it with nothing to regret.

或得要道之訣，或值不群之師，而猶恨恨於老妻弱子，眷眷於狐兔之丘，遲遲以臻殂落，日月不覺衰老，知長生之可得而不能修，患流俗之臭鼠而不能委。何者？愛習之情卒難遣，而絕俗之志未易果也。況彼二帝，四海之主，其所耽玩者，非一條也，其所親倖者，至不少矣。正使之為旬月之齋，數日閒居，猶將不能，況乎內棄婉孌之寵，外捐赫奕之尊，口斷甘餚，心絕所欲，背榮華而獨往，求神仙於幽漠，豈所堪哉？是以歷覽在昔，得仙道者，多貧賤之士，非勢位之人。又欒太所知，實自淺薄，飢渴榮貴，冒乾貨賄，衒虛妄於苟且，忘禍患於無為，區區小子之奸偽，豈足以證天下之無仙哉？昔勾踐式怒璉，戎卒爭蹈火。楚靈愛細腰，國人多餓死。齊桓嗜異味，易牙蒸其子。宋君賞瘠孝，毀歿者比屋。人主所欲，莫有不至。漢武招求方士，寵待過厚，致令斯輩，敢為虛誕耳。欒太若審有道者，安可得煞乎？夫有道者，視爵位如湯鑊，見印綬如縗絰，視金玉如土糞，睹華堂如牢獄。豈當扼腕空言，以僥倖榮華，居丹楹之室，受不訾之賜，帶五利之印，尚公主之貴，耽淪勢利，不知止足，實不得道，斷可知矣。按董仲舒所撰李少君家錄云，少君有不死之方，而家貧無以市其藥物，故出於漢，以假塗求其財，道成而去。又按漢禁中起居注云，少君之將去也，武帝夢與之共登嵩高山，半道，有使者乘龍持節，從雲中下。雲太乙請少君。帝覺，以語左右曰，如我之夢，少君將舍我去矣。數日，而少君稱病死。久之，帝令人發其棺，無屍，唯衣冠在焉。按仙經云，上士舉形升虛，謂之天仙。中士遊於名山，謂之地仙。下士先死後蛻，謂之尸解仙。今少君必尸解者也。近世壺公將費長房去。及道士李意期將兩弟子去，皆託卒，死，家殯埋之。積數年，而長房來歸。又相識人見李意期將兩弟子皆在郫縣。

Some obtain the formula of the essential Way, some meet a teacher beyond compare, yet still they harbor regret over an old wife and weak children, still cling fondly to the mounds where foxes and hares make their homes, delay and delay until death, while days and months imperceptibly wear them old. They know long life can be won yet cannot cultivate it; they loathe the vulgar crowd as a stinking rat yet cannot let it go. Why? The affections bred by love and habit are hard in the end to dismiss, and the resolve to quit the world is not easily carried through. How much more those two emperors, masters of the four seas: what they doted on was not of one kind, and those they kept near in favor were very many. Even to make them keep a fast of ten days or a month, to dwell in quiet for a few days, could not be done—still less to cast away within the sweet loves they cherished, to relinquish without the blazing dignity of the throne, to cut fine dishes from the mouth and cut desires from the heart, to turn their backs on glory and go off alone to seek the divine immortals in the silent wastes—how could they have borne it? Therefore, surveying the past, those who won the way of the immortals were mostly poor and lowly men, not men of power and place. Moreover, what Luan Da knew was truly shallow: he hungered and thirsted for glory and rank, recklessly sought goods and bribes, flaunted falsehood amid shiftiness and forgot calamity in doing nothing—the petty frauds of a paltry fellow. How could they prove that there are no immortals under heaven? In old days Goujian bowed upon the crossbar to salute an angry frog, and his soldiers vied to walk into fire; King Ling of Chu loved slender waists, and many of his people starved to death; Duke Huan of Qi craved strange flavors, and Yi Ya steamed his own son; the lord of Song rewarded those who wasted away in filial mourning, and families were destroyed one after another. What a ruler wants, there is nothing he fails to get. Emperor Wu of Han summoned the masters of methods and favored them too richly, and so merely brought it about that such men dared hollow and preposterous deeds. If Luan Da truly had the Way, how could he have been put to death? A man who has the Way looks on rank as a boiling cauldron, sees seals and ribbons as mourning dress, regards gold and jade as dung, and beholds fine halls as prison pens. How could he wring his hands over empty talk, hoping by luck for glory, dwell in a house of vermilion pillars, receive rewards beyond measure, carry the seal of the General of Five Benefits, take the honor of wedding a princess, drown in power and profit, and never know enough? That he truly had not won the Way may be known with certainty. According to the Household Records of Li Shaojun compiled by Dong Zhongshu, Shaojun possessed the recipe of deathlessness; his family was poor and had no money to buy the ingredients, so he came to the Han seeking goods by this road, intending to leave once the work was done. And according to the palace Diaries of Activity and Repose, when Shaojun was about to depart, Emperor Wu dreamed that together they climbed Mount Songgao; halfway up, a messenger riding a dragon and bearing a tally came down out of the clouds and said that the Grand One invited Shaojun. The emperor awoke and told his attendants: by this dream of mine, Shaojun is going to leave me. Within days Shaojun reported illness and died. Long afterward the emperor had his coffin opened: there was no corpse, only his cap and clothes remained. The immortal classics say that a superior man ascends into the void body and all, and is called a celestial immortal; a middling one roams the famed mountains and is called an earthly immortal; an inferior one first dies and then sloughs off, and is called a corpse-freed immortal. Shaojun must surely have been freed by means of the corpse. In recent times Hu Gong took Fei Changfang away, and the Daoist Li Yiqi took his two disciples away; both made it seem they had died suddenly, and their families buried them. Several years later Changfang returned, and acquaintances saw Li Yiqi together with his two disciples, all in Pi County.

其家各發棺視之，三棺遂有竹杖一枚，以丹書於枚，此皆尸解者也。

(He continues:) Each family then opened its coffin to look, and in the three coffins there was in each a single bamboo staff with writing in cinnabar upon it—these had all been freed by means of the corpse.

昔王莽引典墳以飾其邪，不可謂儒者，皆為篡盜也。相如因鼓琴以竊文君，不可謂雅樂主於淫佚也。噎死者不可譏神農之播谷，燒死者不可怒燧人之鑽火，覆溺者不可怨帝軒之造舟，酗■者不可非杜儀之為酒。豈可以欒太之邪偽，謂仙道之果無乎？是猶見趙高董卓，便謂古無伊周霍光。見商臣冒頓，而云古無伯奇孝己也。又神仙集中有召神劾鬼之法，又有使人見鬼之術。俗人聞之，皆謂虛文。或雲天下無鬼神，或雲有之，亦不可劾召。或雲見鬼者，在男為覡，在女為巫，當須自然，非可學而得。按漢書及太史公記皆雲齊人少翁，武帝以為文成將軍。武帝所幸李夫人死，少翁能令武帝見之如生人狀。又令武帝見灶神，此史籍之明文也。夫方術既令鬼見其形，又令本不見鬼者見鬼，推此而言，其餘亦何所不有也。鬼神數為人間作光怪變異，又經典所載，多鬼神之據，俗人尚不信天下之有神鬼，況乎仙人居高處遠，清濁異流，登遐遂往，不返於世，非得道者，安能見聞。而儒墨之家知此不可以訓，故終不言其有焉。俗人之不信，不亦宜乎？惟有識真者，校練眾方，得其徵驗，審其必有，可獨知之耳，不可強也。故不見鬼神，不見仙人，不可謂世閒無仙人也。人無賢愚，皆知己身之有魂魄，魂魄分去則人病，盡去則人死。故分去則術家有拘錄之法，盡去則禮典有招呼之義，此之為物至近者也。然與人俱生，至乎終身，莫或有自聞見之者也。豈可遂以不聞見之，又云無之乎？若夫輔氏報施之鬼，成湯怒齊之靈，申生交言於狐子，杜伯報恨於周宣，彭生託形於玄豕，如意假貌於蒼狗，灌夫守田鼢，子義掊燕簡，蓐收之降於莘，欒侯之止民家，素姜之說讖緯，孝孫之著文章，神君言於上林，羅陽仕於吳朝，鬼神之事，著於竹帛，昭昭如此，不可勝數。然而蔽者猶謂無之，況長生之事，世所希聞乎！

In old days Wang Mang cited the canons and records to gloss over his wickedness, yet one cannot say all Confucians are usurpers and thieves. Sima Xiangru used his lute-playing to trick Zhuo Wenjun away, yet one cannot say the essence of elegant music lies in wanton license. A man who chokes to death is no grounds to mock Shennong for sowing the hundred grains; a man who burns to death is no grounds to resent Suiren for drilling fire; a man drowned when his boat overturned is no grounds to blame the Yellow Emperor for making boats; a man ruined by drink (the base text has a damaged character here) is no grounds to condemn Du Kang and Yi Di for inventing wine. How then can one, because of Luan Da's wicked fraud, say that the way of the immortals really does not exist? That is like seeing Zhao Gao and Dong Zhuo and declaring that in antiquity there were no Yi Yin, Duke of Zhou, or Huo Guang; or seeing Shangchen and Modun and declaring that in antiquity there were no Boqi or Xiaoji. Moreover, the Shenxian ji contains methods for summoning spirits and impeaching ghosts, and arts for letting men see ghosts. When vulgar men hear of these they call them empty words. Some say there are no ghosts and spirits under heaven; others say there are, but they cannot be impeached and summoned; others say that those who can see ghosts are, among men, called xi and among women, wu, and must be so by nature—it cannot be learned. Now the Hanshu and the Grand Historian's records both tell of Shaoweng of Qi, whom Emperor Wu made the General of Perfect Letters. When Lady Li, whom the emperor favored, died, Shaoweng could make the emperor see her in the likeness of the living, and he also made the emperor see the god of the stove—this is plain text in the histories. If an art can make a ghost show its form, and can make those who could not see ghosts see them, then by inference, what else could fail to exist? Ghosts and spirits have repeatedly wrought eerie portents among men, and the classics carry much evidence of them, yet vulgar men still do not believe ghosts and spirits exist under heaven. Still less the immortals, who dwell high and lodge far, whose clear current does not mingle with the turbid, who mount the distance and go far, never returning to the human world—who but a man who has won the Way could see or hear them? And the Confucian and Mohist schools, knowing these things cannot serve to instruct the age, never spoke of their existence from first to last. That the vulgar do not believe—how could it be otherwise? Only those who discern the true, who test and practice the various arts and obtain verification, judge that the thing must exist; it can be known to oneself alone and cannot be forced upon others. So: not seeing ghosts and spirits, not seeing immortals, does not warrant saying there are no immortals in the world. All men, worthy or foolish, know that they carry hun and po souls; when the souls part from them they fall ill, and when they depart entirely they die. Thus when they part, the masters of method have their arts for holding and recalling; when they depart entirely, the canons of ritual have their duty of calling and summoning—this is a thing of the nearest kind. Yet the souls are born with a man and abide until death, and no one has ever seen or heard them for himself. May one then, because they have never been heard or seen, say they do not exist? As for the ghost at Fushi who repaid kindness, the spirit of Cheng Tang that raged at Qi, Shensheng conversing with Hu Tu, Du Bo avenging himself on King Xuan of Zhou, Peng Sheng lodging his form in a black boar, Ruyi borrowing the guise of a gray dog, Guan Fu dogging Tian Fen, Zhuang Ziyi striking Duke Jian of Yan, Rushou descending at Shen, the spirit-marquis of Luan lodging at a family's home, Sujiang uttering prophecies, Xiaosun composing texts, the god-lord speaking in Shanglin park, Luoyang holding office at the Wu court—matters of ghosts and spirits written on bamboo and silk are plain like this and past all counting. Yet the benighted still say there are none—how much less a matter like long life, of which the world has rarely heard!

望使必信，是令蚊虻負山，與井蟆論海也。俗人未嘗見龍麟鸞鳳，乃謂天下無有此物，以為古人虛設瑞應，欲令人主自勉不息，冀致斯珍也。況於令人之信有仙人乎！

To insist that men must believe is to make mosquitoes and gadflies carry mountains, to discuss the sea with a frog at the bottom of a well. Vulgar men have never seen dragon, unicorn, luan-bird, or phoenix, and so declare that none such exist under heaven, supposing the ancients invented auspicious omens to make the rulers strive without ceasing and hope thereby to summon such rare creatures—how much harder to make men believe in the existence of immortals!

世人以劉向作金不成，便謂索隱行怪，好傳虛無，所撰列仙，皆復妄作。悲夫！此所謂以分寸之瑕，棄盈尺之夜光，以蟻鼻之缺，捐無價之淳鈞，非荊和之遠識，風胡之賞真也。斯朱公所以鬱悒，薛燭所以永嘆矣。夫作金皆在神仙集中，淮南王抄出，以作鴻寶枕中書，雖有其文，然皆秘其要文，必須口訣，臨文指解，然後可為耳。其所用藥，復多改其本名，不可按之便用也。劉向父德治淮南王獄中所得此書，非為師授也。向本不解道術，偶偏見此書，便謂其意盡在紙上，是以作金不成耳。至於撰列仙傳，自刪秦大夫阮倉書中出之，或所親見，然後記之，非妄言也。狂夫童謠，聖人所擇。芻蕘之言，或不可遺。採葑採菲，無以下體，豈可以百慮之一失，而謂經典之不可用，以日月曾蝕之故，而謂懸象非大明哉？外國作水精碗，實是合五種灰以作之。今交廣多有得其法而鑄作之者。今以此語俗人，俗人殊不肯信。乃雲水精本自然之物，玉石之類。況於世間，幸有自然之金，俗人當何信其有可作之理哉？愚人乃不信黃丹及胡粉，是化鉛所作。又不信騾及駏驉，是驢馬所生。雲物各自有種。況乎難知之事哉？夫所見少，則所怪多，世之常也。信哉此言，其事雖天之明，而人處覆甑之下，焉識至言哉？”

Because Liu Xiang failed at making gold, the world says he chased the recondite and practiced the outlandish, loved transmitting things of emptiness and nothing, and that the immortals he compiled were likewise fabrications. How pitiful! This is what is meant by throwing away a foot-wide night-glowing pearl for a speck of flaw, discarding the priceless Chungou sword for a nick the size of an ant's nose—it is not the far sight of a Bian He, not the eye for the genuine of a Fenghu. This is why Master Zhu grieved and Xue Zhu sighed long. The recipes for making gold are all in the Shenxian ji; the Prince of Huainan copied them out and made the Hongbao zhenzhong shu. But though the text exists, its essential passages are concealed: one must have the oral formula, pointing at the text and explaining it, before the thing can be done; and the ingredients used have mostly been renamed and cannot be taken at face value. Liu Xiang's father Liu De obtained the book while conducting the Prince of Huainan's trial—it was not received from a teacher. Xiang did not understand the arts of the Way; happening to see one part of the book, he thought its meaning lay wholly on the page, and so his gold-making failed. As for compiling the Liexian zhuan, it was abridged from the book of the Qin grandee Ruan Cang, or else set down after he had seen the thing himself—it is not wild talk. From the rhymes of madmen even sages still choose; the words of woodcutters may sometimes not be thrown away. In picking feng and fei greens, do not toss the plant aside because the root is coarse. How could one, for one miss in a hundred reckonings, declare the classics unusable, or because sun and moon have suffered eclipse, declare that the images hung in the sky are not greatly bright? Foreign lands make crystal bowls; in fact they are made by fusing five kinds of ash, and nowadays many in Jiao and Guang provinces have obtained that method and cast them. Tell this to vulgar men and they will not believe it at all—crystal, they insist, is a natural thing, of the jade kind. Still less, since the world happens to have natural gold, can vulgar men be made to believe it can be made by art. Fools do not even believe that minium and Hu powder are made by transforming lead, nor that the mule and the juxu are born of donkey and horse—they say each creature has its own kind. How much less things that are hard to know! The less a man has seen, the more he marvels at: this is the constant way of the world. That saying can be trusted: though those matters are as bright as the sky, a man under an overturned pot cannot recognize words of the utmost truth."

或人難曰：“人中之有老彭，猶木中之有松柏，稟之自然，何可學得乎？”抱朴子曰：“夫陶冶造化，莫靈於人。故達其淺者，則能役用萬物，得其深者，則能長生久視。知上藥之延年，故服其藥以求仙。知龜鶴之遐壽，故效其道引以增年。且夫松柏枝葉，與眾木則別。龜鶴體貌，與眾蟲則殊。至於彭老猶是人耳，非異類而壽獨長者，由於得道，非自然也。眾木不能法松柏，諸蟲不能學龜鶴，是以短折耳。人有明哲，能修彭老之道，則可與之同功矣。若謂世無仙人乎，然前哲所記，近將千人，皆有姓字，及有施為本末，非虛言也。若謂彼皆特稟異氣，然其相傳皆有師奉服食，非生知也。若道術不可學得，則變易形貌，吞刀吐火，坐在立亡，興雲起霧，召致蟲蛇，合聚魚鱉，三十六石立化為水，消玉為臺，潰金為漿，入淵不沾，蹴刃不傷，幻化之事，九百有餘，按而行之，無不皆效，何為獨不肯信仙之可得乎！仙道遲成，多所禁忌。自無超世之志，強力之才，不能守之。其或頗好心疑，中道而廢，便謂仙道長生，果不可得耳。仙經曰，服丹守一，與天相畢，還精胎息，延壽無極。此皆至道要言也。民間君子，猶內不負心，外不愧影，上不欺天，下不食言，豈況古之真人，寧當虛造空文，以必不可得之事，誑誤將來，何所索乎！苟無其命，終不肯信，亦安可強令信哉！”

Someone objected: "Among men there are Laozi and Pengzu, just as among trees there are pines and cypresses—they received it from nature, so how could it be learned?" Baopuzi said: "In the molding and firing of creation, nothing is more numinous than man. So those who penetrate its shallows can command the myriad things; those who reach its depths can live long and see far. Knowing that the highest-grade medicines lengthen the years, men take those medicines to seek immortality; knowing that tortoises and cranes live far into the years, they imitate their daoyin exercises to add to their own. Moreover, the limbs and foliage of pine and cypress differ from other trees; the form and look of tortoise and crane differ from other creatures. But Pengzu and Laozi are still men—no separate kind that alone lives long. It is because they obtained the Way, not because they were naturally so. Other trees cannot imitate pine and cypress, and other creatures cannot learn from tortoise and crane—hence they die early. Man, possessing clear intelligence, can cultivate the way of Peng and Lao and so share their achievement. If you say there are no immortals in the world, yet what former sages recorded comes to nearly a thousand men, all with surnames and given names and the course of their deeds from beginning to end—not empty words. If you say they were all specially endowed with an extraordinary qi, yet by tradition each had a teacher he served and preparations he took—they did not know it from birth. If you say the arts of the Way cannot be learned, then what of changing one's shape and features, swallowing blades and breathing fire, being present while seated and gone while standing, raising clouds and brewing mist, summoning worms and snakes, gathering fish and turtles, instantly melting the thirty-six minerals to water, dissolving jade into syrup, breaking gold down to slurry, entering the depths without getting wet, treading on blades without being cut—the nine hundred and more feats of transformation, which performed as directed never fail? Why alone refuse to believe that immortality can be won? The way of the immortals ripens slowly and has many taboos; without a will beyond the world's and the strength of great ability, one cannot hold to it. Some harbor considerable doubt and give up halfway, then declare that the way of long life truly cannot be won. The immortal classics say: take the cinnabar and guard the One, and you come to an end only when heaven does; return the essence and breathe like the fetus, and your lengthened years have no limit. These are the essential words of the utmost Way. Even gentlemen among the common folk inwardly do not betray their hearts, outwardly are not ashamed before their own shadows, above do not deceive heaven, and below do not break their word—how much less the true men of antiquity! Would they have fabricated empty writings to mislead posterity with things utterly unattainable—and what would they have sought by it? If a man lacks that destiny, in the end he will not be willing to believe—how then could he be forced to believe?"

或難曰：“龜鶴長壽，蓋世閒之空言耳，誰與二物終始相隨而得知之也。”抱朴子曰：“苟得其要，則八極之外，如在指掌，百代之遠，有若同時，不必在乎庭宇之左右，俟乎瞻視之所及，然後知之也。玉策記曰，千歲之龜，五色具焉，其額上兩骨起似角，解人之言，浮於蓮葉之上，或在叢蓍之下，其上時有白雲蟠蛇。千歲之鶴，隨時而鳴，能登於木，其未千載者，終不集於樹上也，色純白而腦盡成丹。如此則見，便可知也。然物之老者多智，率皆深藏邃處，故人少有見之耳。按玉策記及昌宇經，不但此二物之壽也。雲千歲松樹，四邊披越，上杪不長，望而視之，有如偃蓋，其中有物，或如青牛，或如青羊，或如青犬，或如青人，皆壽萬歲。又云，蛇有無窮之壽，獮猴壽八百歲變為猿，猿壽五百歲變為玃。玃壽千歲。蟾蜍壽三千歲，騏驎壽二千歲。騰黃之馬，吉光之獸，皆壽三千歲。千歲之鳥，萬歲之禽，皆人面而鳥身，壽亦如其名。虎及鹿兔，皆壽千歲，壽滿五百歲者，其毛色白。熊壽五百歲者，則能變化。狐狸豺狼，皆壽八百歲。滿五百歲，則善變為人形。鼠壽三百歲，滿百歲則色白，善憑人而卜，名曰仲，能知一年中吉凶及千里外事。如此比例，不可具載。但博識者觸物能名，洽聞者理無所惑耳。何必常與龜鶴周旋，乃可知乎？苟不識物，則園中草木，田池禽獸，猶多不知，況乎巨異者哉？史記龜策傳云：江淮閒居人為兒時，以龜枝床，至後老死，家人移床，而龜故生。此亦不減五六十歲也，不飲不食，如此之久而不死，其與凡物不同亦遠矣，亦復何疑於千歲哉？仙經象龜之息，豈不有以乎？

Someone objected: 'The long life of tortoises and cranes is probably just an idle saying of the world — who has ever accompanied either of these creatures from beginning to end and so come to know it?' Baopuzi said: 'Once one holds the essentials, what lies beyond the eight limits is as though in the palm of one's hand, and a hundred generations away is as though the same moment; one need not keep to the courtyard and wait for it to come within view before knowing it. The Jade Register (Yuce Ji) says that a tortoise of a thousand years has all five colours complete, two bones on its brow rise up like horns, it understands human speech, floats upon lotus leaves or rests beneath thickets of yarrow, and above it white clouds are often coiling like a snake. A crane of a thousand years calls at the proper season and can climb into trees — those not yet a thousand years old never gather in trees; its colour is pure white and its brain has all turned cinnabar-red. Seen in this way, one can know. But creatures grown old are mostly wise and keep hidden deep away, so men seldom see them. According to the Jade Register and the Changyu Classic, these two are not the only long-lived beings. It says that a pine of a thousand years spreads its branches on all sides, its tip ceasing to grow, and seen afar resembles a resting carriage-canopy; within it are creatures, some like blue oxen, some like blue sheep, some like blue dogs, some like blue men, all living ten thousand years. It also says that snakes have a life without limit; a macaque at eight hundred years becomes an ape, an ape at five hundred becomes a jue (a great ape), and a jue lives a thousand years. The toad lives three thousand years, the qilin two thousand. The Tenghuang horse and the Jiguang beast each live three thousand years. The thousand-year birds and ten-thousand-year fowl all have human faces and bird bodies, their spans being as their names declare. Tigers, deer and hares each live a thousand years; at a full five hundred their hair turns white. Bears of five hundred years can then transform. Foxes, jackals and wolves each live eight hundred years; at a full five hundred they become skilled at taking human shape. Rats live three hundred years; at a full hundred they turn white, are skilled at possessing people to give oracles — called Zhong — and can know the fortune and misfortune of a whole year and matters a thousand li away. Categories like these cannot be recorded one by one. A man of broad knowledge simply names each thing he meets, and a man of wide experience has no doubts in principle. Why must one keep constant company with tortoises and cranes to know it? If one does not know things, then of the grasses and trees in a garden and the birds and beasts of field and pond there is still much unknown — how much more of the vast and strange! The "Account of Tortoise and Yarrow" in the Records of the Historian says that a man between the Yangzi and the Huai, as a child, propped his bed with a tortoise; when he later died of old age, the family moved the bed and the tortoise was still alive. That cannot have been less than fifty or sixty years; neither drinking nor eating and enduring so long without dying, it was already far enough removed from common creatures — why then doubt a thousand years? That the classics of immortals take their pattern from the tortoise's breathing is hardly without cause.'

故太丘長潁川陳仲弓，篤論士也，撰異聞記云，其郡人張廣定者，遭亂常避地，有一女年四歲，不能步涉，又不可擔負，計棄之固當餓死，不欲令其骸骨之露，村口有古大冢，上巔先有穿穴，乃以器盛縋之，下此女於冢中，以數月許乾飯及水漿與之而捨去。候世平定，其間三年，廣定乃得還鄉里，欲收冢中所棄女骨，更殯埋之。廣定往視，女故坐冢中，見其父母，猶識之甚喜。而父母猶初恐其鬼也，父下入就之，乃知其不死。問之從何得食，女言糧初盡時甚飢，見冢角有一物，伸頸吞氣，試效之，轉不復飢，日月為之，以至於今。父母去時所留衣被，自在冢中，不行往來，衣服不敗，故不寒凍。廣定乃索女所言物，乃是一大龜耳。女出食谷，初小腹痛嘔逆，久許乃習，此又足以知龜有不死之法，及為道者效之，可與龜同年之驗也。史遷與仲弓，皆非妄說者也。天下之蟲鳥多矣，而古人獨舉斯二物者，明其獨有異於眾故也，睹一隅則可以悟之矣。”

(Baopuzi continued:) So Chen Zhonggong of Yingchuan, Grand Chief of Taiqiu — a scholar steadfast in judgment — wrote in his Record of Strange Matters (Yiwen Ji) that in his commandery there was a man named Zhang Guangding who, amid the troubles, often had to flee for refuge. He had a daughter of four who could neither walk far nor be carried; he reckoned that to abandon her meant she would surely starve, yet he did not want her bones left exposed. At the village entrance stood an ancient tomb whose top had an opening bored through it, so he set her in a vessel and lowered her down, placing the girl inside the tomb, and gave her several months' dried rice and water, then left her and went away. When the world had settled again — three years had passed in between — Guangding was at last able to return home, meaning to gather the bones of the girl left in the tomb and bury them elsewhere. When he looked, the girl was still sitting in the tomb; seeing her parents, she even recognised them and was overjoyed. The parents at first feared she was a ghost; the father went down close to her and only then knew she was not dead. Asked where she had obtained food, the girl said that when the grain had just run out she was very hungry; she saw at the corner of the tomb a creature stretching its neck and swallowing breath, tried to imitate it, and gradually was no longer hungry; she had done so day after day until now. The clothing and bedding her parents had left when they went away — she stayed in the tomb without walking to and fro, so her clothes had not worn out, and she suffered no cold or frost. Guangding looked for the creature of which the girl spoke: it turned out to be a great tortoise. When the girl came out and ate grain, at first her belly ached and she retched; only after a long while did she grow used to it. This again suffices to know that the tortoise has a method of not dying, and is a proof that one who practises the Way, by imitating it, can live the same years as the tortoise. Sima Qian and Chen Zhonggong were not men given to wild talk. The insects and birds under heaven are legion; that the ancients singled out these two creatures shows that they alone stand marked out from the rest — see one corner and one may infer the whole.'

或難曰：“龜能土蟄，鶴能天飛，使人為須臾之蟄，有頃刻之飛，猶尚不能，其壽安可學乎？”抱朴子答曰：“蟲之能蟄者多矣，鳥之能飛者饒矣，而獨舉龜鶴有長生之壽者，其所以不死者，不由蟄與飛也。是以真人但令學其道引以延年，法其食氣以絕谷，不學其土蟄與天飛也。夫得道者，上能竦身於雲霄，下能潛泳於川海。是以蕭史偕翔鳳以凌虛，琴高乘朱鯉於深淵，斯其驗也。何但須臾之蟄，須刻之飛而已乎！龍蛇蛟螭，狙猥鼉□，皆能竟冬不食，不食之時，乃肥於食時也。莫得其法。且夫一致之善者，物多勝於人，不獨龜鶴也。故太昊師蜘蛛而結網，金天據九鳸以正時，帝軒俟鳳鳴以調律，唐堯觀蓂莢以知月，歸終知往，乾鵲知來，魚伯識水旱之氣，蜉蝣曉潛泉之地，白狼知殷家之興，鸑鷟見周家之盛，龜鶴偏解導養，不足怪也。且仙經長生之道，有數百事，但有遲速煩要耳，不必皆法龜鶴也。上士用思遐邈，自然玄暢，難以愚俗之近情，而推神仙之遠旨。”

Someone objected: 'The tortoise can hide away in the earth, the crane can fly in the sky; ask a man to hide for a moment or to fly for an instant and he cannot even do that — how then can their long life be learned?' Baopuzi answered: 'Insects that can hibernate are many and birds that can fly are many, yet tortoise and crane alone are cited for the long life in which they do not die — and the reason they do not die is not the hiding or the flying. So the Perfected have us learn their daoyin stretching-and-breathing to lengthen our years and imitate their swallowing of qi to give up grain; they do not have us learn their earthen hiding or their flight in the sky. One who has attained the Way can rear himself up to the clouds above or dive and swim the rivers and seas below. Thus Xiao Shi mounted the void together with his soaring phoenix and Qin Gao rode a red carp into the deep — these are the attestations. How should it stop at a moment's hiding or an instant's flight? Dragons, snakes, jiao and chi flood-dragons, apes, and alligators (one character damaged in the base text) can all go without food the whole winter through, and while not eating they are actually fatter than when they eat — yet no one has obtained that method of theirs. Moreover each creature has one special gift, and there are many ways in which the animals surpass man — not tortoise and crane alone. So Taihao took the spider for his teacher and knotted nets; the Jintian clan relied on the nine hu birds to set the seasons in order; the Yellow Emperor waited upon the phoenix's song to tune the pitch-pipes; Tang Yao watched the mingjia calendar-plant to know the months; Guizhong knows what has gone and the Qian magpie knows what is coming; the Fish Elder reads the qi of flood and drought and the mayfly knows the ground of hidden springs; the White Wolf foreknew that the house of Yin would rise and the yuezhuo bird's appearing marked the greatness of the house of Zhou. That tortoise and crane happen to understand the nurture that leads life along is no cause for wonder. Besides, the Way of long life in the classics of immortals comprises several hundred methods — only some slower and some quicker, some laborious and some essential; one need not in all things imitate tortoise and crane. The highest scholar sets his thoughts far and distant and is by nature in mysterious accord; one cannot use the shallow feelings of the foolish and vulgar to measure the far-reaching intent of gods and immortals.'

或曰，“我等不知今人長生之理，古人何獨知之？”“此蓋愚闇之局談，非達者之用懷也。夫占天文之玄道，步七政之盈縮，論凌犯於既往，審崇替於將來，仰望雲物之徵祥，俯定卦兆之休咎，運三棋以定行軍之興亡，推九符而得禍福之分野，乘除一算，以究鬼神之情狀，錯綜六情，而處無端之善否。其根元可考也，形理可求也，而庸才近器，猶不能開學之奧治，至於樸素，徒銳思於糟粕，不能窮測其精微也。夫鑿枘之粗伎，而輪扁有不傳之妙；掇蜩之薄術，而亻區僂有入神之巧，在乎其人，由於至精也。況於神仙之道，旨意深遠，求其根莖，良未易也。松喬之徒，雖得其效，未必測其所以然也，況凡人哉？其事可學，故古人記而垂之，以傳識者耳。若心解意得，則可信而修之，其猜疑在胸，皆自其命，不當詰古人何以獨曉此，而我何以獨不知之意耶？吾今知仙之可得也，吾能休糧不食也，吾保流珠之可飛也，黃白之可求也，若責吾求其本理，則亦實復不知矣。世人若以思所能得謂之有，所不能及則謂之無，則天下之事亦鮮矣。故老子有言，以狸頭之治鼠漏，以啄木之護齲齒，此亦可以類求者也。若蟹之化漆，麻之壞酒，此不可以理推者也。萬殊紛然，何可以意極哉？設令抱危篤之疾，須良藥之救，而不肯即服，須知神農岐伯所以用此草治此病本意之所由，則未免於愚也。”

Someone said: 'We do not know the principle by which men of today may live long — why did the ancients alone know it?' Baopuzi said: 'This is, I suppose, the cramped talk of the dull and benighted, not the outlook of one who comprehends. To divine the mysterious courses of the heavens; to compute the waxing and waning of the Seven Governors; to discuss the transits and encroachments of the past; to examine the rise and fall that is to come; to look up and read the auspices of cloud-forms; to look down and fix the good and ill of hexagram and crack; to work the three divining tokens and decide whether a marching army will stand or fall; to deduce from the nine tallies the allotment of fortune and misfortune; by multiplication, division and the reckoning of units to plumb the true state of ghosts and spirits; to interweave the Six Feelings and pass judgment on good or bad that has no thread to follow — the root of all this can be investigated and its pattern sought, yet mediocre talents and narrow capacities cannot even open the esoteric order of these arts; upon mere dregs they sharpen their thoughts, unable to plumb the subtle essence. Chisel and tenon is a crude craft, yet Wheelwright Bian held in it a subtlety that could not be passed on; catching cicadas is a shallow skill, yet the hunchback had in it a knack that entered the divine (the base text's graph here is damaged; read "the hunchback"). It lay in that man, through utmost refinement. How much more so the Way of gods and immortals, whose purport is profound and far-reaching — to seek its root and stem is truly not easy. Even the likes of Master Red Pine and Wang Qiao, though they obtained the effects, did not necessarily fathom why it is so — how much less ordinary men? That the matter can be learned is why the ancients wrote it down and handed it on: to transmit it to those who would understand. If the heart is opened and the meaning grasped, one may believe it and cultivate it; when doubt lodges in the breast, that comes of each man's own allotted fate, and one should not keep demanding why the ancients alone understood this while I alone do not. I now know that immortality can be attained and I can abstain from grain and not eat; I vouch that 'flowing pearls' (mercury) can be made to ascend in flight and that the Yellow-and-White (gold and silver) can be obtained — yet if you press me for its underlying principle, that I truly do not yet know either. If the men of this world call 'existent' only what their thinking can reach and 'nonexistent' whatever it cannot, then there would be very few things under heaven. So Laozi had a saying: use a wildcat's head to cure the rat-sore and the woodpecker to guard against tooth-decay — these too can be arrived at by reasoning along the kind. But that crab makes lacquer spoil and hemp makes wine go bad cannot be deduced by reason. The myriad differences are tangled together — how could they be exhausted by the mind's intent? Suppose a man bears a grave and urgent illness for which a good medicine is needed to save him, yet refuses to take it at once, insisting that he must first know whence Shennong and Qibo drew their original intent in using this herb for this disease — he would hardly escape folly.'

或曰：“生死有命，修短素定，非彼藥物，所能損益。夫指既斬而連之，不可續也；血既灑而吞之，無所益也。豈況服彼異類之松柏，以延短促之年命，甚不然也。”抱朴子曰：“若夫此論，必須同類，乃能為益，然則既斬之指，已灑之血，本自一體，非為殊族，何以既斬之而不可續，已灑之而不中服乎！餘數見人以蛇銜膏連已斬之指，桑豆易雞鴨之足，異物之益，不可誣也。若子言不恃他物，則宜搗肉冶骨，以為金瘡之藥，煎皮熬發，以治禿鬢之疾耶？夫水土不與百卉同體，而百卉仰之以植焉。五穀非生人之類，而生人須之以為命焉。脂非火種，水非魚屬，然脂竭則火滅，水竭則魚死，伐木而寄生枯，芟草而兔絲萎，川蟹不歸而蛣敗，桑樹見斷而蠹殄，觸類而長之，斯可悟矣。金玉在九竅，則死人為之不朽。鹽滷沾於肌髓，則脯臘為之不爛，況於以宜身益命之物，納之於己，何怪其令人長生乎？”

Someone said: 'Life and death are fated; long or short, they are fixed from the start — not something those drugs can add to or subtract from. A finger already cut off and set back cannot be joined again; blood already spilled and swallowed back brings no benefit. How much less can taking pines and cypresses of another kind extend a brief span of years — that is hardly the way of things.' Baopuzi said: 'If we follow this line of talk, that only the same kind can bring benefit, then a finger already severed and blood already spilled are originally of one body with oneself, not another race — why should the severed be impossible to rejoin and the spilled unfit to take? I have repeatedly seen men reattach a severed finger with shexian ("snake-held") salve, and replace the feet of chickens and ducks with mulberry-and-bean grafts: the benefit of foreign things cannot be denied. If by your account we may not rely on other things, then should we pound flesh and smelt bone to make a medicine for blade-wounds, and decoct skin and boil hair to treat a balding temple? Water and earth are not of one body with the hundred plants, yet the hundred plants rely on them to be planted. The five grains are not of the kind of living men, yet living men need them as their life. Grease is no kin of fire and water no kin of fish, yet when grease runs dry the fire goes out and when water fails the fish dies; fell the tree and its parasitic growths wither, cut the grass and the dodder wilts; when the river crab does not come back its companion jie is ruined, and when the mulberry is cut through its borers die. Push outward along these kinds and the point may be grasped. Gold and jade placed in the nine apertures keep a dead man from decay; brine touching flesh and marrow keeps dried meat from rotting. How much more, then, when things suited to the body and beneficial to life are taken into one's own body — what wonder that they make a man long-lived?'

或難曰：“神仙方書，似是而非，將必好事者妄所造作，未必出黃老之手，經松喬之目也。”抱朴子曰：“若如雅論，宜不驗也，今試其小者，莫不效焉。餘數見人以方諸求水於夕月，陽燧引火於朝日，隱形以淪於無象，易貌以成於異物，結巾投地而兔走，針綴丹帶而蛇行，瓜果結實於須臾，龍魚瀺灂於盤盂，皆如說焉。按漢書欒太初見武帝，試令鬥棋，棋自相觸。而後漢書又載魏尚能坐在立亡，張楷能興雲起霧，皆良史所記，信而有徵，而此術事，皆在神仙之部，其非妄作可知矣。小既有驗，則長生之道，何獨不然乎！”

Someone objected: 'The recipe-books of gods and immortals seem right yet are wrong; they must surely have been fabricated by meddlesome men — they cannot have come from the hands of the Yellow Emperor and Laozi or passed before the eyes of Master Red Pine and Wang Qiao.' Baopuzi said: 'On such elevated reasoning they ought to have no effect, yet test them in small matters and none fails to work. I have repeatedly seen men draw down water with the fangzhu mirror beneath the evening moon and draw down fire with the yangsui mirror beneath the morning sun; become invisible and sink into the realm without shape; change their features and turn into alien creatures; knot a towel and cast it to the ground so that a hare bounds away; fasten a needle upon a vermilion sash so that a snake departs; melons and fruits ripen within a moment; dragons and fish sink and rise in a basin — all exactly as the books say. In the Book of Han, when Luan Tai first saw Emperor Wu he tried setting chess pieces to fight, and the pieces struck one another of themselves; the Book of the Later Han records that Wei Shang could be present while seated and vanish upon standing, and that Zhang Kai could raise clouds and mists. These were set down by good historians, trustworthy and attested, and such arts all belong to the department of gods and immortals — that they were no fabrication may thereby be known. If the small already answers to the test, why should the Way of long life alone be otherwise?'

或曰：“審其神仙可以學致，翻然凌霄，背俗棄世，烝嘗之禮，莫之修奉，先鬼有知，其不餓乎！”抱朴子曰：“蓋聞身體不傷，謂之終孝，況得仙道，長生久視，天地相畢，過於受全歸完，不亦遠乎？果能登虛躡景，雲輿霓蓋，餐朝霞之沆瀣，吸玄黃之醇精，飲則玉醴金漿，食則翠芝朱英，居則瑤堂瑰室，行則逍遙太清。先鬼有知，將蒙我榮，或可以翼亮五帝，或可以監御百靈，位可以不求而自致，膳可以咀茹華璚，勢可以總攝羅酆，威可以叱吒梁成，誠如其道，罔識其妙，亦無餓之者。得道之高，莫過伯陽。伯陽有子名宗，仕魏為將軍，有功封於段幹。然則今之學仙者，自可皆有子弟，以承祭祀，祭祀之事，何緣便絕！”

Someone said: 'If immortality can truly be attained by study, and a man suddenly soars up beyond the clouds, turning his back on custom and abandoning the world, then the zheng and chang offerings will have no one to perform them — and if the ghosts of his forebears have awareness, will they not go hungry?' Baopuzi said: 'I have heard that keeping the body unharmed is called completing one's filial duty; how much more one who gains the Way of immortals, lives long and sees far, ending only when heaven and earth themselves end — is this not far beyond merely receiving one's body whole and returning it whole? If he can truly mount the empty void and tread upon light and shadow, have clouds for chariots and rainbows for canopies, sup on the bright mists of dawn and breathe in the pure essence of the Dark and Yellow, drink jade nectar and golden liquor, eat green zhi-mushrooms and vermilion blossoms, dwell in agate halls and jeweled chambers, and roam carefree through the Grand Clarity — then if the ghosts of his forebears have awareness, they will share in his glory. He may lend winged aid to the Five Thearchs or superintend the hundred spirits; office would come to him unsought; his table would hold fine and splendid jade to chew; his power could govern all Luofeng and his awesomeness cow Liangcheng with a shout. If one truly follows that Way, then even without comprehending its subtlety there would be none left hungry. In the height of attaining the Way none surpasses Boyang (Laozi); yet Boyang had a son named Zong who served as a general of Wei and was enfeoffed at Duangan for his merit. So those who study immortality today can likewise have sons and brothers to carry on the sacrifices — by what reckoning should the matter of sacrifice ever be cut off?'

或曰：“得道之士，呼吸之術既備，服食之要又該，掩耳而聞千里，閉目而見將來，或委華駟而轡蛟龍，或棄神州而宅蓬瀛，或遲迴於流俗，逍遙於人間，不便絕跡以造玄虛，其所尚則同，其逝止或異，何也？”抱朴子答曰：“聞之先師云，仙人或昇天，或住地，要於俱長生，去留各從其所好耳。又服還丹金液之法，若且欲留在世間者，但服半劑而錄其半。若後求昇天，便盡服之。不死之事已定，無復奄忽之慮。正復且遊地上，或入名山，亦何所復憂乎？彭祖言，天上多尊官大神，新仙者位卑，所奉事者非一，但更勞苦，故不足役役於登天，而止人間八百餘年也。又云，古之得仙者，或身生羽翼，變化飛行，失人之本，更受異形，有似雀之為蛤，雉之為蜃，非人道也。人道當食甘旨，服輕暖，通陰陽，處官秩，耳目聰明，骨節堅強，顏色悅懌，老而不衰，延年久視，出處任意，寒溫風溼不能傷，鬼神眾精不能犯，五兵百毒不能中，憂喜譭譽不為累，乃為貴耳。若委棄妻子，獨處山澤，邈然斷絕人理，塊然與木石為鄰，不足多也。昔安期先生龍眉寧公修羊公陰長生，皆服金液半劑者也。其止世間，或近千年，然後去耳。篤而論之，求長生者，正惜今日之所欲耳，本不汲汲於升虛，以飛騰為勝於地上也。若幸可止家而不死者，亦何必求於速登天乎？若得仙無復住理者，復一事耳。彭祖之言，為附人情者也。”

Someone said: 'A scholar who has attained the Way — the arts of breath fully possessed and the essentials of ingestion all complete, who covering his ears can hear a thousand li and closing his eyes can see what is to come — may lay down his splendid team and go yoke a flood-dragon, or forsake the Divine Continent and dwell on Penglai and Yingzhou; or he lingers amid the common current and roams free in the world of men, not at once cutting off his tracks for the mysterious void. What they honour is the same, yet some go and some stay — why is that?' Baopuzi answered: 'I have heard my late master say that among immortals some ascend to heaven and some dwell on earth; the essential point is that all live forever — staying or going follows each one's own liking. Moreover, in the method of taking the Returned Elixir and Golden Liquor, if for the time being one wishes to remain in the world one takes only half the dose and keeps the other half; should one later seek to ascend to heaven, one swallows it all. Once the matter of not dying is settled there is no more fear of a sudden end; even if one roams the earth a while or enters some famed mountain, what more is there to worry over? Pengzu said that in heaven there are many honoured officials and great spirits, and a newly arrived immortal of low rank must serve not one but several — the toil is only greater; so it is not worth scrambling to climb the sky, and he remained among men for more than eight hundred years. It is also said that among those of old who became immortals, some grew feathers and wings upon their bodies, transformed and flew, losing their human root and taking on an alien shape — like a sparrow turning into a clam or a pheasant into an oyster — which is not the human way. The human way is to eat what is sweet and fine, wear what is light and warm, join yin and yang, hold office and rank, keep ear and eye keen and joints strong, the countenance glad, growing old yet not declining, lengthening one's years and seeing far, going out or staying in at will; cold, heat, wind and damp cannot injure; ghosts, spirits and the swarming essences cannot trespass; the five weapons and hundred poisons cannot strike; worry, joy, slander and praise cannot become a burden — this is what is precious. To cast off wife and children, dwell alone among mountains and marshes, cut off human bonds far away and sit lumpen beside trees and stones is nothing to praise. In former times Master Anqi, Dragon-Browed Lord Ning, Lord Xiuyang and Yin Changsheng were all men who took a half dose of the Golden Liquor; they lingered in the world — some for close to a thousand years — and only afterward departed. To speak plainly, those who seek long life are simply cherishing what they desire today; at heart they are not in a fever to mount the void, nor do they hold soaring aloft as better than life on earth. If by fortune one may stay at home and not die, what need is there to beg for a quick ascent to heaven? If having become an immortal there were truly no way to remain, that would be another matter. Pengzu's words were spoken to accord with human feeling.'

或問曰：“為道者當先立功德，審然否？”抱朴子答曰：“有之。按玉鈐經中篇云，立功為上，除過次之。為道者以救人危使免禍，護人疾病，令不枉死，為上功也。欲求仙者，要當以忠孝和順仁信為本。若德行不修，而但務方術，皆不得長生也。行惡事大者，司命奪紀，小過奪算，隨所犯輕重，故所奪有多少也。凡人之受命得壽，自有本數，數本多者，則紀算難盡而遲死，若所稟本少，而所犯者多，則紀算速盡而早死。又云，人慾地仙，當立三百善；欲天仙，立千二百善。若有千一百九十九善，而忽復中行一惡，則盡失前善，乃當復更起善數耳。故善不在大，惡不在小也。雖不作惡事，而口及所行之事，及責求佈施之報，便復失此一事之善，但不盡失耳。又云，積善事未滿，雖服仙藥，亦無益也。若不服仙藥，並行好事，雖未便得仙，亦可無卒死之禍矣。吾更疑彭祖之輩，善功未足，故不能昇天耳。”

Someone asked: 'Is it true that one who pursues the Way must first establish merit and virtue?' Baopuzi answered: 'There is indeed such a teaching. The middle chapter of the Yuqian Jing (Classic of the Jade Handle) says that establishing merit ranks highest, and removing transgressions comes next. For one who pursues the Way, the highest merit is to rescue men in peril, free them from calamity, protect them in illness, and keep them from wrongful death. One who wishes to seek immortality must take loyalty, filial piety, harmony, obedience, benevolence and good faith as the root. If virtue is not cultivated and one busies oneself only with recipes and arts, none can attain long life. For a great wrong the Arbiter of Fates strikes off a ji; for a small fault a suan — according to the gravity of the offence, so that what is docked is more or less. Every man receives an allotted span with a base number of its own: where the number is originally large, the ji and suan are hard to exhaust and death comes late; where the endowment is originally small and the offences many, the count runs out quickly and death comes early. It is further said that one who wishes to become an earth-immortal must establish three hundred good deeds, and one who wishes to become a heaven-immortal twelve hundred. If at eleven hundred and ninety-nine good deeds one suddenly commits a single evil amid them, all the former good is lost and the count of good deeds must begin again. So no good deed is too small to count and no evil too slight to erase it. Though one does no evil, if the mouth speaks of what one has done, or one demands recompense for a gift bestowed, the merit of that deed is again lost — only not wholly lost. It is also said that while the accumulated good deeds are not yet complete, taking the medicine of immortals brings no benefit; yet if one does not take the medicine but does good throughout, though one may not straightway gain immortality one can still be free of the calamity of a sudden death. I privately suspect that Pengzu and his like simply had not yet made their store of good works sufficient, and so could not ascend to heaven.'

抱朴子曰：餘考覽養性之書，鳩集久視之方，曾所披涉篇卷，以千計矣，莫不皆以還丹金液為大要者焉。然則此二事，蓋仙道之極也。服此而不仙，則古來無仙矣。往者上國喪亂，莫不奔播四出。餘周旋徐豫荊襄江廣數州之間，閱見流移俗道士數百人矣。或有素聞其名，乃在雲日之表者。然率相似如一，其所知見，深淺有無，不足以相傾也。雖各有數十卷書，亦未能悉解之也，為寫蓄之耳。時有知行氣及斷谷服諸草木藥法，所有方書，略為同文，無一人不有道機經，唯以此為至秘，乃雲是君喜所撰。餘告之曰，此是魏世軍督王圖所撰耳，非古人也。圖了不知大藥，正欲以行氣入室求仙，作此道機，謂道畢於此，此復是誤人之甚者也。餘問諸道士以神丹金液之事，及三皇內文召天神地祇之法，了無一人知之者，其夸誕自譽及欺人，雲己久壽。及言曾與仙人共遊者將太半矣，足以與盡微者甚鮮矣。或有頗聞金丹，而不謂今世復有得之者，皆言唯上古已度仙人，乃當曉之。或有得方外說，不得其真經。或得雜碎丹方，便謂丹法盡於此也。昔左元放於天柱山中精思，而神人授之金丹仙經，會漢末亂，不遑合作，而避地來渡江東，志欲投名山以修斯道。餘從祖仙公，又從元放受之。凡受太清丹經三卷及九鼎丹經一卷金液丹經一卷。餘師鄭君者，則餘從祖仙公之弟子也，又於從祖受之，而家貧無用買藥。餘親事之，灑掃積久，乃於馬跡山中立壇盟受之，並諸口訣訣之不書者。江東先無此書，書出於左元放，元放以授餘從祖，從祖以授鄭君，鄭君以授餘，故他道士了無知者也。然餘受之已二十餘年矣，資無擔石，無以為之，但有長嘆耳。有積金盈櫃，聚錢如山者，復不知有此不死之法。就令聞之，亦萬無一信，如何？夫飲玉臺則知漿荇之薄味，睹崑崙則覺丘垤之至卑。既覽金丹之道，則使人不欲複視小小方書。

Baopuzi said: In examining the books that nurture the inborn nature and gathering the recipes for lasting life, the scrolls I have unrolled run into the thousands, and there is none that does not take the Returned Elixir and the Golden Liquor as its main thread. These two things are the utmost of the Way of immortals; if a man could take them and not become an immortal, then there would never have been immortals at all. In former days when the Central Plain lay in ruin there was none who did not flee and scatter abroad. In my wanderings among the provinces of Xu, Yu, Jing, Xiang, Jiang and Guang I saw several hundred itinerant lay Daoists. Some I had long heard by name, their fame up among the clouds and sun; yet they were mostly all alike, and what they knew and had seen, in depth or in substance, was not enough to sway one another. Though each possessed several dozen scrolls of books, they could not comprehend them entirely — they merely copied them out and stored them away. Now and then one knew the methods of circulating qi, of abstaining from grain, of taking the various herbs and plants; all their recipe-books were more or less alike in wording, and there was not a man without the Daoji Jing (Classic of the Way's Mechanism), which they held to be the ultimate secret, even claiming it was written by Yin Xi. I told them it was merely written by Wang Tu, a military governor of the Wei era — not by a man of antiquity. Wang Tu knew nothing at all of the Great Medicine and wished only to seek immortality by circulating qi and retiring to the chamber; he made this Daoji believing the Way ended there — a work that misleads men badly indeed. When I asked the various Daoists about the Divine Elixir and Golden Liquor, and about the method in the Inner Text of the Three Sovereigns for summoning celestial spirits and earthly powers, there was not one who knew; they boasted and praised themselves and deceived others, saying they had already attained long life — and those claiming they had once roamed in company with immortals came to nearly half. Men fit to join in fathoming the subtle essence were very few. Some had heard somewhat of the Golden Elixir but did not believe anyone in the present age could obtain it, saying only the immortals of high antiquity who had already crossed beyond the world could know it. Some obtained stray sayings from beyond the recipes but not the genuine classic; some got hold of scattered fragmentary elixir recipes and fancied the elixir methods ended there. In former days Zuo Yuanfang was in deep meditation on Mount Tianzhu when a divine man bestowed on him the golden-elixir scripture of the immortals; overtaken by the disorders at the end of Han he had no time to compound and fire it, so he fled south across the Yangzi, his intent being to retire to a famed mountain and cultivate that Way. My granduncle the Immortal Lord received it from Yuanfang — altogether he received the Taiqing Elixir Classic in three scrolls, the Nine Tripods Elixir Classic in one scroll and the Golden Liquor Elixir Classic in one scroll. My teacher Master Zheng was a disciple of my granduncle the Immortal Lord and received them from him; his family was poor and had no money to buy the drugs. I attended him in person, sprinkling and sweeping for a long time, before he raised an altar on Mount Maji and, under sworn covenant, imparted them to me, together with the oral formulas that are never written down. East of the river these books did not exist before; the books came from Zuo Yuanfang, who transmitted them to my granduncle, my granduncle to Master Zheng, and Master Zheng to me — which is why no other Daoists know them at all. Yet I have held them now for more than twenty years, without so much as a dan of goods, and have had no means to carry them out — I can only heave long sighs. There are men whose chests overflow with heaped gold and whose cash is piled like mountains, who on the contrary do not know that this undying method exists; and even were they to hear of it, not one in ten thousand would believe — what is to be done? One who has drunk at the Jade Terrace knows how thin is the taste of broth and mallows; one who has seen Kunlun feels a little mound is lowly indeed. Having once beheld the Way of the Golden Elixir, a man no longer wishes to look at the petty recipe-books.

然大藥難卒得辦，當須且將御小者以自支持耳。然服他藥萬斛，為能有小益，而終不能使人遂長生也。故老子之訣言云，子不得還丹金液，虛自苦耳。夫五穀猶能活人，人得之則生，絕之則死，又況於上品之神藥，其益人豈不萬倍於五穀耶？夫金丹之為物，燒之愈久，變化愈妙。黃金入火，百鍊不消，埋之，畢天不朽。服此二物，煉人身體，故能令人不老不死。此蓋假求於外物以自堅固，有如脂之養火而不可滅，銅青塗腳，入水不腐，此是借銅之勁以扞其肉也。金丹入身中，霑洽榮衛，非但銅青之外傅矣。世間多不信至道者，則悠悠者皆是耳。然萬一時偶有好事者，而復不見此法，不值明師，無由聞天下之有斯妙事也。餘今略鈔金丹之都較，以示後之同志好之者。其勤求之，求之不可守淺近之方，而謂之足以度世也。遂不遇之者，直當息意於無窮之冀耳。想見其說，必自知出潢汙而浮滄海，背螢燭而向日月，聞雷霆而覺布鼓之陋，見巨鯨而知寸介之細也。如其嘍嘍，無所先入，欲以弊藥必規升騰者，何異策蹇驢而追迅風，棹藍舟而濟大川乎？

Yet the Great Medicine is hard to have ready at short notice, and one should meanwhile sustain oneself with the lesser. But though one took ten thousand hu of other drugs they can only give small benefit — in the end they cannot make a man live forever. So Laozi's formula says: if you cannot obtain the Returned Elixir and Golden Liquor, you are toiling yourself in vain. Even the five grains can keep a man alive — obtain them and he lives, cut them off and he dies; how much more so the divine medicine of the highest grade, whose benefit to man is surely ten-thousandfold that of the grains. The longer the Golden Elixir substance is fired, the subtler its transformations. Gold put in the fire does not diminish through a hundred meltings; buried, it does not decay until heaven itself ends. Taking these two substances refines a man's body, and so can make him neither age nor die. This is borrowing from an outer thing to make oneself firm — as grease feeds a fire that cannot then be quenched, and verdigris smeared on the feet enters water without rotting, borrowing the strength of copper to protect that flesh. When the Golden Elixir enters the body it soaks through the nutritive and defensive humours — more than the mere outward dressing of verdigris. In the world many do not believe in the ultimate Way; vague and vast, they are all like this. Yet if by one chance in ten thousand there is a man who loves the matter, he again does not see this method, meets no enlightened teacher, and has no way to hear that such a marvel exists under heaven. I now roughly copy out the general outline of the Golden Elixir to show to later men of like mind who love it. Seek diligently; in seeking, do not cling to shallow near-at-hand recipes and fancy them enough to cross beyond the world; and if in the end you never meet it, you need only lay down a hope that had no end. If you would see those sayings for what they are, know that it is as one who leaves a muddy pool and floats upon the grey sea, turns his back on a firefly to face the sun and moon, hears thunder and only then finds a cloth drum crude, sees the great whale and only then knows how tiny is the inch-long shell-insect. If you still prattle in fragments with nothing first lodged in your heart, hoping by mean drugs to contrive an ascent — how does that differ from whipping a lame donkey to catch the swift wind, or rowing a little skiff to cross a great river?

又諸小餌丹方甚多，然作之有淺深，故力勢不同，雖有優劣，轉不相及，猶一酘之酒，不可以方九醞之醇耳。然小丹之下者，猶自遠勝草木之上者也。凡草木燒之即燼，而丹砂燒之成水銀，積變又還成丹砂，其去凡草木亦遠矣。故能令人長生，神仙獨見此理矣，其去俗人，亦何緬邈之無限乎？世人少所識，多所怪，或不知水銀出於丹砂，告之終不肯信，雲丹砂本赤物，從何得成此白物。又云丹砂是石耳，今燒諸石皆成灰，而丹砂何獨得爾。此近易之事，猶不可喻，其聞仙道，大而笑之，不亦宜乎？上古真人愍念將來之可教者，為作方法，委曲欲使其脫死亡之禍耳，可謂至言矣。然而俗人終不肯信，謂為虛文。若是虛文者，安得九轉九變，日數所成，皆如方耶？真人所以知此者，誠不可以庸近思求也。餘少好方術，負步請問，不憚險遠。每有異聞，則以為喜。雖見毀笑，不以為戚。焉知來者之不如今，是以著此以示識者。豈苟尚奇怪，而崇飾空言，欲令書行於世，信結流俗哉？盛陽不能榮枯朽，上智不能移下愚，書為曉者傳，事為識者貴。農夫得彤弓以驅鳥，南夷得袞衣以負薪，夫不知者，何可強哉？世人飽食終日，復未必能勤儒墨之業，治進德之務，但共逍遙遨遊，以盡年月。其所營也，非榮則利。或飛蒼走黃於中原，或留連杯觴以羹沸，或以美女荒沈絲竹，或耽淪綺紈，或控弦以弊筋骨，或博弈以棄功夫。聞至道之言而如醉，睹道論而晝睡。有身不修，動之死地，不肯求問養生之法，自欲割削之，煎熬之，憔悴之，漉汔之。而有道者自寶秘其所知，無求於人，亦安肯強行語之乎？世人之常言，鹹以長生若可得者，古人之富貴者，己當得之，而無得之者，是無此道也。而不知古之富貴者，亦如今之富貴者耳。俱不信不求之，而皆以目前之所欲者為急，亦安能得之耶？

Moreover the recipes for the various minor edible elixirs are many, but their making is shallow or deep, so their potency differs; though some are better and some worse, one cannot be compared with the next — like an ale brewed once, which cannot be set beside a wine nine times fermented. Yet the very lowest of the minor elixirs still far surpasses the very best of herbs and plants. Any herb or wood burns to ashes, but cinnabar fired becomes mercury; accumulated and transformed again, it returns to cinnabar (in this chapter such names as cinnabar, mercury, lead, quicksilver, gold, the Returned Elixir, the Golden Liquor, tripod and furnace are used by the outer-alchemy school for actual mineral drugs and furnace firing — not, as in inner alchemy, borrowed names for the essence, qi and spirit within the body). It is indeed far removed from common herbs and trees. That it can give a man long life is a truth immortals alone perceive — how remote and boundless is their distance from ordinary men! Men of the world recognise little and marvel at much: some do not even know that mercury comes from cinnabar; tell them and they will not believe, saying that cinnabar is by nature a red substance — whence could this white substance be made? And they say cinnabar is merely a stone, and since all stones fired today turn to ash, why should cinnabar alone be able to do so? When even what lies near at hand and easy to see cannot be made plain to them, is it not fitting that, hearing of the Way of immortals, they find it grandiose and laugh at it? The Perfected of high antiquity took pity on the teachable men of the future and made methods for them, setting them out fully and in detail so as to free them from the calamity of death — these may truly be called ultimate words. Yet ordinary men will not believe them after all and call them empty writing. If they were empty writing, how could there be nine cyclical transformations and nine changes, so that what is accomplished in its count of days is exactly as the recipes declare? That the Perfected know these things truly cannot be sought with a mediocre and shallow mind. In my youth I loved the recipe-arts; I shouldered my pack and went about asking, fearing no peril or distance; every strange report I counted a joy, and though slandered and laughed at I did not take it to heart. Who knows that men to come will be less than those of today? So I write this down to show to those who would understand. Could it be that I idly exalt the strange, dress up empty words, and wish my book to circulate in the world and win credit among the vulgar? High noon cannot make the withered bloom again, nor the highest wisdom change the lowest fool; books are transmitted for men who comprehend affairs, deeds are prized by those who recognise them. A farmer who gets a vermilion bow uses it to drive off birds; a southern tribesman who gets a ducal robe uses it to carry firewood — how can those who do not know be pressed? Men of the world eat their fill all day, yet cannot even bestir themselves to the tasks of Confucians and Mohists, the governance of conduct and the advance of virtue — they merely wander free together to pass the months and years. What they pursue is nothing but glory and profit: now flying grey hawks and running yellow hounds on the plain, now lingering over cups till the broth boils over, now drowning among song-girls in strings and pipes, now sunk in patterned silks, now wrecking sinew and bone at the drawn bow, now throwing away their days on draughts and dice. They hear the words of the ultimate Way as men hear when drunk; they see a discourse on the Way and fall asleep in broad daylight. Possessed of a body they do not cultivate it, and every move leads toward the land of death; unwilling to ask after the method of nourishing life, they themselves cut it, scorch it, harrow it and squeeze it dry. And those who possess the Way treasure and keep secret what they know and ask nothing of men — why would they force it upon them? The common saying of the world is this: if long life could be had, then the rich and honoured among the ancients would have had it already — and since they did not, the Way does not exist. They do not know that the rich and honoured of old were but as the rich and honoured of today: none believe, none seek, all make what lies desired before their eyes the urgent task — how then could they obtain it?

假令不能決意，信命之可延，仙之可得，亦何惜於試之。試之小效，但使得二三百歲，不猶愈於凡人之少夭乎？天下之事萬端，而道術尤難明於他事也。何可以中才之心，而斷世間必無長生之道哉？若正以世人皆不信之，便謂為無，則世人之智者，又何太多乎？今若有識道意而猶修求之者，詎必便是至愚，而皆不及世人耶？又或慮於求長生，儻其不得，恐人笑之，以為暗惑。若心所斷，萬有一失，而天下果自有此不死之道者，不亦當復為得之者所笑乎？日月有所不能周照，人心安足孤信哉？抱朴子曰：按黃帝九鼎神丹經曰，黃帝服之，遂以昇仙。

Suppose a man cannot resolve upon it, cannot believe that the allotted span may be lengthened and immortality attained — why should he still begrudge a trial? If the trial shows a small effect and grants him but two or three hundred years, is that not still better than the brief span and early death of common men? The affairs of the world are ten-thousandfold, and the arts of the Way are harder to fathom than all the rest. How can one take the mind of middling talent and pronounce that there is surely no Way of long life in the world? And if, merely because the world does not believe, one takes it that there is none, then how very many the 'clever' among men would be! If there are now men who recognise the meaning of the Way and still cultivate and seek it, are they necessarily the utmost fools, every one of them unequal to the men of the world? Or perhaps a man hesitates to seek long life for fear that, should he fail, others will laugh and take him for deluded. But if among his inward reckonings there is one miss in ten thousand — and the world does indeed possess this undying Way — should he not in turn be laughed at by those who obtain it? Even the sun and moon have places their light cannot reach; how can the human heart be trusted alone? Baopuzi said: According to the Yellow Emperor's Classic of the Divine Elixir of the Nine Tripods, the Yellow Emperor took it and thereupon ascended as an immortal.

又云，雖呼吸道引，及服草木之藥，可得延年，不免於死也；服神丹令人壽無窮已，與天地相畢，乘雲駕龍，上下太清。黃帝以傳玄子，戒之曰，此道至重，必以授賢，苟非其人，雖積玉如山，勿以此道告之也。受之者以金人金魚投於東流水中以為約，唼血為盟，無神仙之骨，亦不可得見此道也。合丹當於名山之中，無人之地，結伴不過三人，先齋百日，沐浴五香，致加精潔，勿近穢汙，及與俗人往來，又不令不信道者知之，謗毀神藥，藥不成矣。成則可以舉家皆仙，不但一身耳。世人不合神丹，反信草木之藥。草木之藥，埋之即腐，煮之即爛，燒之即焦，不能自生，何能生人乎？

(The classic continues:) It also says that although breathing exercises and daoyin, and taking the medicines of herbs and trees, may bring lengthened years, they do not spare one death; taking the Divine Elixir gives a man a span without end, to finish only when heaven and earth finish, mounting clouds and driving dragons, rising and descending through the Grand Clarity. The Yellow Emperor transmitted it to Xuanzi the Dark Master, admonishing him: this Way is of the utmost gravity and must be given only to a worthy man; if he is not the man, then though his piled jade stand mountain-high, do not speak of it. The receiver casts a golden man and a golden fish into eastward-flowing water as his pledge and smears blood to seal the covenant; one who lacks the bone of immortals cannot even be allowed to see it. Compounding the elixir must be done within a famed mountain, in a place without people; one's companions number no more than three. First fast for a hundred days, bathe in the five aromatics, and take pains to be ever purer; do not approach what is foul, keep no traffic with ordinary men, and let no unbeliever in the Way know of it — if the divine medicine is slandered, it will not form. Once formed, it can make the whole household immortal — not one person alone. Men of the world do not compound the Divine Elixir, yet believe instead in the medicines of herbs and trees. The medicines of herbs and trees rot when buried, fall apart when boiled, char when burned — unable even to keep themselves alive, how could they keep a man alive?

九丹者，長生之要，非凡人所當見聞也，萬兆蠢蠢，唯知貪富貴而已，豈非行屍者乎？合時又當祭，祭自有圖法一卷也。第一之丹名曰丹華。當先作玄黃，用雄黃水、礬石水、戎鹽、滷鹽、礜石、牡蠣、赤石脂、滑石、胡粉各數十斤，以為六一泥，火之三十六日成，服七之日仙。又以玄膏丸此丹，置猛火上，須臾成黃金。又以二百四十銖合水銀百斤火之，亦成黃金。金成者藥成也。金不成，更封藥而火之，日數如前，無不成也。

The Nine Elixirs are the essential method of long life — not for the eyes or ears of ordinary men; the teeming myriads, dull as they are, know only to crave wealth and honour — are they not walking corpses? At the compounding there must also be a sacrifice, for which there is a separate scroll of diagrams and method. The first elixir is called Elixir Florescence (Danhua). First make the Dark-and-Yellow (Xuanhuang): with realgar water, alum-stone water, rock salt, brine salt, arsenopyrite, oyster shell, red halloysite, talc and lead white, several dozen jin of each, make the six-and-one lute; fire it thirty-six days and it is complete. Take it for seven days and you become immortal. Or make this elixir into pills with the Dark Ointment and set them on a fierce fire — in a moment they become yellow gold. Or take two hundred and forty zhu of it with a hundred jin of mercury and fire-refine them — again it becomes yellow gold. When the gold forms, the medicine is formed; if the gold does not form, seal up the medicine and fire it again for the same count of days, and it never fails to form.

第二之丹名曰神丹，亦曰神符。服之百日仙也。行度水火，以此丹塗足下，步行水上。服之三刀圭，三尸九蟲皆即消壞，百病皆愈也。

The second elixir is called the Divine Elixir (Shendan), also called the Divine Talisman. Take it a hundred days and you become immortal. You walk through water and fire; smear this elixir beneath your feet and you walk upon the water. Take three spatula-measures (daogui) and the Three Corpses and Nine Worms perish at once, and the hundred diseases are all cured.

第三之丹名曰神丹。服一刀圭，百日仙也。以與六畜吞之，亦終不死。又能闢五兵。服百日，仙人玉女，山川鬼神，皆來侍之，見如人形。

The third elixir is likewise called the Divine Elixir. Take one spatula-measure for a hundred days and you become immortal. Give it to the six domestic beasts to swallow and they too will never die; it can also ward off the five weapons. Take it a hundred days and immortal men, jade maidens, and the ghosts and spirits of mountains and rivers all come to serve you, appearing in human form.

第四之丹名曰還丹。服一刀圭，百日仙也。朱鳥鳳凰，翔覆其上，玉女至傍。以一刀圭合水銀一斤火之，立成黃金。以此丹塗錢物用之，即日皆還。以此丹書凡人目上，百鬼走避。

The fourth elixir is called the Returned Elixir (Huandan). Take one spatula-measure for a hundred days and you become immortal; the Vermilion Bird and phoenixes soar and spread their wings above you, and jade maidens come to your side. Take one spatula-measure with a jin of mercury and fire-refine them — it becomes yellow gold at once. Smear this elixir on the coins you spend and that very day they all come back. Write with this elixir upon the eyes of ordinary men and the hundred ghosts flee and hide.

第五之丹名餌丹。服之三十日，仙也。鬼神來侍，玉女至前。

The fifth elixir is called the Edible Elixir (Erdan). Take it thirty days and you become immortal; ghosts and spirits come to serve you, and jade maidens come before you.

第六之丹名煉丹。服之十日，仙也。又以汞合火之，亦成黃金。

The sixth elixir is called the Refined Elixir (Liandan). Take it ten days and you become immortal. Or combine it with quicksilver and fire-refine them — again it becomes yellow gold.

第七之丹名柔丹。服一刀圭，百日仙也。以缺盆汁和服之，九十老翁，亦能有子，與金公合火之，即成黃金。

The seventh elixir is called the Supple Elixir (Roudan). Take one spatula-measure for a hundred days and you become immortal. Take it mixed with quepen juice and even an old man of ninety can beget a son. Combine it with Lord Metal (lead) and fire-refine them — it becomes yellow gold.

第八之丹名伏丹。服之即日仙也。以此丹如棗核許持之，百鬼避之。以丹書門戶上，萬邪眾精不敢前，又闢盜賊虎狼也。

The eighth elixir is called the Subdued Elixir (Fudan). Take it and that very day you become immortal. Hold a piece of this elixir the size of a date-stone in your hand and the hundred ghosts keep away. Write with this elixir upon door and gate and the myriad evils and swarming essences dare not approach; it can also ward off robbers, tigers and wolves.

第九之丹名寒丹。服一刀圭，百日仙也。仙童仙女來侍，飛行輕舉，不用羽翼。

The ninth elixir is called the Cold Elixir (Handan). Take one spatula-measure for a hundred days and you become immortal. Immortal lads and lasses come to serve you, and you fly and rise aloft without need of feathered wings.

凡此九丹，但得一丹便仙，不在悉作之，作之在人所好者耳。凡服九丹，欲昇天則去，欲且止人間亦任意，皆能出入無間，不可得之害矣。

Of all these Nine Elixirs, obtaining a single one makes you an immortal — you need not make them all; which one to make rests with each man's liking. All who take the Nine Elixirs may ascend to heaven if they wish or tarry a while among men as they please; all can go in and out where there is no gap, and none can be harmed.

抱朴子曰：復有太清神丹，其法出於元君。元君者，老子之師也。太清觀天經有九篇，雲其上三篇不可教授，其中三篇世無足傳，常沈之三泉之下，下三篇者，正是丹經上中下，凡三卷也。元君者，大神仙之人也，能調和陰陽，役使鬼神風雨，驂駕九龍十二白虎，天下眾仙皆隸焉，猶自言亦本學道服丹之所致也，非自然也。況凡人乎？其經曰：上士得道，升為天官；中士得道，棲集崑崙；下士得道，長生世間。愚民不信，謂為虛言，從朝至暮，但作求死之事，了不求生，而天豈能強生之乎？凡人唯知美食好衣，聲色富貴而已，恣心盡欲，奄忽終歿之徒，慎無以神丹告之，令其笑道謗真。傳丹經不得其人，身必不吉。若有篤信者，可將合藥成以分之，莫輕以其方傳之也。知此道者，何用王侯？為神丹既成，不但長生，又可以作黃金。金成，取百斤先設大祭。祭自有別法一卷，不與九鼎祭同也。祭當別稱金各檢署之。

Baopuzi said: There is also the Divine Elixir of Grand Clarity (Taiqing), whose method comes from the Primordial Lord (Yuanjun). The Primordial Lord was Laozi's teacher. The Taiqing Scripture on Observing Heaven has nine chapters: it says the upper three may not be taught, and of the middle three the world holds none fit to receive them, so they are often sunk beneath the Three Springs; the lower three are precisely the upper, middle and lower of the elixir classics — three scrolls in all. The Primordial Lord is a great divine immortal who can harmonise yin and yang, command ghosts, spirits, wind and rain, and yokes nine dragons and twelve white tigers to his team; all the immortals under heaven are subject to him. Yet even he says he himself came to it through studying the Way and taking the elixir — it was not his by nature. How much less ordinary men? That classic says: the highest scholar who gains the Way ascends to a celestial office; the middling scholar who gains the Way roosts upon Kunlun; the lowest scholar who gains the Way lives long in the world. Foolish folk do not believe it and call it empty talk; from dawn to dusk they do only the things that court death and never once seek life — how could heaven force them to live? Ordinary men know only fine food, good clothes, song and sex, wealth and honour; those who give their hearts licence and exhaust their desires and are suddenly gone and finished — never speak to them of the Divine Elixir, letting them laugh at the Way and slander the true. To transmit the elixir classics to the wrong man is sure to bring no good upon yourself. If there is a man of deep faith, you may divide with him the medicine already compounded and finished, but do not lightly pass him the recipe. One who knows this Way — what use has he for kings and lords? For once the Divine Elixir is formed, it gives not only long life but can also be made into yellow gold. When the gold is made, take a hundred jin of it and first perform the Great Sacrifice. The sacrifice has its own separate method in one scroll, not the same as the sacrifice of the Nine Tripods. At the sacrifice the gold should be weighed out in separate amounts, each portion checked and inscribed.

禮天二十斤，日月五斤，北斗八斤，太乙八斤，井五斤，灶五斤，河伯十二斤，社五斤，門戶閭鬼神清君各五斤，凡八十八斤。餘一十二斤，以好韋囊盛之，良日於都市中市盛之時，嘿聲放棄之於多人處，徑去無復顧。凡用百斤外，乃得自恣用之耳。不先以金祀神，必被殃咎。又曰，長生之道，不在祭祀事鬼神也，不在道引與屈伸也，昇仙之要，在神丹也。知之不易，為之實難也。子能作之，可長存也。近代漢末新野陰君，合此太清丹得仙。其人本儒生，有才思，善著詩及丹經贊並序，述初學道隨師本末，列己所知識之得仙者四十餘人，甚分明也。作此太清丹，小為難合於九鼎，然是白日昇天之上法也。合之當先作華池赤鹽艮雪玄白飛符三五神水，乃可起火耳。

(He continues:) To heaven twenty jin; to the sun and moon five jin; to the Northern Dipper eight jin; to the Grand One (Taiyi) eight jin; to the Well five jin; to the Hearth five jin; to the Earl of the River (Hebo) twelve jin; to the God of the Soil five jin; to the spirits of gate, door and lane and to Lord Qing, five jin each — eighty-eight jin in all. The remaining twelve jin put in a fine leather bag; on a chosen day, when the city market is at its fullest, silently abandon it amid the crowd and walk straight off without looking back. Only beyond the hundred jin so used may you dispose of the rest as you please. If you do not first offer the gold to the spirits, calamity is sure to follow. It is further said that the Way of long life lies not in sacrifice and service of ghosts and spirits, nor in daoyin and bending-and-stretching; the essential of ascending as an immortal lies in the Divine Elixir. To know it is not easy, and to do it is truly hard; yet if you can make it, you may endure forever. In recent times Lord Yin of Xinye, at the end of Han, compounded this Taiqing elixir and gained immortality. The man was by origin a Confucian scholar of gifts and thought, skilled at writing verse and at the encomia and preface of the elixir classics, in which he recounted the whole course of his beginnings in the Way and his following of the master, and distinctly listed more than forty men of his own acquaintance who had gained immortality. This Taiqing elixir is somewhat harder to compound than that of the Nine Tripods, yet it is the supreme method for ascending to heaven in broad daylight. In compounding it one must first make the Flowery Pool, the Red Salt, the Gen-Snow, the Dark-and-White, the Flying Talisman and the Three-Five Divine Water — only then may the fire be lit.

一轉之丹，服之三年得仙。二轉之丹，服之二年得仙。三轉之丹，服之一年得仙。四轉之丹，服之半年得仙。五轉之丹，服之百日得仙。六轉之丹，服之四十日得仙。七轉之丹，服之三十日得仙。八轉之丹，服之十日得仙。九轉之丹，服之三日得仙。若取九轉之丹，內神鼎中，夏至之後，爆之鼎熱，內朱兒一斤於蓋下。伏伺之，候日精照之。須臾翕然俱起，煌煌輝輝，神光五色，即化為還丹。取而服之一刀圭，即白日昇天。又九轉之丹者，封塗之於土釜中，糠火，先文後武，其一轉至九轉，遲速各有日數多少，以此知之耳。其轉數少，其藥力不足，故服之用日多，得仙遲也。其轉數多，藥力盛，故服之用日少，而得仙速也。

An elixir of the first transformation, taken for three years, makes an immortal; of the second transformation, two years; of the third, one year; of the fourth, half a year; of the fifth, a hundred days; of the sixth, forty days; of the seventh, thirty days; of the eighth, ten days; and an elixir of the ninth transformation, taken three days, makes an immortal. Or take an elixir of the ninth transformation, place it in a divine tripod, and after the summer solstice blaze it in the sun until the tripod is hot, then put one jin of the Vermilion Lad beneath the lid; crouch in hiding and wait until the sun's essence shines upon it — in a moment it all rises with a flare, blazing bright, a divine light of five colours, and becomes the Returned Elixir; take one spatula-measure of it and you ascend to heaven in broad daylight. Again, an elixir of the ninth transformation sealed in an earthen cauldron is fired over chaff — first a gentle fire, then a fierce one — and from first transformation to ninth, slower or quicker, each has its own count of days, and thereby it is known: with fewer transformations the medicine's force is insufficient, so the days of taking are many and immortality comes late; with more transformations the medicine's force is strong, so the days of taking are few and immortality comes quickly.

又有九光丹，與九轉異法，大都相似耳。作之法，當以諸藥合火之，以轉五石。五石者，丹砂、雄黃、白礜、曾青、慈石也。一石輒五轉而各成五色，五石而二十五色，色各一兩，而異器盛之。欲起死人，未滿三日者，取青丹一刀圭和水，以浴死人，又以一刀圭發其口內之，死人立生也。欲致行廚，取黑丹和水，以塗左手，其所求如口所道皆自至，可致天下萬物也。欲隱形及先知未然方來之事，及住年不老，服黃丹一刀圭，即便長生不老矣。及坐見千里之外，吉凶皆知，如在目前也。人生宿命，盛衰壽夭，富貴貧賤，皆知之也，其法俱在太清經中卷耳。

There is also the Nine-Radiance Elixir (Jiuguang Dan), whose method differs from the Nine Transformations, though much the same in outline. To make it, take the various drugs together and fire-refine them so as to transform the five stones. The five stones are cinnabar, realgar, white arsenopyrite, azurite and magnetite. Each stone is transformed five times, each producing five colours — the five stones thus make twenty-five colours, one liang of each colour, each kept in a separate vessel. If you would raise the dead — one dead no more than three days — take one spatula-measure of the blue elixir with water and bathe the corpse, then take another spatula-measure, pry open his mouth and put it in; the dead man lives at once. If you would summon the travelling kitchen (a conjured feast), take the black elixir with water, smear it on your left hand, and whatever you ask for comes of itself as your mouth declares — it can summon the myriad things under heaven. If you would become invisible, foreknow what has not yet come to pass, and stay your years unaging, take one spatula-measure of the yellow elixir and you will be long-lived and unaging. You may sit and see a thousand li away, knowing fortune and misfortune as though before your eyes; a man's destined fate — flourish or decline, long-lived or cut off, rich and honoured or poor and lowly — is all known to you. These methods are all in the middle scroll of the Taiqing Jing (Scripture of Grand Clarity).

抱朴子曰：其次有五靈丹經一卷，有五法也。用丹砂、雄黃、雌黃、石硫黃、曾青、礬石、慈石、戎鹽、太乙餘糧，亦用六一泥，及神室祭醮合之，三十六日成。又用五帝符，以五色書之，亦令人不死，但不及太清及九鼎丹藥耳。

Baopuzi said: Next there is the Scripture of the Five Numinous Elixirs (Wuling Danjing), in one scroll, containing five methods. They use cinnabar, realgar, orpiment, sulphur, azurite, alum, magnetite, rock salt, and 'the Great One's leftover grain', together with Six-One mud, and are compounded with sacrifices and libations in the divine chamber; it is complete in thirty-six days. Talismans of the Five Emperors are also used, written in the five colors; this too keeps one from dying, only it is inferior to the elixirs of Taiqing and the Nine Tripods.

又有岷山丹法，道士張蓋蹋精思於岷山石室中，得此方也。其法鼓冶黃銅，以作方諸，以承取月中水，以水銀覆之，致日精火其中，長服之不死。又取此丹置雄黃銅燧中，覆以汞曝之，二十日發而治之，以井華水服如小豆，百日，盲者皆能視之，百病自愈，發白還黑，齒落更生。

There is also the Minshan elixir method: the Daoist Zhang Gaita meditated intently in a stone chamber on Mount Min and obtained this recipe. The method is to smelt yellow bronze and cast it into a fangzhu mirror, use it to collect the water of the moon, cover it with quicksilver, and add the fire of the sun's essence into it; taken long-term, it prevents death. Or take this elixir, place it in a realgar-bronze burning-mirror, cover it with mercury, and expose it to the sun; after twenty days open it and grind it fine, then take a dose the size of a small bean with dawn-drawn well water. In one hundred days even the blind can see, all diseases heal of themselves, white hair turns black again, and teeth that have fallen out grow back.

又務成子丹法，用巴沙汞置八寸銅盤中以土爐盛炭，倚三隅塹以枝盤，以硫黃水灌之，常令如泥，百日服之不死。

There is also Wuchengzi's elixir method: put cinnabar from Ba together with mercury on an eight-inch copper plate; set charcoal in an earthen furnace, prop the plate against trenches on three sides, and pour sulphur water over it, keeping it always like mud. Taking it for one hundred days prevents death.

又羨門子丹法，以酒和丹一斤，用酒三升和，曝之四十日，服之一日，則三蟲百病立下；服之三年，仙道乃成，必有玉女二人來侍之，可役使致行廚，此丹可以厭百鬼，及四方死人殃注害人宅，及起土功妨人者，懸以向之，則無患矣。

There is also Xianmenzi's elixir method: blend one jin of elixir with wine, using three sheng of wine, and expose it to the sun for forty days. Take it for one day and the Three Worms and all diseases are purged out at once; take it for three years and the Way of immortality is achieved. Two Jade Maidens are sure to come and serve you, whom you can command and employ to summon a traveling kitchen. This elixir can also subdue the hundred ghosts, as well as the baleful contagion of the dead of the four quarters that infects dwellings and harms people, and earthworks that trouble people: hang it up facing them, and there will be no harm.

又有立成丹，亦有九首，似九鼎而不及也。其要一本更云，取雌黃雄黃燒下其中銅，鑄以為器，覆之三歲淳苦酒上，百日，此器皆生赤乳，長數分，或有五色琅玕，取理而服之，亦令人長生。又可以和菟絲，菟絲是初生之根，其形似菟，掘取克其血，以和此丹，服之立變化，任意所作也。又和以朱草，一服之，能乘虛而行云，朱草狀似小棗，栽長三四尺，枝葉皆赤，莖如珊瑚，喜生名山岩石之下，刻之汁流如血，以玉及八石金銀投其中，立便可丸如泥，久則成水，以金投之，名為金漿，以玉投之，名為玉醴，服之皆長生。

There is also the Immediately-Completed Elixir, which likewise has nine varieties, like those of the Nine Tripods though not their equal. One essential text says further: take orpiment and realgar, smelt down the copper they contain, and cast it into a vessel; place it over three-year-old strong bitter wine for one hundred days, and the vessel sprouts red nipples several fen long, sometimes of five-colored langgan stone. Gather, prepare, and eat them, and this too gives long life. It can also be blended with cuscuta: cuscuta is a firstborn root shaped like a rabbit; dig it up and score it to draw out its juice-blood, mix it with this elixir, and upon taking it you transform at once and may do whatever you wish. It can also be mixed with the vermilion herb: one dose, and you can ride the void and walk upon the clouds. The vermilion herb is shaped like a small jujube, only three or four chi tall, with branches and leaves all red and a stem like coral, and it loves to grow beneath the rocks of famous mountains. Score it and its sap flows like blood; cast in jade, the eight minerals, gold, and silver, and it can be rolled into pills like mud at once, while left longer it turns into water. Cast gold into it and it is called 'metal liquor'; cast jade into it and it is called 'jade wine'. Taking either gives long life.

又有取伏丹法云，天下諸水，有名丹者，有南陽之丹水之屬也，其中皆有丹魚，當先夏至十日夜伺之，丹魚必浮於水側，赤光上照，赫然如火也，網而取之可得之，得之雖多，勿盡取也，割其血，塗足下，則可步行水上，長居淵中矣。

There is also a method for obtaining the fu-elixir, which says: among the waters of the world there are some named 'cinnabar', such as the Cinnabar River of Nanyang and the like, and in all of them live cinnabar fish. You should keep watch on the night ten days before the summer solstice; the cinnabar fish are sure to float near the edge of the water, their red light shining upward, blazing like fire, and they can be caught with a net. Even if you catch many, do not take them all. Cut them and take their blood, smear it on the soles of your feet, and you can then walk on water and dwell long among deep pools.

又赤松子丹法，取千歲虆汁及礬桃汁淹丹，著不津器中，練蜜蓋其口，埋之入地三尺，百日，絞檸木赤實，取汁和而服之，令人面目鬢髮皆赤，長生也。昔中黃仙人有赤鬚子者，豈非服此乎？

There is also Master Red Pine's elixir method: take the juice of the thousand-year-old lei creeper and the juice of the alum-peach to steep the elixir; put it in a non-porous vessel, cover the mouth with refined honey, and bury it three chi in the ground. After one hundred days, squeeze the red berries of the ning tree, take the juice, blend it in, and drink; it makes a man's face, temples, and hair all red, and gives long life. In antiquity, among the immortals of the Central Yellow there was Red-Whiskers (Chixuzi) — was it not from taking this?

又石先生丹法，取烏鷇之未生毛羽者，以真丹和牛肉以吞之，至長，其毛羽皆赤，乃煞之，陰乾百日，並毛羽搗服一刀圭，百日得壽五百歲。

There is also Master Shi's elixir method: take crow chicks that have not yet grown feathers and make them swallow genuine cinnabar mixed with beef; when they have grown up and their plumage is all red, kill them, dry them in the shade for one hundred days, pound them feathers and all, and take one knife-point (daogui) of it. In one hundred days you gain a lifespan of five hundred years.

又康風子丹法，用羊烏鶴卵雀血，合少室天雄汁，和丹內鵠卵中漆之，內雲母水中，百日化為赤水，服一合，輒益壽百歲，服一升千歲也。

There is also Kang Fengzi's elixir method: take sheep, crow, crane's egg, and sparrow's blood, combine them with the juice of Shaoshi aconite, mix them with the elixir, put it inside a swan's egg and seal it with lacquer, then set it in mica water. After one hundred days it turns into red water: take one ge and your lifespan increases by a hundred years; take one sheng and it is a thousand.

又崔文子丹法，納丹鶩腹中蒸之，服，令人延年，長服不死。

There is also Cui Wenzi's elixir method: insert the elixir into a duck's belly and steam it. Taking it lengthens one's years; taken long-term, it prevents death.

又劉元丹法，以丹砂內玄水液中，百日紫色，握之不汙手，又和以雲母水，內管中漆之，投井中，百日化為赤水，服一合，得百歲，久服長生也。

There is also Liu Yuan's elixir method: put cinnabar into Dark Water fluid; after one hundred days it turns purple and can be held in the hand without staining it. Then mix it with mica water, put it in a tube, seal it with lacquer, and cast it into a well. After one hundred days it turns into red water: take one ge and gain a hundred years, and long use gives long life.

又樂子長丹法，以曾青鉛丹合汞及丹砂，著銅筒中，乾瓦白滑石封之，於白砂中蒸之，八十日，服如小豆，三年仙矣。

There is also Le Zichang's elixir method: take azurite and red lead, combine them with mercury and cinnabar, put them in a copper tube, seal the mouth with dry tile mixed with white talc, and steam it amid white sand for eighty days. Take a dose the size of a small bean, and in three years you become an immortal.

又李文丹法，以白素裹丹，以竹汁煮之，名紅泉，乃浮湯上蒸之，合以玄水，服之一合，一年仙矣。

There is also Li Wen's elixir method: wrap the elixir in plain white silk and boil it in bamboo juice — this is called 'red spring'; then steam it floating above hot water, blend in Dark Water, and take one ge: in one year you become an immortal.

又尹子丹法，以雲母水和丹密封，致金華池中，一年出，服一刀圭，盡一斤，得五百歲。

There is also Yinzi's elixir method: seal the elixir with mica water and place it in the Pool of Golden Florescence; remove it after one year and take one knife-point. Consuming a full jin of it gains five hundred years.

又太乙招魂魄丹法，所用五石，及封之以六一泥，皆似九丹也，長於起卒死三日以還者，折齒內一丸，與硫黃丸，俱以水送之，令入喉即活，皆言見使者持節召之。

There is also Taiyi's elixir method for summoning back the hun and po souls: the five minerals it uses, and the sealing with Six-One mud, are all as with the nine elixirs. It excels at raising people who have died suddenly within three days: pry open the teeth, insert one pill together with a sulphur pill, and wash both down with water; as soon as it enters the throat the person revives. They all say they saw a messenger bearing credentials who had come to summon them.

又采女丹法，以兔血和丹與蜜蒸之，百日，服之如梧桐子者大一丸，日三，至百日，有神女二人來侍之，可役使。

There is also Cainü's elixir method: steam the elixir blended with rabbit's blood and honey for one hundred days; take one pill the size of a parasol-tree seed three times a day, and when a hundred days are reached, two divine maidens come to serve you and can be commanded.

又稷丘子丹法，以清酒麻油百華醴龍膏和，封以六一泥，以糠火熅之，十日成，服如小豆一丸，盡劑，得壽五百歲。

There is also Ji Qiuzi's elixir method: blend it with clear wine, sesame oil, hundred-flower sweet wine, and dragon grease; seal it with Six-One mud and simmer gently over a chaff fire; it is done in ten days. Take one pill the size of a small bean; finishing a whole dose gains a lifespan of five hundred years.

又墨子丹法，用汞及五石液於銅器中，火熬之，以鐵匕撓之，十日，還為丹，服之一刀圭，萬病去身，長服不死。又張子和丹法，用鉛汞曾青水合封之，蒸之於赤黍米中，

There is also Mozi's elixir method: put mercury and the liquid of the five minerals in a bronze vessel, boil it over a fire while stirring with an iron spoon, and in ten days it reverts to elixir. Take one knife-point and the myriad diseases leave the body; taken long-term it prevents death. There is also Zhang Zihe's elixir method: combine lead, mercury, and azurite water and seal them together, then steam them amid red millet—

八十日成，以棗膏和丸之，服如大豆，百日，壽五百歲。

(Continuing from above:) —after eighty days it is done; blend it with jujube paste to form pills, and take doses the size of large beans for one hundred days: lifespan five hundred years.

又綺裡丹法，先飛取五石玉塵，合以丹砂汞，內大銅器中煮之，百日，五色，服之不死。以鉛百斤，以藥百刀圭，合火之成白銀，以雄黃水和而火之，百日成黃金，金或太剛者，以豬膏煮之，或太柔者，以白梅煮之。

There is also Qili's elixir method: first sublimate the five minerals to obtain their jade dust, combine it with cinnabar and mercury, put it in a large bronze vessel, and boil for one hundred days until it forms the five colors; taking it prevents death. Take a hundred jin of lead and a hundred knife-points of the medicine; smelt them together over fire and they become white silver. Blend it with realgar water and smelt again over fire, and in one hundred days it becomes yellow gold. If the gold is too hard, boil it in pig's grease; if it is too soft, boil it with white plums.

又玉柱丹法，以華池和丹，以曾青硫黃末覆之薦之，內筒中沙中，蒸之五十日，服之百日，玉女六甲六丁神女來侍之，可役使，知天下之事也。

There is also the Yuzhu elixir method: blend the elixir with Flowery Pool, cover and line it with powdered azurite and sulphur, put it in a tube amid sand, and steam it for fifty days. Take it for one hundred days, and Jade Maidens and the divine maidens of the Six Jia and Six Ding come to serve you and can be commanded, and you know all the affairs of the world.

又肘後丹法，以金華和丹乾瓦封之，蒸八十日，取如小豆，置盤中，向日和之，其光上與日連，服如小豆，長生矣。以投丹陽銅中，火之成金。

There is also the Zhouhou elixir method: blend the elixir with golden florescence, seal the mouth with dry tile, and steam it for eighty days. Take a piece the size of a small bean, set it on a plate, and blend it facing the sun; its light reaches upward and joins with the sun. Taking a dose the size of a small bean gives long life. Throw it into Danyang copper and smelt it over fire to make gold.

又李公丹法，用真丹及五石之水各一升，和令如泥，釜中火之，三十六日出，和以石硫黃液，服之十年，與天地相畢。又劉生丹法，用白菊花汁地楮汁樗汁和丹蒸之，三十日，研合服之，一年，得五百歲，老翁服更少不可識，少年服亦不老。

There is also Lord Li's elixir method: take one sheng each of genuine cinnabar and the water of the five minerals, blend them like mud, smelt over fire in a cauldron for thirty-six days, take it out, and mix in liquid sulphur; take it for ten years and you end only together with heaven and earth. There is also Liu Sheng's elixir method: steam the elixir blended with the juice of white chrysanthemum, the juice of dichu, and the juice of ailanthus for thirty days; grind and blend it, take it for a year, and gain five hundred years. An old man who takes it becomes so young he is not recognized; a youth who takes it does not age.

又王君丹法，巴沙及汞內雞子中，漆合之，令雞伏之三枚，以王相日服之，住年不老，小兒不可服，不復長矣，與新生雞犬服之，皆不復大，鳥獸亦皆如此驗。

There is also Lord Wang's elixir method: put cinnabar from Ba and mercury into a hen's egg, close it with lacquer, and let a hen brood on three of them. Take them on a wang-xiang day and your years halt and you do not age. Children must not take it, for they would grow no more; given to newly hatched chicks and puppies, they likewise never grow bigger — birds and beasts all show this same effect.

又陳生丹法，用白蜜和丹，內銅器中封之，沈之井中，一期，服之經年，不飢，盡一斤，壽百歲。

There is also Chen Sheng's elixir method: blend the elixir with white honey, put it in a bronze vessel, seal it, and sink it in a well for a full year. After taking it for a year you do not hunger; consuming a whole jin gives a lifespan of one hundred years.

又韓終丹法，漆蜜和丹煎之，服可延年久視，立日中無影。過此以往，尚數十法，不可具論。

There is also Han Zhong's elixir method: decoct the elixir with lacquer and honey; taking it can extend your years and prolong your sight, and standing in the sun at noon you cast no shadow. Beyond these there are still several dozen more methods, which cannot be discussed and listed one by one.

抱朴子曰：金液太乙所服而仙者也，不減九丹矣，合之用古秤黃金一斤，並用玄明龍膏、太乙旬首中石、冰石、紫遊女、玄水液、金化石、丹砂，封之成水，其經云，金液入口，則其身皆金色。老子受之於元君，元君曰，此道至重，百世一齣，藏之石室，合之，皆齋戒百日，不得與俗人相往來，於名山之側，東流水上，別立精舍，百日成，服一兩便仙。若未欲去世，且作地水仙之士者，但齋戒百日矣。若求昇天，皆先斷谷一年，乃服之也。若服半兩，則長生不死，萬害百毒，不能傷之，可以畜妻子，居官秩，任意所欲，無所禁也。若復欲昇天者，乃可齋戒，更服一兩，便飛仙矣。

Baopuzi said: The Golden Liquor is what Taiyi took to become immortal, and is in no way inferior to the nine elixirs. To compound it, use one jin of yellow gold by the ancient scale, together with Xuanming dragon grease, the stone from the head of Taiyi's decade, ice stone, the purple roaming maiden, Dark Water fluid, gold-transforming stone, and cinnabar; seal it up and make it into a water. That scripture says: once the Golden Liquor enters the mouth, the whole body turns the color of gold. Laozi received it from Lord Yuan (Yuanjun), who said: this Way is of the utmost gravity and appears only once in a hundred generations; keep it in a stone chamber. When compounding it, always fast and purify for one hundred days, have no dealings with common folk, and set up a separate retreat beside a famous mountain on eastward-flowing water. It is done in one hundred days; take one liang and you become an immortal. If you do not yet wish to leave the human world and for the present would be a man of the earth-immortals or water-immortals, it suffices merely to fast for one hundred days. If you seek to ascend to heaven, you must always first abstain from grains for a year and only then take it. If you take half a liang, you live forever without dying; the myriad harms and hundred poisons cannot injure you; you may keep a wife and children, hold official rank, and do as you desire, with nothing forbidden. If afterwards you again wish to ascend to heaven, only then undertake the fast, take another liang, and you become a flying immortal.

以金液為威喜巨勝之法，取金液及水銀一味合煮之，三十日，出，以黃土甌盛，以六一泥封，置猛火炊之，六十時，皆化為丹，服如小豆大便仙，以此丹一刀圭粉，水銀一斤，即成銀。又取此丹一斤置火上扇之，化為赤金而流，名曰丹金。以塗刀劍，闢兵萬里。以此丹金為盤碗，飲食其中，令人長生。以承日月得液，如方諸之得水也，飲之不死。以金液和黃土，內六一泥甌中，猛火炊之，盡成黃金，中用也，復以火炊之，皆化為丹，服之如小豆、可以入名山大川為地仙。以此丹一刀圭粉水銀立成銀，以銀一兩和鉛一斤，皆成銀。金液經云，投金人八兩於東流水中，飲血為誓，乃告口訣，不如本法，盜其方而作之，終不成也。凡人有至信者，可以藥與之，不可輕傳其書，必兩受其殃，天神鑑人甚近，人不知耳。

The method for making Weixi and Jusheng with the Golden Liquor: take the Golden Liquor and quicksilver, one ingredient each, and boil them together for thirty days; remove it, put it in a yellow-clay pot, seal it with Six-One mud, and steam it over a fierce fire for sixty double-hours; it all turns into elixir. Take a dose the size of a small bean and you become an immortal. Grind one knife-point of this elixir to powder, add a jin of mercury, and it becomes silver. Or take one jin of this elixir and fan it over the fire: it melts into red gold that flows, called 'elixir gold'. Used to coat swords and blades, it wards off weapons for ten thousand li. Make plates and bowls of this elixir gold and eat and drink from them: it gives people long life. Use it to catch the fluids of sun and moon, as a fangzhu catches water, and drinking it prevents death. Take the Golden Liquor blended with yellow earth, put it in a Six-One-mud pot, and steam it over a fierce fire; it all becomes yellow gold, fit for use. Steam it again over fire and it all turns to elixir; take a dose the size of a small bean and you can enter the famous mountains and great rivers as an earth-immortal. One knife-point of this elixir ground to powder turns mercury into silver at once, and one liang of that silver blended with a jin of lead all becomes silver. The Scripture of the Golden Liquor says: cast a golden figure weighing eight liang into eastward-flowing water and swear an oath by drinking blood before the oral instructions are imparted. If you do not follow this original method but steal the recipe to make it, you will never succeed. If an ordinary man has the utmost faith, the medicine may be given to him, but the book must not be lightly transmitted; doing so will surely bring calamity on both parties. The celestial spirits watch men from very close by; men simply do not know it themselves.

抱朴子曰：九丹誠為仙藥之上法，然合作之，所用雜藥甚多。若四方清通者，市之可具。若九域分隔，則物不可得也。又當起火晝夜數十日，伺候火力，不可令失其適，勤苦至難，故不及合金液之易也。合金液唯金為難得耳。古秤金一斤於今為二斤，率不過直三十許萬，其所用雜藥差易具。又不起火，但以置華池中，日數足便成矣，都合可用四十萬而得一劑，可足八人仙也。然其中稍少合者，其氣力不足以相化成，如釀數升米酒，必無成也。

Baopuzi said: The nine elixirs are indeed the supreme method among the medicines of immortality, but their compounding and preparation use a great many miscellaneous drugs. If the four quarters are clear and communication open, they can be fully supplied in the market; if the nine regions are cut off from one another, the materials cannot be obtained. One must also keep a fire going day and night for several tens of days, attending to its heat and never letting it miss the proper degree — laborious and most difficult — so they are not as easy as compounding the Golden Liquor. For the Golden Liquor, only the gold is hard to get. One jin of gold by the ancient scale is two jin today, worth at most some three hundred thousand; the miscellaneous drugs it uses are comparatively easy to supply. Nor does it require firing: it is merely placed in the Flowery Pool, and when the days are complete it is done. Taken all together, four hundred thousand can obtain one dose — enough to make eight people into immortals. But if the compounding uses slightly too little, the forces are insufficient to transform one another, like brewing only a few sheng of rice wine: it will surely never succeed.

抱朴子曰：其次有餌黃金法，雖不及金液，亦遠不比他藥也。或以豕負革肪及酒煉之，或以樗皮治之，或以荊酒磁石消之，或有可引為巾，或立令成水服之。或有禁忌，不及金液也。或以雄黃雌黃合餌之，可引之張之如皮，皆地仙法耳。銀及蚌中大珠，皆可化為水服之。然須長服不可缺，故皆不及金液也。抱朴子曰：合此金液九丹，既當用錢，又宜入名山，絕人事，故能為之者少，且亦千萬人中，時當有一人得其經者。故凡作道書者，略無說金丹者也。第一禁，勿令俗人之不信道者，謗訕評毀之，必不成也。鄭君言所以爾者，合此大藥皆當祭，祭則太乙元君老君玄女皆來鑑省。作藥者若不絕跡幽僻之地，令俗閒愚人得經過聞見之，則諸神便責作藥者之不遵承經戒，致令惡人有謗毀之言，則不復佑助人，而邪氣得進，藥不成也。必入名山之中，齋戒百日，不食五辛生魚，不與俗人相見，爾乃可作大藥。作藥須成乃解齋，不但初作時齋也。鄭君云，左君告之，言諸小小山，皆不可於其中作金液神丹也。凡小山皆無正神為主，多是木石之精，千歲老物，血食之鬼，此輩皆邪炁，不念為人作福，但能作禍，善試道士，道士須當以術闢身，及將從弟子，然或能壞人藥也。今之醫家，每合好藥好膏，皆不欲令雞犬小兒婦人見之。若被諸物犯之，用便無驗。又染採者惡惡目者見之，皆失美色。況神仙大藥乎？是以古之道士，合作神藥，必入名山，不止凡山之中，正為此也。又按仙經，可以精思合作仙藥者，有華山泰山霍山恆山嵩山少室山長山太白山終南山女幾山地肺山王屋山抱犢山安丘山潛山青城山娥眉山緌山雲臺山羅浮山陽駕山黃金山鱉祖山大小天台山四望山蓋竹山括蒼山，此皆是正神在其山中，其中或有地仙之人。上皆生芝草，可以避大兵大難，不但於中以合藥也。若有道者登之，則此山神必助之為福，藥必成。

Baopuzi said: Next there is the method of ingesting yellow gold. Though it does not equal the Golden Liquor, it far surpasses what other drugs can match. Some refine it with zhufuge fat and wine; some treat it with ailanthus bark; some dissolve it with thorn wine and magnetite. In some methods it can be drawn out into a kerchief; in others it is made directly into water to drink. Some have taboos and fall short of the Golden Liquor. Some ingest it combined with realgar and orpiment; it can be pulled out and spread like leather. These are all merely methods of the earth-immortals. Silver and the great pearls found in oysters can also be turned into water to drink, but they must be taken continually without interruption, so none of them equals the Golden Liquor. Baopuzi said: to compound this Golden Liquor and the nine elixirs takes both money and entry into famous mountains, cutting off human affairs, so few can do it; moreover, among tens of thousands of people only now and then does one obtain those scriptures. For this reason, almost none of those who write books on the Way speak of the golden elixir. The first prohibition: do not let unbelieving commoners slander, ridicule, and vilify it — it will surely fail. Master Zheng said the reason is this: in compounding these great medicines one must always offer sacrifice, and when one sacrifices, Taiyi, Lord Yuan, Lord Lao, and the Dark Maiden all come to observe. If the maker of the medicine does not withdraw utterly to a hidden and secluded place, so that fools of the world get to pass by and see and hear, the spirits will blame the maker for not honouring the scriptural precepts, and once evil men get to utter words of slander, the spirits no longer protect and help him; baleful qi gains entry, and the medicine fails. One must enter among the famous mountains, fast and purify for one hundred days, eat neither the five pungent herbs nor raw fish, and meet no commoners; only then may the great medicine be made. The fast must be kept until the medicine is done before it is lifted — not only at the start of the work. Master Zheng said that Lord Zuo told him: none of the small hills may be used for making the Golden Liquor or divine elixirs. All small hills lack a proper presiding deity; most harbour sprites of wood and stone, thousand-year-old creatures, and ghosts that feed on bloody sacrifices — all such are baleful qi. They do not wish to bring men fortune and can only cause harm; they are good at testing Daoists, who must protect themselves with arts and bring along attendant disciples, and even so these spirits may yet ruin a man's medicine. Even physicians of today, whenever they compound a fine medicine or salve, do not want chickens, dogs, children, or women to see it; if these creatures violate it, it loses its efficacy when used. And dyers hate to be seen by men with evil eyes, for the colours lose their beauty. How much more so with the great medicines of gods and immortals! For this reason the Daoists of old, in compounding divine medicines, always entered famous mountains, not merely common hills — precisely on this account. Further, according to the immortal scriptures, the mountains where one may concentrate the mind and compound immortal medicines are: Mount Hua, Mount Tai, Mount Huo, Mount Heng, Mount Song, Mount Shaoshi, Mount Chang, Mount Taibo, Mount Zhongnan, Mount Nüji, Mount Difei, Mount Wangwu, Mount Baodu, Mount Anqiu, Mount Qian, Mount Qingcheng, Mount Emei, Mount Rui, Mount Yuntai, Mount Luofu, Mount Yangjia, Mount Huangjin, Mount Biezu, the Greater and Lesser Mount Tiantai, Mount Siwang, Mount Gaizhu, and Mount Kuocang. In all of these there are proper deities within the mountains, and among them there may be earth-immortals. Zhi mushrooms grow on all of them, which can ward off great armies and great calamities — and they are not only places to compound medicines. If a man of the Way ascends them, the god of that mountain is sure to help him and bring him fortune, and the medicine will surely succeed.

若不得登此諸山者，海中大島嶼，亦可合藥。若會稽之東翁洲亶洲紵嶼，及徐州之莘莒洲泰光洲鬱洲，皆其次也。今中國名山不可得至，江東名山之可得住者，有霍山，在晉安；長山太白，在東陽；四望山大小天台山蓋竹山括蒼山，並在會稽。

(He continues:) If you cannot climb these mountains, the great islands in the sea can also be used for compounding medicines — such as Wengzhou, Danzhou, and Zhuyu east of Kuaiji, and Shenjuzhou, Taiguangzhou, and Yuzhou of Xuzhou; these are next best. Nowadays the famous mountains of the central plain cannot be reached; among the famous mountains of Jiangdong that can be lived on are Mount Huo, in Jin'an; Changshan and Taibo, in Dongyang; and Mount Siwang, the Greater and Lesser Mount Tiantai, Mount Gaizhu, and Mount Kuocang, all in Kuaiji.

抱朴子曰：予忝大臣之子孫，雖才不足以經國理物，然疇類之好，進趨之業，而所知不能遠餘者，多揮翮雲漢，耀景辰霄者矣。餘所以絕慶弔於鄉黨，棄當世之榮華者，必欲遠登名山，成所著子書，次則合神藥，規長生故也。俗人莫不怪予之委桑梓，背清塗，而躬耕林藪，手足胼胝，謂予有狂惑之疾也。然道與世事不併興，若不廢人間之務，何得修如此之志乎？見之誠了，執之必定者，亦何憚於譭譽，豈移於勸沮哉？聊書其心，示將來之同志尚者雲。後有斷金之徒，所捐棄者，亦與餘之不異也。

Baopuzi said: I am humbled to be a descendant of great ministers; though my talent is insufficient to order the state and manage affairs, yet among what my peers love and strive for, where my knowledge does not far exceed theirs, many have already spread their wings into the Milky Way and shine among the stars and empyrean. The reason I have cut off congratulations and condolences among my kin and neighbours and cast aside the glory of the present age is surely that I wished to climb far-off famous mountains, finish writing the books I have composed, and next to compound divine medicines — all for the sake of seeking long life. Among common folk there is none who does not find it strange that I abandoned my native place and turned my back on the path of pure rank, to till with my own hands amid woods and marshes, calluses growing on my hands and feet; they say I am ill with madness and delusion. But the Way and worldly affairs cannot flourish together; if I did not abandon the business of the human world, how could I cultivate such an aspiration? For one who sees things with genuine clarity and takes hold of certainties, why need he fear praise or blame — would he change because others urge or dissuade him? For now I write down this bit of my heart, to show to like-minded men of later times who will honour it. In days to come, whoever has a friendship firm as severed metal will cast away the same things I did, no differently.

小神丹方，用真丹三斤，白蜜六斤攪合，日暴煎之，令可丸，旦服如麻子許十丸，未一年，發白者黑，齒落者生，身體潤澤，長服之，老翁成少年，長生不死矣。

Recipe of the Minor Divine Elixir: take three jin of genuine cinnabar and six jin of white honey, stir them together, and decoct in the sun until it can be formed into pills. Each morning take ten pills the size of hemp seeds; within a year white hair turns black, lost teeth grow again, and the body becomes moist and sleek. Long use of it turns an old man into a youth, with long life and no death.

小丹法，丹一斤，搗篩，下淳苦酒三升，漆二升，凡三物合，令相得，微火上煎令可丸，服如麻子三丸，日再服，三十日，腹中百病癒，三尸去；服之百日，肌骨強堅；千日，司命削去死籍，與天地相畢，日月相望，改形易容，變化無常，日中無影，乃別有光也。

Minor elixir method: take one jin of cinnabar, pound and sift it, add three sheng of strong bitter wine and two sheng of lacquer — three substances in all — combine them until they blend, and decoct over a gentle fire until it can be formed into pills. Take three pills the size of hemp seeds twice a day; in thirty days all diseases of the belly heal and the Three Corpses depart; take it for a hundred days and muscle and bone grow strong and firm; in a thousand days the Director of Destinies strikes your name from the register of death, you end only together with heaven and earth, and you stand face to face with the sun and moon. Your form and countenance change without constancy; at noon you cast no shadow, yet have a light of your own.

小餌黃金法，鍊金內清酒中，約二百過，出入即沸矣，握之出指間令如泥，若不沸，及握之不出指間，即削之，內清酒中無數也。成，服之如彈丸一枚，亦可一丸，分為小丸，服之三十日，無寒溫，神人玉女侍之，銀亦可餌之，與金同法。服此二物，能居名山石室中者，一年即輕舉矣。止人間服亦地仙，勿妄傳也。

Minor method for ingesting yellow gold: put refined gold into clear wine, about two hundred immersions, and it froths as it goes in and out; squeeze it and it comes out between the fingers like mud. If it does not froth, or does not come out between the fingers when squeezed, shave it and put it back into clear wine innumerable times. When done, take a piece the size of a crossbow pellet, or split one pellet into small pills; take it for thirty days and you feel neither cold nor heat, and divine men and Jade Maidens serve you. Silver can also be ingested, by the same method as gold. Of those who take these two substances, whoever can dwell in a stone chamber on a famous mountain levitates within a year. One who stays in the human world and takes them becomes an earth-immortal. Do not transmit it recklessly.

兩儀子餌黃金法，豬負革脂三斤，淳苦酒一升，取黃金五兩，置器中，煎之土爐，以金置脂中，百入百出，苦酒亦爾。食一斤，壽蔽天地；食半斤，壽二千歲；五兩，壽千二百歲。無多少，便可餌之。當以王相日作，服之神良。勿傳非人，傳示非人，令藥不成不神。欲食去屍藥，當服丹砂也。

Liangyizi's method for ingesting yellow gold: take three jin of zhufuge fat and one sheng of strong bitter wine; take five liang of yellow gold, set it in a vessel, and decoct it over an earthen furnace; put the gold into the fat a hundred times in and out, and likewise with the bitter wine. Eating one jin gives a lifespan that outlasts heaven and earth; eating half a jin, two thousand years; five liang, twelve hundred years. However much there is, it can be ingested. It should be made on a wang-xiang day; taking it is divine and excellent. Do not transmit it to those who should not receive it; showing it to the unworthy makes the medicine fail and lose its divinity. If you want a medicine that expels the corpses, you should take cinnabar.

抱朴子曰：微妙難識，疑惑者眾。吾聰明豈能過人哉？適偶有所偏解，猶鶴知夜半，燕知戊巳，而未必達於他事也。亦有以校驗，知長生之可得，仙人之無種耳。夫道之妙者，不可盡書，而其近者，又不足說。昔庚桑胼胝，文子釐顏，勤苦彌久，及受大訣，諒有以也。夫圓首含氣，孰不樂生而畏死哉？然榮華勢利誘其意，素顏玉膚惑其目，清商流徵亂其耳，愛惡利害攪其神，功名聲譽束其體，此皆不召而自來，不學而已成，自非受命應仙，窮理獨見，識變通於常事之外，運清鑑於玄漠之域，寤身名之親疏，悼過隙之電速者，豈能棄交修賒，抑遺嗜好，割目下之近欲，修難成之遠功哉？夫有因無而生焉，形須神而立焉。有者，無之宮也。形者，神之宅也。故譬之於堤，堤壞則水不留矣。方之於燭，燭糜則火不居矣。身勞則神散，氣竭則命終。根竭枝繁，則青青去木矣。氣疲欲勝，則精靈離身矣。夫逝者無反期，既朽無生理，達道之士，良所悲矣！輕璧重陰，豈不有以哉？故山林養性之家，遺俗得意之徒，比崇高於贅疣，方萬物乎蟬翼，豈苟為大言，而強薄世事哉？誠其所見者了，故棄之如忘耳。是以遐棲幽遁，韜鱗掩藻，遏欲視之目，遣損明之色，杜思音之耳，遠亂聽之聲，滌除玄覽，守雌抱一，專氣致柔，鎮以恬素，遣歡戚之邪情，外得失之榮辱，割厚生之臘毒，謐多言於樞機，反聽而後所聞徹，內視而後見無朕，養靈根於冥鈞，除誘慕於接物，削斥淺務，御以愉慔，為乎無為，以全天理爾。

Baopuzi said: The subtle and marvellous is hard to discern, and doubters are many. How could my intelligence surpass other men's? I merely happen to have a partial understanding, like the crane that knows midnight or the swallow that knows the wu-ji days — it does not follow that they comprehend other matters. Yet there is a way to verify it: knowing that long life can be obtained, and that immortals are not a fixed breed. The subtlety of the Way cannot be written out in full, and what is nearest to it is not worth telling. In antiquity Gengsang's hands and feet grew callused and Wenzi's face turned dark and sallow; they toiled long and hard before receiving the great instructions — there was surely a reason for it. Among all that bear round heads and hold breath, who does not delight in life and fear death? Yet glory, rank, and power seduce their intent; plain white jade-like flesh bewitches their eyes; clear shang and flowing zhi notes disorder their ears; love, hate, profit, and harm stir up their spirits; merit, fame, and reputation bind their bodies. All these come unsummoned and are complete without learning. Unless one is allotted by fate to become an immortal — fathoming the pattern and seeing alone, recognizing the turn of things beyond ordinary affairs, turning a clear mirror in the realm of dark stillness, awakening to the closeness and distance of self and fame, and grieving at the lightning speed of a life that passes through a crack — how could one abandon what is near to cultivate what is far, restrain and cast aside one's cravings, and cut away the desires at hand to pursue a distant merit so hard to achieve? Being is born of nonbeing; the body stands only through the spirit. Being is the palace of nonbeing; the body is the dwelling of the spirit. So compare it to a dike: if the dike breaks, the water does not remain. Liken it to a candle: when the candle crumbles, the fire no longer dwells. When the body is overworked the spirit scatters; when breath is exhausted, life ends. When the root withers while branches and leaves still flourish, the greenness departs from the tree. When breath is weary and desire triumphs, the spirit-numen leaves the body. What has gone has no date of return; what is already rotten has no principle of living again. The man who has attained the Way truly grieves at this. To esteem jade disks lightly and reckon time as precious — can that be without reason? Thus the people who nourish their nature in mountain forests, the kind who cast off the common run and win their aim, compare high station to a wart and all the myriad things to a cicada's wing. Is it idle grandiloquence, a forced disdain for worldly affairs? Truly it is because what they see is clear, so they cast these things off as though forgetting them. For this reason they roost far away and hide in deepest seclusion: they veil their scales and cover themselves with duckweed, they dam up the eye that longs to see and dismiss the colours that harm keen sight, they stop the ear that strains to hear and keep far the sounds that disorder hearing; they wash away the dark contemplation, keep to the female and embrace the One, concentrate the breath to reach softness, use calm simplicity to hold themselves steady, drive off the perverse feelings of joy and grief, set the honour and shame of gain and loss outside them, cut away the waxen poison of rich living, make much talk fall silent at the pivot, reverse hearing so that what is heard becomes penetrating, look inward so that they see without omens, nourish the numinous root on the dark potter's wheel, remove alluring longings while in contact with things, pare away shallow concerns, steer all by serene harmony, and act through nonaction — thereby keeping intact the natural pattern of heaven.

乃父吸寶華，浴神太清，外除五曜，內守九精，堅玉鑰於命門，結北極於黃庭，引三景於明堂，飛元始以煉形，採靈液於金梁，長驅白而留青，凝澄泉於丹田，引沈珠於五城，瑤鼎俯爨，藻禽仰鳴，瑰華擢穎，天鹿吐瓊，懷重規於絳宮，潛九光於洞冥，雲蒼鬱而連天，長谷湛而交經，履躡乾兌，召呼六丁，坐臥紫房，咀吸金英，曄曄秋芝，朱華翠莖，皛皛珍膏，溶溢霄零，治飢止渴，百痾不萌，逍遙戊巳，燕和飲平，拘魂制魄，骨填體輕，故能策風雲以騰虛，並混輿而永生也。然梁塵之盈尺，非可求之漏刻，山溜洞徹，非可致之於造次也。患於聞之者不信，信之者不為，為之者不終耳。夫得之者甚希而隱，不成者至多而顯。世人不能知其隱者，而但見其顯者，故謂天下果無仙道也。

(He continues:) Thereupon he again breathes in the precious florescence (the base text reads 'nai fu', where 'fu' is a corruption of 'fu', 'again'), bathes the spirit in the Grand Clarity, removes the five planets without and guards the nine essences within, fastens the jade key upon the gate of life, knots the Northern Culmen in the Yellow Court, draws the Three Luminaries into the Hall of Light, flies up the Primordial Beginning to refine the form, gathers the numinous fluid upon the Golden Beam, drives the white long onward and retains the azure, condenses the clear spring in the cinnabar field, leads the sunken pearl to the Five Cities; the jasper tripod cooks below, the ornate birds sing above, resplendent blossoms put forth their ears, the celestial deer spits out jasper; in the Scarlet Palace he harbours the layered gauge, in cavernous darkness he hides the ninefold light; clouds, lush and dense, stretch to the sky, and the long vale lies deep where the warp-threads cross; his feet tread upon Qian and Dui, he calls out and summons the Six Ding, he sits and lies within the Purple Chamber, chewing and breathing in the golden flowers — the shining autumn zhi with vermilion bloom and emerald stalk, the gleaming precious grease that drips down melting from the empyrean — curing hunger and ending thirst, so that the hundred diseases never sprout. Free and at ease on wu-ji days, he dwells at rest in concord and drinks of balance and peace, binds the hun and commands the po, his bones full and his body light; thus he can whip the winds and clouds to mount the void, and live forever together with the primordial chariot. Yet dust on a beam piles up to a foot — that cannot be sought within the space of a water-clock notch; mountain drips bore through stone — that cannot be achieved by hasty work. The fault lies in this: those who hear do not believe, those who believe do not act, those who act cannot finish. Those who attain are few and hidden; those who fail are legion and conspicuous. The world cannot know the hidden ones, and sees only the conspicuous ones — so they say there is truly no Way of immortality under heaven.

抱朴子曰：防堅則水無漉棄之費，脂多則火無寢曜之患，龍泉以不割常利，斤斧以日用速弊，隱雪以違暖經夏，藏冰以居深過暑，單帛以幔鏡不灼，凡卉以偏覆越冬。泥壤易消者也，而陶之為瓦，則與二儀齊其久焉。柞楢速朽者也，而燔之為炭，則可億載而不敗焉。轅豚以優畜晚卒，良馬以陟峻早斃，寒蟲以適己倍壽，南林以處溫長茂，接煞氣則雕瘁於凝霜，值陽和則鬱藹而條秀。物類一也，而榮枯異功，豈有秋收之常限，冬藏之定例哉？而人之受命，死生之期，未若草木之於寒天也，而延養之理，補救之方，非徒溫暖之為淺益也，久視之效，何為不然？而世人守近習隘，以仙道為虛誕，謂黃老為妄言，不亦惜哉？夫愚夫乃不肯信湯藥針艾，況深於此者乎？皆曰，俞跗扁鵲和緩倉公之流，必能治病，何不勿死？又曰，富貴之家，豈乏醫術，而更不壽，是命有自然也。乃責如此之人，令信神仙，是使牛緣木，馬逐鳥也。

Baopuzi said: When dikes are firm, water suffers no loss by leakage or spillage; when there is plenty of fat, fire has no peril of going out. The Dragon Spring sword keeps its edge by never cutting; the axe wears out quickly through daily use. Hidden snow lasts through summer by avoiding warmth; stored ice outlasts the heat by lying deep. A single layer of silk escapes scorching because it is screened around the mirror; common grasses get through winter because they happen to be covered over. Mud and clay are easily worn away, but fired into tile they endure as long as the two spheres; oak and yu wood rot quickly, but burned into charcoal they can last a hundred million years without decay. The pig beneath the carriage-shafts dies late because it is well fed; the fine horse dies early because it is made to climb steep slopes; the winter insect doubles its life by suiting itself to the cold; the southern forest grows lush by dwelling in a warm place. Meeting the killing qi, things wither in the congealing frost; meeting the mild yang, they flourish and put forth graceful shoots. The kinds of things are the same, yet the work of flourishing and decay differs — is there a fixed rule of autumn harvest and a set law of winter storage? And when man receives his allotment, the term of his life and death is not even as fixed as that of plants before the cold sky; the principles of prolonging and nourishing, the methods of repair and rescue, are not such a shallow benefit as mere warmth — why should the proof of enduring sight be any different? But the world cleaves to the near and is habituated to the narrow; they take the Way of immortality for empty folly and call the words of Huang-Lao wild talk — is that not a pity? Foolish men will not even trust decoctions, needles, and moxa, let alone anything deeper. They all say: 'Yu Fu, Bian Que, Yi He, Yi Huan, Cang Gong and their like were surely able to cure disease — why were they not exempt from death?' And again they say: 'Rich and noble houses surely lacked no physician's skill, yet they did not live longer — fate is as it is of itself.' To rebuke such men because they will not believe in gods and immortals is to make an ox climb a tree or a horse chase after birds.

抱朴子曰：召魂小丹三使之丸，及五英八石小小之藥，或立消堅冰，或入水自浮，能斷絕鬼神，禳卻虎豹，破積聚於腑臟，追二豎於膏肓，起猝死於委屍，返驚魂於既逝。夫此皆凡藥也，猶能令已死者復生，則彼上藥也，何為不能令生者不死乎？越人救虢太子於既殞，胡醫活絕氣之蘇武，淳于能顱以理腦，元化能刳腹以澣胃，文摯愆期以瘳危困，仲景穿胸以納赤餅，此醫家之薄技，猶能若是，豈況神仙之道，何所不為？夫人所以死者，諸欲所損也，老也，百病所害也，毒惡所中也，邪氣所傷也，風冷所犯也。今道引行氣，還精補腦，食飲有度，興居有節，將服藥物，思神守一，柱天禁戒，帶佩符印，傷生之徒，一切遠之，如此則通，可以免此六害。今醫家通明腎氣之丸，內補五絡之散，骨填苟杞之煎，黃蓍建中之湯，將服之者，皆致肥丁。漆葉青蓁，凡弊之草，樊阿服之，得壽二百歲，而耳目聰明，猶能持針以治病，此近代之實事，良史所記注者也。

Baopuzi said: Taking medicine is indeed the root of long life, but if one also circulates the breath the benefit is doubly quick; if one cannot obtain the medicines, one who merely circulates the breath and fathoms its principle to the full can still gain several hundred years. Yet one must also know the arts of the bedchamber — the reason being that without knowing the arts of yin and yang, repeated wear and loss make circulating the breath hard to bring to strength. Man dwells in the midst of qi, and qi dwells in the midst of man; from heaven and earth down to the myriad things, there is none that does not need qi to live. One skilled at circulating qi uses it within to nourish the body and without to repel evil — yet the people use it daily without knowing. In Wu and Yue there are methods of warding and spell-prayer, with very clear proofs, and they lie mostly in qi alone. One who knows can enter a great epidemic, share a bed with the sick, and remain uninfected. Or, taking along several dozen followers on the road, he can make them all fearless — this shows that qi can ward off the calamities of heaven. Or there may be baleful sprites and mountain essences that invade a household, throwing tiles and stones at people and setting fire to their houses; some show their forms coming and going, some only let their voices and speech be heard — and one skilled at warding wards them with qi, and all are instantly cut off; this shows that qi can bind ghosts and spirits. In mountains and forests full of poisoned streams, vipers, and venomous snakes, no ordinary man passes even briefly without being harmed, but one skilled at warding wards them with qi and can clear a radius of several tens of li or more, so that his companions are all kept from injury. He can also ward tigers, leopards, snakes, and bees, making them all lie flat, unable to rise. Using qi to ward a metal wound, the bleeding stops at once; it can also rejoin bones and knit sinews. Using qi to ward a naked blade, one can tread on it unhurt and be stabbed without its entering. If a man is struck by snakes or vipers, warding it with qi heals him at once. In recent times Zuo Ci, Zhao Ming, and others used qi to ward water, so that the water flowed backwards for one or two zhang. Or again they lit a fire on the roof of a thatched hut, cooked food on it and ate, yet the thatch did not scorch. Or they drove a great nail into a pillar seven or eight inches deep, blew on it with qi, and the nail shot gushing out. Or they warded boiling broth with qi, cast a hundred or so coins into it, and had a man reach in with his hand to grope for the coins, yet his hand was not scalded. Or they warded water left out in the open in the courtyard, and in the coldest cold it did not freeze. Or they warded all the rice being cooked within a li so that none of it would steam done. Or they warded dogs so that they could not bark. In antiquity Wu sent General He to chastise the mountain bandits; among the bandits was a man skilled at warding, and whenever battle was joined the official army could not draw swords or blades, and the arrows shot from bows and crossbows flew back upon them — things often went badly. General He, far-thinking and resourceful, said: 'I have heard that metal with an edge can be warded, and insects with venom can be warded; but things without edges and insects without venom cannot be warded. He can ward my weapons, but surely cannot ward things that have no edges.' So he made many hard white wooden staves, chose five thousand soldiers of extraordinary strength for the first ascent, and had them all strike the mountain bandits with staves. The bandits, relying on their man skilled at warding, made no defence at all; so the official army beat them with the white staves and utterly routed the bandits. The warder indeed could no longer make it work, and those struck dead came to ten thousand or more. Qi issues from the body; used like this, it proves out to such a degree — why doubt, then, that it can do away with grains, cure illness, lengthen the years, and nourish the nature?

又云，有吳普者，從華陀受五禽之戲，以代導引，猶得百餘歲。此皆藥術之至淺，尚能如此，況於用其妙者耶？今語俗人云，理中四順，可以救霍亂，款冬、紫苑，可以治欬逆，萑蘆、貫眾之煞九蟲，當歸、芍藥之止絞痛，秦膠、獨活之除八風，菖蒲、乾姜之止痺溼，菟絲、蓯蓉之補虛乏，甘遂、葶歷之逐痰癖，括樓、黃連之愈消渴，薺苨、甘草之解百毒，蘆如益熱之護眾創，麻黃、大青之主傷寒，俗人猶謂不然也，寧煞生請福，分蓍問祟，不肯信良醫之攻病，反用巫史之紛若，況乎告之以金丹可以度世，芝英可以延年哉？昔留侯張良，吐出奇策，一代無有，智慮所及，非淺近人也，而猶謂不死可得者也，其聰明智用，非皆不逮世人，而曰吾將棄人間之事，以從赤松遊耳，遂修道引，絕谷一年，規輕舉之道，坐呂后逼蹴，從求安太子之計，良不得已，為畫致四皓之策，果如其言，呂后德之，而逼令強食之，故令其道不成耳。按孔安國秘記云，良得黃石公不死之法，不但兵法而已。又云，良本師四皓，甪里先生綺裡季之徒，皆仙人也，良悉從受其神方，雖為呂后所強飲食，尋復修行仙道，密自度世，但世人不知，故云其死耳。如孔安國之言，則良為得仙也。又漢丞相張蒼，偶得小術，吮婦人乳汁，得一百八十歲，此蓋道之薄者，而蒼為之，猶得中壽之三倍，況於備術，行諸秘妙，何為不得長生乎？此事見於漢書，非空言也。

(He continues:) It is also said there was one Wu Pu, who received the Frolics of the Five Animals from Hua Tuo to use in place of daoyin, and likewise lived past a hundred years. All these are among the shallowest of the medical arts, yet they can do so much — how much more the finest and most subtle? If today you tell common folk that Lizhong and Sishun can rescue from cholera, that coltsfoot and aster can cure hacking coughs, that huanlu and guanzhong kill the nine worms, that angelica and peony stop gripping pains, that gentian and duhuo dispel the eight winds, that calamus and dried ginger stop numbness and damp, that cuscuta and cistanche replenish the depleted, that kansui and tingli drive out phlegm-hoards, that snakegourd and coptis cure wasting-thirst, that jini and liquorice resolve the hundred poisons, that luru benefits fevers and protects open wounds, and that ephedra and daqing master cold-damage — the common folk still say it is not so; they would rather slaughter creatures to beg for blessing and split yarrow stalks to ask what is haunting them, refusing to trust a fine physician to attack the disease and instead making a great bustle of shamans and scribes — how much more if you tell them the golden elixir can carry one beyond the world and zhi blossoms can lengthen the years? In antiquity the Marquis of Liu, Zhang Liang, uttered wondrous plans unmatched in his generation; the reach of his thought was no shallow thing, yet even he said that freedom from death could be won. His intelligence and resourcefulness were in no way unequal to the world's, yet he said: 'I will cast aside the affairs of men and go off to roam with Master Red Pine' — whereupon he practised daoyin and abstained from grains for a year, seeking the Way of light ascension. Because Empress Lü pressed and urged him, begging a plan to secure the crown prince, Liang had no choice but to devise for her the scheme to summon the Four Hoaryheads; it turned out exactly as he said. Empress Lü, grateful, forced him to eat heartily, and for that reason his Way was not completed. According to Kong Anguo's secret records, Liang obtained from Huang Shigong the method of freedom from death — not merely military arts. It is further said that Liang's true teachers were the Four Hoaryheads: Master Luli, Jili Ji, and their like were all immortals, and from all of them Liang received divine prescriptions. Though Empress Lü forced him to take food, he at once resumed the practice of the Way of immortality and secretly ferried himself beyond the world; it is only that the world did not know, and so said that he died. If Kong Anguo's words are true, then Liang attained immortality. There was also Zhang Cang, chancellor of Han, who by chance acquired a minor art — sucking women's milk — and reached one hundred and eighty years. This is presumably a thin thing within the Way, yet Cang did it and gained three times the middle span; how much more one who keeps all the arts complete and practices every secret marvel — why should he not obtain long life? This matter is found in the History of Han; it is no empty talk.

抱朴子曰：服藥雖為長生之本，若能兼行氣者，其益甚速，若不能得藥，但行氣而盡其理者，亦得數百歲。然又宜知房中之術，所以爾者，不知陰陽之術，屢為勞損，則行氣難得力也。夫人在氣中，氣在人中，自天地至於萬物，無不須氣以生者也。善行氣者，內以養身，外以卻惡，然百姓日用而不知焉。吳越有禁祝之法，甚有明驗，多炁耳。知之者可以入大疫之中，與病人同床而己不染。又以群從行數十人，皆使無所畏，此是炁可以禳天災也。或有邪魅山精，侵犯人家，以瓦石擲人，以火燒人屋舍。或形見往來，或但聞其聲音言語，而善禁者以炁禁之，皆即絕，此是炁可以禁鬼神也。入山林多溪毒蝮蛇之地，凡人暫經過，無不中傷，而善禁者以炁禁之，能闢方數十里上，伴侶皆使無為害者。又能禁虎豹及蛇蜂，皆悉令伏不能起。以炁禁金瘡，血即登止。又能續骨連筋。以炁禁白刃，則可蹈之不傷，刺之不入。若人為蛇虺所中，以炁禁之則立愈。近世左慈趙明等，以炁禁水，水為之逆流一二丈。又於茅屋上然火，煮食食之，而茅屋不焦。又以大釘釘柱，入七八寸，以炁吹之，釘即湧射而出。又以炁禁沸湯，以百許錢投中，令一人手探摝取錢，而手不灼爛。又禁水著中庭露之，大寒不冰。又能禁一里中炊者盡不得蒸熟。又禁犬令不得吠。昔吳遣賀將軍討山賊，賊中有善禁者，每當交戰，官軍刀劍皆不得拔，弓弩射矢皆還向，輒致不利。賀將軍長智有才思，乃曰，吾聞金有刃者可禁，蟲有毒者可禁，其無刃之物，無毒之蟲，則不可禁，彼能禁吾兵者，必不能禁無刃物矣。乃多作勁木白棒，選異力精卒五千人為先登，盡捉棓彼山賊，賊恃其善禁者，了不能備，於是官軍以白棒擊之，大破彼賊，禁者果不復行，所打煞者，乃有萬計。夫炁出於形，用之其效至此，何疑不可絕谷治病，延年養性乎？

Baopuzi said: Summoning-soul minor elixirs, the pills of the Three Envoys, and such small medicines as the Five Blossoms and the Eight Minerals can in some cases instantly melt hard ice, in others float of themselves upon water; they can cut off ghosts and spirits, ward away tigers and leopards, break up hoardings in the bowels, chase the two sprites out of the gaohuang, raise the suddenly dead from their abandoned corpses, and call back the startled souls from where they have already gone. All these are common medicines, yet they can make the already dead live again — how then should the supreme medicines not be able to keep the living from dying? The Yue man saved the crown prince of Guo after he had already expired; the Hu physician revived Su Wu when his breath had ceased; Chunyu Yi could open a skull to treat the brain; Hua Tuo could cut open a belly to wash out the stomach; Wen Zhi, missing his appointed time, still cured mortal peril; Zhongjing pierced a chest to insert a red cake. These are the petty skills of physicians, yet they could do such things — how much more the Way of gods and immortals, what could it not do? The reasons men die are these: injury by their many desires, the wasting of age, harm by the hundred diseases, striking by poison and malignancy, wounding by baleful qi, invasion by wind and cold. Now if one practises daoyin and circulates the breath, returns the essence to mend the brain, keeps measure in eating and drinking and order in rising and resting, takes the medicines, contemplates the spirits and keeps to the One, holds the prohibitions that prop up the heavens, wears talismans and seals, and keeps all the sorts of life-harming things far away — doing thus one can get through, and be spared these six harms. Nowadays the medical families' pills that make the kidney qi clear and bright, the powders that inwardly mend the five vessels, the decoctions where bones are stuffed with goji, the Jianzhong decoction of astragalus — all who take them grow fat and strong. Qi leaves and qingzhen, the most commonplace and lowly herbs — Fan A took them and lived two hundred years, his ears and eyes still sharp, still able to work the needle and cure illness. This is a real event of recent times, recorded in reliable histories.

仲長公理者，才達之士也，著昌言，亦論“行炁可以不飢不病，雲吾始者未之信也，至於為之者，盡乃然矣。養性之方，若此至約，而吾未之能也，豈不以心馳於世務，思銳於人事哉？他人之不能者，又必與吾同此疾也。昔有明師，知不死之道者，燕君使人學之，不捷而師死。燕君怒其使者，將加誅焉。諫者曰，夫所憂者莫過乎死，所重者莫急乎生，彼自喪其生，亦安能令吾君不死也。君乃不誅。其諫辭則此為良說矣。使彼有不死之方，若吾所聞行炁之法，則彼說師之死者，未必不知道也，直不能棄世事而為之，故雖知之而無益耳，非無不死之法者也。”又云：“河南密縣，有卜成者，學道經久，乃與家人辭去，其始步稍高，遂入雲中不復見。此所謂舉形輕飛，白日昇天，仙之上者也。”陳元方韓元長，皆潁川之高士也，與密相近，二君所以信天下之有仙者，蓋各以其父祖及見卜成者成仙昇天故耳，此則又有仙之一證也。

Zhongchang Gongli was a talented and accomplished gentleman; in his work, the Abundant Words (Changyan), he too discusses this: 'Circulating qi can make one free of hunger and illness — at first I did not believe it, but all who practice it become so, without exception. The methods of nourishing the nature are as simple as this, yet I have not been able to do them — is it not because the heart gallops after worldly business and thought is honed on human affairs? What other men cannot do must surely be the same affliction as mine. In antiquity there was an enlightened teacher who knew the Way of freedom from death; the ruler of Yan sent a man to study with him, but before he could catch up, the teacher died. The ruler of Yan was angry with the messenger and was going to put him to death. One who remonstrated said: there is no worry greater than death, no care more urgent than life; this man lost his own life — how then could he have kept our lord from dying? The ruler thereupon spared him. That plea is counted a fine piece of speech. Yet suppose the man possessed a recipe for freedom from death, like the methods of circulating qi that I have heard of; then the one who said his teacher died may not have been ignorant of the Way after all — he simply could not abandon worldly affairs to practice it, so that knowing it brought him no benefit; it is not that no method of freedom from death exists.' He also said: 'In Mi County of Henan there was one Bu Cheng, who studied the Way a long time before taking leave of his family; at first his steps rose a little higher, then he entered the clouds and was seen no more. This is what is called lifting the body in light flight, ascending to heaven in broad daylight — the topmost grade among immortals.' Chen Yuanfang and Han Yuanchang were both eminent gentlemen of Yingchuan, near Mi County; the reason these two lords believed there are immortals in the world was presumably that each, through his fathers and grandfathers, had with his own eyes seen Bu Cheng achieve immortality and ascend to heaven — and this is yet another proof that immortals exist.

抱朴子曰：“餘聞歸同契合者，則不言而信著；途殊別務者，雖忠告而見疑。夫尋常咫尺之近理，人間取捨之細事，沈浮過於金羽，皂白分於粉墨，而抱惑之士，猶多不辨焉，豈況說之以世道之外，示之以至微之旨，大而笑之，其來久矣，豈獨今哉？夫明之所及，雖玄陰幽夜之地，豪釐芒發之物，不以為難見。苟所不逮者，雖日月麗天之照灼，嵩岱幹雲之峻峭，猶不能察焉。黃老玄聖，深識獨見，開秘文於名山，受仙經於神人，蹶埃塵以遣累，凌大遐以高躋，金石不能與之齊堅，龜鶴不足與之等壽，念有志於將來，愍信者之無文，垂以方法，炳然著明，小修則小得，大為則大驗。然而淺見之徒，區區所守，甘於荼蓼而不識臺蜜，酣於醨酪而不賞醇醪。知好生而不知有養生之道，知畏死而不信有不死之法，知飲食過度之畜疾病，而不能節肥甘於其口也。知極情恣欲之致枯損，而不知割懷於所欲也。餘雖言神仙之可得，安能令其信乎？”

Baopuzi said: 'I have heard that where the turning is the same and the affinities fit, there is trust even without words; where the road differs and the concerns diverge, even loyal counsel is doubted. In the near principles of everyday inches and feet, in the trifling matters of human choice and rejection — where floating and sinking go beyond metal and feather, and black and white are told apart by powder and ink — yet among scholars hugging their doubts there are still many who cannot distinguish them; how much more so when one speaks to them of what lies beyond the ways of the world and shows them the subtlest of purports! That they find it too grand and laugh at it has been so for a long time — not only today. Where sight reaches, even in a land of dark shade and midnight gloom, a thing the size of a hair's tip is not deemed hard to see; but where it does not reach, even the blaze of the sun and moon fixed in the sky, or the cloud-piercing steepness of Song and Dai, still cannot be discerned. Huang-Lao, the dark sages, with deep knowledge and solitary sight, opened the secret texts in the famous mountains, received the immortal scriptures from divine men, kicked aside the dust to cast off their burdens, and rose high beyond all distance; metal and stone cannot match their firmness, tortoises and cranes cannot equal their years. Thinking of men of future ages with resolve, and pitying believers who had no writing, they let down their methods, blazing and clear: practise a little and gain a little, do much and prove much. Yet shallow-sighted fellows, each meanly guarding his own, are content with bitter greens and never know the taste of fine honey, are drunk on thin whey and cannot relish a rich brew. They know to love life, yet know not the Way that nourishes life; they know to fear death, yet believe not the method of freedom from death; they know that excess of food and drink hoards up disease, yet cannot restrain fat and sweet things at the mouth; they know that utter abandon to lust brings withering loss, yet know not to pare their hearts back from what they crave. Though I say gods and immortals can be attained, how could I make such men believe it?'

或人難曰：“子體無參午達理，奇毛通骨，年非安期彭祖多歷之壽，目不接見神仙，耳不獨聞異說，何以知長生之可獲，養性之有徵哉？若覺玄妙於心得，運逸鑑於獨見，所未敢許也。夫衣無蔽膚之具，資無謀夕之儲，而高談陶朱之術，自同猗頓之策，取譏論者，其理必也。抱痼疾而言精和鵲之技，屢奔北而稱究孫吳之算，人不信者，以無效也。”餘答曰：“夫寸鮹泛跡濫水之中，則謂天下無四海之廣也。芒蠍宛轉果核之內，則謂八極之界盡於茲也。雖告之以無涯之浩汗，語之以宇宙之恢闊，以為空言，必不肯信也。若令吾眼有方瞳，耳長出頂，亦將控飛龍而駕慶云，凌流電而造倒景，子又將安得而詰我。設令見我，又將呼為天神地祇異類之人，豈謂我為學之所致哉？姑聊以先覺挽引同志，豈強令吾子之徒，皆信之哉？若令家戶有仙人，屬目比肩，吾子雖蔽，亦將不疑。但彼人之道成，則蹈青霄而遊紫極，自非通靈，莫之見聞，吾子必為無耳。世人信其臆斷，仗其短見，自謂所度，事無差錯，習乎所致，怪乎所希，提耳指掌，終於不悟，其來尚矣，豈獨今哉？”

Someone objected: 'You have no markings running across and through your body, no strange hairs linking your bones; your years are not the many lived through by Anqi or Pengzu; your eyes have never beheld gods or immortals, your ears have not alone heard rare doctrines — on what do you base the claim that long life can be won and that nourishing the nature has its proofs? If you say you awaken to the mystery in the heart's attainment and turn a free-ranging mirror in solitary vision — that I dare not grant you. Your clothes lack even enough to cover the skin, your stores hold nothing laid by against the evening, yet you discourse loftily of Tao Zhu's arts and liken yourself to Yi Dun's schemes — to be laughed at by the critical is inevitable in principle. To hug a chronic disease while professing mastery of the skills of Yi He and Bian Que, to suffer repeated defeats and flight while claiming to have exhausted the reckonings of Sun and Wu — men do not believe it because there is no proof.' I answered: 'A fingerling an inch long swimming in a rut's shallow water thereupon declares the world has no breadth of four seas; a tiny scorpion writhing inside a fruit-stone thereupon declares the bounds of the eight reaches end right there. Even if you tell them of the boundless vastness and speak to them of the immensity of the cosmos, they take it for empty talk and will certainly never believe. If I were to give my eyes square pupils and make my ears grow out above my skull, I would soon be driving flying dragons and riding felicitous clouds, outrunning the lightnings to reach the inverted reflections — and where then would you stand to question me? If you were to see me then, you would call me one of the celestial spirits, earthly powers, and strange kinds — you would hardly say I came to it by study. For now I use prior awakening to draw along like-minded men; I am hardly compelling men of your sort to believe. If every household had an immortal, so that they met the eye and stood shoulder to shoulder, then you, closed and blocked though you are, would cease to doubt. It is only that once a man's Way is complete, he treads the azure empyrean and roams the purple reaches, and unless one has numinous penetration no one sees or hears of him — and you are bound to think he does not exist. The world trusts its own conjectures, relies on short sight, and holds that what it measures out is never wrong; it is at home with what is familiar and amazed by what is rare — holding you by the ear and pointing at the palm, and still at last unawakened. This has been so for a long time — not only today.'

或曰：“屢承嘉談，足以不疑於有仙矣，但更自嫌於不能為耳。敢問更有要道，可得單行者否？”抱朴子曰：“凡學道當階淺以涉深，由易以及難，志誠堅果，無所不濟，疑則無功，非一事也。夫根荄不洞地，而求柯條幹云，淵源不泓窈，而求湯流萬里者，未之有也。是故非積善陰德，不足以感神明；非誠心款契，不足以結師友；非功勞不足以論大試；又未遇明師而求要道，未可得也。九丹金液，最是仙主。然事大費重，不可卒辦也。寶精愛炁，最其急也，並將服小藥以延年命，學近術以辟邪惡，乃可漸階精微矣。”

Someone said: "I have repeatedly received your excellent discourses, enough to cease doubting that immortals exist; my only regret is that I myself am incapable of it. May I ask whether there is still an essential way that could be obtained and practiced alone?" Baopuzi said: "In general, one who studies the Dao should ascend by steps from the shallow to wade into the deep, going from the easy to the difficult. If the will is sincere and the resolve firm, nothing cannot be accomplished; where there is doubt there is no success — this is not true of one thing only. To ask that the branches rush up into the clouds while the roots have not yet bored through the earth, or that water flow ten thousand li while its source is neither deep nor far-reaching — there is no such thing. Thus without accumulating goodness and hidden merit, one cannot move the spirits; without sincere intent and earnest accord, one cannot bind teachers and friends; without merit one cannot qualify for the great test; and without meeting an enlightened teacher, to seek the essential way cannot succeed. The Nine Elixirs and the Golden Liquor are the very core of immortality. But the undertaking is great and the cost heavy — it cannot be completed in haste. Treasuring the essence and cherishing the qi are the most urgent matters; moreover one must take lesser medicines to lengthen the years and study the nearer arts to ward off evil — only then can one gradually ascend into the subtle and refined."

或曰：“方術繁多，誠難精備，除置金丹，其餘可修，何者為善？”抱朴子曰：“若未得其至要之大者，則其小者不可不廣知也。蓋藉眾術之共成長生也。大而諭之，猶世主之治國焉，文武禮律，無一不可也。小而諭之，猶工匠之為車焉，轅罔軸轄，莫或應虧也。所為術者，內修形神，使延年愈疾，外攘邪惡，使禍害不幹，比之琴瑟，不可以孑弦求五音也，方之甲冑，不可以一札待鋒刃也。何者，五音合用不可闕，而鋒刃所集不可少也。凡養生者，欲令多聞而體要，博見而善擇，偏修一事，不足必賴也。又患好事之徒，各仗其所長，知玄素之術者，則曰唯房中之術，可以度世矣；明吐納之道者，則曰唯行氣可以延年矣；知屈伸之法者，則曰唯導引可以難老矣；知草木之方者，則曰唯藥餌可以無窮矣；學道之不成就，由乎偏枯之若此也。淺見之家，偶知一事，便言已足，而不識真者，雖得善方，猶更求無已，以消工棄日，而所施用，意無一定，此皆兩有所失者也。或本性戇鈍，所知殊尚淺近，便強入名山，履冒毒螫，屢被中傷，恥復求還。或為虎狼所食，或為魍魎所殺，或餓而無絕谷之方，寒而無自溫之法，死於崖谷，不亦愚哉？夫務學不如擇師，師所聞素狹，又不盡情以教之，因告云，為道不在多也。夫為道不在多，自為已有金丹至要，可不用餘耳。然此事知之者甚希，寧可虛待不必之大事，而不修交益之小術乎？譬猶作家，雲不事用他物者，蓋謂有金銀珠玉，在乎掌握懷抱之中，足以供累世之費者耳。苟其無此，何可不廣播百穀，多儲果疏乎？是以斷谷闢兵，厭劾鬼魅，禁御百毒，治救眾疾，入山則使猛獸不犯，涉水則令蛟龍不害，經瘟疫則不畏，遇急難則隱形，此皆小事，而不可不知，況過此者，何可不聞乎？”

Someone said: "The arts of method are so many that it is truly hard to master them all. Setting aside the Golden Elixir, of the rest that can be cultivated, which is best?" Baopuzi said: "If one has not yet obtained the great and supremely essential, then the lesser ones must be known broadly, for the point is to borrow the many arts together to accomplish long life. For a large analogy, it is like a ruler governing a state: civil arts and military, rites and statutes — not one can be lacking. For a small analogy, it is like a craftsman building a carriage: shaft, felloes, axle, linchpins — not one may be missing. The so-called arts inwardly cultivate the body and spirit so that the years are lengthened and illness healed, and outwardly repel evil so that calamity does not come to disturb. Compare them to the qin and se zithers: one cannot seek the five notes from a single string. Compare them to armor: one cannot block blades with a single lamella. Why? Because the five notes played together admit of no lack, and wherever blades strike admits of no gap. All who nurture life should hear much and grasp the essentials, see broadly and choose well; to cultivate one thing alone is not necessarily enough to rely on. Yet I also fear enthusiasts who each lean on what they are good at: one who knows the Xuansu arts says only the bedchamber arts can carry one across the world; one who understands exhaling and inhaling says only circulating qi can lengthen the years; one who knows the methods of bending and stretching says only daoyin can resist old age; one who knows the recipes of herbs and trees says only medicines make one inexhaustible. That students of the Dao fail is due to one-sidedness like this. Shallow people who happen to learn one thing say it is already sufficient, while those who cannot recognize the genuine, though they have a good recipe, keep seeking without stop, wasting effort and throwing away days, and in what they apply have no settled aim — both sides lose. Some are by nature dull and what they know is especially shallow, yet they force their way into famous mountains, tread upon poisonous stings, are hurt again and again, and are too ashamed to seek a teacher and return. Some are eaten by tigers and wolves, some killed by wangliang sprites; some go hungry without the recipe for abstaining from grain, or freeze without the method of warming themselves, and die in the cliffs and valleys — is that not foolish? Working at study is not as good as choosing a teacher; but the teacher's own hearing has always been narrow and he does not teach fully, so he tells you that practicing the Dao does not lie in quantity. That it does not lie in quantity is naturally said because one already has the supreme essential of the Golden Elixir and can do without the rest. But those who know this are few — would you rather wait in vain for a great undertaking that may never succeed, instead of cultivating the lesser arts that assist one another? It is like managing a household: when they say no other goods are needed, it means that with gold, silver, pearls, and jade in one's grasp and bosom, there is enough to supply expense for generations. Without those, how could one not broadly sow the hundred grains and store up much fruit and vegetables? So cutting off grain, warding off weapons, suppressing and impeaching ghosts and goblins, forbidding the hundred poisons, treating the many illnesses, entering mountains so that fierce beasts do not attack, crossing water so that jiao-dragons do no harm, passing through epidemics without fear, becoming invisible in sudden peril — these are all small matters, yet one cannot fail to know them; how much more what surpasses these — how could one not hear of it?"

或曰：“敢問欲修長生之道，何所禁忌？”抱朴子曰：“禁忌之至急，在不傷不損而已。按易內戒及赤松子經及河圖記命符皆云，天地有司過之神，隨人所犯輕重，以奪其算，算減則人貧耗疾病，屢逢憂患，算盡則人死，諸應奪算者有數百事，不可具論。又言身中有三尸，三尸之為物，雖無形而實魂靈鬼神之屬也。欲使人早死，此屍當得作鬼，自放縱遊行，享人祭酹。是以每到庚申之日，輒上天白司命，道人所為過失。又月晦之夜，灶神亦上天白人罪狀。大者奪紀。紀者，三百日也。小者奪算。算者，三日也。吾亦未能審此事之有無也。然天道邈遠，鬼神難明。趙簡子秦穆公皆親受金策於上帝，有土地之明徵。山川草木，井灶洿池，猶皆有精氣；人身之中，亦有魂魄；況天地為物之至大者，於理當有精神，有精神則宜賞善而罰惡，但其體大而網疏，不必機發而響應耳。然覽諸道戒，無不雲欲求長生者，必欲積善立功，慈心於物，恕己及人，仁逮昆蟲，樂人之吉，愍人之苦，周人之急，救人之窮，手不傷生，口不勸禍，見人之得如己之得，見人之失如己之失，不自貴，不自譽，不嫉妒勝己，不佞諂陰賊，如此乃為有德，受福於天，所作必成，求仙可冀也。

Someone asked: "May I ask what taboos there are for one who wishes to cultivate the way of long life?" Baopuzi said: "The most urgent of the taboos is simply not to injure or diminish. According to the Inner Precepts of the Changes, the Scripture of Master Red Pine, and the Talisman Recording Fate of the River Chart, heaven and earth have spirits in charge of faults who, according to the gravity of what a person commits, take away his tallies; when tallies are reduced the person becomes poor, sickly, and repeatedly meets trouble; when the tallies are exhausted the person dies. There are several hundred things for which tallies are taken — they cannot all be listed. They also say that within the body are the Three Corpses; these things, though without form, are actually of the class of souls and ghosts. They want the person to die early, for when a corpse becomes a ghost it can roam freely and enjoy the sacrificial libations of men. Therefore on every gengshen day they ascend to heaven and report to the Director of Destinies, recounting the transgressions the person has committed. And on the night of the last day of the month, the stove god also ascends to heaven and reports a person's crimes. For great offenses a period is taken — a period is three hundred days; for small ones a tally is taken — a tally is three days. I myself cannot decide whether this is so. But the way of heaven is remote and ghosts and spirits hard to fathom. Viscount Jian of Zhao and Duke Mu of Qin both personally received golden writs from the Lord on High, a clear proof that land was granted them. Mountains, rivers, grasses and trees, wells, stoves, and foul pools all have vital essence; within the human body there are also souls; how much more so heaven and earth, the greatest of all things — by principle they should have spirit, and having spirit should reward good and punish evil, only their body is vast and their net wide-meshed, and they need not respond like the trigger of a crossbow. Yet reading the various Daoist precepts, none fails to say that one who would seek long life must accumulate goodness and establish merit, be compassionate toward creatures, extend what excuses oneself to others, let benevolence reach even insects, rejoice at others' good fortune, pity others' suffering, relieve others' urgency, rescue others' poverty, let the hand not injure life and the mouth not counsel calamity, see another's gain as one's own gain and another's loss as one's own loss, not prize oneself, not praise oneself, not envy those who surpass one, not flatter and secretly harm — only thus is one virtuous, receiving blessing from heaven, sure to succeed in what one does, and the quest for immortality can be hoped for.

若乃憎善好殺，口是心非，背向異辭，反戾直正，虐害其下，欺罔其上，叛其所事，受恩不感，弄法受賂，縱曲枉直，廢公為私，刑加無辜，破人之家，收人之寶，害人之身，取人之位，侵克賢者，誅戮降伏，謗訕仙聖，傷殘道士，彈射飛鳥，刳胎破卵，春夏燎獵，罵詈神靈，教人為惡，蔽人之善，危人自安，佻人自功，壞人佳事，奪人所愛，離人骨肉，辱人求勝，取人長錢，還人短陌，決放水火，以術害人，迫脅尪弱，以惡易好，強取強求，擄掠致富，不公不平，淫佚傾邪，凌孤暴寡，拾遺取施，欺紿誑詐，好說人私，持人短長，牽天援地，咒詛求直，假借不還，換貸不償，求欲無已，憎拒忠信，不順上命，不敬所師，笑人作善，敗人苗稼，損人器物，以窮人用，以不清潔飲飼他人，輕秤小鬥，狹幅短度，以偽雜真，採取奸利，誘人取物，越井跨灶，晦歌朔哭。凡有一事，輒是一罪，隨事輕重，司命奪其算紀，算盡則死。但有噁心而無惡跡者奪算，若惡事而損於人者奪紀，若算紀未盡而自死者，皆殃及子孫也。諸橫奪人財物者，或計其妻子家口以當填之，以致死喪，但不即至耳。其惡行若不足以煞其家人者，久久終遭水火劫盜，及遺失器物，或遇縣官疾病，自營醫藥，烹牲祭祀所用之費，要當令足以盡其所取之直也。故道家言枉煞人者，是以兵刃而更相殺。其取非義之財，不避怨恨，譬若以漏脯救飢，鴆酒解渴，非不暫飽而死亦及之矣。其有曾行諸惡事，後自改悔者，若曾枉煞人，則當思救濟應死之人以解之。若妄取人財物，則當思施與貧困以解之。若以罪加人，則當思薦達賢人以解之。皆一倍於所為，則可便受吉利，轉禍為福之道也。能盡不犯之，則必延年益壽，學道速成也。夫天高而聽卑，物無不鑑，行善不怠，必得吉報。羊公積德佈施，詣乎皓首，乃受天墜之金。蔡順至孝，感神應之。

(Baopuzi continued:) As for hating good and delighting in killing; being one thing in the mouth and another in the heart; speaking differently behind backs and to faces; opposing the upright; mistreating one's underlings; deceiving one's superiors; betraying those one serves; receiving favors without gratitude; perverting the law and taking bribes; letting the crooked go and wronging the straight; abandoning the public for the private; laying punishments on the innocent; destroying families; seizing treasured goods; injuring persons; taking offices; encroaching on the worthy; executing those already surrendered; slandering immortals and sages; wounding Daoists; shooting flying birds; cutting open wombs and breaking eggs; burning fields to hunt in spring and summer; cursing and reviling spirits; teaching men to do evil; concealing others' goodness; endangering others to secure oneself; stealing others' achievements as one's own; spoiling others' fine undertakings; taking what others love; parting flesh and blood; humiliating others to win; taking long money and repaying short strings; releasing flood and fire; using arts to harm; coercing the weak; trading bad for good; seizing and demanding by force; plundering to grow rich; being unjust and unfair; licentious and depraved; bullying orphans and widows; pocketing what is lost and taking what is given away; cheating and swindling; liking to speak of others' private affairs; holding on to others' faults and shortcomings; invoking heaven and earth in curses to press one's claim; borrowing and not returning; taking on loan and not repaying; desiring without end; hating and rejecting the loyal and trustworthy; disobeying the commands of superiors; disrespecting one's teachers; laughing at those who do good; destroying crops; damaging utensils so others lack the use of them; feeding people unclean food and drink; using light scales and small measures, narrow cloth and short lengths; mixing the false with the true; taking crooked profit; luring others into taking goods; stepping over wells and stoves; singing on the last day of the month and weeping on the first — whoever has any one of these has one crime; according to its weight, the Director of Destinies takes away his tallies or periods, and when they run out he dies. One who has only a wicked heart without wicked deeds loses tallies; one whose wicked deeds harm others loses periods; if the tallies and periods are not yet exhausted and he dies anyway, it all extends to his descendants. As for those who forcibly seize others' goods, sometimes their wives and family are reckoned against them to fill the debt, even to death — only it does not come at once. If his wicked deeds are not enough to kill his family, in time he still meets flood, fire, robbery, or the loss of goods, or lawsuits before the magistrate and illness, the cost of medicines and of slaughtered victims for sacrifice always being made enough to equal the value of what he took. Therefore the Daoists say that unjustly killing a man is taking up a blade to be killed in turn. He who takes unrighteous wealth, heedless of resentment, is like one who relieves hunger with spoiled meat and quenches thirst with poisoned wine — it is not that he is not filled for the moment, but death arrives with it. One who once did various evils and later repents: if he once unjustly killed a man, he should think of rescuing those doomed to die to expiate it; if he wrongly took others' goods, he should think of giving to the poor to expiate it; if he laid blame on others, he should think of recommending the worthy to expiate it — each doubled over what he did, and he may then receive good fortune; this is the way of turning calamity into blessing. If he can offend in none of these, he will surely lengthen his years and succeed quickly in studying the Dao. Heaven is high yet hears what is below; nothing escapes its inspection. Do good without flagging and you are sure to receive a good reward. Lord Yang piled up virtue and practiced giving until his hair was white, then received gold fallen from the sky; Cai Shun was perfectly filial and moved the spirits to respond.

郭巨煞子為親，而獲鐵券之重賜。然善事難為，惡事易作，而愚人復以項託伯牛輩，謂天地之不能辨臧否，而不知彼有外名者，未必有內行，有陽譽者不能解陰罪，若以薺麥之生死，而疑陰陽之大氣，亦不足以致遠也。蓋上士所以密勿而僅免，凡庸所以不得其欲矣。”

(Baopuzi continued:) Guo Ju buried his son for his mother's sake and received the great reward of the iron warrant. But good deeds are hard to do and evil deeds easy to commit; and foolish men cite the likes of Xiang Tuo and Boniu to say that heaven and earth cannot distinguish good from evil — not knowing that those who have outward fame do not necessarily have inner conduct, and that surface repute cannot dissolve hidden guilt. To doubt the great qi of yin and yang because of the life or death of a shepherd's-purse or a grain of wheat is not enough to carry one far. This is why the highest men are diligent and only just escape fault, while the common and mediocre do not obtain what they desire."

或曰：“道德未成，又未得絕跡名山，而世不同古，盜賊甚多，將何以卻朝夕之患，防無妄之災乎？”抱朴子曰：“常以執日，取六癸上土，以和百葉燻草，以泥門戶方一尺，則盜賊不來；亦可取市南門土，及歲破土，月建土，合和為人，以著朱鳥地，亦壓盜也。有急則入生地而止，無患也。天下有生地，一州有生地，一郡有生地，一縣有生地，一鄉有生地，一里有生地，一宅有生地，一房有生地。”

Someone said: "One's virtue and attainment are not yet complete, and one cannot yet cut off one's tracks in the famous mountains; and the ways of the age differ from antiquity — brigands are many. What should one use to avert daily peril and guard against unlooked-for calamity?" Baopuzi said: "Regularly, on a Hold day, take earth from above the six gui positions, mix it with hundred-leaf fragrant herb, and plaster a square one foot across on the door — brigands will not come. Or take earth from the south gate of the market together with earth of the Year Breaker and earth of the Month Builder, blend them and shape a human figure, and place it in the Vermilion Bird quarter — this too suppresses brigands. In an emergency, enter the ground of life and stay there, and there will be no harm. The world has a ground of life; a province has a ground of life; a commandery has a ground of life; a county has a ground of life; a village has a ground of life; a hamlet has a ground of life; a house has a ground of life; a room has a ground of life."

或曰：“一房有生地，不亦偪乎？”抱朴子曰：“經云，大急之極，隱於車軾。如此，一車之中，亦有生地，況一房乎？”

Someone said: "For a single room to have a ground of life — is that not too cramped?" Baopuzi said: "The scripture says, when great peril reaches its utmost, hide by the carriage crossbar. Seen this way, even within a single cart there is a ground of life — how much more in a room?"

或曰：“竊聞求生之道，當知二山，不審此山，為何所在，願垂告悟，以袪其惑。”抱朴子曰：“有之，非華霍也，非嵩岱也。夫太元之山，難知易求，不天不地，不沈不浮，絕險綿邈，{山罪}嵬崎嶇，和氣絪縕，神意並遊，玉井泓邃，灌溉匪休，百二十官，曹府相由，離坎列位，玄芝萬株，絳樹特生，其寶皆殊，金玉嵯峨，醴泉出隅，還年之士，挹其清流，子能修之，喬松可儔，此一山也。長谷之山，杳杳巍巍，玄氣飄飄，玉液霏霏，金池紫房，在乎其隈，愚人妄往，至皆死歸，有道之士，登之不衰，採服黃精，以致天飛，此二山也。皆古賢之所秘，子精思之。”或曰：“願聞真人守身煉形之術。”抱朴子曰：“深哉問也。夫始青之下月與日，兩半同升合成一。出彼玉池入金室，大如彈丸黃如橘，中有嘉味甘如蜜，子能得之謹勿失。既往不追身將滅，純白之氣至微密，升於幽關三曲折，中丹煌煌獨無匹，立之命門形不卒，淵乎妙矣難致詰。此先師之口訣，知之者不畏萬鬼五兵也。”

Someone said: "I have privately heard that in the way of seeking life one should know the two mountains, but I do not know where these mountains lie. I beg you to condescend to tell and enlighten me, to clear away my doubt." Baopuzi said: "There is such a thing. They are not Mount Hua or Mount Huo, not Mount Song or the Dai Peak. The Mountain of Grand Origin: hard to know yet easy to seek; not in heaven, not on earth; neither sunken nor afloat; utterly steep, stretching far; its ridges towering and rugged (in the base text this character is written with the mountain radical joined to 'zui'); harmonious qi dense and swirling; spirit and intent roaming there together; the jade well deep and vast, irrigating without cease; one hundred twenty officers, bureaus and offices joined together; li and kan stationed in their places; dark zhi-plants in myriad clusters; a crimson tree standing alone — all its treasures are extraordinary; gold and jade piled high; a sweet spring issuing from a corner; the men who regain their youth dip from its clear stream. If you can cultivate it, you may be companion to Wang Qiao and Master Red Pine — this is the first mountain. The Mountain of the Long Valley: dim and towering; dark qi drifting; jade liquor falling like mist; the golden pool and the purple chambers lie within its sheltered bends. Fools who go there rashly all come home dead; men who possess the Dao climb it and do not decline; they gather and eat yellow essence and thereby fly up to heaven — this is the second mountain. These were kept hidden by the worthies of old; ponder them with all your mind." Someone said: "I beg to hear the perfected one's art for guarding the body and refining the form." Baopuzi said: "Your question reaches deep. Beneath the Beginning Green there are the moon and the sun; the two halves rise together and join into one. It comes forth from the jade pool and enters the golden chamber, big as a pellet, yellow as a tangerine; within is a fine flavor sweet as honey — if you can obtain it, guard it carefully and do not lose it. What is past cannot be pursued, or the body will perish; the pure white qi is most fine and dense; it rises to the Dark Gate through three turnings; the central cinnabar blazes, alone without peer; planted at the Gate of Life, the form will not suddenly die — deep and mysterious, it cannot be questioned to its end. This is the oral formula of my late teacher; one who knows it does not fear the myriad ghosts or the five weapons."

或曰：“聞房中之事，能盡其道者，可單行致神仙，並可以移災解罪，轉禍為福，居官高遷，商賈倍利，信乎？”抱朴子曰：“此皆巫書妖妄過差之言，由於好事增加潤色，至令失實。或亦奸偽造作虛妄，以欺誑世人，隱藏端緒，以求奉事，招集弟子，以規世利耳。夫陰陽之術，高可以治小疾，次可以免虛耗而已。其理自有極，安能致神仙而卻禍致福乎？人不可以陰陽不交，坐致疾患。若欲縱情恣欲，不能節宣，則伐年命。善其術者，則能卻走馬以補腦，還陰丹以朱腸，採玉液於金池，引三五於華梁，令人老有美色，終其所稟之天年。而俗人聞黃帝以千二百女昇天，便謂黃帝單以此事致長生，而不知黃帝於荊山之下，鼎湖之上，飛九丹成，乃乘龍登天也。黃帝自可有千二百女耳，而非單行之所由也。凡服藥千種，三牲之養，而不知房中之術，亦無所益也。是以古人恐人輕恣情性，故美為之說，亦不可盡信也。玄素諭之水火，水火煞人，而又生人，在於能用與不能耳。大都知其要法，御女多多益善，如不知其道而用之，一兩人足以速死耳。彭祖之法，最其要者。其他經多煩勞難行，而其為益不必如其書。人少有能為之者。口訣亦有數千言耳。不知之者，雖服百藥，猶不能得長生也。”

Someone said: "I have heard that in the business of the bedchamber, one who can fully practice that way can practice it alone to reach divine immortality, and can moreover shift calamities and dissolve guilt, turn misfortune into blessing, win high promotion in office, and double profits in trade — is this credible?" Baopuzi said: "These are all the wild and errant words of shamans' books, embellished by meddlesome men until they lost the truth; or they are fabrications of the deceitful made to dupe the world, hiding the particulars in order to invite service and gather disciples, all to seek worldly profit. The arts of yin and yang, at their highest, can cure minor ailments; at the next level they can merely prevent depletion. Their principle has its own limit — how could they bring immortality, avert misfortune, and attract blessing? A person cannot abstain from the union of yin and yang without, while sitting idle, inviting illness; but to indulge feeling and desire without measure, unable to regulate and release, chops down one's allotted years. One skilled in that art can stop the runaway horse (the emission of essence) to replenish the brain, send back the yin elixir to flush the bowels, gather the jade liquor in the Golden Pool, and draw the three and five over the Flowery Ridge — so that a man keeps a fine complexion in old age and lives out the heaven-given span he was endowed with. Yet vulgar people, hearing that the Yellow Emperor ascended to heaven through twelve hundred women, say he attained long life by this alone, not knowing that the Yellow Emperor, below Mount Jing and above Tripod Lake, completed the flight-refining of the Nine Elixirs and only then mounted a dragon to climb the sky. The Yellow Emperor could indeed have twelve hundred women, but that was not the path by which he practiced the bedchamber alone. Even taking a thousand kinds of medicine and being served the three sacrificial animals, if one does not know the bedchamber arts there is no benefit. Therefore the ancients, fearing men would freely indulge their passions, put the matter in too fine words — it cannot all be believed. Xuansu compared it to water and fire: water and fire kill people, yet also give life — it lies in whether one can use them or not. Broadly, if one knows that essential method, the more women the better; if one uses it without knowing the way, one or two are enough to hasten death. The method of Pengzu is the most essential among them; the other scriptures are mostly laborious and hard to practice, and their benefits are not necessarily as the books say — few men can do them. The oral formulas come to some thousands of words at most. One who does not know them, though he take a hundred medicines, still cannot obtain long life."

或曰：“皇穹至神，賦命宜均，何為使喬松凡人受不死之壽，而周孔大聖無久視之祚哉？”抱朴子曰：“命之修短，實由所值，受氣結胎，各有星宿。天道無為，任物自然，無親無疏，無彼無此也。命屬生星，則其人必好仙道。好仙道者，求之亦必得也。命屬死星，則其人亦不信仙道。不信仙道，則亦不自修其事也。所樂善否，判於所稟，移易予奪，非天所能。譬猶金石之消於爐冶，瓦器之甄於陶灶，雖由之以成形，而銅鐵之利鈍，甕罌之邪正，適遇所遭，非復爐灶之事也。”

Someone said: "August Heaven is supremely divine; the destinies it bestows should be even. Why then did Wang Qiao, Master Red Pine, and other ordinary men receive the long life of the deathless, while the Duke of Zhou and Confucius, great sages, had no blessing of long vision?" Baopuzi said: "The length of a life truly depends on what it chances upon: when the qi is received and the embryo formed, each belongs to some star. The way of heaven is non-action; it lets things be so of themselves, with no near or far, no this or that. If a life is bound to a star of life, that person is sure to love the way of the immortals; and one who loves the way of immortals is sure to obtain it when he seeks. If a life is bound to a star of death, that person does not believe in the way of the immortals; and not believing, he does not cultivate those things for himself. Whether what he delights in is good or ill is decided by his endowment; to shift, alter, give, or take it away is not within heaven's power. It is like metal and stone melting in the furnace, or pots being fired in the kiln: though they take their shapes there, whether the bronze or iron comes out keen or blunt, whether the jar comes out straight or crooked, merely chances upon what it meets — it is no longer the affair of furnace or kiln."

或人難曰：“良工所作，皆由其手，天之神明，何所不為，而云人生各有所值，非彼昊蒼所能匠成，愚甚惑焉，未之敢許也。”抱朴子答曰：“渾茫剖判，清濁以陳，或升而動，或降而靜，彼天地猶不知所以然也。萬物感氣，並亦自然，與彼天地，各為一物，但成有先後，體有鉅細耳。有天地之大，故覺萬物之小。有萬物之小，故覺天地之大。且夫腹背雖包圍五臟，而五臟非腹背之所作也。肌膚雖纏裹血氣，而血氣非肌膚之所造也。天地雖含囊萬物，而萬物非天地之所為也。譬猶草木之因山林以萌秀，而山林非有事焉。魚鱉之託水澤以產育，而水澤非有為焉。俗人見天地之大也，以萬物之小也，因曰天地為萬物之父母，萬物為天地之子孫。夫蝨生於我，豈我之所作？故蝨非我不生，而我非蝨之父母，蝨非我之子孫。蠛蠓之育於酰醋，芝檽之產於木石，蛣屈之滋於汙淤，翠蘿之秀於松枝，非彼四物所創匠也，萬物盈乎天地之閒，豈有異乎斯哉？天有日月寒暑，人有瞻視呼吸，以遠況近，以此推彼，人不能自知其體老少痛癢之何故，則彼天亦不能自知其體盈縮災祥之所以；人不能使耳目常聰明，榮衛不輟閡，則天亦不能使日月不薄蝕，四時不失序。由茲論之，大壽之事，果不在天地，仙與不仙，決非所值也。夫生我者父也，娠我者母也，猶不能令我形器必中適，姿容必妖麗，性理必平和，智慧必高遠，多致我氣力，延我年命；而或矬陋尪弱，或且黑且醜，或聾盲頑嚚，或枝離劬蹇，所得非所欲也，所欲非所得也，況乎天地遼闊者哉？父母猶復其遠者也。我自有身，不能使之永壯而不老，常健而不疾，喜怒不失宜，謀慮無悔吝。故授氣流形者父母也，受而有之者我身也，其餘則莫有親密乎此者也，莫有制御乎此者也，二者已不能有損益於我矣，天地亦安得與知之乎？

Someone objected: "What a good craftsman makes all passes through his hands; the divine intelligence of heaven — what can it not do? Yet you say each human life has what it chances upon and is not wrought by that Azure Vastness. I, dull and lowly, am deeply confused and dare not grant this." Baopuzi answered: "When the murky chaos split and divided, the clear and the turbid were set out; some rose and moved, some sank and rested — even heaven and earth themselves do not know why it is so. The myriad things received qi and all likewise came to be of themselves; they and heaven and earth are each a thing — only their formation came earlier or later and their bodies are large or small. Because heaven and earth are large, the myriad things seem small; because the myriad things are small, heaven and earth seem large. Moreover, though the belly and back enfold the five viscera, the five viscera are not made by the belly and back; though skin and flesh wrap blood and qi, blood and qi are not fashioned by skin and flesh. Heaven and earth, though they contain the myriad things, do not make them. It is like grasses and trees sprouting and flourishing by means of mountains and forests, while the mountains and forests did nothing; fish and turtles entrusting their breeding to pools and marshes, while the pools and marshes took no action. Vulgar men, seeing heaven and earth so great and the myriad things so small, thereupon say heaven and earth are the father and mother of the myriad things and the myriad things are their children and grandchildren. A louse breeds on my body — was it made by me? Thus the louse cannot live without me, yet I am not the louse's parent and the louse is not my child. Midges breed in vinegar, bracket fungi grow on wood and stone, maggots teem in foul mire, and green creepers flourish on pine branches — none was crafted by those four things. The myriad things fill the space between heaven and earth — how could they differ from this? Heaven has sun and moon, cold and heat; man has sight and breath. Comparing the distant with the near and inferring one from the other: man cannot himself know the cause of his body's age or youth, its aches and itches — likewise heaven cannot itself know why its body waxes and wanes, has calamities and blessings. Man cannot keep his ears and eyes always keen or his nutritive and defensive qi flowing without block — likewise heaven cannot keep sun and moon from being eclipsed or the four seasons from losing their order. Judged on this, the matter of great longevity indeed does not lie with heaven and earth; being immortal or not is certainly not decided by the star one chances upon alone. The one who begets me is my father, the one who conceives me is my mother; even they cannot make my frame always fitting, my features always comely, my temperament always mild, my intelligence always far-reaching, give me more strength, or lengthen my years — some are dwarfish and ill-favored, some swarthy and ugly, some deaf, blind, or stubborn, some crooked in limb and halting in gait; what they get is not what they wished, and what they wished was not what they got — how much less can heaven and earth, so far off? Father and mother are comparatively near. I possess this body, yet cannot make it ever strong and unaging, always well and unailing, its joy and anger never out of season, its plans free of regret. So the ones who imparted the qi and gave it form were the parents; the one who received and holds it is my own body — beyond these there is nothing more intimate or better able to govern me, and since even these two can do me neither good nor harm, how could heaven and earth take part and know of it?"

必若人物皆天地所作，則宜皆好而無惡，悉成而無敗，眾生無不遂之類，而項楊無春雕之悲矣！子以天不能使孔孟有度世之祚，益知所稟之有自然，非天地所剖分也。聖之為德，德之至也。天若能以至德與之，而使之所知不全，功業不建，位不霸王，壽不盈百，此非天有為之驗也。聖人之死，非天所殺，則聖人之生，非天所挺也。賢不必壽，愚不必夭，善無近福，惡無近禍，生無定年，死無常分，盛德哲人，秀而不實，竇公庸夫，年幾二百，伯牛廢疾，子夏喪明，盜跖窮兇而白首，莊蹻極惡而黃髮，天之無為，於此明矣。”

(Baopuzi continued:) If men and things were indeed all made by heaven and earth, they should all be good and none evil, all complete and none failures, and there should be no kind of creature that did not thrive — Xiang Tuo and Yang Wu would have had no grief of withering in their spring! And since heaven could not even grant Confucius and Mencius the blessing of leaving the world, you may know all the more that what is endowed is natural, not parceled out by heaven and earth. Sagehood as a virtue is the utmost of virtue. If heaven could give him that utmost virtue yet left his knowledge incomplete, his work unbuilt, his rank less than a hegemon-king's, and his years short of a hundred — that is no proof of heaven's deliberate action. The sage's death was not a killing by heaven, so neither was the sage's birth an upraising by heaven. The worthy are not necessarily long-lived, the foolish not necessarily cut off young; goodness has no near reward, evil no near calamity; life has no fixed span and death no constant lot. Men of abundant virtue and wisdom bloomed without bearing fruit; Dou Gong was a commonplace man yet lived near two hundred years; Boniu was crippled by disease and Zixia lost his sight; Robber Zhi was utterly vicious yet died white-haired, and Zhuang Qiao was supremely wicked yet lived to yellowed age — that heaven does nothing is plain here."

或曰：“仲尼稱自古皆有死，老子曰神仙之可學。夫聖人之言，信而有徵，道家所說，誕而難用。”抱朴子曰：“仲尼，儒者之聖也；老子，得道之聖也。儒教近而易見，故宗之者眾焉。道意遠而難識，故達之者寡焉。道者，萬殊之源也。儒者，大淳之流也。三皇以往，道治也。帝王以來，儒教也。談者鹹知高世之敦樸，而薄季俗之澆散，何獨重仲尼而輕老氏乎？是玩華藻於木末，而不識所生之有本也。何異乎貴明珠而賤淵潭，愛和璧而惡荊山，不知淵潭者，明珠之所自出，荊山者，和璧之所由生也。且夫養性者，道之餘也；禮樂者，儒之末也。所以貴儒者，以其移風易俗，不唯揖讓與盤旋也。所以尊道者，以其不言而化行，匪獨養生之一事也。若儒道果有先後，則仲尼未可專信，而老氏未可孤用。仲尼既敬問伯陽，願比老彭。又自以知魚鳥而不識龍，喻老氏於龍，蓋其心服之辭，非空言也。與顏回所言，瞻之在前，忽然在後，鑽之彌堅，仰之彌高，無以異也。”

Someone said: "Zhongni declared that since antiquity all men have died, while Laozi says the divine immortal can be attained by study. The sage's words are trustworthy and verifiable; what the Daoists say is extravagant and hard to use." Baopuzi said: "Zhongni is the sage of the Confucians; Laozi is the sage who attained the Dao. Confucian teaching is near at hand and easy to see, so many take it as their standard; the meaning of the Dao is distant and hard to discern, so few reach it. The Dao is the source of the myriad differences; Confucianism is a branch of its great purity. Before the Three August Ones there was governance by the Dao; since the thearchs and kings there has been Confucian teaching. All who discuss know the honesty and simplicity of high antiquity and think little of the dissolving customs of the latter age — why then honor Zhongni alone and make light of Lao? That is to sport with the flowering foliage at the tips of the branches while failing to know the root from which it grew — how does it differ from prizing the bright pearl while despising the deep pool, or loving the jade disk of Mr. He while loathing Mount Jing, not knowing that the deep pool is where the bright pearl comes from and Mount Jing is where the jade disk was born? Moreover, nourishing one's nature is a secondary affair of the Dao, and rites and music are the tail end of Confucianism. Confucianism is prized because it transforms manners and reforms customs — not merely for bowing and circling; the Dao is honored because it does not speak yet transformation proceeds of itself — not for the matter of nurturing life alone. If Confucianism and Daoism truly come first and last, then Zhongni may not be trusted exclusively nor Lao employed alone. Zhongni already respectfully questioned Boyang, and wished to compare himself with Lao Peng; and judging that he knew fish and birds but not the dragon, he likened Lao to a dragon — surely this was the word of a convinced heart, not empty talk. It differs in nothing from what Yan Hui said: 'I gaze at it before me and suddenly it is behind; I bore into it and it grows harder; I look up to it and it grows higher.'"

或曰：“仲尼親見老氏而不從學道，何也？”抱朴子曰：“以此觀之，益明所稟有自然之命，所尚有不易之性也。仲尼知老氏玄妙貴異，而不能挹酌清虛，本源大宗，出乎無形之外，入乎至道之內，其所諮受，止於民閒之事而已，安能請求仙法耶？忖其用心汲汲，專於教化，不存乎方術也。仲尼雖聖於世事，而非能沈靜玄默，自守無為者也。故老子戒之曰：良賈深藏若虛，君子盛德若愚，去子之驕氣與多欲，態色與淫志，是無益於子之身。此足以知仲尼不免於俗情，非學仙之人也。夫棲棲遑遑，務在匡時，仰悲鳳鳴，俯嘆匏瓜，沽之恐不售，忼慨思執鞭，亦何肯舍經世之功業，而修養生之迂闊哉？”

Someone said: "Zhongni saw Lao in person yet did not study the Dao under him — why?" Baopuzi said: "Seen from this, it is all the clearer that what one is endowed with is a natural destiny and what one honors is an unalterable nature. Zhongni knew that Lao was mysterious, subtle, and nobly strange, yet he could not draw from the clear void or the fount of the great source, go out beyond the formless and enter within the supreme Dao; what he asked after and received stopped at the affairs of the people — how could he have requested the method of the immortals? I reckon his mind worked anxiously, set solely on teaching and transforming, and did not dwell on the arts of method. Though Zhongni was a sage in worldly matters, he was not a man who could sink into stillness and dark silence, keeping himself in non-action. Therefore Laozi warned him: 'The good merchant keeps his stores deeply hidden as though empty; the gentleman of abundant virtue looks like a fool. Rid yourself of your arrogance and many desires, your affected airs and wanton ambitions — these do your person no good.' This suffices to know that Zhongni did not escape vulgar sentiment and was no student of the immortals. Hurrying anxiously about, bent on righting his age; grieving above that the phoenix did not sing; sighing below over the gourd that hung unused; selling his wares and fearing there was no buyer; fervently willing even to hold the whip — how could he have been willing to give up the work of ordering the age to cultivate the remote and impractical art of nourishing life?"

或曰：“儒道之業，孰為難易？”抱朴子答曰：“儒者，易中之難也。道者，難中之易也。夫棄交遊，委妻子，謝榮名，損利祿，割粲爛於其目，抑鏗鏘於其耳，恬愉靜退，獨善守己，謗來不戚，譽至不喜，睹貴不欲，居賤不恥，此道家之難也。出無慶弔之望，入無瞻視之責，不勞神於七經，不運思於律歷，意不為推步之苦，心不為藝文之役，眾煩既損，和氣自益，無為無慮，不怵不惕，此道家之易也，所謂難中之易矣。夫儒者所修，皆憲章成事，出處有則，語默隨時，師則循比屋而可求，書則因解注以釋疑，此儒者之易也。鉤深致遠，錯綜典墳，該河洛之籍籍，博百氏之云云，德行積於衡巷，忠貞盡於事君，仰馳神於垂象，俯運思於風云，一事不知，則所為不通，片言不正，則褒貶不分，舉趾為世人之所則，動唇為天下之所傳，此儒家之難也，所謂易中之難矣。篤論二者，儒業多難，道家約易，吾以患其難矣，將舍而從其易焉。世之譏吾者，則比肩皆是也。可與得意者，則未見其人也。若同志之人，必存乎將來，則吾亦未謂之為希矣。”

Someone asked: "Of the undertakings of Confucianism and Daoism, which is hard and which easy?" Baopuzi answered: "Confucianism is the difficult among the easy; Daoism is the easy among the difficult. To cast aside friends and companions, put away wife and children, decline glory and fame, pare down profit and stipend, cut glittering splendor from the eyes, curb ringing sounds from the ears; to be serene, content, quiet, and retiring, perfecting oneself alone and keeping to oneself; to not grieve when slander comes nor rejoice when praise arrives; to see the honored without coveting and dwell in the lowly without shame — this is the Daoists' difficulty. Going out, there is no obligation to congratulate or condole; coming in, no duty to look up and care for; no taxing the spirit on the Seven Classics, no turning the thoughts on pitch-pipes and calendar; the mind suffers no toil of calculation, the heart is no slave to the literary arts; once the many vexations are cut away, harmonious qi increases of itself — no doing, no care, no trembling, no fearing — this is the Daoists' ease, the ease within the difficult so to speak. What the Confucians cultivate is all statute and settled precedent; advancing or retiring has its rule, speech and silence have their season; for teachers one can seek door to door, for books one can lean on commentaries to resolve doubts — this is the Confucians' ease. To hook out the deep and reach the far, to weave through canons and records, to comprehend the whole registers of the River Chart and the Luo Writing, to read widely through the tangle of the hundred schools; to accumulate virtuous conduct in lane and ward and exhaust loyalty in serving the lord; upward to send the spirit racing among the suspended images, downward to turn the thoughts among wind and cloud; if one thing is unknown the whole conduct is blocked, if one phrase is wrong praise and blame are left undistinguished; to lift a foot and set the rule for the age, to move the lips and be transmitted through the world — this is the Confucians' difficulty, the difficulty within the easy so to speak. Weighing the two in earnest, the Confucian undertaking is mostly hard and the Daoist mostly easy; and because I fear its difficulty I mean to abandon it and follow the easy one. Those in the world who laugh at me stand shoulder to shoulder; one with whom I could share my contentment I have yet to see. If men of like resolve are certain to exist in time to come, then I cannot after all be counted rare."

或曰：“餘閱見知名之高人，洽聞之碩儒，果以窮理盡性，研核有無者多矣，未有言年之可延，仙之可得者也。先生明不能並日月，思不能出萬夫，而據長生之道，未之敢信也。”抱朴子曰：“吾庸夫近才，見淺聞寡，豈敢自許以拔群獨識，皆勝世人乎？顧曾以顯而求諸乎隱，以易而得之乎難，校其小驗，則知其大效，睹其已然，則明其未試耳。且夫世之不信天地之有仙者，又未肯規也。率有經俗之才，當塗之伎，涉覽篇籍助教之書，以料人理之近易，辨凡猥之所惑，則謂眾之所疑，我能獨斷之，機兆之未朕，我能先覺之，是我與萬物之情，無不盡矣，幽翳冥昧，無不得也。我謂無仙，仙必無矣，自來如此其堅固也。吾每見俗儒碌碌，守株之不信至事者，皆病於頗有聰明，而偏枯拘繫，以小黠自累，不肯為純在乎極暗，而了不別菽麥者也。夫以管窺之狹見，而孤塞其聰明之所不及，是何異以一尋之綆，汲百仞之深，不覺所用之短，而云井之無水也。俗有聞猛風烈火之聲，而謂天之冬雷，見遊雲西行，而謂月之東馳。人或告之，而終不悟信，此信己之多者也。夫聽聲者，莫不信我之耳焉。視形者，莫不信我之目焉。而或者所聞見，言是而非，然則我之耳目，果不足信也。況乎心之所度，無形無聲，其難察尤甚於視聽，而以己心之所得，必固世閒至遠之事，謂神仙為虛言，不亦蔽哉？”

Someone said: "The famous high men I have met and the broadly learned great Confucians are indeed many who exhaust principle and nature and investigate being and nonbeing — yet none says the years can be extended or immortality attained. Your brilliance cannot stand beside sun and moon, your thought cannot surpass ten thousand men, yet you rely on the way of long life — I dare not believe it." Baopuzi said: "I am a common man of near talent, shallow in sight and scant in learning — how dare I claim to stand above the crowd with solitary insight surpassing the whole age? It is only that I have used the manifest to seek the hidden and the easy to reach the difficult; having verified the response of the small, I know the effect of the great; having seen what is already so, I understand what has not yet been tried. Moreover, people of the world do not believe there are immortals between heaven and earth and refuse to seek them. Most have talent for managing worldly affairs and skill for the road of office, and having browsed the chapter-and-verse books that aid teaching, they presume to fathom the near and easy in human reason; once they can distinguish what the vulgar and petty doubt they say: 'What the multitude doubts I alone can decide; when omens have not yet shown their signs I perceive them first — thus of the truth of the myriad things nothing escapes me, and of the hidden, the dim, and the dark nothing is beyond my reach. I say there are no immortals, so there can be none.' It has always been this fixed. Whenever I see vulgar scholars bustling along, standing by the stump and refusing to believe the utmost matters, the fault is always this: they have some cleverness, which withers one side and ties them up; they hamper themselves with petty wit and refuse to be one who rests wholly in utter darkness, unable even to tell beans from wheat. To take the narrow view through a tube and block for oneself what wit cannot reach — how does that differ from drawing on a well a hundred fathoms deep with a rope one fathom long, failing to notice the rope is short and declaring the well has no water? There are common folk who, hearing the roar of fierce wind and raging fire, say heaven is thundering in winter, or who, seeing drifting clouds move west, say the moon is galloping east; though someone tells them, in the end they neither wake nor believe — this is trusting oneself too much. Those who hear sounds all trust their ears; those who see shapes all trust their eyes. And if what is heard and seen is judged right when it is wrong, then indeed one's ears and eyes cannot be trusted. How much more what the mind measures, which is without shape or sound and far harder to examine than sight and hearing — to take what one's own heart has arrived at and insist on fixing the world's remotest matters, declaring divine immortals an empty tale — is that not a sealing shut?"

抱朴子曰：“妍媸有定矣，而憎愛異情，故兩目不相為視焉。雅鄭有素矣，而好惡不同，故兩耳不相為聽焉。真偽有質矣，而趨舍舛忤，故兩心不相為謀焉。以醜為美者有矣，以濁為清者有矣，以失為得者有矣，此三者乖殊，炳然可知，如此其易也，而彼此終不可得而一焉。又況乎神仙之事，事之妙者，而欲令人皆信之，未有可得之理也。凡人悉使之知，又何貴乎達者哉？若待俗人之息妄言，則俟河之清，未為久也。吾所以不能默者，冀夫可上可下者，可引致耳。其不移者，古人已末如之何矣。”抱朴子曰：“至理之未易明，神仙之不見信，其來久矣，豈獨今哉？太上自然知之，其次告而後悟，若夫聞而大笑者，則悠悠皆是矣。吾之論此也，將有多敗之悔，失言之咎乎！夫物莫之與，則傷之者至焉。蓋盛陽不能榮枯朽之木，神明不能變沈溺之性，子貢不能悅錄馬之野人，古公不能釋欲地之戎狄，實理有所不通，善言有所不行。章甫不售於蠻越，赤舄不用於跣夷，何可強哉？夫見玉而指之曰石，非玉之不真也，待和氏而後識焉。見龍而命之曰蛇，非龍之不神也，須蔡墨而後辨焉。所以貴道者，以其加之不可益，而損之不可減也。所以貴德者，以其聞毀而不慘，見譽而不悅也。彼誠以天下之必無仙，而我獨以實有而與之諍，諍之彌久，而彼執之彌固，是虛長此紛紜，而無救於不解，果當從連環之義乎！”

Baopuzi said: "Beauty and ugliness are already fixed, yet the feelings of love and hate differ — so two eyes do not see for one another. Ya and Zheng tunes are already distinct, yet likes and dislikes differ — so two ears do not hear for one another. True and false are already substantial, yet taking and rejecting clash — so two hearts do not plan for one another. There are those who take the ugly for beautiful, those who take the turbid for clear, those who take loss for gain; that these three diverge can plainly be known — as easy as this — yet they can never be brought into accord. How much more the matter of divine immortals, the subtlest of matters: to want all men to believe it admits of no attainable reason. If every common man could be made to know it, what need would there be to prize the penetrating man? To wait for vulgar men to stop their wild talk is to wait for the Yellow River to run clear — and that is not even a long wait. That I cannot stay silent is because I hope those who might go up or down may be drawn along. As for those who cannot be moved, the ancients could already do nothing with them." Baopuzi said: "The utmost principle is not easily made clear; that divine immortals are disbelieved has been so for long — not only today. The highest sort know of themselves; the next wake when told; as for those who hear it and laugh loudly — so it has been, time without end. In arguing these things, shall I not earn the regret of repeated defeat and the blame of words wrongly spent? When no one gives a thing, what would harm it arrives. The high sun cannot make rotten wood bloom again; divine clarity cannot change a drowned nature; Zigong could not please the rustic who had seized the horse; the Ancient Duke could not dissolve the Rong and Di who coveted his land — genuine principle sometimes does not get through, good words sometimes do not work. Zhangfu caps could not be sold among the Yue tribes; red slippers are of no use to barefoot Yi — how can such things be forced? See jade and point to it as stone — it is not that the jade is not genuine; one must wait for a Bian He to recognize it. See a dragon and call it a snake — it is not that the dragon is not divine; one needs a Cai Mo to distinguish it. The Dao is prized because nothing can be added to it and nothing further diminished; virtue is prized because it hears slander without anguish and sees praise without delight. He honestly believes the world has certainly no immortals, while I alone hold that they truly exist and argue with him — the longer the argument, the firmer his grip; it is to grow this tangle for nothing, with no cure for the knot. Should one then follow the example of loosening the linked rings?"

或問曰：“人道多端，求仙至難，非有廢也，則事不兼濟。藝文之業，憂樂之務，君臣之道，胡可替乎？”抱朴子答曰：“要道不煩，所為鮮耳。但患志之不立，信之不篤，何憂於人理之廢乎？長才者兼而修之，何難之有？內寶養生之道，外則和光於世，治身而身長修，治國而國太平。以六經訓俗士，以方術授知音，欲少留則且止而佐時，欲升騰則凌霄而輕舉者，上士也。自持才力，不能併成，則棄置人間，專修道德者，亦其次也。昔黃帝荷四海之任，不妨鼎湖之舉；彭祖為大夫八百年，然後西適流沙；伯陽為柱史，寧封為陶正，方回為閭士，呂望為太師，仇生仕於殷，馬丹官於晉，范公霸越而泛海，琴高執笏於宋康，常生降志於執鞭，莊公藏器於小吏，古人多得道而匡世，修之於朝隱，蓋有餘力故也。何必修於山林，盡廢生民之事，然後乃成乎？亦有心安靜默，性惡喧譁，以縱逸為歡，以榮任為戚者，帶索藍縷，茹草操耜，玩其三樂，守常待終，不營苟生，不憚速死，辭千金之聘，忽卿相之貴者。無所修為，猶常如此，況又加之以知神仙之道，其亦必不肯役身於世矣，各從其志，不可一概而言也。”抱朴子曰：“世之謂一言之善，貴於千金然，蓋亦軍國之得失，行己之臧否耳。至於告人以長生之訣，授之以不死之方，非特若彼常人之善言也，則奚徒千金而已乎？設使有困病垂死，而有能救之得愈者，莫不謂之為宏恩重施矣。今若按仙經，飛九丹，水金玉，則天下皆可令不死，其惠非但活一人之功也。黃老之德，固無量矣，而莫之克識，謂為妄誕之言，可嘆者也。”

Someone asked: "The ways of man are many-branched and seeking immortality is hardest of all; unless something is set aside, the work cannot be accomplished together. The study of letters, the affairs of grief and joy, the principles of lord and subject — how can these be cast aside?" Baopuzi answered: "The essential way is not fussy; what it does is little. I fear only that the will is not set and faith not firm — why worry that the principles of human relations will lapse? A man of long talent cultivates both together — where is the difficulty? Inwardly treasuring the way of nurturing life, outwardly softening his light amid the world; governing his person, the person is long-ordered; governing the state, the state is at peace. With the Six Classics he instructs vulgar men, with the arts of method he teaches kindred spirits; wishing to linger a while he stays and aids his age, wishing to ascend he rises lightly beyond the clouds — such is the highest man. One who weighs his own powers, finds he cannot accomplish both, casts aside the human world and cultivates the Dao and its virtue alone — that is the next best. Of old the Yellow Emperor bore the charge of the four seas, yet it did not hinder his ascent at Tripod Lake; Pengzu was a grandee for eight hundred years, then went west beyond the drifting sands; Boyang was a scribe below the pillar, Ningfeng a master of pottery, Fanghui a ward officer, Lü Wang a grand tutor; Qiu Sheng held office under Yin, Ma Dan held office under Jin; Lord Fan (Fan Li) made Yue hegemon and then drifted on the sea; Qin Gao held the tablet under King Kang of Song; Changsheng lowered his ambition to holding the whip; Duke Zhuang hid his vessel in a petty clerkship — the ancients often attained the Dao while righting the world, cultivating themselves in retirement at court, doubtless because they had strength to spare. Why must one cultivate in mountains and forests and wholly abandon the affairs of the people, and only then succeed? There are also those whose hearts are still and silent, whose nature hates clamor, who take free ease for joy and honored office for care — a rope at the waist and tatters to wear, eating herbs and holding the plow, enjoying their three joys, keeping to the constant and awaiting the end, not contriving to drag out life nor fearing a quick death, refusing an offer of a thousand gold and ignoring the honor of ministers and chancellors. Men with no cultivation at all are still often like this; how much more one who moreover knows the way of divine immortals — he surely will not let his body be enslaved by the age. Each follows his own resolve; they cannot be measured by one rule." Baopuzi said: "The world says a single good word is dearer than a thousand gold — yet that refers only to the gains and losses of army and state and the right and wrong of one's own conduct. As for telling men the formula for long life and imparting the recipe for not dying — that is no mere common kind word, and how would a thousand gold suffice? Suppose a man lay ill and near death and someone could save and cure him — all would call it vast kindness and heavy bounty. Now if, following the scriptures of the immortals, one flight-refines the Nine Elixirs and turns gold and jade into water so that all under heaven might not die — that kindness is more than the merit of saving a single man. The virtue of Huang-Lao is indeed measureless, yet no one can recognize it, and they call it absurd talk — how lamentable!"

抱朴子曰：“欲求神仙，唯當得其至要，至要者在於寶精行炁，服一大藥便足，亦不用多也。然此三事，復有淺深，不值明師，不經勤苦，亦不可倉卒而盡知也。雖雲行炁，而行炁有數法焉。雖曰房中，而房中之術，近有百餘事焉。雖言服藥，而服藥之方，略有千條焉。初以授人，皆從淺始，有志不怠，勤勞可知，方乃告其要耳。故行炁或可以治百病，或可以入瘟疫，或可以禁蛇虎，或可以止瘡血，或可以居水中，或可以行水上，或可以闢飢渴，或可以延年命。其大要者，胎息而已。得胎息者，能不以鼻口噓吸，如在胞胎之中，則道成矣。初學行炁，鼻中引炁而閉之，陰以心數至一百二十，乃以口微吐之，及引之，皆不欲令己耳聞其炁出入之聲，常令入多出少，以鴻毛著鼻口之上，吐炁而鴻毛不動為候也。漸習轉增其心數，久久可以至千，至千則老者更少，日還一日矣。夫行炁當以生炁之時，勿以死炁之時也。故曰仙人服六炁，此之謂也。一日一夜有十二時，其從半夜以至日中六時為生炁，從日中至夜半六時為死炁，死炁之時，行炁無益也。善用炁者，噓水，水為之逆流數步；噓火，火為之滅；噓虎狼，虎狼伏而不得動起；噓蛇虺，蛇虺蟠而不能去。若他人為兵刃所傷，噓之血即止；聞有為毒蟲所中，雖不見其人，遙為噓祝我之手，男噓我左，女噓我右，而彼人雖在百里之外，即時皆愈矣。又中惡急疾，但吞三九之炁，亦登時差也。但人性多躁，少能安靜以修其道耳。又行炁大要，不欲多食，及食生菜肥鮮之物，令人炁強難閉。又禁恚怒，多恚怒則炁亂，既不得溢，或令人發欬，故鮮有能為者也。予從祖仙公，每大醉及夏天盛熱，輒入深淵之底，一日許乃出者，正以能閉炁胎息故耳。房中之法十餘家，或以補救傷損，或以攻治眾病，或以採陰益陽，或以增年延壽，其大要在於還精補腦之一事耳。

Baopuzi said: "To seek divine immortality one need only obtain the supremely essential; the supremely essential lies in treasuring the essence and circulating the qi, and taking one great medicine suffices — no more is needed. Yet these three matters each have shallow and deep levels; without meeting an enlightened teacher and passing through toil they cannot all be known in haste. Though one says 'circulating qi,' the methods of circulating qi are several; though one says 'the bedchamber,' the arts of the bedchamber run to nearly a hundred matters; though one says 'taking medicine,' the recipes for taking medicine come to roughly a thousand. When first imparted they all begin from the shallow; only when a man has the will, does not flag, and has diligently mastered what may be learned is he told the essentials. Thus circulating qi can in some cases cure the hundred illnesses, in some let one enter epidemics, in some hold off snakes and tigers, in some stop the bleeding of wounds, in some let one dwell in water, in some let one walk on water, in some ward off hunger and thirst, in some extend the years. Its great essence is embryonic breathing. One who obtains embryonic breathing can do without breathing through nose and mouth, as though in the womb — then the Dao is accomplished. The beginner in circulating qi draws qi in through the nose and holds it, silently counting in the mind to one hundred twenty, then releases it slightly through the mouth; both in drawing and in letting out he takes care that his own ears not hear the sound of the qi passing, always letting more enter than leave, and he lays a swan's feather over nose and mouth, taking it as proof when the qi is breathed out and the feather does not stir. Practicing gradually, the count in the mind grows turn upon turn until after a long time it may reach a thousand — and at a thousand the old grow younger, returning toward childhood day by day. Circulating qi should be done in the hours of living qi, not in the hours of dead qi — thus it is said the immortals imbibe the six qi, meaning exactly this. A day and a night have twelve hours: the six hours from midnight to midday are living qi; the six from midday to midnight are dead qi; to circulate qi in the hours of dead qi brings no benefit. One skilled in using qi breathes on water and the water flows back several paces; breathes on fire and the fire goes out; breathes on tigers and wolves and they crouch unable to move; breathes on vipers and they coil and cannot leave. If another person is wounded by a blade, breathe on it and the blood stops at once; hearing of someone struck by a poisonous insect, though you cannot see him, breathe a charm from afar toward my hand — my left hand for a man, my right for a woman — and that person, though a hundred li away, is healed at once. For sudden fits of malign illness, simply swallow the three-times-nine qi and one recovers at once. Only men's natures are mostly restless, and few can quiet themselves to cultivate that way. Moreover, a great essential of circulating qi is to avoid eating much and to avoid raw vegetables and fat, rich foods, which make the qi too strong to hold. Anger is also forbidden: much anger throws the qi into disorder, so it can neither be held in nor, when it escapes, kept from making one cough — therefore few can do it. My grand-uncle the Immortal Lord, whenever he was deeply drunk or the summer heat was fierce, would go down to the bottom of a deep pool and emerge only after about a day — precisely because he could hold his qi in embryonic breathing. The methods of the bedchamber number more than ten schools: some use it to repair wounds and depletion, some to attack and cure the many illnesses, some to gather yin and increase yang, some to add years and lengthen life — its great essence lies in the single matter of returning the essence to replenish the brain.

此法乃真人口口相傳，本不書也，雖服名藥，而復不知此要，亦不得長生也。人復不可都絕陰陽，陰陽不交，則坐致壅閼之病，故幽閉怨曠，多病而不壽也。任情肆意，又損年命。唯有得其節宣之和，可以不損。若不得口訣之術，萬無一人為之而不以此自傷煞者也。玄素子都容成公彭祖之屬，蓋載其粗事，終不以至要者著於紙上者也。志求不死者，宜勤行求之。餘承師鄭君之言，故記以示將來之信道者，非臆斷之談也。餘實復未盡其訣矣。一塗之道士，或欲專守交接之術，以規神仙，而不作金丹之大藥，此愚之甚矣。”

(Baopuzi continued:) This method was handed down mouth to mouth among the perfected and was never written down from the start; though one takes famous medicines, if one does not know this essential, one still cannot obtain long life. Nor may a man wholly cut off yin and yang; if yin and yang do not join, it invites obstructive illness of itself — therefore those shut in and frustrated are often sickly and short-lived. To give the passions free rein, on the other hand, diminishes the years. Only by obtaining the harmony of regulation and release can one avoid harm. If one does not obtain the art of the oral formula, of ten thousand who practice it not one fails to injure and slay himself thereby. Xuansu, Zidu, Master Rongcheng, Pengzu, and their like mostly recorded the rough outlines — they never wrote the supremely essential on paper. One whose resolve is to seek deathlessness should practice diligently to seek it. I received my teacher Lord Zheng's words and so have written them down to show those in times to come who believe in the Dao — this is no conjecture. I truly have not exhausted that formula myself. Daoists who walk a single road sometimes wish to keep solely to the arts of congress in order to seek divine immortality, without making the great medicine of the Golden Elixir — this is folly indeed."

抱朴子曰：“道書之出於黃老者，蓋少許耳，率多後世之好事者，各以所知見而滋長，遂令篇卷至於山積。古人質樸，又多無才，其所論物理，既不周悉，其所證按，又不著明，皆闕所要而難解，解之又不深遠，不足以演暢微言，開示憤悱，勸進有志，教戒始學，令知玄妙之塗徑，禍福之源流也。徒誦之萬遍，殊無可得也。雖欲博涉，然宜詳擇其善者，而後留意，至於不要之道書，不足尋繹也。末學者或不別作者之淺深，其於名為道家之言，便寫取累箱盈筐，盡心思索其中。是探燕巢而求鳳卵，搜井底而捕鱔魚，雖加至勤，非其所有也，不得必可施用，無故消棄日月，空有疲睏之勞，了無錙銖之益也。進失當世之務，退無長生之效，則莫不指點之曰，彼修道如此之勤，而不得度世，是天下果無不死之法也；而不知彼之求仙，猶臨河羨魚，而無網罟，非河中之無魚也。又五千文雖出老子，然皆泛論較略耳。其中了不肯首尾全舉其事，有可承按者也。但闇誦此經，而不得要道，直為徒勞耳，又況不及者乎？至於文子莊子關令尹喜之徒，其屬文筆，雖祖述黃老，憲章玄虛，但演其大旨，永無至言。或復齊死生，謂無異以存活為徭役，以殂歿為休息，其去神仙，已千億裡矣，豈足耽玩哉？其寓言譬喻，猶有可採，以供給碎用，充御卒乏，至使末世利口之奸佞，無行之弊子，得以老莊為窟藪，不亦惜乎？”

Baopuzi said: "Of the books of the Dao, those that come from Huang-Lao are but few; most were swollen by meddlesome men of later ages, each adding what he knew and saw, until the chapters and scrolls came to be piled up like a mountain. The ancients were plain and unadorned and mostly without talent; the principles of things they discussed were not thorough, and what they adduced was not made clear — all lacked the essentials and were hard to understand, and even once understood were neither deep nor far-reaching, insufficient to unfold subtle words, open the earnest and striving, encourage men of resolve, teach and warn beginners, or let men know the path of the mysterious and subtle and the springs and courses of fortune and misfortune. Reciting them in vain ten thousand times yields nothing whatever to gain. Though one wishes to read widely, one should carefully choose the good ones and then attend to them; as for the useless books of the Dao, they are not worth unravelling. Late learners sometimes cannot tell the depth or shallowness of the authors, and whatever is called a saying of the Daoists they copy out chests and baskets full and rack their minds over it. This is probing a swallow's nest for phoenix eggs and searching a well's bottom for eels: though one's toil is utmost, such things are not to be had there; one obtains nothing applicable, pointlessly squanders days and months, gains nothing but weary labor and not a pennyweight of benefit. Pressing forward, one loses the affairs of one's age; pulling back, one gains no effect of long life — and then all point and say: he cultivated the Dao so diligently yet could not leave the world; truly there is no way of not dying under heaven. They do not know that his seeking of immortality was like coveting fish by the river without a net — it is not that there are no fish in the river. Again, the Five Thousand Words, though it came from Laozi, is throughout a general discussion of broad outlines; from head to tail it wholly declines to set out that matter with anything one can take hold of and apply. Merely to recite this scripture in the dark without obtaining the essential way is sheer wasted effort — how much more what falls short of it! As for the likes of Wenzi, Zhuangzi, and Yin Xi the Keeper of the Pass, though their compositions trace their ancestry to Huang-Lao and take the mysterious void for their canon, they only develop the broad purport and never give the utmost word. Some even equalize death and life, declaring there is no difference, treating remaining alive as corvee labor and death as rest — they are a thousand billion li away from divine immortality; how are they worth lingering over? Their parables and similes do have something usable, serving for trifling needs and supplying momentary lacks — but that they have let the sharp-tongued flatterers of the latter age and sons without conduct make Laozi and Zhuangzi their den and marsh — is that not a pity?"

或曰：“聖明御世，唯賢是寶，而學仙之士，不肯進宦，人皆修道，誰復佐政事哉？”抱朴子曰：“背聖主而山棲者，巢許所以稱高也；遭有道而遁世者，莊伯所以為貴也；軒轅之臨天下，可謂至理也，而廣成不與焉；唐堯之有四海，可謂太平也，而偓佺不佐焉，而德化不以之損也，才子不以之乏也；天乙革命，而務光負石以投河，姬武翦商，而夷齊不食於西山；齊桓之興，而少稷高枕於陋巷；魏文之隆，而幹木散發於西河；四老鳳戢於商洛，而不妨大漢之多士也；周黨麟跱於林藪，而無損光武之刑厝也。夫寵貴不能動其心，極富不能移其好，濯纓滄浪，不降不辱，以芳林為臺榭，峻岫為大廈，翠蘭為絪床，綠葉為幃幙，被褐代袞衣，薇藿當嘉膳，非躬耕不以充飢，非妻織不以蔽身，千載之中，時或有之，況又加之以委六親於邦族，捐室家而不顧，背榮華如棄跡，絕可欲於胸心，凌嵩峻以獨往，侶影響於名山，內視於無形之域，反聽乎至寂之中，八極之內，將遽幾人？而吾子乃恐君之無臣，不亦多憂乎？”

Someone said: 'When the sage and enlightened rule the age, they treasure only the worthy; yet students of immortality refuse to enter office. If all men cultivated the Way, who would be left to assist in governing?' Baopuzi said: 'To turn one's back on a sage lord and dwell in the mountains is why Chao Fu and Xu You are accounted lofty; to meet a possessed of the Way and yet flee the world is why Zhuang Bo is prized. Xuanyuan presided over all under heaven—one may call it utmost order—yet Guangcheng did not take part; Tang Yao possessed the four seas—one may call it great peace—yet Woquan did not serve. Virtue and influence were not diminished on this account, nor were talented men made scarce. When Tianyi made his revolution, Wu Guang shouldered a stone and threw himself into the river; when King Wu of the Ji line cut down Shang, Bo Yi and Shu Qi would not eat the produce of the Western Mountain. When Duke Huan of Qi arose, Shaoji pillowed his head high in a mean lane; when Marquis Wen of Wei flourished, Duan Ganmu let his hair hang loose by the Western River. The Four Hoary Ones folded their wings like phoenixes at Shangluo, yet this did not hinder the many officers of great Han; Zhou Dang perched like a unicorn in woods and meres, yet this took nothing from Guangwu's laying aside of punishments. Favor and rank cannot move such hearts; wealth at its height cannot change their tastes. They wash their hat-strings in the gray-green waves, neither lowering nor disgracing themselves; fragrant groves serve them for terraces, steep peaks for great halls, blue orchids for bedding, green leaves for curtains; coarse wool replaces the ceremonial robe, creepers and pulse stand for fine fare; what they have not plowed themselves they do not take to still hunger; what their wives have not woven they do not take to cover the body. In a thousand years there may now and then be such a man—how much more those who entrust their six kin to the clan and cast off house and home without a backward look, turning away from splendor as one abandons footprints, severing the desirable in the breast, mounting sheer heights and going on alone, making companions of shadow and echo on famous mountains, gazing inward in the realm of the formless and listening backward in the utmost stillness? Within the eight bounds, how many such men can there be? And you actually fear the lord will have no ministers—is that not worry beyond measure?'

或曰：“學仙之士，獨潔其身而忘大倫之亂，背世主而有不臣之慢，餘恐長生無成功，而罪罟將見及也。”抱朴子答曰：“夫北人石戶善卷子州，皆大才也，而沈遁放逸，養其浩然，升降不為之虧，大化不為之缺也。況學仙之士，未必有經國之才，立朝之用，得之不加塵露之益，棄之不覺毫釐之損者乎？方今九有同宅，而幽荒來仕，元凱委積，無所用之。士有待次之滯，官無暫曠之職；勤久者有遲敘之嘆，勳高者有循資之屈；濟濟之盛，莫此之美，一介之徒，非所乏也。昔子晉舍視膳之役，棄儲貳之重，而靈王不責之以不孝；尹生委衿帶之職，違式遏之任，而有周不罪之以不忠。何者，彼誠亮其非輕世薄主，直以所好者異，匹夫之志，有不可移故也。夫有道之主，含垢善恕，知人心之不可同，出處之各有性，不逼不禁，以崇光大，上無嫌恨之偏心，下有得意之至歡，故能暉聲並揚於罔極，貪夫聞風而忸怩也。吾聞景風起則裘爐息，世道夷則奇士退，今喪亂既平，休牛放馬，烽燧滅影，干戈載戢，繁弱既韜，盧鵲將烹，子房出玄帷而反閭巷，信越釋甲冑而修魚釣，況乎學仙之士，萬未有一，國家吝此以何為哉？然其事在於少思寡慾，其業在於全身久壽，非爭競之醜，無傷俗之負，亦何罪乎？且華霍之極大，滄海之滉漾，其高不俟翔埃之來，其深不仰行潦之注，撮壤土不足以減其峻，挹勺水不足以削其廣，一世不過有數仙人，何能有損人物之鞅掌乎？”

Someone said: 'Students of immortality keep only themselves pure while forgetting the disorder of the great relations; they turn their backs on the lord of the age with the insolence of being no subject. I fear their long life is not achieved while the net of guilt is about to reach them.' Baopuzi answered: 'Beiren, Shihu, Shanjuan, and Zizhou were all great talents, yet they sank into hiding and roamed at ease, nourishing their flood-like qi; the rising and falling of things was not diminished by it, nor was the great transformation made defective. Moreover, students of immortality are not necessarily possessed of the talent to order a state or the use to stand at court; to gain them adds not the benefit of dust or dew, and to cast them away is to feel no loss of a hair. Today the nine regions share one house, and the hidden and remote all come to office; the Yuans and Kais are heaped up with nowhere to be employed. Officers have the stagnation of waiting in turn; posts have not a moment's vacancy. Those long diligent sigh at delayed advancement; those high in merit are bent by rule-bound promotion. Such is the crowding multitude that nothing could be finer—a single straw of a man is not what is lacking. In former times Prince Jin cast off the duty of attending his father's meals and abandoned the weight of heir apparent, yet King Ling of Zhou did not reproach him for unfiliality; Master Yin threw away his collar-and-sash office and betrayed the charge of warding the pass, yet the Zhou did not convict him of disloyalty. Why? They truly recognized that these men did not slight the world or think little of the lord, but only that their bent differed, and the will of a common man has that which cannot be moved. A lord who possesses the Way harbors disgrace and forgives well; he knows men's hearts cannot be made the same, that going out and staying in each follow a man's nature; he neither presses nor forbids, and so exalts and magnifies them. Above there is no partiality of suspicion and resentment; below there is the utmost joy of having one's way. Thus he can make glory and fame mount together without limit, and greedy men hearing of it blush. I have heard that when the auspicious breeze rises, fur coats and braziers are set aside; when the way of the world is level, extraordinary men withdraw. Now the mourning and disorder are pacified; the oxen rest and the horses are turned loose; beacon fires have put out their shadows, shield and dagger-axe are stored away; the Fanruo bow is wrapped up and the Luque hound about to be cooked; Zifang left the dark tent and returned to the lanes; Han Xin and Peng Yue doffed their armor to practice the fishline—how much more students of immortality, not one in ten thousand: what should the state begrudge? That work lies in few thoughts and few desires; that task lies in keeping the body whole and life long. It is not the ugliness of contention and strife; it bears no charge of harming custom—what crime is there? Besides, the utmost height of Hua and Huo, the vastness of the gray sea—their height does not wait upon flying dust, their depth does not depend on rain-puddles pouring in. A pinch of earth cannot lessen their steepness; a ladle of water cannot pare their breadth. A generation has but a few immortals—how could they diminish the teeming of men and things?'

或曰：“果其仙道可求得者，五經何以不載，周孔何以不言，聖人何以不度世，上智何以不長存？若周孔不知，則不可為聖。若知而不學，則是無仙道也。”抱朴子答曰：“人生星宿，各有所值，既詳之於別篇矣。子可謂戴盆以仰望，不睹七曜之炳粲；暫引領於大川，不知重淵之奇怪也。夫五經所不載者無限矣，周孔所不言者不少矣。特為吾子略說其萬一焉。雖大笑不可止，局情難卒開，且令子聞其較略焉。夫天地為物之大者也。九聖共成易經，足以彌綸陰陽，不可復加也。今問善易者，周天之度數，四海之廣狹，宇宙之相去，凡為幾里？上何所極，下何所據，及其轉動，誰所推引，日月遲疾，九道所乘，昏明修短，七星迭正，五緯盈縮，冠珥薄蝕，四七凌犯，彗孛所出，氣矢之異，景老之祥，辰極不動，鎮星獨東，羲和外景而熱，望舒內鑑而寒，天漢仰見為潤下之性，濤潮往來有大小之變，五音六屬，占喜怒之情，雲動氣起，含吉凶之候，欃、槍、尤、矢，旬始絳繹，四鎮五殘，天狗歸邪，或以示成，或以正敗，明易之生，不能論此也。以次問春秋四部詩書三禮之家，皆復無以對矣。皆曰悉正經所不載，唯有巫咸甘公石申海中郄萌七曜記之悉矣。餘將問之曰，此六家之書，是為經典之教乎？彼將曰非也。餘又將問曰：甘石之徒，是為聖人乎？彼亦曰非也。然則人生而戴天，詣老履地，而求之於五經之上則無之，索之於周孔之書則不得，今寧可盡以為虛妄乎？天地至大，舉目所見，猶不能了，況於玄之又玄，妙之極妙者乎？

Someone said: 'If the Way of immortality can truly be sought, why do the Five Classics not record it? Why did the Duke of Zhou and Confucius not speak of it? Why did the sages not pass beyond the world? Why did the highest wisdom not last forever? If the Duke of Zhou and Confucius did not know of it, they could not have been sages; if they knew of it and did not study it, then there is no Way of immortality.' Baopuzi answered: 'The stars under which a life is lodged each have their assignments—I have spoken of this in detail in another chapter. You may be said to wear a basin on your head and gaze upward, unable to see the shining splendor of the seven luminaries; you crane your neck a while over a great river, not knowing the marvels of the deep abyss. What the Five Classics do not record is without limit; what the Duke of Zhou and Confucius did not say is no small amount. Let me sketch for you the ten-thousandth part of it. Though the great laughter cannot be stopped and a cramped temper is hard to open at once, yet let you hear the rough outline. Heaven and earth are the greatest among things. Nine sages jointly completed the Changes; it suffices to enwrap yin and yang—nothing can be added. Now ask a man good at the Changes: the measures of the celestial circuit, the breadth of the four seas, the distance between sky and earth—how many li in all? How far up is the limit? On what does the bottom rest? When it turns, who pushes and pulls it? The sun and moon, slow and fast, riding the nine paths; dusk and dawn, long and short; the seven stars correcting in turn; the five planets waxing and waning; the caps and earrings and dimming eclipses; the twenty-eight mansions' incursions; where comets and brooms come out; the strange shafts of qi; the auspices of the Jing star and the Old Man star; the pole that does not move; the Quelling star alone drifting east; Xihe bright without and hot; Wangshu mirroring within and cold; the Sky River seen aloft with the nature of moistening below; the tides coming and going with changes great and small; the five notes and six pitch-standards divining the temper of joy and anger; moving clouds and rising vapor bearing signs of fortune; the Chan, the Qiang, Chiyou, the Heaven Arrow, the Xunshi and the Red Trailing, the Four Guards and the Five Remnants, the Heavenly Dog and the Returning Demon—some to show success, some to correct defeat—the Ru who understand the Changes cannot discuss these things. Ask in turn the specialists of the four divisions of the Spring and Autumn and the houses of the Odes, the Documents, and the three Rituals, and none can answer. All say these are entirely what the proper classics do not record; only Wu Xian, Gan Gong, Shi Shen, the Haizhong, Xi Meng, and the Seven Luminaries have them fully. I would ask them: do the books of these six schools count as the teaching of the classics? They will say no. I would ask again: do men like Gan and Shi count as sages? They too will say no. Then a man is born bearing heaven and treads earth till old; sought above the Five Classics it is not there; searched in the books of the Duke of Zhou and Confucius it cannot be found—would you rather now take all of it as false? Heaven and earth are the utmost great; what the lifted eye beholds, it still cannot make clear—how much more the mystery of mysteries, the subtlest of the subtle!'

”復問俗人曰：“夫乘雲繭產之國，肝心不朽之民，巢居穴處，獨目三首，馬閒狗蹄，修臂交股，黃池無男，穿胸旁口，廩君起石而泛土船，沙壹觸木而生群龍，女媧地出，杜宇天墮，甓飛犬言，山徙社移，三軍之眾，一朝盡化，君子為鶴，小人成沙，女丑倚枯，貳負抱桎，寄居之蟲，委甲步肉，二首之蛇，弦之為弓，不灰之木，不熱之火，昌蜀之禽，無目之獸，無身之頭，無首之體，精衛填海，交讓遞生，火浣之布，切玉之刀，炎昧吐烈，磨泥漉水，枯灌化形，山夔前跟，石修九首，畢方人面，少千之劾伯率，聖卿之役肅霜，西羌以虎景興，鮮卑以乘鱉強，林邑以神錄王，庸蜀以流屍帝，鹽神嬰來而蟲飛，縱目世變於荊岫，五丁引蛇以傾峻，肉甚振翅於三海。金簡玉字，發於禹井之側。正機平衡，割乎文石之中。凡此奇事，蓋以千計，五經所不載，周孔所不說，可皆復雲無是物乎？至於南人能入柱以出耳，禦寇停肘水而控弦，伯昏躡億仞而企踵，呂梁能行歌以憑淵，宋公克象葉以亂真，公輸飛木玄之翩翾，離朱覿毫芒於百步，賁獲效膂力於萬鈞，越人揣針以蘇死，豎亥超跡於累千，郢人奮斧於鼻堊，仲都袒身於寒天，此皆周孔所不能為也，復可以為無有乎？若聖人誠有所不能，則無怪於不得仙，不得仙亦無妨於為聖人，為聖人偶所不閒，何足以為攻難之主哉？聖人或可同去留，任自然，有身而不私，有生而不營，存亡任天，長短委命，故不學仙，亦何怪也。”

(Baopuzi went on:) He also asked the common man: 'The states that ride clouds and bear cocoons, the peoples whose livers and hearts do not rot, dwellers in nests and caves, the one-eyed and the three-headed, horses that idle and dogs with hooves, the long-armed and the cross-thighed, Huangchi having no menfolk, chests pierced through with a mouth at the side; Lord Lin making stones float and earthen boats drift; Shayi touching a tree and bearing a brood of dragons; Nüwa coming forth out of the earth; Duyu falling from the sky; bricks flying and dogs speaking; mountains migrating and altars shifting; a host of three armies all transformed in one morning, noble men turning into cranes and petty men into sand; Nüchou leaning against it and withering to death; Erfu clasped in fetters; the lodged insect that sheds its shell and walks on flesh; the two-headed snake that strains itself into a bow; wood that will not turn to ash and fire that will not heat; the bird of Changshu and the beast without eyes, the head without a body and the body without a head; Jingwei filling the sea; the jiaorang trees bearing in turn; cloth washed by fire and blades that cut jade; Yanmei spitting fierce flames; mud ground to strain off water; a withered thicket changing shape; the mountain kui with its foot in front; Shixiu with nine heads; Bifang with a human face; Shaoqian exorcising Bolü; the Sacred Minister employing Sushuang; the Western Qiang rising on the tiger's gleam; the Xianbei growing strong by riding the tortoise; Linyi made king through the divine register; Yongshu styled emperor through the drifting corpse; the salt-spirit Yinglai and the flying insects; the vertical-eyed of Jingxiu transformed through the generations; the Five Strongmen leading snakes to bring down the sheer ridge; Roushen flapping its wings over the three seas; the metal slips and jade characters found beside Yu's well; the true mechanism and the level balance cut out of veined stone—all such marvels number roughly in the thousands; the Five Classics do not record them, the Duke of Zhou and Confucius did not speak of them—can you say once more that none of these things exist? Then there are southerners who enter a pillar and come out through the ear; Yukou steadied his elbow on water and drew the bow; Bohun stood tiptoe on heels at a hundred million ren; men of Lüliang could walk singing on the brink of the abyss; a Song man carved an ivory leaf that passed for real; Gongshu made a wooden kite soar; Lizhu saw the tip of a hair at a hundred paces; Meng Ben and Wu Huo exerted their strength on weights of thirty thousand catties; a Yue man revived the dead with a probing needle; Shuhai's strides covered a thousand li; the man of Ying swung his axe at plaster on a nose; Zhongdu bared his body in the cold of heaven—all these are things the Duke of Zhou and Confucius could not do; can you take them too as nonexistent? If even sages truly have things they cannot do, one need not wonder that a sage did not become an immortal; and not becoming an immortal does not prevent one from being a sage. That a sage happens to be unversed in some one thing—how can that serve as the nub of an attack? The sage may simply share in staying and going, follow the natural, possess a body without owning it, possess life without contriving it, leave survival and loss to heaven and long and short to fate; that he therefore does not study immortality—what is there to wonder at?'

抱朴子曰：“道者涵乾括坤，其本無名。論其無，則影響猶為有焉；論其有，則萬物尚為無焉。隸首不能計其多少，離朱不能察其彷彿，吳札晉野竭聰，不能尋其音聲乎窈冥之內，犭周豨犭步豬疾走，不能跡其兆朕乎宇宙之外。以言乎邇，則周流秋毫而有餘焉；以言乎遠，則彌綸太虛而不足焉。為聲之聲，為響之響，為形之形，為影之影，方者得之而靜，員者得之而動，降者得之而俯，升者得之以仰，強名為道，已失其真，況復乃千割百判，億分萬析，使其姓號至於無垠，去道遼遼，不亦遠哉？

Baopuzi said: 'The Way enfolds qian and kun; at its root it has no name. Speak of its nothingness, and even shadow and echo still count as something; speak of its something, and even the myriad things still count as nothing. Lishou could not reckon its much or little; Lizhu could not spy out its semblance; Wu Zha and Jin Ye, exhausting their cleverness, could not seek its sound within the dark and dim; the fleet-footed beasts whose graphs keep the dog radical on the remnants of Zhou and Bu, together with the boar and the pig that run swiftly (the base text splits radical and phonetic apart; the original graph is not conjectured), could not track its signs beyond the cosmos. Speak of what is near, and it circulates through the tip of an autumn hair with room to spare; speak of what is far, and it enfolds the Great Void and is not enough. It is the sound of sounds, the echo of echoes, the form of forms, the shadow of shadows. The square obtains it and rests; the round obtains it and moves; the descending obtains it and bends down; the ascending obtains it and looks up. To name it forcibly "the Way" already loses its truth—how much more to carve it into a thousand slices and a hundred divisions, to split it into billions and myriads, carrying its names and titles to boundlessness and leaving the Way remote behind—is that not far indeed!'

俗人不能識其太初之本，而修其流淫之末，人能淡默恬愉，不染不移，養其心以無慾，頤其神以粹素，掃滌誘慕，收之以正，除難求之思，遣害真之累，薄喜怒之邪，滅愛惡之端，則不請福而福來，不禳禍而禍去矣。何者，命在其中，不繫於外，道存乎此，無俟於彼也。患乎凡夫不能守真，無杜遏之檢括，愛嗜好之搖奪，馳騁流遁，有迷無反，情感物而外起，智接事而旁溢，誘於可欲，而天理滅矣，惑乎見聞，而純一遷矣。心受制於奢玩，情濁亂於波盪，於是有傾越之災，有不振之禍，而徒烹宰肥腯，沃酹醪醴，撞金伐革，謳歌踴躍，拜伏稽顙，守請虛坐，求乞福願，冀其必得，至死不悟，不亦哀哉？若乃精靈困於煩擾，榮衛消於役用，煎熬形氣，刻削天和，勞逸過度，而碎首以請命，變起膏肓，而祭禱以求痊，當風臥溼，而謝罪於靈祇，飲食失節，而委禍於鬼魅，蕞爾之體，自貽茲患，天地神明，曷能濟焉？其烹牲罄群，何所補焉？夫福非足恭所請也，禍非禋祀所禳也。若命可以重禱延，疾可以豐祀除，則富姓可以必長生，而貴人可以無疾病也。夫神不歆非族，鬼不享淫祀，皂隸之巷，不能紆金根之軒，布衣之門，不能動六轡之駕，同為人類，而尊卑兩絕，況於天神，緬邈清高，其倫異矣，貴亦極矣。蓋非臭鼠之酒餚，庸民之曲躬，所能感降，亦已明矣。夫不忠不孝，罪之大惡，積千金之賂，太牢之饌，求令名於明主，釋愆責於邦家，以人釋人，猶不可得，況年壽難獲於令名，篤疾難除於愆責，鬼神異倫，正直是與，冀其曲佑，未有之也。夫慚德之主，忍詬之臣，猶能賞善不須貸財，罰惡不任私情，必將修繩履墨，不偏不黨，豈況鬼神，過此之遠，不可以巧言動，不可以飾賂求，斷可識矣。

(Baopuzi went on:) 'Common men cannot recognize the root of the Grand Beginning, yet they cultivate the wanton branches. If a man can be calm and still, content and pleased, unstained and unmoved, nourish the heart with freedom from desire, tend the spirit with pure simplicity, sweep clean enticing longings, gather himself in with rectitude, remove thoughts that are hard to satisfy, dismiss burdens that harm the true, thin out the deviations of joy and anger, and extinguish the sprouts of love and hate—then without begging, blessing comes; without averting, calamity departs. Why? Fate lies within and is not tied to what is outside; the Way exists here and need not wait upon there. The fear is that ordinary men cannot keep to the true and have no restraining check upon it; they love the snatchings of appetite, gallop and drift away, lost without return; feelings touched by things rise from without, and knowing meeting affairs spills over at the side. Lured by the desirable, the heavenly pattern is extinguished; deluded by hearing and sight, pure unity shifts. The heart is ruled by extravagance and playthings; the feelings are muddied in tossing waves. Then comes the calamity of overturning, the ruin of never rising again—yet they vainly boil and slaughter fattened victims, pour out libations of ale, strike metal and beat leather, sing and leap, bow prostrate and knock their heads, guard an empty seat to beseech and beg for blessings, hoping to obtain them for certain, and go to death unawakened—is that not pitiful! As for the spirit-essences worn out by vexation and the nutritive and defensive qi consumed in toil; when form and qi are broiled and heavenly harmony whittled, when labor and ease pass all measure—they crack their heads begging for life; when the trouble springs from the vitals they sacrifice and pray for cure; lying in wind upon damp ground they apologize to the numina; eating and drinking out of measure they charge the calamity to ghosts and goblins. A tiny body invites these woes upon itself—how can heaven, earth, gods, and numina save it? Slaughtering victims by the whole herd—what help is that? Blessing cannot be begged by excess of reverence, nor calamity averted by rich offering. If life could be lengthened by heavy prayer and sickness removed by lavish sacrifice, the wealthy could be sure of long life and the honored could have no illness. Spirits do not savor offerings not of their own clan; ghosts do not enjoy wanton cults. The lanes of menials cannot turn aside the golden-rooted coach; the doors of the coarse-clothed cannot stir the six-reined carriage. Same humankind, yet noble and base utterly sundered—how much more celestial spirits, remote, pure, and high, a different order altogether, noble to the utmost: that wine and viands rank as a stinking rat and the bent backs of common folk could move them to descend is clear enough. Disloyalty and unfiliality are the great evils among crimes. Heap up bribes of a thousand gold and feasts of tailao, beg an enlightened lord for a fair name, beg the state for release from guilt—begging men of men, one still cannot obtain it; how much more are years of life harder to win than a fair name, grave illness harder to remove than guilt, and ghosts and spirits another order that keeps company only with the upright—to hope they bend to protect you is vain. A lord who blushes for his own virtue and a minister who bears insult can still reward the good without goods and punish the evil without private favor, and must needs follow line and rule, without bias or faction; how much more ghosts and spirits, further still beyond this, whom clever words cannot move and dressed-up bribes cannot win—this may be known for certain.'

楚之靈王，躬自為巫，靡愛斯牲，而不能卻吳師之討也。

King Ling of Chu served as a shaman in person and was not sparing of sacrificial victims, yet he could not drive back the campaign of the Wu army.

漢之廣陵，敬奉李須，傾竭府庫而不能救叛逆之誅也。孝武尤信鬼神，鹹秩無文，而不能免五柞之殂。孫主貴待華鄉，封以王爵，而不能延命盡之期。非犧牲之不博碩，非玉帛之不豐醲，信之非不款，敬之非不重，有丘山之損，無毫釐之益，豈非失之於近，而營之於遠乎？

The Prince of Guangling of Han honored Li Xu and emptied his treasury, yet he could not save himself from being executed for treason. Emperor Xiaowu was especially believing of ghosts and spirits: every sacrifice owed by rank he adorned and performed, yet he could not escape dying in the Wuzha Palace. Sun Quan treated the divine man with honor (the text writes 'Hua Xiang') and enfeoffed him with a kingly title, yet he could not prolong the term of his life's end. It was not that the victims were not large and fat, nor the jades and silks not rich; the faith was not lacking in sincerity, the reverence not lacking in weight—yet there was loss like a mountain and not a hair's breadth of gain. Is this not losing what is near at hand while contriving at what is far away?

第五公誅除妖道，而既壽且貴；宋廬江罷絕山祭，而福祿永終；文翁破水靈之廟，而身吉民安；魏武禁淫祀之俗，而洪慶來假，前事不忘，將來之鑑也。明德惟馨，無憂者壽，嗇寶不夭，多慘用老，自然之理，外物何為！若養之失和，伐之不解，百痾緣隙而結，榮衛竭而不悟，太牢三牲，曷能濟焉？俗所謂率皆妖偽，轉相誑惑，久而彌甚，既不能修療病之術，又不能返其大迷，不務藥石之救，惟專祝祭之謬，祈禱無已，問卜不倦，巫祝小人，妄說禍祟，疾病危急，唯所不聞，聞輒修為，損費不訾，富室竭其財儲，貧人假舉倍息，田宅割裂以訖盡，篋櫃倒裝而無餘。或偶有自差，便謂受神之賜，如其死亡，便謂鬼不見赦，幸而誤活，財產窮罄，遂復飢寒凍餓而死，或起為劫剽，或穿窬斯濫，喪身於鋒鏑之端，自陷於醜惡之刑，皆此之由也。或什物盡於祭祀之費耗，縠帛淪於貪濁之師巫，既沒之日，無復兇器之直，衣衾之周，使屍朽蟲流，良可悼也。愚民之蔽，乃至於此哉！淫祀妖邪，禮律所禁。然而凡夫，終不可悟。唯宜王者更峻其法制，犯無輕重，致之大辟，購募巫祝不肯止者，刑之無赦，肆之市路，不過少時，必當絕息，所以令百姓杜凍飢之源，塞盜賊之萌，非小惠也。

The Fifth Lord exterminated the demonic cults and lived both long and honored; the Song of Lujiang abolished the mountain sacrifices and kept fortune and emolument to the end; Wen Weng broke down the shrine of the water spirit—himself fortunate, his people at peace; the Martial Sovereign of Wei banned the custom of wanton cults and great blessing came. Things past not forgotten are the mirror for what is to come. Bright virtue is the true incense; the man without worry is long-lived; the sparing of treasure does not die untimely; the much-grieved grow old on that account—this is the pattern of nature; what have outer things to do with it? If nourishment loses its harmony and wasting and cutting do not cease, a hundred ills knot themselves in the seams; the nutritive and defensive qi dry up and he does not awake—what then can the tailao and the three victims save? What the world calls such is mostly demonic fraud, passing deceit back and forth, worse the longer it goes. Unable to practice the arts that heal illness and unable to return from that great delusion, not attending to rescue by drugs and stones but fixed only on the errors of priests and sacrifices, they pray without cease and consult divination without wearying. The shaman-priests, petty men, speak wildly of calamities and curses; when illness turns critical they fear only that something went unheard, and hearing it they put it into practice, with losses beyond reckoning. Rich houses exhaust their stores; the poor borrow at doubled interest; fields and houses are carved up to nothing; chests and coffers are turned out with nothing left. If by chance a man mends, they say he received the spirits' gift; if he dies, they say the ghost would not pardon him. If luckily he wrongly lives on, his wealth is spent, and then he starves or freezes to death; or he rises to rob and plunder, or bores through walls in excess, loses his body at the point of an arrow, and himself falls into the shameful punishments—all comes from this. Or household goods are consumed in the costs of sacrifice, grain and silk sink into greedy, filthy master-shamans; on the day of death there is no more money for the coffin, no completeness of shroud, and the corpse is left to rot with worms streaming—truly lamentable. That the blindness of foolish folk should reach this pitch! Wanton cults and demonic rites are banned by the ritual statutes, yet ordinary men can never awake. The king should simply make the laws sterner still: offenders, whether light or grave, all meet the great punishment; shamans and priests who will not stop are seized for reward, punished without pardon, their corpses displayed in the market ways; before long they must surely cease. In this way the people stop up the source of freezing and hunger and block the sprouting of robbers and bandits—no small kindness.

曩者有張角柳根王歆李申之徒，或稱千歲，假託小術，坐在立亡，變形易貌，誑眩黎庶，糾合群愚，進不以延年益壽為務，退不以消災治病為業，遂以招集奸黨，稱合逆亂，不純自伏其辜，或至殘滅良人，或欺誘百姓，以規財利，錢帛山積，富逾王公，縱肆奢淫，侈服玉食，妓妾盈室，管絃成列，刺客死士，為其致用，威傾邦君，勢凌有司，亡命逋逃，因為窟藪。皆由官不糾治，以臻斯患，原其所由，可為嘆息。吾徒匹夫，雖見此理，不在其位，末如之何！臨民官長，疑其有神，慮恐禁之，或致禍祟，假令頗有其懷，而見之不了，又非在職之要務，殿最之急事，而復是其愚妻頑子之所篤信，左右小人，並雲不可，阻之者眾，本無至心，而諫怖者異口同聲，於是疑惑，竟於莫敢，令人扼腕發憤者也。餘親見所識者數人，了不奉神明，一生不祈祭，身享遐年，名位巍巍，子孫蕃昌，且富且貴也。唯餘亦無事於斯，唯四時祀先人而已。曾所遊歷水陸萬里，道側房廟，固以百許，而往返徑遊，一無所過，而車馬無頗覆之變，涉水無風波之異，屢值疫癘，當得藥物之力，頻冒矢石，幸無傷刺之患，益知鬼神之無能為也。又諸妖道百餘種，皆煞生血食，獨有李家道無為為小差。然雖不屠宰，每供福食，無有限劑，市買所具，務於豐泰，精鮮之物，不得不買，或數十人廚，費亦多矣，復未純為清省也，亦皆宜在禁絕之列。

In former times there were Zhang Jiao, Liu Gen, Wang Xin, Li Shen, and their kind. Some styled themselves a thousand years old; they feigned petty arts, sitting and vanishing, changing form and face, dazzling the black-headed folk and gathering crowds of fools. Advancing, they did not take prolonging years and lengthening life as their task; retiring, they did not take dispelling calamity and curing illness as their work; then they gathered bands of villains and claimed alliance in rebellion. Those who would not own their guilt, or slaughtered good folk, or cheated and lured the people to plot for wealth: their coin and silk piled like mountains, richer than kings and dukes, indulging in luxury and lust, with fine dress and jade-like fare, concubines filling their rooms, pipes and strings in rows, assassins and death-defiers doing their bidding, power pressing down on the lords of states and overriding the officers in charge, while runaways and fugitives made them their dens and thickets. All this came about because officials did not correct and control them, and it grew to this calamity; tracing the source of it, one cannot but sigh. We are but common men; though we see the pattern of it, we are not in that position and can do nothing about it. The magistrates set over the people suspect these men possess spirits, and worry that to ban them may invite calamity; if their hearts half-entertain the thought, they see but do not see clearly; and it is neither the urgent business of their office nor a pressing item of their assessments, and it is what their foolish wives and stubborn sons deeply believe; the petty men about them all say it will not do; those who obstruct are many; from the first there was no whole-heartedness, while the remonstrances and threats speak with one voice—so they doubt, and in the end dare not act, enough to make one wring his wrists in anger. I have myself seen several men of my acquaintance who do not serve the spirits at all and never once prayed or sacrificed in their lives, yet they enjoy great age, towering name and rank, flourishing descendants, and wealth and honor besides. I too have nothing to do with these things; I only make the four seasonal offerings to my ancestors. Once I traveled ten thousand li by water and land; the shrines along the roads were surely a hundred and more, yet I went straight past, stopping at not a single one. My carriage met no overturning, my crossings no storm or wave; I repeatedly encountered epidemics and must owe it to the strength of medicines; I often braved arrows and stones and luckily suffered no wound or stab—by this I know all the better that ghosts and spirits can accomplish nothing. Again, among the various demonic cults of a hundred and more kinds, all slaughter living beings for blood-offerings; only the Li family cult is pure, still, and nonacting, and counts as somewhat better. Yet though it does not slaughter, at every blessing feast it sets no limit; provisions bought at market are sought in lavish abundance; the fine and fresh must be purchased; sometimes dozens toil in the kitchen; the cost too is great; and it is still not pure and thrifty—all of it should stand in the class of things banned and cut off.

或問李氏之道起於何時。餘答曰：吳大帝時，蜀中有李阿者，穴居不食，傳世見之，號為八百歲公。人往往問事，阿無所言，但占阿顏色。若顏色欣然，則事皆吉；若顏容慘慼，則事皆兇；若阿含笑者，則有大慶；若微嘆者，即有深憂。如此之候，未曾一失也。後一旦忽去，不知所在。後有一人姓李名寬，到吳而蜀語，能祝水治病頗愈，於是遠近翕然，謂寬為李阿，因共呼之為李八百，而實非也。自公卿以下，莫不雲集其門，後轉驕貴，不復得常見，賓客但拜其外門而退，其怪異如此。於是避役之吏民，依寬為弟子者恆近千人，而升堂入室高業先進者，不過得祝水及三部符導引日月行炁而已，了無治身之要、服食神藥、延年駐命、不死之法也。吞氣斷谷，可得百日以還，亦不堪久，此是其術至淺可知也。餘親識多有及見寬者，皆雲寬衰老羸悴，起止咳噫，目瞑耳聾，齒墮發白，漸又昏耗，或忘其子孫，與凡人無異也。然民復謂寬故作無異以欺人，豈其然乎？吳曾有大疫，死者過半。寬所奉道室，名之為廬，寬亦得溫病，託言入廬齋戒，遂死於廬中。而事寬者猶復謂之化形尸解之仙，非為真死也。夫神仙之法，所以與俗人不同者，正以不老不死為貴耳。今寬老則老矣，死則死矣，此其不得道，居然可知矣，又何疑乎？若謂於仙法應尸解者，何不且止人間一二百歲，住年不老，然後去乎？天下非無仙道也，寬但非其人耳。餘所以委曲論之者，寬弟子轉相教授，佈滿江表，動有千許，不覺寬法之薄，不足遵承而守之，冀得度世，故欲令人覺此而悟其滯迷耳。

Someone asked when the Way of the Li family began. I answered: In the time of the Great Emperor of Wu there was Li A in Shu, who dwelt in a cave and did not eat; people of successive generations all saw him, and he was called the Eight-Hundred-Year-Old Duke. Men often came to ask about affairs; A had nothing to say, so they divined by his countenance alone. If his look was pleased, the matter was all auspicious; if his face was grieved, the matter was all ill; if A smiled, there was great joy; if he sighed faintly, there was deep sorrow. In signs like these he was never once wrong. Then one day he suddenly departed, and none knew where he had gone. Later there was a man surnamed Li named Kuan, who came to the land of Wu speaking the tongue of Shu; he could charm water to cure illness and had some cures, so that far and near flocked together saying Kuan was Li A, and all called him Li the Eight Hundred—though in truth he was not. From ministers and grandees on down, none failed to gather like clouds at his gate. Later he grew proud and lofty and could no longer often be seen; guests merely bowed at his outer gate and withdrew—as strange as that. Clerks and people fleeing service took Kuan as master in numbers near a thousand, yet those who mounted the hall and entered the chamber, the advanced disciples of high work, obtained only the charming of water, the Three-Section talismans, the daoyin of sun and moon, and the circulating of qi—nothing at all of the essentials of governing the body, of taking divine medicines, of lengthening years and staying life, or of the method of not dying. Swallowing qi and cutting off grain could get him within a hundred days, but could not last long—that his arts were the shallowest may be known from this. Many among my own acquaintances caught sight of Kuan, and all said he was aged, weak, and wasted; rising or sitting he coughed and belched, his eyes were dim, his ears deaf, his teeth fallen, his hair white, and he grew steadily more senile—he even forgot his grandchildren—no different from any ordinary man. Yet the people said Kuan deliberately feigned being no different in order to deceive men—can that be so? Wu once suffered a great epidemic in which more than half died. The chamber of the Way that Kuan served was called the lu; Kuan too caught the fever, and on the pretext of entering the lu to fast he died there in the lu. Yet those who served Kuan still say he was an immortal who shed his form by corpse-release and did not truly die. The way of the divine immortals differs from that of common men precisely in prizing not growing old and not dying. Now Kuan grew old as men grow old and died as men die—this is because he had not obtained the Way, and it may plainly be known; what doubt remains? If by the rule of immortals he was due for corpse-release, why did he not linger in the world a hundred or two hundred years, halt his years unaging, and then depart? The world is not without the Way of immortality; Kuan simply was not a man of that kind. The reason I rehearse this so fully is that Kuan's disciples teach one another in turn, covering all the land south of the river, always a thousand and more, not perceiving that Kuan's method is shallow, unworthy to be received and kept, while they hope to attain transcendence of the world—so I wish men to perceive this and wake from their stubborn delusion.

天下有似是而非者，實為無限，將復略說故事，以示後人之不解者。昔汝南有人於田中設繩罥以捕獐而得者，其主未覺。有行人見之，因竊取獐而去，猶念取之不事。其上有鮑魚者，乃以一頭置罥中而去。本主來，於罥中得鮑魚，怪之以為神，不敢持歸。於是村裡聞之，因共為起屋立廟，號為鮑君。後轉多奉之者，丹楹藻梲，鐘鼓不絕。病或有偶愈者，則謂有神，行道經過，莫不致祀焉。積七八年，鮑魚主後行過廟下，問其故，人具為之說。其鮑魚主乃曰，此是我鮑魚耳，何神之有？於是乃息。

In the world things that seem so and are not so are truly without limit; let me briefly recount some tales to show those of later times who do not understand. Formerly in Runan a man set a cord snare in the fields and caught a roe-deer, and before the owner discovered it a passerby saw it, stole the deer, and went off—yet he felt taking it outright was not quite right. He had a salted abalone on his person, so he laid it in the snare and left. When the rightful owner came and found an abalone in the snare, he marveled at it and thought it divine, not daring to take it home. Then the village heard of it, and for that reason they built a shrine and set up a temple, calling him Lord Abalone. In time the number of worshipers grew; red pillars and carved beams, bells and drums unceasing. Now and then a sick person chanced to recover, and they said there was a spirit; wayfarers passing by all stopped to make offerings. After seven or eight years the owner of the abalone happened to pass beneath the shrine and asked the reason; the people told him the whole tale. The abalone's owner said: this is merely my abalone—what spirit is there? And then it ceased.

又南頓人張助者，耕白田，有一李栽，應在耕次，助惜之，欲持歸，乃掘取之，未得即去，以溼土封其根，以置空桑中，遂忘取之。助後作遠職不在。後其裡中人，見桑中忽生李，謂之神。有病目痛者，蔭息此桑下，因祝之，言李君能令我目愈者，謝以一肫。其目偶愈，便殺肫祭之。傳者過差，便言此樹能令盲者得見。遠近翕然，同來請福，常車馬填溢，酒肉滂沱，如此數年。張助罷職來還，見之，乃曰，此是我昔所置李栽耳，何有神乎？乃斫去便止也。

Again, Zhang Zhu of Nandun was plowing his field and came upon a plum sapling that lay within the course of his plowing. Zhu could not bear to lose it and wished to take it home, so he dug it up; not leaving at once, he sealed its roots with damp earth and set it in a hollow mulberry—and then forgot to fetch it. Later Zhu took a distant post and was away. Then people of the hamlet saw that a plum had suddenly grown in the mulberry and declared it divine. A man whose eyes ached rested in the shade beneath that mulberry and prayed to it, saying: if Lord Plum can make my eyes well, I will thank him with a leg of pork. His eyes chanced to heal, so he slaughtered a pig's leg and sacrificed to it. The tale outran its measure until they said this tree could make the blind see. From far and near they flocked together to beg for blessings; carriages and horses often choked the ground, wine and meat poured down like a flood—for years on end. When Zhang Zhu left his post and came home and saw it, he said: this is only the plum sapling I set there long ago—what spirit is there? He cut it down, and it all stopped.

又汝南彭氏墓近大道，墓口有一石人，田家老母到市買數片餅以歸，天熱，過蔭彭氏墓口樹下，以所買之餅暫著石人頭上，忽然便去，而忘取之。行路人見石人頭上有餅，怪而問之。或人云，此石人有神，能治病，愈者以餅來謝之。如此轉以相語，雲頭痛者摩石人頭，腹痛者摩石人腹，亦還以自摩，無不愈者。遂千里來就石人治病，初但雞豚，後用牛羊，為立帷帳，管絃不絕，如此數年。忽日前忘餅母聞之，乃為人說，始無復往者。

Again, the tomb of the Peng family of Runan stood near the great road, and at the tomb's mouth there was a stone figure. An old mother of the farm folk came back from buying a few cakes at market; the day was hot, and passing the tree by the mouth of the Peng tomb she rested in the shade, set the cakes she had bought for the moment on the stone figure's head, then suddenly went off and forgot them. A passerby saw cakes on the stone figure's head, marveled, and asked; someone said: this stone figure has a spirit and can cure illness—those cured bring cakes to thank it. Thus the word passed back and forth: the headache-ridden rubbed the stone figure's head, the belly-aching rubbed the stone figure's belly, and then rubbed their own selves as well—none but was healed. Then from a thousand li men came to the stone figure for cures; at first with only chicken and pig, later with ox and sheep; they raised tents for it, pipes and strings unceasing—for years on end. Then the old mother who had forgotten the cakes heard of it and told the people—and only then did the stream of visitors cease.

又洛西有古大墓，穿壞多水，墓中多石灰，石灰汁主治瘡，夏月，行人有病瘡者煩熱，見此墓中水清好，因自洗浴，瘡偶便愈。於是諸病者聞之，悉往自洗，轉有飲之以治腹內疾者。近墓居人，便於墓所立廟舍而賣此水。而往買者又常祭廟中，酒肉不絕。而來買者轉多，此水盡，於是賣水者常夜竊他水以益之。其遠道人不能往者，皆因行便或持器遺信買之。於是賣水者大富。人或言無神，官申禁止，遂填塞之，乃絕。

Again, west of Luo there was an ancient great tomb, broken through and full of water, and much lime within the tomb; lime liquor is chiefly for treating sores. In summer a wayfarer with sores and vexed by heat saw that the water in this tomb was clear and good, so he bathed himself in it, and his sores chanced to heal. Then all manner of sufferers heard of it and went to wash themselves, and some even drank it to treat ailments of the belly. Those living near the tomb set up a shrine-house at the spot and sold the water. And the buyers often sacrificed within the shrine, wine and meat unceasing. Those who came to buy grew ever more; the water was exhausted, so the sellers often stole other water by night to add to it. Those too far away to go seized on journeys or entrusted others to carry vessels and take letters to buy it. Thus the water-sellers grew very rich. Someone said there was no spirit; the officials issued an order forbidding it and filled the place in—and only then did it end.

又興古太守馬氏在官，有親故人投之求恤焉，馬乃令此人出外住，詐雲是神人道士，治病無不手下立愈。又令辨士遊行，為之虛聲，雲能令盲者登視，躄者即行。於是四方雲集，趨之如市，而錢帛固已山積矣。又敕諸求治病者，雖不便愈，當告人言愈也，如此則必愈；若告人未愈者，則後終不愈也，道法正爾，不可不信。於是後人問前來者，前來輒告之雲已愈，無敢言未愈者也。旬日之閒，乃致鉅富焉。凡人多以小黠而大愚，聞延年長生之法，皆為虛誕，而喜信妖邪鬼怪，令人鼓舞祈祀。所謂神者，皆馬氏誑人之類也，聊記其數事，以為未覺者之戒焉。”

Again, Governor Ma of Xinggu, while in office, had a kinsman come to throw himself on his aid. Ma sent the man to lodge outside and falsely style him a divine man of the Way, whose cures never failed the moment his hand touched them. He also had glib speakers travel about puffing up his empty fame, saying he could make the blind see on the spot and the lame walk at once. Then from the four quarters they gathered like clouds, flocking to him as to a market, and coin and silk were soon heaped like mountains. He further ordered all who came seeking a cure that even if they were not in fact healed they should tell people they had been healed—for then they must surely heal; but if they told people they were not healed, then afterward they would never heal—the method of the Way is just so and cannot but be believed. Then when later arrivals asked those who had come before, the earlier ones all said they had been healed; none dared say they had not. Within ten days he had amassed a great fortune. Ordinary men are clever in small things and greatly foolish: hearing of methods to lengthen years and life they call them empty and wild, yet they delight in believing demons and ghosts and let men drum them into prayer and sacrifice. What are called gods are all of this Ma fellow's deceiving kind. I record these few events as a warning to those not yet awakened.

或問曰：“世有了無知道術方伎，而平安壽考者，何也？”抱朴子曰：“諸如此者，或有陰德善行，以致福佑；或受命本長，故令難老遲死；或亦幸而偶爾不逢災傷。譬猶田獵所經，而有遺禽脫獸；大火既過，時餘不燼草木也。要於防身卻害，當修守形之防禁，佩天文之符劍耳。祭禱之事無益也，當恃我之不可侵也，無恃鬼神之不侵我也。然思玄執一，含景環身，可以辟邪惡，度不祥，而不能延壽命，消體疾也。任自然無方術者，未必不有終其天年者也，然不可以值暴鬼之橫枉，大疫之流行，則無以卻之矣。夫儲甲冑，蓄蓑笠者，蓋以為兵為雨也。若幸無攻戰，時不沈陰，則有與無正同耳。若矢石霧合，飛鋒煙交，則知裸體者之困矣。洪雨河傾，素雪彌天，則覺露立者之劇矣。不可以薺麥之細碎，疑陰陽之大氣，以誤晚學之散人，謂方術之無益也。”

Someone asked: 'In the world there are those who know nothing at all of arts, methods, and skills, yet are safe and live to a great age—why?' Baopuzi said: 'Of such as these, some may have hidden merit and good deeds, which draw down blessing and protection; some may have received a mandate long at the start, and so are slow to age and late to die; some may also simply by luck never meet calamity or wound. It is like the ground a hunt has crossed—there may still be fowl and beast that slip the net; when a great fire has passed, now and then some grass or tree remains unburned to ash. The essential thing is guarding the body and fending off harm: one should cultivate the protections that keep the form and wear the talisman-swords of the celestial script. The business of sacrifice and prayer profits nothing; one ought to rely on my being unassailable, not on ghosts and spirits' not assailing me. Yet brooding on the mystery and holding to the One, containing the light about the body, can repel the wicked and pass through the ill-omened, but cannot lengthen the years of life or dissolve the ills of the body. Those who trust the natural and have no method may still live out their heaven-allotted years, but they cannot encounter violent ghosts and wrongful blight or the spread of a great epidemic—then they have no means to repel it. Storing armor and helmets and piling up rain-capes is surely for war and for rain. If luckily there is no attack and the season does not darken, having them and not having them are just the same. But if arrows and stones converge like mist and flying points cross the dust, then the naked man learns his plight; if great rain pours down like a river and white snow fills the sky, then the man standing exposed knows bitter suffering. One cannot use the triviality of shepherd's-purse and wheat to doubt the great qi of yin and yang, and so mislead late learners and unfettered men into saying that methods are of no benefit.'

或問儒道之先後。抱朴子答曰：“道者，儒之本也；儒者，道之末也。先以為陰陽之術，眾於忌諱，使人拘畏；而儒者博而寡要，勞而少功；墨者儉而難遵，不可遍循；法者嚴而少恩，傷破仁義。唯道家之教，使人精神專一，動合無形，包儒墨之善，總名法之要，與時遷移，應物變化，指約而易明，事少而功多，務在全大宗之樸，守真正之源者也。而班固以史遷先黃老而後六經，謂遷為謬。夫遷之洽聞，旁綜幽隱，沙汰事物之臧否，核實古人之邪正。其評論也，實原本於自然，其褒貶也，皆準的乎至理。不虛美，不隱惡，不雷同以偶俗。劉向命世通人，謂為實錄；而班固之所論，未可據也。固誠純儒，不究道意，玩其所習，難以折中。夫所謂道，豈唯養生之事而已乎？易曰：立天之道，曰陰與陽；立地之道，曰柔與剛；立人之道，曰仁與義。又曰：易有聖人之道四焉，苟非其人，道不虛行。又於治世隆平，則謂之有道，危國亂主，則謂之無道。又坐而論道，謂之三公，國之有道，貧賤者恥焉。凡言道者，上自二儀，下逮萬物，莫不由之。但黃老執其本，儒墨治其末耳。今世之舉有道者，蓋博通乎古今，能仰觀俯察，歷變涉微，達興亡之運，明治亂之體，心無所惑，問無不對者，何必修長生之法，慕松喬之武者哉？而管窺諸生，臆斷瞽說，聞有居山林之間，宗伯陽之業者，則毀而笑之曰，彼小道耳，不足算也。嗟乎！所謂抱螢燭於環堵之內者，不見天光之焜爛；侶鮋鰕於跡水之中者，不識四海之浩汗；重江河之深，而不知吐之者崑崙也；珍黍稷之收，而不覺秀之者豐壤也。今苟知推崇儒術，而不知成之者由道。道也者，所以陶冶百氏，範鑄二儀，胞胎萬類，醞釀彝倫者也。世間淺近者眾，而深遠者少，少不勝眾，由來久矣。是以史遷雖長而不見譽，班固雖短而不見彈。

Someone asked whether the Ru or the Way came first. Baopuzi answered: 'The Way is the root of the Ru; the Ru is the branch of the Way. It was said of old that the yin-yang school had many taboos and made men constrained and fearful; that the Ru were broad yet lacked essentials, toiling with little result; that the Mohists were frugal yet hard to follow, not to be practiced everywhere; that the legists were strict yet little kind, breaking humaneness and rightness. Only the teaching of the Daoists makes the spirit single-minded, makes every movement accord with the formless, wraps in the good of Ru and Mo, gathers in the essentials of names and law, shifts with the times, responds to the changes of things; its points are simple and easy to grasp, its tasks few and its results many—its work lies in preserving the simplicity of the great source and keeping to the origin of the true. Ban Gu, because Sima Qian put Huang-Lao before the Six Classics, said Qian was mistaken. Qian's wide hearing ranged the hidden and obscure, sifted the good and evil of things, and tested the crooked and straight of the ancients. His judgments truly took the natural as their root, his praise and blame aimed at the utmost pattern; he did not praise what was false, did not hide what was evil, did not echo to suit the age. Liu Xiang, a commanding scholar of his era, called it a true record—Ban Gu's appraisal cannot be relied upon. Ban Gu was indeed a pure Ru; he did not fathom the intent of the Way, and playing with what he was trained in, he is hard to bring to balance. What is called the Way—is it merely the business of nourishing life? The Changes says: the Way that establishes heaven is called yin and yang; the Way that establishes earth is called the soft and the hard; the Way that establishes man is called humaneness and rightness. It also says: the Changes contains four ways of the sage—were it not the right man, the Way would not run in vain. Again, of an age well ordered and at peace it is said to have the Way; of endangered states and disordered lords it is said to lack the Way. Again, sitting and discoursing on the Way one is styled one of the Three Dukes; when a state has the Way, poverty and baseness are held a shame. All that is said of the Way—from the two forms above down to the myriad things—there is nothing that does not come by it. Only Huang-Lao holds fast its root, while Ru and Mo manage its branches. Those the world now accounts possessed of the Way are, for the most part, broadly versed in past and present, able to gaze upward and examine below, to pass through changes and enter the subtle, to comprehend the cycles of rise and fall and understand the frame of order and disorder, no doubt in their hearts, no question they cannot answer—what need have they to cultivate the method of long life and admire the tracks of Chisongzi and Wangzi Qiao? Yet the scholars who peer through a tube, deciding by guesswork and speaking blind, hear of one dwelling among mountains and forests and following the work of Boyang, and revile and laugh at him, saying that is but a petty way, not worth the counting. Alas! One who hugs a firefly's candle within a ring of walls cannot see the blaze of heaven's light; one who keeps company with loach and shrimp in the water of a footprint does not know the vastness of the four seas; he prizes the depth of the rivers yet does not know it is Kunlun that spews them out; he treasures the harvest of the millets yet does not feel it is the rich soil that makes them fruit. Now men only know to exalt the arts of the Ru, and do not know that what perfects them is the Way. This thing the Way is what smelts the hundred schools, casts the two forms in a mold, wombs the myriad kinds, and brews the constant relations. In the world the shallow are many and the profound few; the few cannot overcome the many—this has been long. Thus Sima Qian, for all his strength, is not praised, and Ban Gu, for all his shortcoming, is not impeached.'

然物以少者為貴，多者為賤，至於人事，豈獨不然？故藜藿彌原，而芝英不世；枳棘被野，而尋木間秀；沙礫無量，而珠璧甚鮮；鴻隼屯飛，而鸞鳳罕出；虺蜴盈藪，而虯龍希覿；班生多黨，固其宜也。夫道者，內以治身，外以為國，能令七政遵度，二氣告和，四時不失寒燠之節，風雨不為暴物之災，玉燭表昇平之徵，澄醴彰德洽之符，焚輪虹霓寢其妖，頹雲商羊戢其翼，景耀高照，嘉禾畢遂，疫癘不流，禍亂不作，巉壘不設，干戈不用，不議而當，不約而信，不結而固，不謀而成，不賞而勸，不罰而肅，不求而得，不禁而止，處上而人不以為重，居前而人不以為患，號未發而風移，令未施而俗易，此蓋道之治世也。故道之興也，則三五垂拱而有餘焉。道之衰也，則叔代馳騖而不足焉。夫唯有餘，故無為而化美。夫唯不足，故刑嚴而奸繁。黎庶怨於下，皇靈怒於上。或洪波橫流，或亢陽赤地，或山谷易體，或冬雷夏雪，或流血漂櫓，積屍築京，或坑降萬計，析骸易子，城愈高而沖愈巧，池愈深而梯愈妙，法令明而盜賊多，盟約數而叛亂甚，猶風波駭而魚鱉擾於淵，纖羅密而羽禽躁於澤，豺狼眾而走獸劇於林，爨火猛而小鮮糜於鼎也。君臣易位者有矣，父子推刃者有矣，然後忠義制名於危國，孝子收譽於敗家。疾疫起而巫醫貴矣，道德喪而儒墨重矣。由此觀之，儒道之先後，可得定矣。”

(Baopuzi went on:) 'But things are prized when few and cheap when many—in human affairs, is it alone otherwise? Goosefoot and pulse spread over the wilds, yet the zhi flower seldom shows itself; thorn and bramble cover the fields, yet great trees thrust up only here and there; sand and gravel are measureless, yet pearls and jade disks are few; hawks and falcons fly in flocks, yet the luan and phoenix rarely appear; vipers and lizards fill the meres, yet the horned dragon is seldom seen. That Ban Gu's partisans are many is only what should be. This thing the Way—inwardly used to order the body, outwardly used to make a state—can make the seven governors keep their measures, the two qi declare their harmony, the four seasons not lose their measure of cold and warmth, wind and rain not become a violent blight upon things; the Jade Candle shows the token of risen peace, the clear sweet wine displays the tally of virtue fulfilled, whirlwind and rainbow cease their portents, the toppling cloud and the Shangyang bird fold their wings; the bright light shines on high, the fine grains all ripen, epidemics do not spread, calamity and disorder do not arise, steep ramparts are not built, shield and dagger-axe are not used; undiscussed yet fitting, unpromised yet trusted, unknotted yet firm, unplanned yet accomplished, unrewarded yet encouraging, unpunished yet reverent, unsought yet obtained, unbanned yet stopped; dwelling above yet men do not feel the weight, standing in front yet men do not feel the threat; the command not yet issued and the temper already shifted, the law not yet enforced and the custom already changed—this is roughly the Way's ordering of the age. Thus when the Way flourished, the Three August Ones and the Five Emperors ruled with hands folded and had to spare; when the Way declined, the last ages raced and galloped and it was not enough. Just because there was surplus, nonaction transformed beautifully; just because there was want, punishments grew stern and villainy multiplied. The black-headed folk resented below; the August Numina raged above. Now great waves ran over the land, now a fierce sun scorched the earth red, now mountains and valleys changed their shapes, now thunder came in winter and snow in summer, now blood ran deep enough to float a shield and corpses piled into high mounds, now surrendered soldiers were buried by the ten thousand, now men split the bones and traded children; the higher the walls the craftier the battering carts, the deeper the moats the subtler the cloud-ladders; the laws grew clearer and robbers grew more, the covenants grew frequent and rebellion grew worse—like wind and waves alarmed and fish and turtles roiling in the deep, nets fine-woven and winged birds restless in the marsh, jackals and wolves many and running beasts hard-pressed in the woods, the stove-fire fierce and small fish boiling to pulp in the cauldron. Ruler and minister traded places; father and son drew the knife; then loyalty and rightness won their names in endangered states and filial sons gathered praise in ruined houses. Epidemics rose and shamans and healers grew dear; the Way and virtue were lost and Ru and Mo grew weighty. Seen from this, which of Ru and the Way comes first and which after may be settled for certain.'

或問曰：“昔赤松子王喬琴高老氏彭祖務成鬱華皆真人，悉仕於世，不便遐遁，而中世以來，為道之士，莫不飄然絕跡幽隱，何也？”抱朴子答曰：“曩古純樸，巧偽未萌，其信道者，則勤而學之，其不信者，則嘿然而已。謗毀之言，不吐乎口，中傷之心，不存乎胸也。是以真人徐徐於民間，不促促於登遐耳。末俗偷薄，雕偽彌深，玄淡之化廢，而邪俗之黨繁，既不信道，好為訕毀，謂真正為妖訛，以神仙為誕妄，或曰惑眾，或曰亂群，是以上士恥居其中也。昔之達人，杜漸防微，色斯而逝，夜不待旦，睹幾而作，不俟終日。故趙害鳴犢，而仲尼旋軫，醴酒不設，而穆生星行，彼眾我寡，華元去之。況乎明哲，業尚本異，有何戀之當住其間哉？夫淵竭池漉，則蛟龍不遊，巢傾卵拾，則鳳凰不集，居言於室，而翔鷗不下，凡卉春翦，而芝蓂不秀，世俗醜正，慢辱將臻，彼有道者，安得不超然振翅乎風雲之表，而翻爾藏軌於玄漠之際乎？山林之中非有道也，而為道者必入山林，誠欲遠彼腥羶，而即此清淨也。夫入九室以精思，存真一以招神者，既不喜喧譁而合汙穢，而合金丹之大藥，釒柬八石之飛精者，尤忌利口之愚人，凡俗之聞見，明靈為之不降，仙藥為之不成，非小禁也，止於人中，或有淺見毀之有司，加之罪福，或有親舊之往來，牽之以慶弔，莫若幽隱一切，免於如此之臭鼠矣。彼之邈爾獨往，得意嵩岫，豈不有以乎？或云：上士得道於三軍，中士得道於都市，下士得道於山林，此皆為仙藥已成，未欲昇天，雖在三軍，而鋒刃不能傷，雖在都市，而人禍不能加，而下士未及於此，故止山林耳。不謂人之在上品者，初學道當止於三軍都市之中而得也，然則黃老可以至今不去也。”

Someone asked: 'In former times Chisongzi, Wang Qiao, Qin Gao, Laozi, Pengzu, Wucheng, and Yuhua were all True Men, and all held office in the world without at once fleeing afar; yet since the middle ages every student of the Way has drifted off without a trace into hidden seclusion—why?' Baopuzi answered: 'High antiquity was pure and simple; artifice and falsity had not yet sprouted. Those who believed in the Way studied it diligently; those who did not merely held silence. Words of slander never left the mouth; hearts of malice were not in the breast. So the True Men walked slowly among the folk, in no hurry to mount afar. In the degenerate custom of latter days men are shifty and thin, artifice deeper; the mysterious transformation is abandoned and the bands of perverse custom multiply. They neither believe the Way nor refrain from mocking it; they call the true a demonic error and the divine immortal a wild lie, some saying it deludes the masses, some that it disorders the flock—so superior men are ashamed to dwell among them. The far-seeing of old dammed what was still growing and guarded against the minute; seeing a countenance gone wrong they departed, by night not waiting for dawn; seeing the first sprout they moved, not waiting out the day. Thus when Zhao harmed Mingdu, Zhongni turned his carriage back; when the sweet ale was not set out, Musheng left by starlit night; when they were many and he few, Huayuan went away. How much more the clear-sighted and wise, whose calling differs at the root—what ties them to linger among such? When the pool dries and the pond is drained, the flood-dragon does not swim; when the nest topples and the eggs are gathered, the phoenix does not alight; when words are spoken in a chamber, the soaring gull does not come down; when the common plants are cut in spring, the zhi and the ming do not bloom. The custom of the age hates the upright; insolence and insult draw near—how could those who possess the Way not spread their wings aloof beyond wind and cloud, and turning hide their carriage-tracks in the dark and formless? In the mountains and forests there is no Way as such, yet one who would practice the Way must enter the mountains and forests—truly wishing to keep far from that stench and draw near to this purity. Those who enter the nine chambers to refine the thought and keep the True One to summon the spirits delight neither in clamor nor in joining defilement; and those who compound the great medicine of the golden elixir and refine the flying essences of the eight minerals (the base text writes "lian" with the metal radical and phonetic split apart) especially shun the glib fool and the seeing and hearing of the vulgar—for on that account the bright spirits do not descend and the immortal medicine is not completed: no small prohibition. Remaining among men, some shallow-seer may slander him to the officers and lay guilt upon him; or kin and old friends come and go and bind him with congratulations and condolences—better to hide from it all and escape such stinking rats. That they go off alone and afar, content among the peaks of Song—is it without cause? Some say: the superior man attains the Way amid the three armies, the middling man in the markets, the inferior man in the mountains and forests. In all these cases the immortal medicine is already made and they do not wish yet to ascend to heaven: though amid the three armies, blades cannot wound them; though in the markets, the harm of men cannot reach them; the inferior man has not yet come to this, and so he stays in mountains and forests. It is not that a man of the highest grade, just beginning to study the Way, should stay amid armies and markets to attain it—else Huang-Lao could have remained and never departed to this day.'

或問曰：“道之為源本，儒之為末流，既聞命矣，今之小異，悉何事乎？”抱朴子曰：“夫升降俯仰之教，盤旋三千之儀，攻守進趣之術，輕身重義之節，歡憂禮樂之事，經世濟俗之略，儒者之所務也。外物棄智，滌盪機變，忘富逸貴，杜遏勸沮，不恤乎窮，不榮乎達，不戚乎毀，不悅乎譽，道家之業也。儒者祭祀以祈福，而道者履正以禳邪。儒者所愛者勢利也，道家所寶者無慾也。儒者汲汲於名利，而道家抱一以獨善。儒者所講者，相研之簿領也。道家所習者，遣情之教戒也。夫道者，其為也，善自修以成務；其居也，善取人所不爭；其治也，善絕禍於未起；其施也，善濟物而不德；其動也，善觀民以用心；其靜也，善居慎而無悶。此所以為百家之君長，仁義之祖宗也，小異之理，其較如此，首尾汙隆，未之變也。”

Someone asked: 'The Way as root and source, the Ru as the last stream—I have received the charge; but what are the small differences now?' Baopuzi said: 'The teaching of rising and descending, bowing low and bending; the rites of wheeling and turning, three thousand; the arts of attack and defense, advancing and pressing; the measure of slighting self and prizing rightness; the business of joy, grief, ritual, and music; the strategy of ordering the age and aiding the custom—these are what the Ru attend to. Putting things outside and discarding knowledge; washing out scheming and shiftiness; forgetting wealth and setting rank at ease; damming up all urging and dissuading; not grieving at poverty, not glorying at success, not sorrowing at blame, not delighting in praise—this is the work of the Daoists. The Ru sacrifice to pray for blessing; the Daoist treads rectitude to avert evil. What the Ru love is power and profit; what the Daoist treasures is freedom from desire. The Ru is restless for name and gain; the Daoist embraces the One and alone keeps good. What the Ru discourse on is the registers and records of mutual scrutiny; what the Daoist practices is the teaching and warnings that dismiss feeling. This thing the Way: in what it does, it is good at cultivating itself to accomplish tasks; in its dwelling, good at taking what none contest; in its governing, good at cutting off calamity before it rises; in its giving, good at aiding things without deeming it virtue; in its moving, good at observing the people in order to use the heart; in its stillness, good at dwelling in heed without gloom. This is why it is the lord of the hundred schools and the forebear of humaneness and rightness. The pattern of the small differences is roughly thus; head and tail, high and low, there is no change.'

或曰：“儒者，周孔也，其籍則六經也，蓋治世存正之所由也，立身舉動之準繩也，其用遠而業貴，其事大而辭美，有國有家不易之制也。為道之士，不營禮教，不顧大倫，侶狐貉於草澤之中，偶猿猱於林麓之閒，魁然流擯，與木石為鄰，此亦東走之迷，忘葵之甘也。”抱朴子答曰：“摛華騁豔，質直所不尚，攻蒙救惑，疇昔之所饜，誠不欲復與子較物理之善否，校得失於機吻矣。然觀孺子之墜井，非仁者之意，視瞽人之觸柱，非兼愛之謂耶？又陳梗概，粗抗一隅。夫體道以匠物，寶德以長生者，黃老是也。黃帝能治世致太平，而又昇仙，則未可謂之後於堯舜也。老子既兼綜禮教，而又久視，則未可謂之為減周孔也。故仲尼有竊比之嘆，未聞有疵毀之辭，而末世庸民，不得其門，修儒墨而毀道家，何異子孫而罵詈祖考哉？是不識其所自來，亦已甚矣。夫侏儒之手，不足以傾嵩華；焦僥之脛，不足以測滄海；每見凡俗守株之儒，營營所習，不博達理，告頑令嚚，崇飾惡言，誣詰道家，說糟粕之滓，則若睹駿馬之過隙也，涉精神之淵，則淪溺而自失也。猶斥鴳之揮短翅，以凌陽侯之波，猶蒼蠅之力駑質，以涉昫猿之峻，非其所堪，袛足速困。然而嘍嘍守於局隘，聰不經曠，明不徹離，而欲企踵以包三光，鼓腹以奮雷靈，不亦蔽乎？蓋登旋璣之眇邈，則知井谷之至卑，睹大明之麗天，乃知鷦金之可陋。吾非生而知之，又非少而信之，始者濛濛，亦如子耳，既觀奧秘之宏修，而恨離困之不早也。五經之事，注說炳露，初學之徒，猶可不解。豈況金簡玉札，神仙之經，至要之言，又多不書。登壇歃血，乃傳口訣，苟非其人，雖裂地連城，金璧滿堂，不妄以示之。夫指深歸遠，雖得其書而不師受，猶仰不見首，俯不知跟，豈吾子所詳悉哉？

Someone said: "The Confucians descend from the Duke of Zhou and Confucius, and their canon is the Six Classics, which are roughly the means by which the age is governed and rightness preserved, the plumb line for standing oneself and for one's every move. Their use reaches far, their charge is noble, their affairs great and their wording beautiful—a system that states and families cannot alter. The gentlemen of the Way do not busy themselves with ritual teaching and pay no heed to the great bonds; they keep company with foxes and badgers in the grassy marshes, and mate with gibbons and monkeys among the wooded foothills. Solitary and banished, cast off, they neighbor on trees and stones. This too is the delusion of the man who ran east and forgot the sweetness of the mallow." Baopuzi answered: "To spread florid ornament is not what the plain and upright esteem; to attack the benighted and rescue the deluded was my satisfaction of former days. I truly have no wish to dispute with you again the worth of the pattern of things, or to measure gain and loss on the edges of wit and tongue. Yet to see a child fall into a well is not what a humane heart can bear; to see a blind man strike a pillar—surely that is not the doctrine of universal love? So let me set out the outline once more and roughly hold up one corner. Those who embody the Way to craft and perfect things, and treasure the Power to prolong life, are the followers of Huang-Lao. The Yellow Emperor could govern the age and bring it to great peace, and moreover ascended as an immortal; so he cannot be placed after Yao and Shun. Laozi both embraced ritual teaching in its entirety and enjoyed long sight; so he cannot be reckoned less than the Duke of Zhou and Confucius. Thus Confucius sighed that he ventured to compare himself to them, and was never heard to utter a word of fault or slander; yet the common folk of a latter age, who cannot find the gate, cultivate Confucianism and Mohism and revile the school of the Way—how does this differ from sons and grandsons cursing their own ancestors? This is failure to know where one came from, and it has already gone too far. A dwarf's hand cannot overturn Mounts Song and Hua; a Jiaoyao pygmy's shin cannot sound the great sea. Whenever I see the vulgar Confucians who stand guard by their stump, bustling about in what they have learned, not broadly versed in the pattern of things, instructing the obstinate and commanding the crafty, exalting and adorning evil speech to slander and interrogate the school of the Way, uttering the dregs and sediment of dregs—it is like catching sight of a fine horse through a crack: stepping into the abyss of the spirit, they sink and lose themselves. It is like the marsh quail flapping its short wings to mount the waves of the Lord of the Waters, like the gadfly with feeble strength and weak substance venturing the steepness where gibbons climb—this is not what they can bear, and suffices only to hasten their own distress. Yet they chirp away, penned in their narrow corner; their hearing does not match Music Master Kuang's, their sight does not pierce like Li Zhu's, and still they want to stand on tiptoe to embrace the three luminaries and puff out their bellies to rouse the thunder spirits—is that not blindness? Presumably once one climbs to the faint heights of the revolving heavens, one knows the utter lowliness of the well and the valley; once one sees the great light hung in the sky, one knows how paltry the wren that takes a fleck for gold must be. I was not born knowing this, nor did I believe it from youth; at first I was just as benighted as you, and only after gazing on the vast cultivation of the mysteries did I regret that I had not left my straits sooner. The affairs of the Five Classics have commentaries that shine them bare, so that even beginning students can be free of puzzlement. How much more so with the metal slips and jade tablets, the scriptures of the gods and immortals, whose words of utmost import are often not written down at all! Only after mounting the altar and smearing the blood of the covenant are the oral secrets transmitted; unless a man is of that kind, though he offer lands split into linked cities and a hall filled with gold and jade, they are not rashly shown to him. The purport runs deep, the drift runs far; even if one obtains the book without receiving it from a teacher, it is like looking up and not seeing the head, looking down and not knowing the heel—how could you comprehend it fully?"

夫得仙者，或升太清，或翔紫霄，或造玄洲，或棲板桐，聽鈞天之樂，享九芝之饌，出攜松羨於倒景之表，入宴常陽於瑤房之中，曷為當侶狐貉而偶猿狖乎？所謂不知而作也。夫道也者，逍遙虹霓，翱翔丹霄，鴻崖六虛，唯意所造。魁然流擯，未為戚也。犧腯聚處，雖被藻繡，論其為樂，孰與逸麟之離群以獨往，吉光坼偶而多福哉？”

Baopuzi continued: "Those who obtain immortality may rise into the Grand Purity, or soar in the Purple Empyrean, or go to the Mysterious Continent, or roost on Mount Bantong; they hear the music of the central heaven and feast on the nine numinous mushrooms; going out, beyond the inverted reflections they take the hands of Master Redpine and Xianmen; coming in, within jasper chambers they banquet Pingchang and Yangsheng. Why should they have to keep company with foxes and badgers and mate with gibbons and monkeys? This is called acting out of ignorance. As for this thing called the Way: it wanders free among the rainbows and soars through the crimson empyrean, vast across the six reaches, going only where it wills. To stand solitary, banished and cast off, is no sorrow at all. Sacrificial victims and fattened beasts are herded together; though they wear embroidered ornament, measure their pleasure against the free unicorn that leaves the herd and walks alone, or the Jiguang beast that forsakes its mate yet enjoys much blessing—which is better?"

抱朴子曰：神農四經曰，上藥令人身安命延，升為天神，遨遊上下，使役萬靈，體生毛羽，行廚立至。又曰，五芝及餌丹砂、玉札、曾青、雄黃、雌黃、雲母、太乙禹餘糧，各可單服之，皆令人飛行長生。又曰，中藥養性，下藥除病，能令毒蟲不加，猛獸不犯，惡氣不行，眾妖並闢。又孝經援神契曰，椒姜御溼，菖蒲益聰，巨勝延年，威喜闢兵。皆上聖之至言，方術之實錄也，明文炳然，而世人終於不信，可嘆息者也。仙藥之上者丹砂，次則黃金，次則白銀，次則諸芝，次則五玉，次則雲母，次則明珠，次則雄黃，次則太乙禹餘糧，次則石中黃子，次則石桂，次則石英，次則石腦，次則石硫黃，次則石臺，次則曾青，次則松柏脂、茯苓、地黃、麥門冬、木巨勝、重樓、黃連、石韋、楮實、象柴，一名托盧是也。或雲仙人杖，或雲西王母杖，或名天精，或名卻老，或名地骨，或名苟杞也。天門冬，或名地門冬，或名莚門冬，或名顛棘，或名淫羊食，或名管松，其生高地，根短而味甜，氣香者善。其生水側下地者，葉細似蘊而微黃，根長而味多苦，氣臭者下，亦可服食。然喜令人下氣，為益尤遲也。服之百日，皆丁肚倍吏於術及黃精也，入山便可蒸，若煮啖之，取足可以斷谷。若有力可餌之，亦可作散，並及絞其汁作酒，以服散尤佳。楚人呼天門冬為百部，然自有百部草，其根俱有百許，相似如一也，而其苗小異也。真百部苗似拔揳，唯中以治欬及殺蝨耳，不中服食，不可誤也。如黃精一名白及，而實非中以作糊之白及也。按本草藥之與他草同名者甚多，唯精博者能分別之，不可不詳也。黃精一名兔竹，一名救窮，一名垂珠。服其花勝其實，服其實勝其根，但花難多得。得其生花十斛，乾之才可得五六鬥耳，而服之日可三合，非大有役力者不能辨也。服黃精僅十年，乃可大得其益耳。

Baopuzi said: The Four Classics of Shennong say that the upper medicines make the body secure and lengthen the span of life, raising one to be a god in heaven, roaming up and down at will, commanding the myriad spirits; feathers sprout on the body, and the traveling kitchen arrives at once. They also say that the five numinous mushrooms, as well as cinnabar, jade slips, azurite, realgar, orpiment, mica, and Taiyi's surplus grain, may each be taken alone, and all let one fly and live forever. They also say that the middle medicines nourish the nature and the lower medicines expel disease, letting poisonous insects leave no hurt, fierce beasts make no trespass, evil vapors not circulate, and all baleful things withdraw together. And the Apocryphon of the Classic of Filial Piety says: pepper and ginger ward off dampness, sweet flag sharpens the hearing, sesame lengthens the years, and the Weixi mushroom wards off weapons. These are all the utmost words of the highest sages and the true records of the methods of the arts, bright and manifest in clear writing, yet the world will not believe them in the end—how lamentable! Among the medicines of immortality the highest is cinnabar, then gold, then silver, then the various mushrooms, then the five jades, then mica, then bright pearls, then realgar, then Taiyi's surplus grain, then yellow core within stone, then stone cassia, then quartz, then stone brain, then stone sulphur, then stone altar, then azurite, then pine and cypress resin, fuling, rehmannia, ophiopogon, tree-sesame, paris root, coptis, pyrrosia, paper-mulberry fruit, and xiangchai—also named Tuolu. Some call it the immortals' staff, some the Queen Mother of the West's staff; it is also named heavenly essence, also age-repeller, also earth-bone, also goji. Tianmendong, the asparagus root, is also named dimendong, yanmendong, thorn-spine, goat-lust, or guan pine. Grown on high ground, with short roots, sweet taste, and fragrant smell, it is best. Grown in low, wet ground by the water, with thin leaves like sedge and slightly yellow, and long roots with much bitterness and a rank smell, it is inferior but still edible. It tends to make the qi descend, however, and its benefit comes especially late. Taken for a hundred days it makes one sturdier than either zhu or Solomon's seal (the base text reads corrupt characters here, which should be emended to words like sturdier-than). Entering the mountains it can be steamed at once, or boiled and eaten; taken in sufficiency it can cut off grain. If one has the means to feed on it regularly, it can also be made into a powder, and its juice pressed out to make wine, which is especially good for taking the powder with. The people of Chu call tianmendong baibu, but there is separately a baibu plant whose roots likewise number about a hundred, alike as one, though the shoots differ slightly. True baibu shoots resemble smilax; it serves only to treat cough and kill lice, and is not fit to be taken as food—it must not be confused. Huangjing is also named baiji, yet it is not in fact the baiji suited for making paste. According to the materia medica, many drugs share names with other plants, and only the thoroughly versed can tell them apart; this must be examined in detail. Huangjing is also called rabbit-bamboo, also save-the-poor, also drooping-pearls. Eating its flower is better than its fruit; eating its fruit is better than its root; only the flowers are hard to get in quantity. Obtaining ten hu of fresh flowers yields only five or six dou when dried, and the daily dose can be three ge—something only a man with ample labor power can manage. Taking huangjing for merely ten years lets one gain its full benefit.

俱以斷谷不及術，術餌令人肥健，可以負重涉險，但不及黃精甘美易食，凶年可以與老小休糧，人不能別之，謂為米脯也。

(Continuing from above:) used to cut off grain, all of them are inferior to zhu, which taken as food makes one fat and strong, able to bear loads and tread dangerous ground; it is merely not as sweet and easy to eat as Solomon's seal. In a famine year it can be given to old and young to rest from grain, and people who cannot tell what it is call it dried rice.

五芝者，有石芝，有木芝，有草芝，有肉芝，有菌芝，各有百許種也。

The five mushrooms are: stone mushrooms, wood mushrooms, herb mushrooms, flesh mushrooms, and fungus mushrooms—each kind numbering a hundred or so varieties.

石芝者，石象芝生於海隅名山，及島嶼之涯有積石者，其狀如肉象有頭尾四足者，良似生物也，附於大石，喜在高岫險峻之地，或卻著仰綴也。赤者如珊瑚，白者如截肪，黑者如澤漆，青者如翠羽，黃者如紫金，而皆光明洞徹如堅冰也。晦夜去之三百步，便望見其光矣。大者十餘斤，小者三四斤，非久齋至精，及佩老子入山靈寶五符，亦不能得見此輩也。凡見諸芝，且先以開山卻害符置其上，則不得復隱蔽化去矣。徐徐擇王相之日，設醮祭以酒脯，祈而取之，皆從日下禹步閉氣而往也。又若得石象芝，搗之三萬六千杵，服方寸匕，日三，盡一斤，則得千歲；十斤，則萬歲。亦可分人服也。又玉脂芝，生於有玉之山，常居懸危之處，玉膏流出，萬年已上，則凝而成芝，有似鳥獸之形，色無常彩，率多似山玄水蒼玉也。亦鮮明如水精，得而末之，以無心草汁和之，須臾成水，服一升，得一千歲也。七明九光芝，皆石也，生臨水之高山石崖之間，狀如盤碗，不過徑尺以還，有莖蒂連綴之，起三四寸，有七孔者，名七明，九孔者名九光，光皆如星，百餘步內，夜皆望見其光，其光自別，可散不可合也。常以秋分伺之得之，搗服方寸匕，入口則翕然身熱，五味甘美，盡一斤則得千歲，令人身有光，所居暗地如月，可以夜視也。石蜜芝，生少室石戶中，戶中便有深谷，不可得過，以石投谷中，半日猶聞其聲也。去戶外十餘丈有石柱，柱上有偃蓋石，高度徑可一丈許，望見蜜芝從石戶上墮入偃蓋中，良久，輒有一滴，有似雨後屋之餘漏，時時一落耳。然蜜芝墮不息，而偃蓋亦終不溢也。戶上刻石為科斗字，曰得服石蜜芝一斗者壽萬歲。諸道士共思惟其處，不可得往，唯當以碗器著勁竹木端以承取之，然竟未有能為之者。按此石戶上刻題如此，前世必已有得之者也。石桂芝，生名山石穴中，似桂樹而實石也。

Stone mushrooms. The stone-elephant mushroom grows on famous mountains by the sea and on the edges of islands where there are piled stones; in shape it is like a flesh elephant with head, tail, and four legs, very like a living thing, clinging to large rocks, favoring high peaks and dangerous ledges, sometimes hanging upside down. Red ones are like coral, white ones like cut fat, black ones like lacquer, green ones like kingfisher feathers, yellow ones like purple gold, and all are bright and translucent like hard ice. On a dark night, three hundred paces away, one can see its light. Large ones weigh more than ten jin, small ones three or four jin; unless one has kept long purification to the utmost and wears the five Lingbao talismans of Laozi for entering the mountains, one cannot obtain sight of this kind. Whenever one sees any of the mushrooms, first lay the mountain-opening, harm-repelling talisman upon it, and it can no longer hide and transform away. Then slowly choose a propitious day, set out a libation offering of wine and dried meat, pray, and take it, departing by the Pace of Yu beneath the sun with breath held. If one obtains a stone-elephant mushroom, pound it thirty-six thousand strokes, take a square-inch spoonful three times a day; finishing one jin gives a thousand years, ten jin gives ten thousand years. It can also be divided for others to take. There is also the jade-fat mushroom, which grows on jade-bearing mountains and always dwells on precipitous spots; jade grease flows out, and past ten thousand years it congeals into a mushroom, shaped like birds or beasts, of no fixed color, mostly like dark mountain jade or pale water jade, bright as crystal. Obtained and ground to powder and mixed with the juice of heartless herb, in a moment it turns to water; taking one sheng gives a thousand years. The seven-brightness and nine-light mushrooms are all stone, growing between the high mountain cliffs overlooking water, shaped like dishes and bowls, no more than a chi across, with stems joining them, three or four cun high; those with seven holes are called seven-brightness, those with nine holes nine-light. Their lights are all like stars, and within a hundred paces their light can be seen at night, each light distinct, able to scatter but not to merge. One usually watches for them and gets them at the autumn equinox; pounded and taken in square-inch spoonfuls, on entering the mouth the body suddenly warms, the five flavors are sweet; finishing one jin gives a thousand years, gives the body light, makes the dark place it dwells in like moonlight, and lets one see at night. The stone-honey mushroom grows within the stone door of Mount Shaoshi. Within that door is a deep valley that cannot be crossed; cast a stone into the valley and half a day later its sound is still heard. More than ten zhang from the door is a stone pillar, upon which is an overhanging canopy stone, roughly a zhang in height and breadth. The honey mushroom is seen to drop from the stone door into the canopy; after a long while there is one drop, like the leftover dripping from a roof after rain, falling a drop from time to time. Yet the honey mushroom never stops falling, and the canopy never overflows. Upon the door, carved in stone in tadpole script, it says that whoever can take a dou of the stone-honey mushroom shall live ten thousand years. The various Daoists together ponder that spot and cannot reach it; the only thing to do is set a bowl on the tip of a strong bamboo or pole to catch it, yet in the end no one has managed. Judging by this inscription carved upon the stone door, men of a former age must already have obtained it. The stone-cassia mushroom grows in the stone caves of famous mountains, like a cassia tree but in substance stone.

高尺許，大如徑尺，光明而味辛，有枝條，搗服之一斤得千歲也。石中黃子，所在有之，沁水山為尤多。其在大石中，則其石常潤溼不燥，打其石有數十重，乃得之。在大石中，赤黃溶溶，如雞子之在其殼中也。即當飲之，不飲則堅凝成石，不復中服也。法正當及未堅時飲之，既凝則應末服也。破一石中，多者有一升，少者有數合，可頓服也。雖不得多，相繼服之，共計前後所服，合成三升，壽則千歲。但欲多服，唯患難得耳。石腦芝，生滑石中，亦如石中黃子狀，但不皆有耳。打破大滑石千許，乃可得一枚。初破之，其在石中，五色光明而自動，服一升得千歲矣。石硫黃芝，五嶽皆有，而箕山為多。其方言許由就此服之而長生，故不復以富貴累意，不受堯禪也。石硫丹者，石之赤精，蓋石硫黃之類也。皆浸溢於崖岸之間，其濡溼者可丸服，其已堅者可散服，如此有百二十，皆石芝也，事在太乙玉策及昌宇內記，不可具稱也。

(Continuing from above:) about a chi tall, roughly a chi across, shining and pungent in taste, with branches; pounded and taken, one jin gives a thousand years. Yellow core within stone is found everywhere, but is especially plentiful in the mountains of the Qin River. When it lies within a large stone, that stone stays ever moist and never dries; break the stone through several dozen layers and only then obtain it. Within the large stone it is red and yellow, molten and runny, like a chicken's egg within its shell. It should then be drunk at once; left undrunk it hardens into stone and is no longer fit to take. The proper method is to drink it while not yet hard; once congealed, it should be ground to powder and taken. In one broken stone there may be as much as a sheng or as little as a few ge, which can be taken in a single dose. Even if not much is had, take it in succession, and when all that has been taken before and after adds up to three sheng, one's span is a thousand years. If one only wishes to take more, the fear is merely that it is hard to get. The stone-brain mushroom grows within talc, shaped like the yellow core within stone, only not found everywhere. Break open a thousand or so large pieces of talc and only then may one piece be obtained. When first broken open it lies within the stone, five-colored, shining, and moving of itself; taking one sheng gives a thousand years. The stone-sulphur mushroom is found on all five sacred peaks, but is most plentiful on Mount Ji. The local speech there says that Xu You took it here and gained long life, so that he no longer let wealth and honor burden his heart and did not accept Yao's abdication. Stone-sulphur cinnabar is the red essence of stone, presumably of the same kind as stone sulphur. All these seep out between cliffs and banks; the moist ones can be formed into pills and taken, the already hardened ones can be taken as powder. Of this kind there are a hundred and twenty, all stone mushrooms; the matter is recorded in the Jade Slips of Taiyi and the Inner Record of Changyu, and cannot all be recounted.

及夫木芝者，松柏脂淪入地千歲，化為茯苓，茯苓萬歲，其上生小木，狀似蓮花，名曰木威喜芝。夜視有光，持之甚滑，燒之不然，帶之闢兵，以帶雞而雜以他雞十二頭其籠之，去之十二步，射十二箭，他雞皆傷，帶威喜芝者終不傷也。從生門上採之，於六甲陰乾之，百日，末服方寸匕，日三，盡一枚，則三千歲也。千歲之栝木，其下根如坐人，長七寸，刻之有血，以其血塗足下，可以步行水上不沒；以塗人鼻以入水，水為之開，可以止住淵底也；以塗身則隱形，欲見則拭之。又可以治病，病在腹內，刮服一刀圭，其腫痛在外者，隨其所在刮一刀圭，即其腫痛所在以摩之，皆手下即愈，假令左足有疾，則刮塗人之左足也。又刮以雜巨勝為燭，夜遍照地下，有金玉寶藏，則光變青而下垂，以鍤掘之可得也。末之，服盡十斤則千歲也。又松樹枝三千歲者，其皮中有聚脂，狀如龍形，名曰飛節芝，大者重十斤，末服之，盡十斤，得五百歲也。又有樊桃芝，其木如升龍，其花葉如丹羅，其實如翠鳥，高不過五尺，生於名山之陰，東流泉水之土，以立夏之候伺之，得而末服之，盡一株得五千歲也。參成芝，赤色有光，扣之枝葉，如金石之音，折而續之，即復如故。木渠芝，寄生大木上，如蓮花，九莖一叢，其味甘而辛。建木芝實生於都廣，其皮如纓蛇，其實如鸞鳥。此三芝得服之，白日昇天也。黃盧子、尋木華、玄液華，此三芝生於泰山要鄉及奉高，有得而服之，皆令人壽千歲。黃檀桓芝者，千歲黃，木下根有如三斛器，去本株一二丈，以細根相連狀如縷，得末而服之，盡一枚則成地仙不死也。此輩復百二十種，自有圖也。

As for wood mushrooms: pine and cypress resin that sinks into the ground for a thousand years turns into fuling; when the fuling is ten thousand years old, a small tree grows upon it, shaped like a lotus flower, called the wood Weixi mushroom. Seen at night it gives light; held, it is very smooth; burned, it does not catch fire; worn, it wards off weapons. Tie it to a chicken and mix it with twelve other chickens in one cage; from twelve paces away shoot twelve arrows—all the other chickens are wounded, but the one wearing the Weixi mushroom is never hurt. Gather it from the Gate of Life, dry it in the shade on a six-jia day for a hundred days, grind it to powder, take a square-inch spoonful three times a day; finishing one piece gives three thousand years. The root beneath a thousand-year kua tree is shaped like a seated man, seven cun long; carve it and it bleeds. Smear its blood under the feet and one can walk on water without sinking; smear it on a man's nose entering the water and the water opens for it, letting him stay on the bottom of the deep; smear it on the body and one becomes invisible—wipe it off to be seen again. It can also cure illness: for illness within the belly, scrape off and swallow one daogui; for swellings outside, scrape one daogui wherever it is and rub it on the swelling—it heals at once beneath the hand. If the left foot is ailing, scrape and smear it on the man's left foot. Scraped down and mixed with sesame to make a candle, at night it shines everywhere beneath the ground; where there are treasures of gold and jade, the light turns blue and droops down, and digging with a spade retrieves them. Ground to powder, finishing ten jin gives a thousand years. There is also a pine branch of three thousand years whose bark holds gathered resin shaped like a dragon, called the flying-joint mushroom; large ones weigh ten jin. Ground to powder and taken, finishing ten jin gives five hundred years. There is also the fantao mushroom: its wood is like a rising dragon, its flowers and leaves like crimson gauze, its fruit like a kingfisher; it is no taller than five chi and grows on the shady faces of famous mountains, on soil of eastward-flowing springs. Watch for it at the beginning of summer; obtained, ground to powder, and taken, finishing one plant gives five thousand years. The cancheng mushroom is red and shining; strike its branches and leaves and they ring like metal and stone; break them and they join again as before. The muqu mushroom grows parasitic on large trees, like a lotus flower, nine stems to a clump, sweet and pungent in taste. The jianmu mushroom grows in Duguang; its bark is like a tasseled snake and its fruit like a luan-bird. Obtained and taken, these three mushrooms lift one to heaven in broad daylight. Huangluzi, xunmu flowers, and xuanye flowers—these three mushrooms grow at Yaoxiang on Mount Tai and at Fenggao; whoever obtains and takes them gains a lifespan of a thousand years. The huangtanhuan mushroom: the thousand-year huang tree has, beneath its roots, something shaped like a three-hu vessel, one or two zhang from the trunk, joined by fine roots like strands; obtained, ground to powder, and taken, finishing one piece makes one an earthly immortal who does not die. Of this kind there are also a hundred and twenty varieties, for which there are separate illustrations.

草芝有獨搖芝，無風自動，其莖大如手指，赤如丹，素葉似莧，其根有大魁如鬥，有細者如雞子十二枚，周繞大根之四方，如十二辰也，相去丈許，皆有細根，如白髮以相連，生高山深谷之上，其所生左右無草。得其大魁末服之，盡則得千歲，服其細者一枚百歲，可以分他人也。懷其大根即隱形，欲見則左轉而出之。牛角芝，生虎壽山及吳阪上，狀似蔥，特生如牛角，長三四尺，青色，末服方寸匕，日三，至百日，則得千歲矣。龍仙芝，狀如升龍之相負也，以葉為鱗，其根則如蟠龍，服一枚則得千歲矣。麻母芝，似麻而莖赤色，花紫色。紫珠芝，其花黃，其葉赤，其實如李而紫色，二十四枝輒相連，而垂如貫珠也。白符芝，高四五尺，似梅，常以大雪而花，季冬而實。朱草芝，九曲，曲有三葉，葉有三實也。五德芝，狀似樓殿，莖方，其葉五色各具而不雜，上如偃蓋，中常有甘露，紫氣起數尺矣。龍銜芝，常以仲春對生，三節十二枝，下根如坐人。凡此草芝，又有百二十種，皆陰乾服之，則令人與天地相畢，或得千歲二千歲。

Among herb mushrooms there is the self-swaying mushroom, which moves of itself without wind; its stem is as thick as a finger, red as cinnabar, with plain leaves like amaranth, and a great tuberous root like a peck measure, with slender ones like twelve chicken eggs ranged around the great root on its four sides like the twelve branches, about a zhang apart, all with fine roots joined like white hairs. It grows upon high mountains and deep valleys, with no grass around where it grows. Obtain its great tuber, grind it to powder, and take it; finishing it gives a thousand years; taking one of the slender ones gives a hundred years, and it can be divided for others. Carrying its great root makes one invisible—to be seen again, turn left and draw it out. The ox-horn mushroom grows on Mount Hushou and on Wu Slope, shaped like a scallion, standing alone like an ox horn, three or four chi long and blue in color. Ground to powder, take a square-inch spoonful three times a day; at a hundred days one gains a thousand years. The dragon-immortal mushroom is shaped like rising dragons bearing one another, its leaves serving as scales and its roots like a coiled dragon; taking one piece gives a thousand years. The hemp-mother mushroom resembles hemp with a red stem and purple flowers. The purple-pearl mushroom has yellow flowers and red leaves, fruit like a plum but purple, twenty-four branches joined together, hanging down like strung pearls. The white-tally mushroom is four or five chi tall like a plum, always flowering in heavy snow and fruiting in late winter. The vermilion-herb mushroom has nine bends, each bend bearing three leaves, each leaf three fruits. The five-virtue mushroom is shaped like a storied hall, its stem square, its leaves each of one of the five colors unmixed; above is like an overhanging canopy, and within it there is ever sweet dew, with purple vapor rising several chi. The dragon-held mushroom always grows in pairs in mid-spring, with three joints and twelve branches, its lower root shaped like a seated man. All these herb mushrooms number a hundred and twenty varieties in addition; all, dried in the shade and taken, make one the equal of heaven and earth, or gain one or two thousand years.

肉芝者，謂萬歲蟾蜍，頭上有角，頷下有丹書八字再重，以五月五日日中時取之，陰乾百日，以其左足畫地，即為流水，帶其左手於身，闢五兵，若敵人射己者，弓弩矢皆反還自向也。千歲蝙蝠，色白如雪，集則倒縣，腦重故也。此二物得而陰乾末服之，令人壽四萬歲。千歲靈龜，五色具焉，其雄額上兩骨起似角，以羊血浴之，乃剔取其甲，火炙搗服方寸匕，日三，盡一具，壽千歲。行山中，見小人乘車馬，長七八寸者，肉芝也，捉取服之即仙矣。風生獸似貂，青色，大如狸，生於南海大林中，張網取之，積薪數車以燒之，薪盡而此獸在灰中不然，其毛不焦，斫刺不入，打之如皮囊，以鐵錘鍛其頭數十下乃死，死而張其口以向風，須臾便活而起走，以石上菖蒲塞其鼻即死。取其腦以和菊花服之，盡十斤，得五百歲也。又千歲燕，其窠戶北向，其色多白而尾掘，取陰乾，末服一頭五百歲。凡此又百二十種，此皆肉芝也。

Flesh mushrooms: this means the ten-thousand-year toad, which has horns on its head and, under its chin, eight characters of cinnabar script repeated in a second layer. Take it at noon on the fifth day of the fifth month, dry it in the shade for a hundred days; draw on the ground with its left foot and it becomes flowing water; wear its left hand on the body and it wards off the five weapons, and if enemies shoot at you, bow and crossbow bolts all turn back upon themselves. The thousand-year bat, white as snow, hangs upside down when it settles, because its brain is heavy. These two creatures, obtained, dried in the shade, ground to powder, and taken, give a lifespan of forty thousand years. The thousand-year spirit turtle has all five colors; the male has two bones rising on its brow like horns. Wash it with sheep's blood, then pry off its shell; roast it over fire, pound it, take a square-inch spoonful three times a day; finishing one whole specimen gives a lifespan of a thousand years. Walking in the mountains, if one sees little people riding carriages and horses seven or eight cun tall, that is a flesh mushroom; catch it and take it and one becomes an immortal. The wind-born beast is like a sable, blue, the size of a wildcat, born in the great forests of the Southern Sea. Spread nets to take it; pile several cartloads of firewood to burn it; the firewood is spent yet the beast in the ashes does not burn, its fur is not singed, hacking and stabbing cannot pierce it, and beating it is like beating a skin bag. Only after hammering its head with an iron hammer several dozen times does it die; dead, it opens its mouth to the wind, and in a moment comes alive and rises and runs off—stuff its nose with stone-grown sweet flag and it dies. Take its brain, mix it with chrysanthemum, and take it; finishing ten jin gives five hundred years. There is also the thousand-year swallow, whose nest faces north, mostly white with a bent tail; take it, dry it in the shade, grind it to powder, and taking one head gives five hundred years. All these number a hundred and twenty varieties besides; these are the flesh mushrooms.

菌芝，或生深山之中，或生大木之下，或生泉之側，其狀或如宮室，或如車馬，或如龍虎，或如人形，或如飛鳥，五色無常，亦百二十種，自有圖也。皆當禹步往採取之，刻以骨刀，陰乾末服方寸匕，令人昇仙，中者數千歲，下者千歲也。欲求芝草，入名山，必以三月九月，此山開出神藥之月也，勿以山佷日，必以天輔時，三奇會尤佳。出三奇吉門到山，須六陰之日，明堂之時，帶靈寶符，牽白犬，抱白雞，以白鹽一斗，及開山符檄，著大石上，執吳唐草一把以入山，山神喜，必得芝也。又採芝及服芝，欲得王相專和之日，支幹上下相生為佳。此諸芝名山多有之，但凡庸道士，心不專精，行穢德薄，又不曉入山之術，雖得其圖，不知其狀，亦終不能得也。山無大小，皆有鬼神，其鬼神不以芝與人，人則雖踐之，不可見也。

Fungus mushrooms may grow deep in the mountains, or beneath great trees, or beside springs; in shape some are like palaces, some like carriages and horses, some like dragons or tigers, some like human forms, some like flying birds, their five colors having no fixed rule—there are also a hundred and twenty varieties, for which there are separate illustrations. All should be gathered by going forth with the Pace of Yu, carved with a bone knife, dried in the shade, ground to powder, and taken in square-inch spoonfuls; they make one ascend as an immortal—the middling ones give several thousand years, the lowest a thousand years. To seek mushroom herbs, entering famous mountains must be in the third and ninth months, these being the months when the mountains put forth their spirit medicines; do not go on days when the mountain is adverse, but unfailingly at the Tianfu hour, and it is especially good when the three wonders coincide. Leave by the auspicious gate of the three wonders for the mountain; it must be a day of the six yin and the hour of the Bright Hall. Wear the Lingbao talisman, lead a white dog, carry a white chicken, take a dou of white salt, and the writ and talismans for opening mountains, set them on a large stone, and take a handful of Wutang herb into the mountain; the mountain god will be pleased and the mushroom is sure to be had. Also, for gathering mushrooms and for taking them, one wants days when kingly and ministerial qi are in sole harmony, the earthly branches and heavenly stems above and below engendering one another being best. Famous mountains have many of these mushrooms; only mediocre Daoists, whose hearts are not single-minded and pure, whose conduct is foul and virtue thin, and who moreover do not know the arts for entering mountains, though they get the illustrations do not know the shapes, and so in the end cannot obtain them. Every mountain, great or small, has ghosts and spirits; if those ghosts and spirits do not give the mushroom to a man, then even treading upon it he cannot see it.

又云母有五種，而人多不能分別也，法當舉以向日，看其色，詳占視之，乃可知耳。正爾於陰地視之，不見其雜色也。五色並具而多青者名雲英，宜以春服之。五色並具而多赤者名雲珠，宜以夏服之。五色並具而多白者名雲液，宜以秋服之。五色並具而多黑者名雲母，宜以冬服之。但有青黃二色者名雲沙，宜以季夏服之。皛皛純白名磷石，可以四時長服之也。服五雲之法，或以桂蔥水玉化之以為水，或以露於鐵器中，以玄水熬之為水，或以硝石合於筒中埋之為水，或以蜜搜為酪，或以秋露漬之百日，韋囊挻以為粉，或以無巔草樗血合餌之，服之一年，則百病除，三年久服，老公反成童子，五年不闕，可役使鬼神，入火不燒，入水不濡，踐棘而不傷膚，與仙人相見。又他物埋之即朽，著火即焦，而五雲以納猛火中，經時終不然，埋之永不腐敗，故能令人長生也。又云，服之十年，雲氣常覆其上，服其母以致其子，理自然也。又向日看之，晻晻純黑色起者，不中服，令人病淋發瘡。雖水餌之，皆當先以茅屋溜水，若東流水露水，漬之百日，淘汰去其土石，乃可用耳。中山衛叔卿服之，積久能乘雲而行，以其方封之玉匣之中，仙去之後，其子名世，及漢使者梁伯，得而按方合服，皆得仙去。

Mica also comes in five kinds, which most people cannot tell apart. The method is to hold it up to the sun and look at its color, examining it closely, and only then can one know. Merely looking at it in a shady place does not reveal its mingled colors. One with all five colors together but mostly blue is called cloud-blossom, fit to be taken in spring; all five colors but mostly red is called cloud-pearl, fit for summer; all five colors but mostly white is called cloud-liquid, fit for autumn; all five colors but mostly black is called cloud-mother, fit for winter; one with only blue and yellow is called cloud-sand, fit for late summer. A pure glistening white is called phosphor-stone, and may be taken long-term in all four seasons. The methods for taking the five micas: dissolve it into water with cassia, scallion, or water-jade; or with dew in an iron vessel, boiled down to water with dark water; or ground together with niter in a tube and buried to form water; or worked with honey into a curd; or steeped in autumn dew for a hundred days and pounded in a leather bag into powder; or eaten mixed with wudian herb and ailanthus blood. Take it for one year and the hundred illnesses are gone; take it steadily for three years and an old man returns to being a boy; take it five years without fail and one can command ghosts and spirits, enter fire unburned, enter water unwetted, tread thorns without injuring the skin, and meet the immortals face to face. Other things, buried, rot, and set alight, char; but the five micas, put into a fierce fire for a whole watch, never burn, and buried never decay—this is why they can give men long life. It is also said that after ten years of taking it, cloudy vapor constantly covers one overhead; to take the mother in order to reach the child is the natural order. Also, when examined against the sun, a piece that shows a dim pure black rising is not fit to take—it makes one ill with dripping sores. Even for taking in water, one must first use water dripped from a thatched roof, or east-flowing water, or dew, steep it a hundred days, and wash away the earth and grit before it can be used. Wei Shuqing of Zhongshan took it, and after long accumulation could ride the clouds and travel; he sealed his formula in a jade case, and after he departed as an immortal, his son Mingshi and the Han envoy Liang Bo obtained it, compounded it by the formula, and took it, and all departed as immortals.

又雄黃當得武都山所出者，純而無雜，其赤如雞冠，光明曄曄者，乃可用耳。其但純黃似雄黃色，無赤光者，不任以作仙藥，可以合理病藥耳。餌服之法，或以蒸煮之，或以酒餌，或先以硝石化為水乃凝之，或以玄胴腸裹蒸之於赤土下，或以松脂和之，或以三物煉之，引之如布，白如冰，服之皆令人長生，百病除，三尸下，瘢痕滅，白髮黑，墮齒生，千日則玉女來侍，可得役使，以致行廚。又玉女常以黃玉為志，大如黍米，在鼻上，是真玉女也，無此志者，鬼試人耳。

Realgar, for its part, must be that produced on Mount Wudu, pure and unmixed, red as a cock's comb and gleaming bright—only then can it be used. What is merely pure yellow like the look of realgar, without red light, is not equal to making a medicine of immortality, and can serve only to compound sickness-curing drugs. The methods of taking it: steam or boil it; or take it in wine; or first dissolve it to water with niter and then congeal it; or wrap it in dark intestine casing and steam it beneath red earth; or mix it with pine resin; or refine it with the three substances, drawing it out like cloth, white like ice. Taken, all these give men long life, expel the hundred illnesses, bring down the three corpse-worms, erase scars and marks, turn white hair black, regrow fallen teeth; after a thousand days the Jade Maidens come to attend and can be commanded, bringing the traveling kitchen. A true Jade Maiden always bears a marker of yellow jade the size of a millet grain upon her nose; one without this marker is only a ghost come to test the man.

玉亦仙藥，但難得耳。玉經曰：服金者壽如金，服玉者壽如玉也。又曰：服玄真者，其命不極。玄真者，玉之別名也。令人身飛輕舉，不但地仙而已。然其道遲成，服一二百斤，乃可知耳。玉可以烏米酒及地榆酒化之為水，亦可以蔥漿消之為臺，亦可餌以為丸，亦可燒以為粉，服之一年已上，入水不沾，入火不灼，刃之不傷，百毒不犯也。不可用已成之器，傷人無益，當得璞玉，乃可用也，得於闐國白玉尤善。其次有南陽徐善亭部界中玉及日南盧容水中玉亦佳。赤松子以玄蟲血漬玉為水而服之，故能乘煙上下也。玉屑服之與水餌之，俱令人不死。所以為不及金者，令人數數發熱，似寒食散狀也。若服玉屑者，宜十日輒一服雄黃丹砂各一刀圭，散發洗沐寒水，迎風而行，則不發熱也。董君異嘗以玉醴與盲人服之，目旬日而愈。有吳延稚者，志欲服玉，得玉經方不具，了不知其節度禁忌，乃招合得珪璋環璧，及校劍所用甚多，欲餌治服之，後餘為說此不中用，乃嘆息曰：事不可不精，不但無益，乃幾作禍也。

Jade is also a medicine of immortality, only hard to obtain. The Jade Classic says: take gold and your span is like gold; take jade and your span is like jade. It also says: take xuanzhen and your life has no limit. Xuanzhen is another name for jade. It makes the body fly and rise lightly—more than a mere earthly immortal. But the Way of it ripens slowly: only after taking a hundred or two hundred jin can it be known. Jade can be dissolved to water with black-rice wine and burnet wine, or melted to a paste with scallion juice, or made into pills, or burned to powder. Taken for more than a year, one enters water unwetted, enters fire unscorched; blades cannot cut, the hundred poisons cannot trespass. One must not use jade already worked into vessels—it hurts the man and gives no benefit; one must obtain unworked jade, which alone can be used, and white jade from the land of Khotan is especially good. Next, the jade within the bounds of Xushan ting in Nanyang and the jade in the Lurong waters of Rinan are also good. Master Redpine steeped jade in dark insect blood until it became water and took it, which is why he could ride the mists up and down. Jade filings, swallowed or taken in water, both keep men from dying. What makes it inferior to gold is that it makes one constantly feverish, like the state after cold-food powder. If one takes jade filings, one should once every ten days also take a daogui each of realgar and cinnabar, disperse it and wash in cold water, and walk against the wind—then there is no fever. Dong Junyi once gave jade liquor to a blind man to take, and in ten days his eyes were healed. There was one Wu Yanzhi whose ambition was to take jade; he obtained the formulas of the Jade Classic but incomplete, wholly ignorant of the measures and prohibitions, so he gathered scepters, rings, discs, and many pieces used in sword mountings, meaning to prepare and take them. Afterwards I told him these were of no use, and he sighed: in this work one cannot but be exact; not only is there no benefit, it nearly becomes a calamity.

又銀但不及金玉耳，可以地仙也。服之法，以麥漿化之，亦可以朱草酒餌之，亦可以龍膏煉之，然三服，輒大如彈丸者，又非清貧道士所能得也。

Silver, again, is merely inferior to gold and jade; by means of it one can become an earthly immortal. The method of taking it: dissolve it with wheat juice; or take it in vermilion-herb wine; or refine it with dragon grease. But three doses are required, each the size of a crossbow pellet, and it is not something a poor Daoist can obtain.

又真珠徑一寸以上可服，服之可以長久，酪漿漬之皆化如水銀，亦可以浮石水蜂窠化，包彤蛇黃合之，可引長三四尺，丸服之，絕谷服之，則不死而長生也。淳漆不沾者，服之令人通神長生，餌之法，或以大無腸公子，或雲大蟹，十枚投其中，或以雲母水，或以玉水合服之，九蟲悉下，惡血從鼻去，一年六甲行廚至也。

Pearls a cun or more across can be taken; taken, they give long life. Steeped in curdled milk they all dissolve like quicksilver; they can also be dissolved with pumice water or with honeycomb. Combined with baotong and snake-yellow, they can be drawn out three or four chi, made into pills, and taken; taken while cutting off grain, one does not die and lives long. Pure lacquer that does not stick, taken, makes one commune with the spirits and live long. The method of taking it: throw in ten of the great gutless gentlemen—that is, large crabs—or take it with mica water or jade water; the nine worms all come down, bad blood leaves by the nose, and in a year the traveling kitchen of the six jia arrives.

桂可以蔥涕合蒸作水，可以竹瀝合餌之，亦可以先知君腦，或雲龜，和服之，七年，能步行水上，長生不死也。巨勝一名胡麻，餌服之不老，耐風溼，補衰老也。桃膠以桑灰汁漬，服之百病癒，久服之身輕有光明，在晦夜之地如月出也，多服之則可以斷谷。

Cassia can be steamed to water together with scallion juice, or eaten mixed with bamboo sap, or taken mixed with the brain of Master Foreknower—that is, the tortoise. After seven years one can walk upon water, living long and not dying. Jusheng, also named huma (sesame), taken does not age, withstands wind and damp, and repairs decline. Peach gum steeped in mulberry-ash juice cures the hundred illnesses when taken; taken long, the body grows light and shines, in dark places like a risen moon; taken much, one can cut off grain.

檸木實之赤者，餌之一年，老者還少，令人徹視見鬼。昔道士梁須年七十乃服之，轉更少，至年百四十歲，能夜書，行及奔馬，後入青龍山去。槐子以新甕合泥封之，二十餘日，其表皮皆爛，乃洗之如大豆，日服之，此物主補腦，久服之，令人發不白而長生。玄中蔓方，楚飛廉、澤瀉、地黃、黃連之屬，凡三百餘種，皆能延年，可單服也。靈飛散、未夬丸、制命丸、羊血丸，皆令人駐年卻老也。

The red fruits of the ning tree, taken for a year, return the aged to youth and let one see clearly enough to behold ghosts. Long ago the Daoist Liang Xu took it only at seventy, turned ever younger, and at a hundred and forty could write at night and keep pace with a galloping horse; afterwards he departed into Mount Qinglong. Sophora seeds, sealed in a new jar with mud, after twenty-some days the skins all rot away; wash them until they are like soybeans and take them daily—this thing chiefly replenishes the brain; taken long, it keeps the hair from whitening and gives long life. The Xuanzhong Manfang—chu-feilian, alisma, rehmannia, coptis, and the like, some three hundred and more kinds—all can lengthen the years and can each be taken alone. Lingfei powder, Weijue pills, Zhiming pills, and goat-blood pills all keep men at their years and drive off age.

南陽酈縣山中有甘谷水，谷水所以甘者，谷上左右皆生甘菊，菊花墮其中，歷世彌久，故水味為變。其臨此谷中居民，皆不穿井，悉食甘谷水，食者無不老壽，高者百四五十歲，下者不失八九十，無夭年人，得此菊力也。故司空王暢太尉劉寬太傅袁隗，皆為南陽太守，每到官，常使酈縣月送甘谷水四十斛以為飲食。此諸公多患風痺及眩冒，皆得愈，但不能大得其益，如甘谷上居民，生小便飲食此水者耳。又菊花與薏花相似，直以甘苦別之耳，菊甘而薏苦，諺言所謂苦如薏者也。今所在有真菊，但為少耳，率多生於水側，緱氏山與酈縣最多，仙方所謂日精更生，周盈皆一菊，而根莖花實異名，其說甚美，而近來服之者略無效，正由不得真菊也。夫甘谷水得菊之氣味，亦何足言。而其上居民，皆以延年，況將復好藥，安得無益乎？

In the mountains of Li county in Nanyang there is a water called Sweet Valley. The reason its water is sweet is that on the hillsides around it sweet chrysanthemums grow all about, and the blossoms fall into it; over long generations the taste of the water has changed. The people dwelling beside this valley do not sink wells but all drink the Sweet Valley water, and of those who drink it none fails of long life—the oldest a hundred and forty or fifty, the lowest never short of eighty or ninety, none dying before their time. They have gained the strength of that chrysanthemum. Thus the Minister of Works Wang Chang, the Defender-in-chief Liu Kuan, and the Grand Tutor Yuan Wei, who all served as Administrators of Nanyang, whenever they came to office always had Li county send forty hu of Sweet Valley water each month for their drink and food. These several lords all suffered wind-numbness and dizziness, and all were cured; only they could not gain its benefit so greatly as the people living above the Sweet Valley, who from birth have eaten and drunk this water. Chrysanthemum and coix flower resemble one another, distinguished only by sweet and bitter—the chrysanthemum is sweet and the coix bitter, as the saying goes, bitter as coix. Nowadays true chrysanthemums exist here and there, only few; they mostly grow beside water, and are most plentiful on Mount Goushi and in Li county. What the immortals' formulas call sun-essence, renewal, and fullness are all one chrysanthemum under different names for root, stem, flower, and fruit. The accounts of it are fine, yet of those lately who took it most had no effect—precisely because they could not obtain the true chrysanthemum. If even the Sweet Valley water, which merely received the breath of the chrysanthemum, is so—what need to speak of more? And the people living above it all lengthen their years by it; how much more, if one takes good medicine besides, could there fail to be benefit?

餘亡祖鴻臚少卿曾為臨沅令，雲此縣有廖氏家，世世壽考，或出百歲，或八九十，後徙去，子孫轉多夭折。他人居其故宅，復如舊，後累世壽考。由此乃覺是宅之所為，而不知其何故，疑其井水殊赤，乃試掘井左右，得古人埋丹砂數十斛，去井數尺，此丹砂汁因泉漸入井，是以飲其水而得壽，況乃餌煉丹砂而服之乎？

My late grandfather, the Deputy Chamberlain for Dependencies, once served as magistrate of Linyuan. He said that in that county there was a Liao family, generation after generation long-lived, some past a hundred, some eighty or ninety; later they moved away, and their descendants in turn often died young. Others who came to live in their old house again did as of old, and for generation after generation were long-lived. From this it was realized that the house had caused it, though the reason was unknown; suspecting that the well water was peculiarly red, they tried digging beside the well and found several dozen hu of cinnabar buried by men of old, a few chi from the well. The juice of this cinnabar had gradually entered the well with the spring, so drinking that water gave long life—how much more so to refine cinnabar and take it oneself!

餘又聞上黨有趙瞿者，病癩歷年，眾治之不愈，垂死。或雲不及活，流棄之，後子孫轉相注易，其家乃齎糧將之，送置山穴中。瞿在穴中，自怨不幸，晝夜悲嘆，涕泣經月。有仙人行經過穴，見而哀之，具問訊之。瞿知其異人，乃叩頭自陳乞哀，於是仙人以一囊藥賜之，教其服法。瞿服之百許日，瘡都愈，顏色豐悅，肌膚玉澤。仙人又過視之，瞿謝受更生活之恩，乞丐其方。仙人告之曰，此是松脂耳，此山中更多此物，汝煉之服，可以長生不死。瞿乃歸家，家人初謂之鬼也，甚驚愕。瞿遂長服松脂，身體轉輕，氣力百倍，登危越險，終日不極，年百七十歲，齒不墮，發不白。夜臥，忽見屋間有光大如鏡者，以問左右，皆雲不見，久而漸大，一室盡明如晝日。又夜見面上有采女二人，長二三寸，面體皆具，但為小耳，遊戲其口鼻之間，如是且一年，此女漸長大，出在其側。又常聞琴瑟之音，欣然獨笑，在人間三百許年，色如小童，乃入抱犢山去，必地仙也。於時聞瞿服松脂如此，於是競服。其多役力者，乃車運驢負，積之盈室，服之遠者，不過一月，未覺大有益輒止，有志者難得如是也。

I have also heard that in Shangdang there was one Zhao Qu, ill with leprosy for many years; all treatments failed and he lay near death. Some said he could not live to be saved, and he was cast out and abandoned; later his sons and grandsons caught the sickness one after another, so his family provisioned him and led him away, delivering him into a mountain cave. In the cave Zhao Qu bewailed his misfortune, sighing and weeping day and night for a whole month. An immortal traveling past the cave saw him, pitied him, and questioned him in detail. Knowing he was no ordinary man, Zhao Qu knocked his head and declared himself, begging mercy; whereupon the immortal gave him a bag of medicine and taught him the method of taking it. Zhao Qu took it for a hundred days and more; the sores all healed, his complexion grew full and glad, his skin took on a jade luster. When the immortal passed by again and looked in on him, Zhao Qu gave thanks for the grace of being granted new life and begged the formula. The immortal told him: this is nothing but pine resin; this mountain holds much of it—refine it and take it, and you may live long and not die. Zhao Qu then went home; his family at first took him for a ghost and were sorely astonished. Zhao Qu then took pine resin for a long time: his body grew light, his strength a hundredfold; he climbed heights and crossed dangers all day without tiring; at a hundred and seventy years his teeth had not fallen and his hair had not whitened. Lying one night, he suddenly saw in the room a light like a mirror; asking those beside him, all said they could not see it. After a long time it gradually grew, until the whole room shone like broad day. Again at night he saw on his face two maiden spirits two or three cun tall, fully formed in face and body, only small, playing between his nose and mouth; thus for nearly a year, the maidens gradually grew larger until they came out to his side. He also often heard the sound of lutes and zithers, and would smile happily to himself. He lived among men three hundred-some years, his complexion like a small child's, then departed into Mount Baodu—surely an earthly immortal. At the time, hearing that Zhao Qu had taken pine resin thus, people vied to take it. Those with many laborers hauled it by cart and donkey, piling it full in their rooms; those who took it went no farther than a month, and feeling no great benefit stopped. So rarely does anyone with resolve manage it thus.

又漢成帝時，獵者於終南山中，見一人無衣服，身生黑毛，獵人見之，欲逐取之，而其人逾坑越谷，有如飛騰，不可逮及。於是乃密伺候其所在，合圍得之，定是婦人。問之，言我本是秦之宮人也，聞關東賊至，秦王出降，宮室燒燔，驚走入山，飢無所食，垂餓死，有一老翁教我食松葉松實，當時苦澀，後稍便之，遂使不飢不渴，冬不寒，夏不熱。計此女定是秦王子嬰宮人，至成帝之世，二百許歲，乃將歸，以穀食之，初聞谷臭嘔吐，累日乃安。如是二年許，身毛乃脫落，轉老而死。向使不為人所得，便成仙人矣。

Again, in the time of Emperor Cheng of Han, hunters in Mount Zhongnan saw a person without clothes, black hair growing over the whole body. The hunters saw it and wanted to chase and catch it, but the person leapt over pits and valleys as if flying, and could not be caught. Then they secretly watched for where it stayed, closed in, and caught it—it proved to be a woman. Asked, she said: I was originally a palace woman of Qin; when I heard that the rebels east of the Pass had come and the King of Qin had gone out to surrender and the palaces were burning, I fled in fright into the mountains. Hungry with nothing to eat and near starvation, an old man taught me to eat pine needles and pine nuts; at first they were bitter and astringent, but I gradually grew used to them, and thereafter they kept me from hunger and thirst, warm in winter and cool in summer. Reckoning it up, this woman was certainly a palace woman of the Qin prince Ziying; by the age of Emperor Cheng, more than two hundred years. Only when brought back and fed on grain did she—at the first smell of the stench of grain—vomit, settling only after several days. After about two years of this her body hair fell out, and she turned old and died. Had she not been caught by men, she would have become an immortal.

南陽文氏，說其先祖，漢末大亂，逃去山中，飢困欲死。有一人教之食術，遂不能飢，數十年乃來還鄉里，顏色更少，氣力勝故。自說在山中時，身輕欲跳，登高履險，歷日不極，行冰雪中，了不知寒。常見一高巖上，有數人對坐博戲者，有讀書者，俛而視文氏，因聞其相問，言此子中呼上否。其一人答言未可也。術一名山磷，一名山精。故神藥經曰：必欲長生，常服山精。

The Wen family of Nanyang tell of their ancestor: at the great disorders of the end of Han he fled into the mountains, hungry, in straits, and near death. A man taught him to eat zhu, and thereafter he could not hunger; after several decades he returned to his village, his complexion yet younger and his strength surpassing what it had been. He himself said that while in the mountains his body was light and apt to bound; he climbed heights and trod dangers the whole day without tiring, and walking in ice and snow he felt no cold at all. He often saw upon a high crag several men sitting facing one another at gambling games, and some reading; looking down they beheld the Wen man, and so he heard them ask one another: can this fellow be called up here? One of them answered: not yet. Zhu is also named mountain-phosphor, also mountain-essence. Thus the Classic of Spirit Medicines says: if you truly wish long life, always take mountain-essence.

昔仙人八公，各服一物，以得陸仙，各數百年，乃合神丹金液，而升太清耳。人若合八物，煉而服之，不得其力，是其藥力有轉相勝畏故也。韓終服菖蒲十三年，身生毛，日視書萬言，皆誦之，冬袒不寒。又菖蒲生須得石上，一寸九節已上，紫花者尤善也。趙他子服桂二十年，足下生毛，日行五百里，力舉千斤。移門子服五味子十六年，色如玉女，入水不沾，入火不灼也。楚文子服地黃八年，夜視有光，手上車弩也。林子明服術十一年，耳長五寸，身輕如飛，能超逾淵谷二丈許。杜子微服天門冬，御八十妾，有子百三十人，日行三百里。任子季服茯苓十八年，仙人玉女往從之，能隱能彰，不復食谷，灸瘢皆滅，面體玉光。陵陽子仲服遠志二十年，有子三十七人，開書所視不忘，坐在立亡。仙經曰：雖服草木之葉，已得數百歲，忽怠於神丹，終不能仙。以此論之，草木延年而已，非長生之藥可知也。未得作丹，且可服之，以自支持耳。

In days past the eight immortal lords each took a single thing and thereby became land-immortals for several hundred years each, then compounded the divine elixir and golden liquor and ascended into the Grand Purity. If a man combines the eight things, refines them, and takes them, he does not obtain their power, because the medicines' powers vanquish and fear one another in turn. Han Zhong took calamus for thirteen years: hair grew on his body, he read ten thousand words a day and could recite them all, and went bare-shouldered in winter without cold. Moreover, calamus for taking must grow on stone, an inch or more in nine joints, those with purple flowers being best. Zhao Tazi took cassia for twenty years: hair grew under his feet, he walked five hundred li a day, and lifted a thousand jin. Yimenzi took schisandra for sixteen years: his complexion was like a Jade Maiden's, he entered water unwetted and fire unscorched. Chu Wenzi took rehmannia for eight years: at night he saw light, and his hands could draw the cart-bow. Lin Ziming took zhu for eleven years: his ears grew five cun long, his body was light as flight, and he could leap over gorges of some two zhang. Du Ziwei took asparagus and kept eighty concubines, begetting a hundred and thirty sons, walking three hundred li a day. Ren Ziji took poria for eighteen years: immortals and Jade Maidens came to follow him; he could appear and vanish, no longer ate grain, his moxa scars all vanished, and his face and body shone like jade. Lingyang Zizhong took polygala for twenty years, begot thirty-seven sons, forgot nothing his eyes had once opened in a book, and could sit and vanish on the spot. The Classic of Immortals says: though one takes the leaves of herbs and trees and already gains several hundred years, if one slights the divine elixir, in the end one cannot become an immortal. Judged by this, herbs and trees merely lengthen the years; they are not the medicine of long life—this may be known. Before one can make the elixir, one may for the time being take them to sustain oneself.

或問：“服食藥物，有前後之宜乎？”抱朴子答曰：“按中黃子服食節度云，服治病之藥，以食前服之；養性之藥，以食後服之。吾以諮鄭君，何以如此。鄭君言，此易知耳，欲以藥攻病，既宜及未食，內虛，令藥力勢易行，若以食後服之，則藥但攻谷而力盡矣；若欲養性，而以食前服藥，則力未行，而被谷驅之下去不得止，無益也。”

Someone asked: "In taking medicinal substances, is there a proper before and after?" Baopuzi answered: "According to Zhonghuangzi's Rules for Taking Medicines, take medicines that cure illness before eating, and medicines that nourish the nature after eating. I asked Master Zheng why this is so. Master Zheng said: it is easy to understand. If you want to use a medicine to attack a sickness, it should be done while you have not yet eaten: the interior is empty and the medicine's force moves easily. If taken after eating, the medicine merely attacks the grain and its force is spent. But if you want to nourish the nature and take the medicine before eating, then before its force can move it is driven down by the grain and cannot linger, which gives no benefit."

或問曰：“人服藥以養性，雲有所宜，有諸乎？”抱朴子答曰：“按玉策記及開明經，皆以五音六屬，知人年命之所在。子午屬庚，卯酉屬己，寅申屬戊，丑未屬辛，辰戌屬丙，巳亥屬丁。一言得之者，宮與土也。三言得之者，徵與火也。五言得之者，羽與水也。七言得之者，商與金也。九言得之者，角與木也。若本命屬土，不宜服青色藥；屬金，不宜服赤色藥；屬木，不宜服白色藥；屬水，不宜服黃色藥；屬火，不宜服黑色藥。以五行之義，木克土，土克水，水克火，火克金，金克木故也。若金丹大藥，不復論宜與不宜也。

Someone asked: "When men take medicines to nourish the nature, it is said that some are fitting and some not—is there such a thing?" Baopuzi answered: "According to the Record of the Jade Slips and the Scripture of Enlightened Opening, both use the five tones and six affinities to know where a man's natal destiny lies. Zi and wu belong to geng; mao and you belong to ji; yin and shen belong to wu; chou and wei belong to xin; chen and xu belong to bing; si and hai belong to ding. What is obtained in one word is the note gong with earth. What is obtained in three words is the note zhi with fire. What is obtained in five words is the note yu with water. What is obtained in seven words is the note shang with metal. What is obtained in nine words is the note jue with wood. If one's natal destiny belongs to earth, one should not take green-colored medicines; if it belongs to metal, not red-colored medicines; if it belongs to wood, not white-colored medicines; if it belongs to water, not yellow-colored medicines; if it belongs to fire, not black-colored medicines. This is because of the meaning of the five phases: wood conquers earth, earth conquers water, water conquers fire, fire conquers metal, metal conquers wood. As for the great medicines of the golden elixir, fitting and unfitting are no longer discussed.

一言宮。庚子庚午，辛未辛丑，丙辰丙戌，丁亥丁巳，戊寅戊申，己卯己酉。

The one-word note is gong: gengzi and gengwu, xinwei and xinchou, bingchen and bingxu, dinghai and dingsi, wuyin and wushen, jimao and jiyou.

三言徵。甲辰甲戌，乙亥乙巳，丙寅丙申，丁酉丁卯，戊午戊子，己未己丑。

The three-word note is zhi: jiachen and jiaxu, yihai and yisi, bingyin and bingshen, dingyou and dingmao, wuwu and wuzi, jiwei and jichou.

五言羽。甲寅甲申，乙卯乙酉，丙子丙午，丁未丁丑，壬辰壬戌，癸巳癸亥。

The five-word note is yu: jiayin and jiashen, yimao and yiyou, bingzi and bingwu, dingwei and dingchou, renchen and renxu, guisi and guihai.

七言商。甲子甲午，乙丑乙未，庚辰庚戌，辛巳辛亥，壬申壬寅，癸卯癸酉。

The seven-word note is shang: jiazi and jiawu, yichou and yiwei, gengchen and gengxu, xinsi and xinhai, renshen and renyin, guimao and guiyou.

九言角。戊辰戊戌，己巳己亥，庚寅庚申，辛卯辛酉，壬午壬子，癸丑癸未。

The nine-word note is jue: wuchen and wuxu, jisi and jihai, gengyin and gengshen, xinmao and xinyou, renwu and renzi, guichou and guiwei.

禹步法：前舉左，右過左，左就右。次舉右，左過右，右就左。次舉右，右過左，左就右。

The method of the Pace of Yu: first lift the left foot, pass the right foot over the left, and bring the left foot up beside the right. Next lift the right foot, pass the left foot over the right, and bring the right foot up beside the left. Next lift the right foot again, pass the right foot over the left, and bring the left foot up beside the right.

如此三步，當滿二丈一尺，後有九跡。

These three steps should cover two zhang and one chi, leaving nine footprints behind.

小神方，用真丹三斤，白蜜一斤，合和日曝煎之，令可丸。旦服如麻子十丸，未一年，發白更黑，齒墮更生，身體潤澤，長服之，老翁還成少年，常服長生不死也。

The Minor Spirit Formula: take three jin of genuine cinnabar and one jin of white honey, blend them and dry-fry them in the sun until they can be rolled into pills. In the morning take ten pills the size of hemp seeds; before a year is out, whitening hair turns black again and fallen teeth regrow, and the body is sleek and moist. Taken long, an old man returns to youth; taken always, one lives forever without dying.

小餌黃金方，火銷金納清酒中，二百出，二百入，即沸矣。握之出指間，令如泥，若不沸及握之不出指間，即復銷之內酒中無數也。成服如彈丸一枚，亦可汁一丸分為小丸，服三十日，無寒溫，神人玉女下之。又銀亦可餌，與金同法。服此二物，可居名山石室中，一年即輕舉矣。人間服之，名地仙，勿妄傳也。

The Minor Formula for Ingesting Gold: melt gold over the fire and plunge it into clear wine, drawing it out two hundred times and plunging it in two hundred times, until it boils. Grip it and squeeze it out between the fingers so that it is like mud; if it does not boil or, gripped, cannot be squeezed out between the fingers, then melt it again and plunge it into the wine times without number. When done, take one piece the size of a pellet; or the juice of one piece can be divided into small pills. Take it for thirty days and there is no cold or heat; spirits and Jade Maidens descend. Silver can also be ingested by the same method as gold. Taking these two things, one should dwell in a stone chamber on a famous mountain, and in a year one rises lightly. Taking them among men is called being an earthly immortal; do not transmit it recklessly.

兩儀子餌銷黃金法，豬負革肪三斤，醇苦酒一斗，取黃金五兩，置器中煎之，出爐，以金置肪中，百入百出，苦酒亦爾，餐一斤金，壽弊天地，食半斤金，壽二千歲；五兩，千二百歲，無多少，便可餌之。當以王相之日，作之神良，勿傳人，傳人，藥不成不神也。欲食去屍藥，當服丹砂。

Liangyizi's method for ingesting molten gold: three jin of pig suet and a dou of strong bitter wine; take five liang of gold, set it in a vessel and fry it, take it from the furnace, and put the gold into the fat, plunging in a hundred times and drawing out a hundred times, doing the same with the bitter wine. Eating one jin of gold, one's span decays only when heaven and earth do; eating half a jin of gold, the span is two thousand years; five liang, twelve hundred years. Whatever the amount, it may be ingested. It should be done on a propitious day; divinely efficacious—do not transmit it to others; if transmitted to others, the medicine will not form and loses its spirit. If you want to eat medicine that drives off the corpse-worms, you should take cinnabar.

餌丹砂法，丹砂一斤，搗篩，下醇苦酒三升，淳漆二升，凡三物合，令相得，微火上煎之，令可丸，服如麻子三丸，日再。四十日，腹中百病癒，三尸去；服之百日，肌骨堅強；服之千日，司命削死籍，與天地相保，日月相望，改形易容，變化無常，日中無影，乃別有光矣。

The method of ingesting cinnabar: one jin of cinnabar, pounded and sifted, three sheng of strong bitter wine, and two sheng of pure lacquer—combine these three substances so they suit one another, fry over a gentle fire until they can be rolled into pills, and take three pills the size of hemp seeds twice a day. After forty days the hundred illnesses of the belly heal and the three corpse-worms depart; after a hundred days the flesh and bones grow firm and strong; after a thousand days the Director of Destinies strikes one's name from the registers of the dead; kept safe with heaven and earth and gazed upon with sun and moon, one's shape changes and countenance alters without constancy, casting no shadow at midday and having instead a light of one's own.

或問曰：“若仙必可得，聖人已修之矣，而周孔不為之者，是無此道可知也。”抱朴子答曰：“夫聖人不必仙，仙人不必聖。聖人受命，不值長生之道，但自欲除殘去賊，夷險平暴，制禮作樂，著法垂教，移不正之風，易流遁之俗，匡將危之主，扶亡徵之國，刊詩書，撰河洛，著經誥，和雅頌，訓童蒙，應聘諸國，突無凝煙，席不暇暖。其事則鞅掌罔極，窮年無已，亦焉能閉聰掩明，內視反聽，呼吸導引，長齋久潔，入室煉形，登山採藥，數息思神，斷谷清哉？至於仙者，唯須篤志至信，勤而不怠，能恬能靜，便可得之，不待多才也。有入俗之高真，乃為道者之重累也。得合一大藥，知守一養神之要，則長生久視，豈若聖人所修為者云云之無限乎？且夫俗所謂聖人者，皆治世之聖人，非得道之聖人，得道之聖人，則黃老是也。治世之聖人，則周孔是也。黃帝先治世而後登仙，此是偶有能兼之才者也。古之帝王，刻於泰山，可省讀者七十二家，其餘磨滅者，不可勝數，而獨記黃帝仙者，其審然可知也。

Someone asked: "If immortality can certainly be obtained, and the sages had already cultivated it, then for the Duke of Zhou and Confucius not to have done it proves there is no such way to be known." Baopuzi answered: "A sage need not be an immortal, and an immortal need not be a sage. The sage receives his mandate; if he does not meet with the way of long life, he can only set himself to remove the cruel and cut away the harmful, level the dangerous and violent, institute rites and make music, set forth laws and hand down teachings, change the winds that are not upright and alter the drifting, fugitive customs, rescue the ruler about to fall and support the state showing signs of ruin, edit and fix the Odes and Documents, compile the River Chart and Luo Writing, write the canons and pronouncements, harmonize the hymns, teach young minds, and answer summonses from state to state—the chimney never gathered smoke, the mat never grew warm. Affairs are thus tangled without limit, the year spent without pause; how then could he shut his ears and veil his sight, look within and listen back, breathe and guide, keep long fasts and lasting purity, enter the chamber to refine the form, climb mountains to gather herbs, count the breaths and contemplate the spirits, and cut off grain in stillness? As for the immortal, he need only hold his purpose firm and his faith utmost, be diligent and not slack, able to be tranquil and able to be still, and he can obtain it—without waiting for many talents. Some high true ones who entered the world found it instead a heavy burden on the Way. To compound one great medicine and know the essentials of guarding the One and nourishing the spirit is long life and long sight—what is it like the tangled infinity of the sage's work? Moreover, what the vulgar world calls sages are all sages of governing the age, not sages who have obtained the Way. The sages who obtained the Way are Huang-Lao; the sages who govern the age are the Duke of Zhou and Confucius. The Yellow Emperor first governed the age and afterwards ascended as an immortal—this is the rare case of talent able to combine both. Of the ancient thearchs who carved on Mount Tai, seventy-two houses can still be read, the rest worn away beyond number, yet it records only that the Yellow Emperor became an immortal—from which it is clearly known."

世人以人所尤長，眾所不及者，便謂之聖。故善圍棋之無比者，則謂之棋聖，故嚴子卿馬綏明於今有棋聖之名焉。善史書之絕時者，則謂之書聖，故皇象胡昭於今有書聖之名焉。善圖畫之過人者，則謂之畫聖，故衛協張墨於今有畫聖之名焉。善刻削之尤巧者，則謂之木聖，故張衡馬鈞於今有木聖之名焉。故孟子謂伯夷，清之聖者也；柳下惠，和之聖者也；伊尹，任之聖者也。吾試演而論之，則聖非一事。夫班輸倕狄，機械之聖也；附扁和緩，治疾之聖也；子韋甘均，占候之聖也；史蘇辛廖，卜筮之聖也；夏育杜回，筋力之聖也；荊軻聶政，勇敢之聖也，飛廉夸父，輕速之聖也；子野延州，知音之聖也；孫吳韓白，用兵之聖也。聖者，人事之極號也，不獨於文學而已矣。莊周云：盜有聖人之道五焉。妄意而知人之藏者，明也；先入而不疑者，勇也；後出而不懼者，義也；知可否之宜者，知也；分財均同者，仁也。不得此道而成天下大盜者，未之有也。”

(Baopuzi continued:) The world calls whatever a man is especially good at, beyond the reach of others, sagehood. So the player of weiqi without peer is called a sage of weiqi: thus Yan Ziqing and Ma Suiming bear the name sage of weiqi to this day. The master of calligraphy unequaled in his time is called a sage of calligraphy: thus Huang Xiang and Hu Zhao bear the name sage of calligraphy to this day. The painter surpassing other men is called a sage of painting: thus Wei Xie and Zhang Mo bear the name sage of painting to this day. The carver surpassingly skillful is called a sage of woodwork: thus Zhang Heng and Ma Jun bear the name sage of woodwork to this day. So Mencius said of Bo Yi that he was the sage of purity; of Liuxia Hui, the sage of harmony; of Yi Yin, the sage of responsibility. Let me try amplifying this argument: sagehood is then not one thing. Lu Ban, Chui, and Di were sages of mechanisms; Yu Fu, Bian Que, Physician He, and Physician Huan were sages of healing; Ziwei and Gan Jun were sages of watching the heavens; Shi Su and Xin Liao were sages of divination; Xia Yu and Du Hui were sages of sinewy strength; Jing Ke and Nie Zheng were sages of daring; Feilian and Kuafu were sages of fleetness; Master Ziye and Jizha of Yanzhou were sages of knowing tones; Sun, Wu, Han, and Bai were sages of war. Sagehood is the utmost title for human affairs; it does not lie in letters alone. Zhuang Zhou said that even in thievery there are five ways of the sage: to guess by empty fancy and know where a man's goods are hidden is cleverness; to go in first unflinching is courage; to come out last unafraid is rightness; to know whether a thing may suitably be done is wisdom; to divide the spoils evenly is benevolence. No one has ever become a great robber under heaven without this way."

或曰：“聖人之道，不得枝分葉散，必總而兼之，然後為聖。”

Someone said: "The way of the sage cannot branch off and scatter into leaves; it must be taken all together and embraced whole, and only then is there sagehood."

餘答之曰：“孔子門徒，達者七十二，而各得聖人之一體，是聖事有剖判也。又云：顏淵具體而微，是聖事有厚薄也。又易曰：有聖人之道四焉，以言者尚其辭，以動者尚其變，以制器者尚其象，以卜筮者尚其占。此則聖道可分之明證也。何為善於道德以致神仙者，獨不可謂之為得道之聖？苟不有得道之聖，則周孔不得為治世之聖乎？既非一矣，何以當責使相兼乎？按仙經以為諸得仙者，皆其受命偶值神仙之氣，自然所稟。故胞胎之中，已含信道之性，及其有識，則心好其事，必遭明師而得其法，不然，則不信不求，求亦不得也。玉鈐經主命原曰：人之吉凶，制在結胎受氣之日，皆上得列宿之精。其值聖宿則聖，值賢宿則賢，值文宿則文，值武宿則武，值貴宿則貴，值富宿則富，值賤宿則賤，值貧宿則貧，值壽宿則壽，值仙宿則仙。又有神仙聖人之宿，有治世聖人之宿，有兼二聖之宿，有貴而不富之宿，有富而不貴之宿，有兼富貴之宿，有先富後貧之宿，有先貴後賤之宿，有兼貧賤之宿，有富貴不終之宿，有忠孝之宿，有兇惡之宿。如此不可具載，其較略如此。為人生本有定命，張車子之說是也。苟不受神仙之命，則必無好仙之心，未有心不好之而求其事者也，未有不求而得之者也。自古至今，有高才明達，而不信有仙者，有平平許人學而得仙者，甲雖多所鑑識而或蔽於仙，乙則多所不通而偏達其理，此豈非天命之所使然乎？

I answered him: "Of Confucius's disciples, seventy-two attained, and each obtained one limb of the sage—this shows the sage's work can be split apart. It is also said that Yan Yuan possessed the whole but in miniature—this shows the sage's work can be thick or thin. And the Book of Changes says: the way of the sage has four uses—those who speak esteem its words; those who act esteem its changes; those who make vessels esteem its images; those who divine esteem its prognostications. This is clear proof that the sage's way can be divided. Why then should he who is good in the Way and its power so as to become a spirit-immortal alone not be called a sage who obtained the Way? If there were no sages who obtained the Way, then could the Duke of Zhou and Confucius be sages of governing the age? Since they are not one, why should we demand that the two combine? The scriptures of immortals hold that all who obtain immortality receive a mandate and happen on the qi of spirit-immortals, endowed by nature. So within the womb they already contain a nature that trusts the Way; coming to awareness, the heart loves that work; they unfailingly meet enlightened teachers and obtain the method—otherwise they neither believe nor seek, and seeking they do not obtain. The Yuqian Scripture, in 'The Origin of the Ruling Destiny', says: a man's fortune and misfortune are fixed on the day his embryo is knit and he receives qi; he always obtains the essence of one of the ranked constellations. Meeting a sage star he becomes a sage; a worthy star, a worthy; a civil star, a civil man; a martial star, a martial man; a noble star, a noble; a rich star, a rich man; a low star, a low man; a poor star, a poor man; a long-life star, long-lived; an immortal star, an immortal. There are also stars of spirit-immortal sages, stars of world-governing sages, stars combining the two sagehoods, stars noble but not rich, stars rich but not noble, stars of wealth and honor together, stars first rich then poor, stars first noble then low, stars of poverty and baseness together, stars of wealth and honor that do not last, stars of loyalty and filial piety, and stars of cruelty and evil. These cannot all be recorded; the main outline is thus. That a man's life is fixed at birth is what the saying of Zhang Chezi means. Whoever has not received the mandate of a spirit-immortal is sure to lack the heart that loves immortality; there is none who, lacking the heart and not loving the work, yet obtains it. From ancient times to now there have been men of high talent and clear penetration who did not believe there are immortals, and ordinary middling men who studied and obtained immortality. Though A be widely discerning, he may be blind about immortality; though B be largely obtuse, he alone may penetrate that principle. Is this not made so by heaven's mandate?"

夫道家寶秘仙術，弟子之中，尤尚簡擇，至精彌久，然後告之以要訣，況於世人，幸自不信不求，何為當強以語之邪？既不能化令信之，又將招嗤速謗。故得道之士，所以與世人異路而行，異處而止，言不欲與之交，身不欲與之雜。隔千里，猶恐不足以遠煩勞之攻；絕軌跡，猶恐不足以免毀辱之醜。貴不足以誘之，富不足以移之，何肯當自衒於俗士，言我有仙法乎？此蓋周孔所以無緣而知仙道也。且夫周孔，蓋是高才大學之深遠者耳，小小之伎，猶多不閒。使之跳丸弄劍，逾鋒投狹，履登幢，擿盤緣案，跟掛萬仞之峻峭，游泳呂梁之不測，手扛千鈞，足躡驚飆，暴虎檻豹，攬飛捷矢，凡人為之，而周孔不能，況過於此者乎？他人之所念慮，蚤蝨之所首向，隔牆之朱紫，林下之草芥，匣匱之書籍，地中之寶藏，豐林邃藪之鳥獸，重淵洪潭之魚鱉，令周孔委曲其采色，分別其物名，經列其多少，審實其有無，未必能盡知，況於遠此者乎？聖人不食則飢，不飲則渴，灼之則熱，凍之則寒，撻之則痛，刃之則傷，歲久則老矣，損傷則病矣，氣絕則死矣。此是其所與凡人無異者甚多，而其所以不同者至少矣。所以過絕人者，唯在於才長思遠，口給筆高，德全行潔，強訓博聞之事耳，亦安能無事不兼邪？既已著作典謨，安上治民，復欲使之兩知仙道，長生不死，以此責聖人，何其多乎？吾聞至言逆俗耳，真語必違眾，儒士卒覽吾此書者，必謂吾非毀聖人。吾豈然哉？但欲盡物理耳，理盡事窮，則似於謗訕周孔矣。世人謂聖人從天而墜，神靈之物，無所不知，無所不能。甚於服畏其名，不敢復料之以事，謂為聖人所不為，則人無復能之者也；聖人所不知，則人無復知之者也，不可笑哉？今具以近事校之，想可以悟也。完山之鳥，賣生送死之聲，孔子不知之，便可復謂顏回只可偏解之乎？

(I continued:) The school of the Way treasures and keeps secret the arts of immortality; among disciples it especially honors selection, and only after long proof of utmost devotion are the essential secrets told. How much less to the men of the world, who are lucky enough not to believe and not to seek—why should words be forced upon them? Since they cannot be transformed into believers, it only invites mockery and hastens slander. Thus those who have obtained the Way travel a different road from the world's men and lodge in different places; they do not wish to exchange words with them nor mix their persons with them. A thousand li apart, they still fear it is not enough to flee the attack of trouble; their tracks cut off, they still fear it is not enough to escape the shame of insult. Rank cannot tempt them, wealth cannot move them—how should they be willing to show off to vulgar gentlemen, saying I possess the arts of immortality? This is presumably why the Duke of Zhou and Confucius had no chance to know the way of immortality. Moreover, the Duke of Zhou and Confucius were presumably deep in high talent and great learning; of the small arts and skills, much still eluded their mastery. Set them to juggling balls and swords, vaulting over blades and diving through narrow slots, climbing masts, tossing plates while mounting tables, hanging by their heels off ten-thousand-ren precipices, swimming the unfathomable Lüliang, bearing a thousand jun on the hands, treading the startled gale with their feet, fighting tigers barehanded, caging leopards, catching flying arrows—ordinary men have done these things, yet the Duke of Zhou and Confucius could not, much less what surpasses these. What other men think in their hearts, which way the fleas and lice turn their heads, the red and purple behind a wall, the grass beneath the trees, books shut in cases, treasure buried in the ground, the birds and beasts of dense forests and deep marshes, the fish and turtles of double deeps and great pools—set the Duke of Zhou and Confucius to tell in detail their colors, distinguish their names, enumerate their numbers, and verify their presence or absence, and they might not fully know, much less what far surpasses these. The sages, if they do not eat, grow hungry; if they do not drink, grow thirsty; scorch them and they are hot; freeze them and they are cold; beat them and they hurt; cut them with a blade and they are wounded; as the years lengthen they grow old; injured they sicken; breath cut off they die. In these they do not differ from ordinary men—in many things they do not differ; wherein they differ is very little. So what surpasses other men lies only in talent grown far-reaching, ready speech and a lofty pen, virtue complete and conduct pure, forceful teaching and broad learning—how could they embrace everything? Having already written canons and statutes, given the ruler peace and the people order, to want them also to know the way of immortality and live forever without dying—to charge sages with this, is that not much indeed? I have heard that the truest words offend vulgar ears and true speech always runs against the crowd; the Confucian who glances hastily at this book of mine will surely say I slander the sages. How am I so? I only wish to carry the pattern of things to its end; when the pattern is carried to its end and the matter exhausted, it looks like maligning the Duke of Zhou and Confucius. The world says the sages fell from heaven, are things of spirit, knowing everything and able to do anything; that one stands in excess of awe before their name, not daring to measure them by deeds, saying what the sages do not do no man can do, and what the sages do not know no man can know—is that not laughable? Now let me test it by recent events, that one may awake. Of the bird of Mount Wan and the cry 'sell the living, see the dead off', Confucius did not know—then may one say further that Yan Hui could only understand things partially?

聞太山婦人之哭，問之，乃知虎食其家三人，又不知此婦人何以不徙去之意，須答乃悟。見羅雀者純得黃口，不辨其意，問之乃覺。及欲葬母，不知父墓所在，須人語之，既定墓崩，又不知之，弟子誥之，乃泫然流涕。又疑顏淵之盜食，乃假言欲祭先人，卜掇塵之虛偽。廄焚，又不知傷人馬否。顏淵後，便謂之已死。又周流七十餘國，而不能逆知人之必不用之也，而棲棲遑遑，席不暇溫。又不知匡人當圍之，而由其途。問老子以古禮，禮有所不解也。問郯子以鳥官，官有所不識也。行不知津，而使人問之，又不知所問之人，必譏之而不告其路，若爾可知不問也。下車逐歌鳳者，而不知彼之不住也。見南子而不知其無益也。諸若此類，不可具舉，但不知仙法，何足怪哉？又俗儒云：聖人所不能，則餘人皆不能。則宕人水居，梁母火化，伯子耐至熱，仲都堪酷寒，左慈兵解而不死，甘始休糧以經歲，範軼見斫而不入，鱉令流屍而更生，少千執百鬼，長房縮地脈，仲甫假形於晨鳧，張楷吹噓起雲霧，未聞周孔能為斯事也。”

(I continued:) Hearing the weeping of the woman at Mount Tai, Confucius asked, and only then knew a tiger had eaten three of her family; nor did he understand why the woman had not moved away, and needed her answer before he grasped it. Seeing that the bird-netter caught only yellow fledglings, he could not make out the reason and asked before he understood. When he wished to bury his mother, he did not know where his father's grave was and needed to be told; when the grave mound he had made collapsed, again he did not know until a disciple told him, whereupon he shed tears. Again he suspected Yan Yuan of stealing food, and only by pretending to wish to offer to his forebears divined the falsity of that dust-scooping. When the stable burned, again he did not know whether men and horses had been hurt. When Yan Yuan fell behind, he straightway said he had died. He wandered through seventy-some states yet could not know beforehand that men were certain not to employ him, and went about restless and hurried, the mat never warm. Nor did he know the men of Kuang would besiege him, yet took that road. He asked Laozi about ancient rites, and there were rites he did not comprehend. He asked the Viscount of Tan about the bird offices, and there were offices he did not recognize. Traveling, he did not know the ford and sent someone to ask—nor did he know that the one asked would mock him and not tell the road; if that could have been known, there was no need to ask. He descended from his carriage to chase the man who sang of the phoenix, not knowing the man would not stay. He saw Nanzi, not knowing it would profit nothing. Such cases cannot all be listed; that he merely did not know the arts of immortality—where is the wonder in that? The vulgar Confucians also say: what the sage could not do, no other man can do either. Yet the people of Dang dwell in the water, Mother Liang was transformed by fire, Bozi withstood the fiercest heat, Zhongdu endured the bitterest cold, Zuo Ci was cut to pieces yet did not die, Gan Shi left off grain for a whole year, Fan Yi was hacked yet the blade could not enter, Bieling drifted as a corpse yet lived again, Shaoqian seized the hundred ghosts, Changfang shrank the veins of the earth, Zhongfu lent his form to a morning duck, and Zhang Kai puffed up clouds and mists—yet I have never heard that the Duke of Zhou and Confucius could do these things."

俗人或曰：“周孔皆能為此，但不為耳。”

The vulgar may say: "The Duke of Zhou and Confucius could do all these things; they merely did not do them."

吾答之曰：“必不求之於明文，而指之以空言者，吾便可謂周孔能振翮翻飛，翱翔八極，興雲致雨，移山拔井，但不為耳。一不以記籍見事為據者，復何限哉？必若所云者，吾亦可以言周孔皆已昇仙，但以此法不可以訓世，恐人皆知不死之可得，皆必悉委供養，廢進宦而登危浮深，以修斯道，是為家無復子孫，國無復臣吏，忠孝並喪，大倫必亂，故周孔密自為之，而秘不告人，外託終亡之形，內有上仙之實。如此，則子亦將何以難吾乎？亦又未必不然也。靈寶經有正機平衡飛龜授袟凡三篇，皆仙術也。吳王伐石以治宮室，而於合石之中，得紫文金簡之書，不能讀之，使使者持以問仲尼，而欺仲尼曰：‘吳王閒居，有赤雀銜書以置殿上，不知其義，故遠諮呈。’仲尼以視之，曰：‘此乃靈寶之方，長生之法，禹之所服，隱在水邦，年齊天地，朝於紫庭者也。禹將仙化，封之名山石函之中，乃今赤雀銜之，殆天授也。’以此論之是夏禹不死也，而仲尼又知之；安知仲尼不皆密修其道乎？正復使聖人不為此事，未可謂無其效也。人所好惡，各各不同，諭之以面，豈不信哉？誠合其意，雖小必為也；不合其神，雖大不學也。好苦憎甘，既皆有矣，嗜利棄義，亦無數焉。‘聖人之大寶曰位，何以聚人曰財。’又曰：‘富與貴，是人之所欲’，而昔已有禪之以帝王之位而不用，委之以四海之富而不願，蔑三九之官，背玉帛之聘，遂山林之高潔，甘魚釣之陋業者，蓋不可勝數耳。又曰：‘男女飲食，人之大欲存焉。’是以好色不可諫，甘旨可忘憂。昔有絕谷棄美，不畜妻妾，超然獨往，浩然得意，顧影含歡，漱流忘味者，又難勝記也。人情莫不愛紅顏豔姿，輕體柔身，而黃帝逑篤醜之嫫母，陳侯憐可憎之敦洽。

I answered him: "If one need not seek evidence in clear records but may point things out with empty words, then I too can say the Duke of Zhou and Confucius could beat their pinions and wheel in flight, soar to the eight extremities, raise clouds and bring down rain, shift mountains and uproot wells—they merely did not. Once one takes no stand on things seen in the records, where is the limit? By your argument I could even say the Duke of Zhou and Confucius had already ascended as immortals, but because this teaching cannot be used to instruct the world, fearing that all men would know deathlessness could be obtained and all would surely abandon support of their parents, leave their offices, climb the precipitous and float the deep to cultivate this way—so that families would no more have descendants, states no more have ministers and officers, loyalty and filial piety would perish together, and the great bonds would fall into disorder—the Duke of Zhou and Confucius secretly practiced it themselves and kept it secret, telling no one; outwardly they put on the shape of one who dies, inwardly they held the substance of the highest immortals. In that case, what would you use to refute me? Nor is it necessarily not so. The Lingbao Scripture has three sections—Zhengji, Pingheng, and the Flying Tortoise's Bestowal of the Rank—all arts of immortality. The King of Wu cut stone to build palaces, and within a joined stone found a book in purple characters on metal slips which none could read. He sent a messenger to ask Confucius, deceiving him thus: 'While the King of Wu was at leisure, a red sparrow came bearing a document and set it on the hall; not knowing its meaning, I have come far to consult you.' Confucius looked and said: 'This is the method of Lingbao, the way of long life, which Yu took; it was hidden in the watery realm, whose years equal heaven and earth, paying court at the Purple Court. When Yu was about to transform into an immortal he sealed it in a stone case on a famous mountain; that the red sparrow has brought it now is presumably heaven's bestowal.' Judged by this, Yu of Xia did not die, and Confucius moreover knew it—then how do we know Confucius did not secretly cultivate that way in its entirety? Even granted the sage did not do these things, one cannot say they have no effect. Men's likings and hatreds each differ; instruct them with a face and will they not surely agree? Truly if a thing suits his intent, however small he will do it; if it does not suit his spirit, however great he will not learn it. There are those who love the bitter and hate the sweet, and there is no counting those who lust for profit and abandon rightness. 'The sage's great treasure is called position; that whereby he gathers men is called wealth.' It is also said: 'Wealth and honor are what men desire'—yet in ancient times there were already those who, offered abdication of a thearch's throne, would not use it; entrusted with the riches of the four seas, were unwilling; who scorned the offices of the three excellencies and nine ministers, turned their backs on summonses of jade and silk, followed the high purity of mountain forests, and were content with the humble calling of fishing—too many, probably, to count. It is also said: 'Man and woman, drink and food—therein man's great desires dwell.' So love of beauty cannot be gainsaid, and sweet viands can make one forget care. Of old there were those who cut off grain and abandoned fine things, kept no wife or concubines, went loftily alone, grandly content, glancing at their shadow with inward joy, rinsing in the stream and forgetting taste—again hardly to be numbered. There is none among human feelings that does not love rosy faces, fair looks, light bodies, and supple frames; yet the Yellow Emperor chose for wife the thoroughly ugly Momu, and the Marquis of Chen doted on the detestable Dunqia."

人鼻無不樂香，故流黃鬱金、芝蘭蘇合、玄膽素膠、江離揭車、春蕙秋蘭，價同瓊瑤，而海上之女，逐酷臭之夫，隨之不止。周文嗜不美之菹，不以易太牢之滋味。魏明好椎鑿之聲，不以易絲竹之和音。人各有意，安可求此以同彼乎？周孔自偶，不信仙道，日月有所不照，聖人有所不知，豈可以聖人所不為，便雲天下無仙！是責三光不照覆盆之內也。”

(I continued:) There is no man's nose that does not delight in fragrance; therefore liuhuang, turmeric, angelica and orchid, storax, dark gall, white gum, river-sedge and cart-fragrance, spring basil and autumn orchid are priced like precious jade—yet the woman by the sea followed a man of rank stench and would not stop. King Wen relished an unappetizing pickle and would not have traded it for the flavor of the great sacrifice. The lord of Wei loved the sound of mallet and chisel and would not have traded it for the harmony of strings and pipes. Men each have their own bent; how can one demand this to match that? The Duke of Zhou and Confucius themselves chanced to agree; they did not believe the way of immortality. Sun and moon have places they do not shine; the sage has things he does not know. How can one say there are no immortals under heaven because the sage did not do it? That is like blaming the three luminaries for not shining inside an overturned basin."

或問曰：“古之仙人者，皆由學以得之，將特稟異氣耶？”抱朴子答曰：“是何言歟？彼莫不負笈隨師，積其功勤，蒙霜冒險，櫛風沐雨，而躬親灑掃，契闊勞藝，始見之以信行，終被試以危困，性篤行貞，心無怨貳，乃得升堂以入於室。或有怠厭而中止，或有怨恚而造退，或有誘於榮利，而還修流俗之事，或有敗於邪說，而失其淡泊之志，或朝為而夕欲其成，或坐修而立望其效。若夫睹財色而心不戰，聞俗言而志不沮者，萬夫之中，有一人為多矣。故為者如牛毛，獲者如麟角也。夫彀勁弩者，效力於發箭；涉大川者，保全於既濟；井不達泉，則猶不掘也；一步未至，則猶不往也。修塗之累，非移晷所臻；凌霄之高，非一簣之積。然升峻者患於垂上而力不足，為道者病於方成而志不遂。千倉萬箱，非一耕所得；幹天之木，非旬日所長；不測之淵，起於汀瀅；陶朱之資，必積百千。若乃人退己進，陰子所以窮至道也。敬卒若始，羨門所以致雲龍也。我志誠堅，彼何人哉？”

Someone asked: "The immortals of antiquity—did they all obtain it through study, or were they specially endowed with an extraordinary qi?" Baopuzi answered: "What kind of question is that? There was none who did not shoulder his book-box and follow a teacher, accumulating merit and toil, braving frost and risking danger, combed by the wind and washed by the rain, himself doing the sweeping, bound to labor at the art—first proving himself by faithful conduct, finally being tested by peril and hardship, firm in nature and upright in action, heart without complaint or second thought—before gaining entry to hall and inner chamber. Some grew weary and stopped midway; some resented and withdrew at the start; some were lured by glory and profit and returned to worldly pursuits; some were defeated by perverse teachings and lost their purpose of calm detachment; some worked at dawn and expected success by dusk; some sat cultivating and immediately looked for results. As for those who see wealth and beauty without their hearts racing, and hear vulgar talk without their purpose flagging—in ten thousand men, one is already many. So those who do it are like ox hairs, those who obtain it like unicorn horns. He who bends a strong crossbow to the full puts his force into releasing the arrow; he who fords a great river is made safe only at the far bank; a well that has not reached the spring is as good as undug; one step untaken is as good as not having gone. The accumulation of a long road cannot be reached in a sundial's span; a height towering to the sky is not one basketful's piling. Yet he who climbs the steep suffers that his strength fails just as the top is near, and he who works at the Way is ailed that his will fails just as it is about to be achieved. A thousand granaries and ten thousand bins are not the yield of a single plowing; a wood that pierces the clouds is not the growth of ten days; the unfathomable deep rises from a shallow shoal; the fortune of Tao Zhu was surely piled up by hundreds and thousands. As for men falling back while I advance—that is how Yinzi plumbed the utmost Way. Reverencing the end like the beginning—that is how Xianmen summoned the cloud-dragons. If my resolve is truly firm, what manner of man is he?"

抱朴子曰：“俗民既不能生生，而務所以煞生。夫有盡之物，不能給無已之耗；江河之流，不能盈無底之器也。凡人利入少而費用多者，猶不供也，況無錙銖之來，而有千百之往乎？人無少長，莫不有疾，但輕重言之耳。而受氣各有多少，多者其盡遲，少者其竭速。其知道者補而救之，必先復故，然後方求量表之益。若令服食終日，則肉飛骨騰，導引改朔，則羽翮參差，則世閒無不信道之民也。患乎升勺之利未堅，而鍾石之費相尋，根柢之據未極，而冰霜之毒交攻。不知過之在己，而反雲道之無益，故捐丸散而罷吐納矣。故曰非長生難也，聞道難也；非聞道難也，行之難也；非行之難也，終之難也。良匠能與人規矩，不能使人必巧也。明師能授人方書，不能使人必為也。夫修道猶如播谷也，成之猶收積也。厥田雖沃，水澤雖美，而為之失天時，耕鋤又不至，登稼被壟，不獲不刈，頃畝雖多，猶無獲也。凡夫不徒不知益之為益也，又不知損之為損也，夫損易知而速焉，益難知而遲焉，人尚不悟其易，安能識其難哉？夫損之者如燈火之消脂，莫之見也，而忽盡矣。益之者如苗禾之播殖，莫之覺也，而忽茂矣。故治身養性，務謹其細，不可以小益為不平而不修，不可以小損為無傷而不防。凡聚小所以就大，積一所以至億也。若能愛之於微，成之於著，則幾乎知道矣。”

Baopuzi said: "The common people can neither make their lives grow, yet devote themselves solely to the means of killing life. A finite thing cannot supply an endless consumption; the flow of the Yangzi and the Yellow River cannot fill a bottomless vessel. In general, a man whose income is small and expenses great is still not supplied—how much more one with not a penny coming in and hundreds going out? Men young and old all without exception have illness, differing only in degree; but the qi each receives is more or less: he who has much exhausts it late, he who has little dries up fast. The knowing mend and rescue it: they must first restore the former state, and only then seek the increase marked on the measure. If taking medicines all day made flesh fly and bones soar, and a month's guiding-stretching grew one a full set of plumes, then there would be no man in the world who did not believe the Way. The fear is that while the benefit of thimblefuls is not yet firm, expenses of a hundredweight come in succession; the root's hold is not yet deep when the poison of frost and ice attacks from all sides. Not knowing the fault lies in themselves, they instead say the road profits nothing, and so cast away pill and powder and quit exhaling and inhaling. Thus it is said: it is not long life that is hard, it is hearing the Way that is hard; it is not hearing the Way that is hard, it is practicing it that is hard; it is not practicing it that is hard, it is finishing it that is hard. A good artisan can give men compass and square but cannot make them surely skillful; an enlightened teacher can hand men the formula-books but cannot make them surely do it. Cultivating the Way is like sowing grain; completing it is like the harvest. Though the field be fertile and the waters fine, if the work misses heaven's season and the plowing and hoeing fall short, the weeds cover the ridges and none reaps or cuts; however many the acres, there is still no yield. The ordinary man not only fails to know benefit for benefit, he also fails to know harm for harm. Harm is easy to know and quick; benefit is hard to know and slow. If a man cannot even grasp the easy, how can he discern the hard? Harm is like a lamp melting its fat: unseen, and suddenly gone. Benefit is like seedling grain sown and planted: unfelt, and suddenly flourishing. So in ordering the body and nourishing the nature, one must be careful of the small places: one must not think a small benefit trivial and leave it uncultivated, nor think a small harm harmless and leave it unguarded. All that is great is made by gathering the small; a hundred million is reached by piling up ones. If one can cherish it in the minute and complete it in the manifest, one is nearly a knower."

或問曰：“古者豈有無所施行，而偶自長生者乎？”抱朴子答曰：“無也。或隨明師，積功累勤，便得賜以合成之藥。或受秘方，自行治作，事不接於世，言不累於俗，而記著者止存其姓名，而不能具知其所以得仙者，故闕如也。昔黃帝生而能言，役使百靈，可謂天授自然之體者也，猶復不能端坐而得道。故陟王屋而受丹經，到鼎湖而飛流珠，登崆峒而問廣成，之具茨而事大隗，適東岱而奉中黃，入金谷而諮涓子，道養則資玄素二女，精推步則訪山稽力牧，講占候則詢風后，著體診則受雷岐，審攻戰則納五音之策，窮神奸則記白澤之辭，相地理則書青烏之說，救傷殘則綴金冶之術。故能畢該秘要，窮道盡真，遂升龍以高躋，與天地乎罔極也。然按神仙經，皆雲黃帝及老子奉事太乙元君以受要訣，況乎不逮彼二君者，安有自得仙度世者乎？未之聞也。”

Someone asked: "In ancient times were there those who did nothing at all and yet by chance lived long of themselves?" Baopuzi answered: "No. Some followed enlightened teachers, piled up merit and toil, and were granted compounded medicines. Some received secret formulas and made them themselves; their affairs not touching the world, their words not tangling with the vulgar; and the records keep only their names, unable to tell in detail how they obtained immortality—and so the gap. In antiquity the Yellow Emperor could speak at birth and command the hundred spirits; he may be called a heaven-endowed natural body, yet even he could not sit square and obtain the Way. Thus he climbed Mount Wangwu to receive the Elixir Classic, went to Dinghu to fly-refine the flowing pearl, ascended Kongtong to question Guangcheng, went to Juci to serve Dawei, traveled to the Eastern Peak to honor Zhonghuang, entered Jin'gu to consult Juanzi; for the nurture of the Way he drew on the two women Xuan and Su; for the subtlety of the calendar's reckoning he sought out Shanji and Limu; for the teaching of watching the heavens he consulted Fenghou; for the writing of pulses and diagnosis he received from Leigong and Qibo; for examining attack and war he took in the counsel of the five tones; for plumbing spirits and monsters he recorded the words of Baize; for reading the lay of the land he wrote the doctrine of the Blue Bird; for rescuing the wounded and maimed he pieced together the arts of the metal-workers. Thus he could embrace all the secret essentials, plumb the Way and exhaust the true, and then mount a dragon and rise on high, boundless with heaven and earth. Yet according to the scriptures of the immortals, the Yellow Emperor and Laozi both served Taiyi Yuanjun to receive the essential secrets. How much less those who could not match those two lords—where has there ever been one who obtained immortality and crossed the world by himself? It has never been heard of."

或曰：“黃帝審仙者，橋山之冢，又何為乎？”抱朴子答曰：“按荊山經及龍首記，皆雲黃帝服神丹之後，龍來迎之，群臣追慕，靡所措思，或取其几杖，立廟而祭之；或取其衣冠，葬而守之。列仙傳云：黃帝自擇亡日，七十日去，七十日還，葬於橋山，山陵忽崩，墓空無屍，但劍舄在焉。此諸說雖異，要於為仙也。言黃帝仙者，見於道書及百家之說者甚多，而儒家不肯長奇怪，開異塗，務於禮教，而神仙之事，不可以訓俗，故云其死，以杜民心耳。朱邑欒巴於公，有功惠於民，百姓皆生為之立廟祠。又古者盛德之人，身沒之後，臣子刊其勳績於不朽之器。而今世君長遷轉，吏民思戀，而樹德頌之碑者，往往有焉，此亦黃帝有廟墓之類也，豈足以證其必死哉？”

Someone said: "If the Yellow Emperor really became an immortal, then what is the tomb at Mount Qiao for?" Baopuzi answered: "According to the Jingshan Classic and the Longshou Record, both say that after the Yellow Emperor took the divine elixir, a dragon came to receive him; his ministers, grieving after him with nowhere to fix their thoughts, some took his stool and staff and raised a temple to sacrifice to him, some took his robe and cap and buried them and kept watch. The Biographies of the Immortals says: the Yellow Emperor himself chose the day of his vanishing; seventy days he was gone, seventy days he returned; he was buried at Mount Qiao, where the ridge suddenly collapsed, the grave was found empty without a corpse, and only his sword and shoes remained. Though these accounts differ, their gist is that he became an immortal. That the Yellow Emperor became an immortal is seen in many places in the Daoist books and the sayings of the hundred schools; but the Confucians, unwilling to abet the strange and open heterodox paths, devoted to ritual teaching—and since the matter of the immortals cannot serve to instruct the vulgar—said that he died, simply to cut off the people's hopes. Zhu Yi, Luan Ba, and Lord Yu did good and kindness for the people, and the hundred surnames raised shrines to them while they still lived. In ancient times too, for men of full virtue who had died, subjects carved their merits on imperishable vessels. And nowadays, when rulers and chiefs are transferred and the officers and people yearn after them, they raise steles extolling their virtue—such things are common. This is of the same kind as the Yellow Emperor's temple and tomb; how can it suffice to prove he must have died?"

或人問曰：“彭祖八百，安期三千，斯壽之過人矣。若果有不死之道，被何不遂仙乎？豈非稟命受氣，自有修短，而彼偶得其多，理不可延，故不免於雕隕哉？”抱朴子答曰：“按彭祖經云，其自帝嚳佐堯，歷夏至殷為大夫，殷王遣采女從受房中之術，行之有效，欲殺彭祖，以絕其道，彭祖覺焉而逃去。去時年七八百餘，非為死也。黃石公記云：彭祖去後七十餘年，門人於流沙之西見之，非死明矣。又彭祖之弟子，青衣烏公、黑穴公、秀眉公、白兔公子、離婁公、太足君、高丘子、不肯來七八人，皆歷數百歲，在殷而各仙去，況彭祖何肯死哉？又劉向所記列仙傳亦言彭祖是仙人也。又安期先生者，賣藥於海邊，琅琊人傳世見之，計已千年。秦始皇請與語，三日三夜。其言高，其旨遠，博而有證，始皇異之，乃賜之金璧，可直數千萬，安期受而置之於阜鄉亭，以赤玉舄一量為報，留書曰，複數千載，求我於蓬萊山。如此，是為見始皇時已千歲矣，非為死也。又始皇剛暴而驁很，最是天下之不應信神仙者。又不中以不然之言答對之者也。至於問安期以長生之事，安期答之允當，始皇惺悟，信世閒之必有仙道，既厚惠遺，又甘心欲學不死之事，但自無明師也，而為盧敖徐福輩所欺弄，故不能得耳。向使安期先生言無符據，三日三夜之中，足以窮屈，則始皇必將烹煮屠戮，不免鼎俎之禍，其厚惠安可得乎？”

Someone asked: "Pengzu lived eight hundred years, Anqi three thousand—spans already surpassing other men. If the way of deathlessness truly exists, why did they not simply become immortals? Is it not that the mandate one receives and the qi one is endowed with have their own lengths, that they chanced to receive more, that in principle it cannot be stretched, and so they could not escape withering and falling?" Baopuzi answered: "According to the Classic of Pengzu, he aided Yao from the time of Emperor Ku, passed through Xia into Yin as a grandee; the King of Yin sent Cainü to follow him and receive the arts of the bedchamber, and when they proved effective, wished to kill Pengzu to cut off that way. Pengzu perceived it and fled. When he left he was seven or eight hundred-some years old—he did not die. The Record of Huang Shigong says: more than seventy years after Pengzu left, his disciples saw him west of the Flowing Sands—that he did not die is clear. Moreover Pengzu's disciples—Qingyi Wugong, Heixuegong, Xiumeigong, Baitu Gongzi, Lilougong, Taizujun, Gaoqiuzi, Bukenlai, seven or eight men—all lived several hundred years and each departed as an immortal in the time of Yin; how much less would Pengzu consent to die! And the Biographies of the Immortals compiled by Liu Xiang also says Pengzu was an immortal. As for Master Anqi, he sold herbs by the seashore, and the men of Langya handed down accounts of seeing him—reckoning it, already a thousand years. The First Emperor of Qin invited him to converse, three days and three nights. His words were lofty, his purport far-reaching, broad yet attested; the First Emperor marveled and bestowed gold and jade worth many tens of millions. Anqi accepted them and left them at the Fuxiang pavilion, giving a pair of red-jade shoes in return, and left a letter saying: after several thousand more years, seek me at Mount Penglai. So at his audience with the First Emperor he was already a thousand years old—he did not die. Moreover the First Emperor was hard, violent, arrogant, and fierce—the man under heaven least fit to believe in spirits and immortals, and not one to be answered with anything but the truth. When he asked Anqi about long life, Anqi answered fittingly; the First Emperor awoke, believed the way of immortals must exist in the world, not only gave rich gifts but earnestly wished to learn the deathless work—only he lacked an enlightened teacher and was played false by the likes of Lu Ao and Xu Fu, and so could not obtain it. If Master Anqi's words had had no corroboration, three days and nights would have sufficed to drive him to exhaustion; the First Emperor would surely have boiled and butchered him, and he could not have escaped the calamity of tripod and platter—how then could he have obtained that rich largess?"

或問曰：“世有服食藥物，行氣導引，不免死者，何也？”

Someone asked: "In the world there are those who take medicinal substances and practice moving qi and guiding-stretching, and still do not escape death—why is that?"

抱朴子答曰：“不得金丹，但服草木之藥及修小術者，可以延年遲死耳，不得仙也。或但知服草藥，而不知還年之要術，則終無久生之理也。或不曉帶神符，行禁戒，思身神，守真一，則止可令內疾不起，風溼不犯耳。若卒有惡鬼強邪，山精水毒害之，則便死也。或不得入山之法，令山神為之作禍，則妖鬼試之，猛獸傷之，溪毒擊之，蛇蝮螫之，致多死事，非一條也。或修道晚暮，而先自損傷已深，難可補復。補復之益，未得根據，而疾隨復作，所以克伐之事，亦何緣得長生哉？或年老為道而得仙者，或年少為道而不成者，何哉？彼雖年老而受氣本多，受氣本多則傷損薄，傷損薄則易養，易養故得仙也。此雖年少而受氣本少，受氣本少則傷深，傷深則難救，難救故不成仙也。夫木槿楊柳，斷殖之更生，倒之亦生，橫之亦生。生之易者，莫過斯木也。然埋之既淺，又未得久，乍刻乍剝，或搖或拔，雖壅以膏壤，浸以春澤，猶不脫於枯瘁者，以其根荄不固，不暇吐其萌芽，津液不得遂結其生氣也。人生之為體，易傷難養，方之二木，不及遠矣。而所以攻毀之者，過於刻剝，劇乎搖拔也。濟之者鮮，壞之者眾，死其宜也。夫吐故納新者，因氣以長氣，而氣大衰者則難長也。服食藥物者，因血以益血，而血垂竭者則難益也。夫奔馳而喘逆，或欬或滿，用力役體，汲汲短乏者，氣損之候也。面無光色，皮膚枯臘，唇焦脈白，腠理萎瘁者，血減之證也。二證既衰於外，則靈根亦凋於中矣。如此，則不得上藥，不能救也。凡為道而不成，營生而得死者，其人非不有氣血也。然身中之所以為氣為血者，根源已喪，但餘其枝流也。譬猶入水之燼，火滅而煙不即息；既斷之木，柯葉猶生。二者非不有煙，非不有葉，而其所以為煙為葉者，已先亡矣。世人以覺病之日，始作為疾，猶以氣絕之日，為身喪之候也。

Baopuzi answered: "Those who cannot obtain the golden elixir and merely take medicines of herb and tree and cultivate the lesser arts can lengthen their years and delay death, but cannot become immortals. Some know only to take herbal drugs and do not know the essential arts of returning the years, so in the end there is no principle of lasting life for them. Some do not understand wearing the spirit talismans, keeping the prohibitions, contemplating the body's spirits, and guarding the True One; they can only keep inner sickness from arising and wind-dampness from trespassing. If suddenly evil ghosts and strong perversities, mountain sprites and water poisons assail them, they die on the spot. Some do not obtain the methods for entering mountains, causing the mountain spirits to make calamity on that account: monstrous ghosts test them, fierce beasts wound them, stream-poison strikes them, vipers sting them—so that deaths are many and of more than one kind. Some cultivate the Way too late, having already damaged themselves deeply beforehand, hard to repair. Before the benefit of repairing can gain a foothold, sickness follows and flares again, so that the work of attack and cutting proceeds—whence can long life come? There are those who take up the Way in old age and obtain immortality, and those who take up the Way young and do not succeed—why? Though a man be old, if the qi he received was originally ample, his injuries are thin; injuries thin, he is easy to nourish; easy to nourish, he obtains immortality. Though a man be young, if the qi he received was originally scant, his injuries are deep; injuries deep, he is hard to rescue; hard to rescue, he does not become an immortal. Hibiscus and willow, cut and planted, live again; planted upside down they live, laid sideways they live—nothing grows more readily than these two trees. Yet if planted shallow, before they have long taken hold, now carved now peeled, now shaken now pulled, though you heap them with fat soil and soak them with spring moisture, they still do not escape withering—for the root is not firm, and they have no time to put forth sprout and bud, so the sap cannot knit that living qi. Man's life as a body is easy to injure and hard to nourish; compared to these two trees it falls far short, while the things that attack and destroy him surpass carving and peeling and are fiercer than shaking and pulling. Rescue is little, ruin is much—death is fitting. Exhaling the old and inhaling the new grows qi by means of qi, but where qi has greatly declined it is hard to grow. Taking medicinal substances increases blood by means of blood, but where blood is nearly dry it is hard to increase. Panting and gasping when running, now coughing now tight in the chest, toiling the body with effort, ever short and deficient—these are the signs of damaged qi. A face without luster, skin parched and sallow, lips scorched and vessels pale, the interstices withered and spent—these are the proofs of diminished blood. When the two proofs show failing without, the spirit root withers within. In such a case, without obtaining the upper medicines there is no saving him. All who practice the Way without success, or husband life yet come to death, are not men lacking qi and blood; but that within the body which makes the qi and blood has lost its source, and only the branch-streams remain. It is like an ember cast into water: the fire is quenched yet the smoke does not at once cease; like a severed tree: the boughs and leaves still live. The two are not without smoke, not without leaves—but that which makes the smoke and the leaves has already died. The world's men take the day they feel ill as the beginning of sickness, just as they take the day breath ceases as the sign the body is lost."

唯怨風冷與暑溼，不知風冷暑溼，不能傷壯實之人也，徒患體虛氣少者，不能堪之，故為所中耳。何以較之，設有數人，年紀老壯既同，服食厚薄又等，俱造沙漠之地，並冒嚴寒之夜，素雪墮於上，玄冰結於下，寒風摧條而宵駭，欬唾凝冱於唇吻，則其中將有獨中冷者，而不必盡病也。非冷氣之有偏，蓋人體有不耐者耳。故俱食一物，或獨以結病者，非此物之有偏毒也。鈞器齊飲，而或醒或醉者，非酒勢之有彼此也。同冒炎暑，而或獨以暍死者，非天熱之有公私也。齊服一藥，而或昏瞑煩悶者，非毒烈之有愛憎也。是以沖風赴林，而枯柯先摧；洪濤凌崖，而拆隙首頹；烈火燎原，而燥卉前焚；龍碗墜地，而脆者獨破。由茲以觀，則人之無道，體已素病，因風寒暑溼者以發之耳。苟能令正氣不衰，形神相衛，莫能傷也。凡為道者，常患於晚，不患於早也。恃年紀之少壯，體力之方剛者，自役過差，百病兼結，命危朝露，不得大藥，但服草木，可以差於常人，不能延其大限也。故仙經曰：養生以不傷為本。此要言也。神農曰：百病不愈，安得長生？信哉斯言也。”

(Baopuzi continued:) They blame only wind-cold and heat-damp, not knowing that wind-cold and heat-damp cannot injure the hale and solid; it is only those whose bodies are empty and qi scant who cannot bear it and are struck. Take a comparison: suppose there are several men, alike in age, old and young, and alike in richness of food and medicine, who all go into the desert and together brave a night of bitter cold, white snow falling from above and dark ice freezing below, cold wind breaking the branches and startling the night, spittle freezing on the lips—then among them there will be some struck by the cold alone, not necessarily all falling ill. It is not that the cold air has favorites; it is that men's bodies differ in endurance. So of those who all eat one thing, if one alone is thereby bound in sickness, it is not that the thing held a particular poison. Of those who drink together from the same vessel, that some wake and some are drunk is not that the wine's strength differs here and there. Of those who brave the same blazing heat, that one alone dies of heatstroke is not that heaven's heat has public and private. Of those who take one medicine together, that some faint and grow distressed is not that the drug's virulence has loves and hates. So when a blast strikes the forest, the dead boughs break first; when great billows mount the cliff, the cracked parts collapse first; when fierce fire spreads over the plain, the dry plants burn first; when a dragon bowl drops to the ground, the brittle one alone shatters. Seen thus, a man without the Way has a body already long sick; wind, cold, heat, and damp merely come to set it off. If one can keep the right qi undiminished, form and spirit guarding one another, nothing can injure him. In cultivating the Way, the trouble is always that it is late, never that it is early. Those who rely on being young and strong, whose bodily strength is at its hard edge, drive themselves past measure; the hundred illnesses knot together, life hangs like morning dew; failing to obtain the great medicine, they take only herbs and trees, which can make them somewhat better than ordinary men but cannot stretch the great limit. So the Classic of Immortals says: in nourishing life, not being injured is the root. These are words of moment. Shennong said: if the hundred illnesses are not cured, how can one obtain long life? These words are trustworthy."

或問曰：“所謂傷之者，豈非淫慾之閒乎？”抱朴子曰：“亦何獨斯哉？然長生之要，在乎還年之道。上士知之，可以延年除病；其次不以自伐者也。若年尚少壯而知還年，服陰丹以補腦，採玉液於長谷者，不服藥物，亦不失三百歲也，但不得仙耳。不得其術者，古人方之於冰杯之盛湯，羽苞之蓄火也。且又才所不逮，而困思之，傷也；力所不勝，而強舉之，傷也；悲哀憔悴，傷也；喜樂過差，傷也；汲汲所欲，傷也；久談言笑，傷也；寢息失時，傷也；挽弓引弩，傷也；沈醉嘔吐，傷也；飽食即臥，傷也；跳走喘乏，傷也；歡呼哭泣，傷也；陰陽不交，傷也；積傷至盡則早亡，早亡非道也。是以養生之方，唾不及遠，行不疾步，耳不極聽，目不久視，坐不至久，臥不及疲，先寒而衣，先熱而解，不欲極飢而食，食不過飽，不欲極渴而飲，飲不過多。凡食過則結積聚，飲過則成痰癖。不欲甚勞甚逸，不欲起晚，不欲汗流，不欲多睡，不欲奔車走馬，不欲極目遠望，不欲多啖生冷，不欲飲酒當風，不欲數數沐浴，不欲廣志遠願，不欲規造異巧。冬不欲極溫，夏不欲窮涼，不露臥星下，不眠中見肩，大寒大熱，大風大霧，皆不欲冒之。五味入口，不欲偏多，故酸多傷脾，苦多傷肺，辛多傷肝，鹹多則傷心，甘多則傷腎，此五行自然之理也。凡言傷者，亦不便覺也，謂久則壽損耳。是以善攝生者，臥起有四時之早晚，興居有至和之常制；調利筋骨，有偃仰之方；杜疾閒邪，有吞吐之術；流行榮衛，有補瀉之法；節宣勞逸，有與奪之要。忍怒以全陰氣，抑喜以養陽氣。然後先將服草木以救虧缺，後服金丹以定無窮，長生之理，盡於此矣。若有欲決意任懷，自謂達識知命，不泥異端，極情肆力，不營久生者，聞此言也，雖風之過耳，電之經目，不足諭也。

Someone asked: "By injuries, do you not mean the business of lust?" Baopuzi said: "And is it only that? The essential of long life lies in the way of returning the years. The highest men who know it can lengthen their years and expel sickness; the next best are those who do not use it to cut themselves down. If while still young and strong one knows how to return the years, takes the yin elixir to replenish the brain, and gathers the jade fluid in the Long Valley—this is the bedchamber return of the years, the Long Valley meaning within the body, not a valley in the mountains—then even without taking medicines one will not fall short of three hundred years, only failing to become an immortal. For those who do not obtain that art, the ancients compared it to a cup of ice holding hot water, a bundle of feathers holding fire. Moreover: to strain thought over what one's talent cannot reach is injury; to force a lift one's strength cannot bear is injury; grief and wasting are injury; excessive joy is injury; fretting after one's desires is injury; long talking and laughing is injury; sleeping and waking out of season is injury; drawing bows and crossbows is injury; dead-drunkenness and vomiting is injury; lying down straight after eating one's fill is injury; leaping and running till gasping and spent is injury; shouting and weeping is injury; yin and yang not joining is injury. Injuries accumulated to the full bring early death, and early death is not the Way. So the method of nourishing life: do not spit far, do not walk fast, do not strain the ear to the utmost, do not gaze long with the eyes, do not sit over-long, do not lie till worn out; dress before you are cold, loosen before you are hot; do not wait to be famished before eating, and never eat past fullness; do not wait to be parched before drinking, and never drink too much. To eat too much makes knotted accumulations; to drink too much makes phlegm and blockage. Do not labor or idle to excess, do not rise late, do not sweat heavily, do not sleep overmuch, do not gallop carriages and horses, do not strain your gaze to the far distance, do not eat much of the raw and cold, do not drink wine facing the wind, do not bathe too often, do not harbor ambitions broad and wishes far, do not scheme to fashion clever contrivances. In winter do not seek the utmost warmth; in summer do not go after utter cool; do not sleep exposed beneath the stars, nor bare your shoulders in sleep; great cold and great heat, great wind and great fog—do not brave them all. Of the five flavors entering the mouth let none be overmuch: much sour injures the spleen, much bitter injures the lungs, much acrid injures the liver, much salt injures the heart, much sweet injures the kidneys—this is the natural order of the five phases. All injuries, moreover, are not felt at once; it is only over time that they shorten the span. Therefore those skilled at husbanding life keep lying and rising to the season's early and late, activity and rest to a constant rule of utmost harmony; for tuning and easing sinew and bone there are the methods of bending and stretching; for barring sickness and warding off evil there are the arts of swallowing and spitting; for moving the nutritive and defensive qi there are the techniques of toning and draining; for regulating exertion and ease there are the keys of giving and taking. Bear anger to keep the yin qi whole; curb delight to nourish the yang qi. Then first take herbs and trees to repair the deficits, and afterward take the golden elixir to fix the endless—the whole principle of long life is herein. If there is a man set on following his own bent, thinking himself of perceptive wisdom and knowing his fate, not bound by heterodoxies, giving his feelings and strength free rein and not minding lasting life—then these words to his ear are less than wind passing the ear or lightning crossing the eye."

雖身枯於流連之中，氣絕於紈綺之閒，而甘心焉，亦安可告之以養生之事哉？不惟不納，乃謂妖訛也。而望彼信之，所謂以明鑑給蒙瞽，以絲竹娛聾夫也。”

(Baopuzi continued:) Though such a man's body withers amid his pleasures and his breath gives out among silks and satins, and he is content to have it so—how can one tell him of nourishing life? Not only does he not accept it, he calls it devil's nonsense. To hope for his belief is what is meant by giving a bright mirror to the blind and delighting deaf men with strings and pipes."

抱朴子曰：“天地之大德曰生，生好物者也。是以道家之所至秘而重者，莫過乎長生之方也。故血盟乃傳，傳非其人，戒在天罰。先師不敢以輕行授人，須人求之至勤者，猶當揀選至精者乃教之，況乎不好不求，求之不篤者，安可衒其沽以告之哉？其受命不應仙者，雖日見仙人成群在世，猶必謂彼自異種人，天下別有此物，或呼為鬼魅之變化，或雲偶值於自然，豈有肯謂修為之所得哉？苟心所不信，雖令赤松王喬言提其耳，亦當同以為妖訛。然時頗有識信者，復患於不能勤求明師。夫曉至要得真道者，誠自甚稀，非倉卒可值也。然知之者，但當少耳，亦未嘗絕於世也。由求之者不廣不篤，有仙命者，要自當與之相值也。然求而不得者有矣，未有不求而得者也。世閒自有奸偽圖錢之子，而竊道士之號者，不可勝數也。然此等復不謂挺無所知也，皆復粗開頭角，或妄沽名，加之以伏邪飾偽，而好事之徒，不識其真偽者，徒多之進問，自取誑惑，而拘制之，不令得行，廣尋奇士異人，而告之曰，道盡於此矣。以誤於有志者之不少，可嘆可恚也。或聞有曉消五雲、飛八石、轉九丹、冶黃白、水瓊瑤、化朱碧、凝霜雪於神爐、採靈芝於嵩嶽者，則多而毀之曰，此法獨有赤松王喬知之，今世之人而云知之者，皆虛妄耳。則淺見之家，不覺此言有詐偽而作，便息遠求之意。悲夫，可為慨嘆者也！凌晷飆飛，暫少忽老，迅速之甚，諭之無物，百年之壽，三萬餘日耳。幼弱則未有所知，衰邁則歡樂並廢，童蒙昏耄，除數十年，而險隘憂病，相尋代有，居世之年，略消其半，計定得百年者，喜笑平和，則不過五六十年，咄嗟滅盡，哀憂昏耄，六七千日耳，顧眄已盡矣，況於全百年者，萬未有一乎？諦而念之，亦無以笑彼夏蟲朝菌也。蓋不知道者之所至悲矣。

Baopuzi said: "The great virtue of heaven and earth is called life, and life loves things. Therefore what the school of the Way keeps most secret and prizes most is none other than the formulas of long life. Thus they are transmitted only after smearing blood in covenant, and transmission to the wrong person is forbidden under heaven's punishment. The former teachers dared not give them lightly; a man had to seek with utmost diligence, and even then they would select the most devoted before teaching—how much less for those who do not love it and do not seek it, or seek it without earnestness! To those whose received mandate is not to become immortals, even seeing crowds of immortals daily in the world, they will surely say: these are a different kind of being, there is this other thing in the world; or call them the transformations of goblins, or say they happened on it by nature—who would consent to say it was obtained by cultivation? If the heart does not believe, even should Master Redpine and Wangzi Qiao take him by the ear and tell him, he would likewise take it for devil's nonsense. Yet sometimes there are men who know and believe, and they suffer from being unable to seek an enlightened teacher diligently. Those who understand the utmost essentials and have obtained the true Way are indeed few and are not met with in haste; but those who know should be few—it has never died out of the world. Because seekers are neither broad nor earnest enough, those who hold the mandate of immortality keep missing one another. But those who seek and do not obtain exist; there are none who obtain without seeking. In the world there are swindlers out for money who steal the name of Daoist, too many to count. Yet such men are not utterly ignorant; they have roughly opened the first corner, some falsely trading on fame, and besides harbor evil and dress up falsehoods; and the men eager for novelty who cannot tell true from false go in droves to ask them, bringing deception on themselves, and are held in restraint and not allowed to proceed, to seek widely for rare scholars and strange men—only to be told: the Way is all here. By this not a few men of resolve have been wasted—worthy of sighs and of anger. Others, hearing that there are those who know how to dissolve the five micas, volatilize the eight minerals, cycle the nine elixirs, smelt yellow-and-white, turn fine jade into water, transform vermilion and jade-green, congeal frost and snow upon the spirit furnace, and gather the numinous mushrooms on Mount Song—then heap slander on them, saying: this art only Master Redpine and Wangzi Qiao knew; that men of today claim to know it is all empty falsehood. Then the shallow-sighted, not perceiving that this talk was fraudulently made, lay aside all thought of seeking afar. Sorrow—it deserves a sigh! Light and shade fly like a whirlwind; brief youth suddenly turns old. Swift indeed, beyond anything to compare it: a span of a hundred years is thirty thousand and some days. In helpless infancy nothing is yet known; in decrepit age all joy is done with. Between the dimness of childhood and the dullness of dotage several decades are cut away, while straits, dangers, griefs, and sicknesses come in unbroken succession. Of the years spent in the world roughly half are consumed; reckon it that a man truly gets a hundred years, and the days of glad laughter and calm are no more than fifty or sixty—gone in a sigh—and of the six or seven thousand days of sorrow, care, and dim old age, a glance and they are spent. How much more those who complete the hundred years, not one in ten thousand! Think carefully on this, and there is no laughing at the summer insect and the morning mushroom. This is probably the deepest sorrow of those who do not know."

里語有之：人在世閒，日失一日，如牽牛羊以詣屠所，每進一步，而去死轉近。此譬雖醜，而實理也。達人所以不愁死者，非不欲求，亦固不知所以免死之術，而空自焦愁，無益於事。故云樂天知命，故不憂耳，非不欲久生也。姬公請代武王，仲尼曳杖悲懷，是知聖人亦不樂速死矣。俗人見莊周有大夢之喻，因復競共張齊死生之論。蓋詭道強達，陽作違抑之言，皆仲尼所為破律應煞者也。今察諸有此談者，被疾病則遽針灸，冒危險則甚畏死。然末俗通弊，不崇真信，背典誥而治子書，若不吐反理之巧辨者，則謂之樸野，非老莊之學。故無骨殖而取偶俗之徒，遂流漂於不然之說，而不能自返也。老子以長生久視為業，而莊周貴於搖尾塗中，不為被網之龜，被繡之牛，餓而求粟於河侯，以此知其不能齊死生也。晚學不能考校虛實，偏據一句，不亦謬乎？且夫深入九泉之下，長夜罔極，始為螻蟻之糧，終與塵壤合體，令人怛然心熱，不覺咄嗟。若心有求生之志，何可不棄置不急之事，以修玄妙之業哉？其不信則已矣。其信之者，復患於俗情之不蕩盡，而不能專以養生為意，而營世務之餘暇而為之，所以或有為之者，恆病晚而多不成也。凡人之所汲汲者，勢利嗜慾也。苟我身之不全，雖高官重權，金玉成山，妍豔萬計，非我有也。是以上士先營長生之事，長生定可以任意。若未升玄去世，可且地仙人閒。若彭祖老子，止人中數百歲，不失人理之歡，然後徐徐登遐，亦盛事也。然決須好師，師不足奉，亦無由成也。昔漢太后從夏侯勝受尚書，賜勝黃金百斤，他物不可勝數。及勝死，又賜勝家錢二百萬，為勝素服一百日。成帝在東宮時，從張禹受論語。及即尊位，賜禹爵關內侯，食邑千戶，拜光祿大夫，賜黃金百斤。又遷丞相，進爵安昌侯。年老乞骸骨，賜安車駟馬，黃金百斤，錢數萬。

(Baopuzi continued:) A village saying has it: man in the world loses a day each day, like a sheep or ox led to the slaughterhouse—each step forward brings death a step nearer. The image is ugly, but it is truly the principle. The reason a knowing man does not grieve at death is not that he does not wish to seek, but that he simply does not know the art of escaping death, and frets himself for nothing, profiting nothing. So it is said: delight in heaven and know the mandate, therefore do not grieve—not that he does not wish to live long. The Duke of Zhou begged to die in King Wu's stead; Confucius dragged his staff and grieved—by this we know even the sages did not rejoice in a speedy death. The vulgar, seeing Zhuang Zhou's parable of the great dream, thereupon vie to propound the doctrine that life and death are equal. Presumably this is perverse doctrine forcing a bravado, words of denial made for show—all of the kind Confucius said broke the law and deserved killing. Now observe those who hold this talk: seized by sickness they hasten to needles and moxa; facing danger they are mightily afraid of death. But the common vice of a decayed age is to honor no real faith, to turn the back on the canons and cultivate the masters' books; if one does not spit out clever arguments that reverse the truth, one is called a rustic, not a student of Lao-Zhuang. So men without bone who court the common herd drift away on sayings that are not so and cannot find their way back. Laozi made long life and long sight his work; Zhuang Zhou prized wagging his tail in the mud rather than being a netted tortoise or an embroidered ox, and when hungry begged grain of the Marquis of the River—from this we know he could not make life and death one. Later scholars who cannot weigh true and false, leaning one-sidedly on a single saying—are they not in error? Moreover, deep beneath the nine springs the long night has no bound; at first one is the provender of ants, at last one joins substance with the dust—enough to make a man wretched at heart and sigh unawares. If the heart holds a will to seek life, how can it not lay aside unpressing affairs to cultivate the mysterious work? For those who do not believe, let it be. For those who believe, the trouble is that worldly feelings are not swept clean, so they cannot make nourishing life their single thought but do it only in the leisure left from worldly business—and so, if there are doers, they commonly suffer from lateness and mostly fail. What men fret after are power, profit, cravings, and desires. If my body is not kept whole, though there be high office and weighty authority, gold and jade heaped in mountains, beauties beyond counting—they are not mine. So the best men first attend to the work of long life; once long life is fixed they may follow their wishes. If they cannot yet ascend the mysteries and leave the world, they may for a while be earthly immortals among men. Like Pengzu and Laozi, dwelling among men for several hundred years without losing the joys of human order, then slowly mounting afar—that too is a grand affair. But one must without fail have a good teacher; if the teacher is not worth serving, there is no way to succeed. In days past the Empress Dowager of Han received the Book of Documents from Xiahou Sheng, granting Sheng a hundred jin of gold and other things beyond number; when Sheng died, she again granted his family two million in coin and wore plain mourning for Sheng for a hundred days. When Emperor Cheng was in the Eastern Palace he received the Analects from Zhang Yu; when he ascended the throne he granted Yu the rank of Marquis within the Pass with a fief of a thousand households, made him Grandee of the Imperial Household and granted a hundred jin of gold, then promoted him to Chancellor and advanced his rank to Marquis of Anchang; when he grew old and begged his bones, he was granted an easy carriage with four horses, a hundred jin of gold, and tens of thousands in coin."

及禹疾，天子自臨省之，親拜禹床下。章帝在東宮時，從桓榮以受孝經。及帝即位，以榮為太常上卿。天子幸榮第，令榮東面坐，設几杖。會百官及榮門生生徒數百人，帝親自持業講說。賜榮爵關內侯，食邑五千戶。及榮病，天子幸其家，入巷下車，抱卷而趨，如弟子之禮。及榮薨，天子為榮素服。凡此諸君，非能攻城野戰，折沖拓境，懸旌效節，祈連方，轉元功，騁銳絕域也。徒以一經之業，宣傳章句，而見尊重，巍巍如此，此但能說死人之餘言耳。帝王之貴，猶自卑降以敬事之。世閒或有欲試修長生之道者，而不肯謙下於堪師者，直爾蹴迮，從求至要，寧可得乎？夫學者之恭遜驅走，何益於師之分寸乎？然不爾，則是彼心不盡；彼心不盡，則令人告之不力；告之不力，則秘訣何可悉得邪？不得已當以浮淺示之，豈足以成不死之功哉？亦有人皮膚好喜，而信道之誠，不根心神，有所索欲，陽為曲恭，累日之閒，怠慢已出。若值明智之師，且欲詳觀來者變態，試以淹久，故不告之，以測其志。則若此之人，情偽行露，亦終不得而教之，教之亦不得盡言吐實，言不了則為之無益也。陳安世者，年十三歲，蓋灌叔本之客子耳，先得仙道。叔本年七十皓首，朝夕拜安世曰，道尊德貴，先得道者則為師矣，吾不敢倦執弟子之禮也。由是安世告之要方，遂復仙去矣。夫人生先受精神於天地，後稟氣血於父母，然不得明師，告之以度世之道，則無由免死，鑿石有餘焰，年命已凋頹矣。由此論之，明師之恩，誠為過於天地，重於父母多矣，可不崇之乎？可不求之乎？”

(Baopuzi continued:) When Yu fell ill, the Son of Heaven came in person to see him and bowed at the foot of his bed. When Emperor Zhang was in the Eastern Palace, he received the Classic of Filial Piety from Huan Rong. When the emperor took the throne, he made Rong Grand Master of Ceremonies, chief among the ministers. When the Son of Heaven visited Rong's residence, he had Rong sit facing east and set out armrest and staff for him. Gathering the hundred officials and several hundred of Rong's disciples and students, the emperor held the text and discoursed on it himself. He bestowed on Rong the rank of Marquis within the Passes, with a fief of five thousand households. When Rong fell ill, the Son of Heaven visited his house; entering the lane he descended from his carriage and hurried forward hugging his scrolls, in the manner of a disciple. When Rong died, the Son of Heaven wore plain mourning for him. Yet none of these lords could storm cities or fight pitched battles, break charges or extend borders, raise banners and prove their mettle, gather allied peoples to prayer, or turn grand merit, wielding their keenness in the uttermost regions. Solely on the strength of their work on one classic, expounding its chapters and verses, they were honored and revered, towering thus—and all they could do was recite the leftover words of dead men. Even the august station of an emperor still lowered itself to serve them reverently. If someone in the world wishes to try cultivating the way of long life, yet refuses to humble himself before one fit to be his teacher, but merely barges in brusquely to seek the utmost essentials—how could he obtain them? What inch of benefit does a student's humble deference cost his teacher? Yet without it his heart is not fully in it; if his heart is not fully in it, others will not exert themselves to instruct him; if they do not exert themselves, how could the secret formulas be had in full? At best he is shown the shallow surface—how could that suffice to accomplish undying? There are also those whose gladness is only skin-deep, whose sincere faith in the Way never takes root in their hearts; wanting something, they are all crooked courtesy on the surface, but within days their indolence shows. If they meet a clear-sighted teacher who wishes to observe the would-be disciple's changing moods and tests him by making him wait, deliberately withholding instruction to gauge his resolve—then a man like this soon shows the falseness of his feeling, and in the end the teacher will not teach him; and even if he does teach, he cannot empty all his words and tell the truth, and with the words left incomplete, the practice yields nothing. Chen Anshi, thirteen years of age, was merely a lodger in Guan Shuben's household, yet he had attained the way of the immortals first. Shuben, seventy years old with a hoary head, bowed to Anshi morning and evening, saying: the Way is honored and its virtue prized; whoever attains the Way first is the teacher—I dare not tire of performing a disciple's rites. Thereupon Anshi gave him the essential formula, and in the end he too departed as an immortal. A man first receives spirit from heaven and earth, then receives blood and breath from his father and mother; but without an enlightened teacher to impart the way of transcending the world, there is no escape from death—like sparks struck from stone, the last flicker fades and one's allotted years are already withered. Judged by this, the enlightened teacher's grace truly exceeds heaven and earth and weighs far more than father and mother—can he fail to be revered? Can he fail to be sought?

抱朴子曰：“古人質正，貴行賤言，故為政者不尚文辨，修道者不崇辭說。風俗衰薄，外飾彌繁，方策既山積於儒門，而內書亦鞅掌於術家。初學之徒，即未便可授以大要。又亦人情以本末殷富者為快。故後之知道者，幹吉容嵩桂帛諸家，各著千所篇，然率多教誡之言，不肯善為人開顯大向之指歸也。其至真之訣，或但口傳，或不過尋尺之素，在領帶之中，非隨師經久，累勤歷試者，不能得也。雜猥弟子，皆各隨其用心之疏密，履苦之久遠，察其聰明之所逮，及志力之所能辨，各有所授，千百歲中，時有盡其囊枕之中，肘腋之下，秘要之旨耳。或但將之合藥，藥成分之，足以使之不死而已，而終年不以其方文傳之。故世閒道士，知金丹之事者，萬無一也。而管見之屬，謂仙法當具在於紛若之書，及於祭祀拜伏之閒而已矣。夫長生制在大藥耳，非祠醮之所得也。昔秦漢二代，大興祈禱，所祭太乙五神，陳寶八神之屬，動用牛羊谷帛，錢費億萬，了無所益。況於匹夫，德之不備，體之不養，而欲以三牲酒餚，祝願鬼神，以索延年，惑亦甚矣。或頗有好事者，誠欲為道，而不能勤求明師，合作異藥，而但晝夜誦講不要之書，數千百卷，詣老無益，便謂天下果無仙法。或舉門扣頭，以向空坐，烹宰犧牲，燒香請福，而病者不愈，死喪相襲，破產竭財，一無奇異，終不悔悟，自謂未篤。若以此之勤，求知方之師，以此之費，給買藥之直者，亦必得神仙長生度世也。何異詣老空耕石田，而望千倉之收，用力雖盡，不得其所也。所謂適楚而道燕，馬雖良而不到，非行之不疾，然失其道也。或有性信而喜信人，其聰明不足以校練真偽，揣測深淺；所博涉素狹，不能賞物。後世頑淺，趣得一人，自譽之子，雲我有秘書，便守事之。

Baopuzi said: 'The ancients were plain and upright; they prized conduct and slighted words. Therefore those who governed did not esteem literary disputation, and those who cultivated the Way did not esteem eloquent speech. As customs declined and thinned, outer ornament grew ever more luxuriant; books on bamboo and silk piled mountain-high in the Ru school, while the inner texts likewise multiplied in confusion among the practitioners of the arts. For beginners it is not yet fitting to hand over the great essentials; besides, it is human feeling to delight in abundance of root and branch alike. So the knowers of later times—the houses of Gan Ji, Rong Song, Gui, and Bo—each wrote a thousand-odd sections, but these are mostly words of admonition, and they were unwilling to properly open up for people the great direction and its goal. The formulas of utmost truth are sometimes transmitted only by mouth, or amount to no more than a foot or so of plain silk carried inside the collar and belt; without following a teacher long and long, piling up toil and enduring trials, they cannot be had. The motley crowd of disciples are each given according to the closeness of their hearts, the length of their endurance of hardship, what their intelligence can reach, and what their will and strength can accomplish—each receives something different, and only once in a thousand years does anyone exhaust the secret gist kept in the bag by the pillow or hidden under the elbow. Some are only brought along to compound the drug; when the drug is done it is shared with them, enough to keep them from dying—and the recipe text is never handed to them in all their years. So among the world's Taoists, not one in ten thousand knows the matter of the golden elixir. Yet the peephole-view crowd says the arts of the immortals must all be in the jumbled books, or in the bowing and prostrating of sacrifice. The making of long life lies in the great drug; it cannot be obtained by offerings and jiao rites. In the past the Qin and Han greatly multiplied prayers and supplications, sacrificing to such as Taiyi and the Five Spirits and the Eight Spirits of Chenbao, expending oxen, sheep, grain, and silk at a cost of hundreds of millions—all without the slightest benefit. How much more a commoner, whose virtue is incomplete and whose body is not nourished, who hopes to take the three sacrificial animals and wine and viands to petition ghosts and spirits for longer years—his delusion is great indeed. There are also those who love the matter and sincerely wish to practice the Way, yet cannot diligently seek an enlightened teacher to compound the wondrous drug, but only day and night recite and discourse on useless books, thousands of scrolls—growing old without profit, they then declare that the world truly has no arts of immortality. Others bring their whole household to kowtow, facing empty seats, slaughtering victims, burning incense to beg for blessing—and their illnesses do not heal, deaths come one after another, the family fortune is drained, not a single marvel occurs, and to the end they never repent, but suppose they were not earnest enough. If such diligence were spent seeking a teacher who knows the formulas, and such expense spent on the money for drugs, they would surely obtain the life of gods and immortals and transcend the world. How does that differ from plowing a stony field until old age while expecting a harvest of a thousand granaries? Though the effort is spent, it does not fall where it should. As the saying goes: heading for Chu by way of Yan—the horse is good but never arrives, not for want of speed but because the road was lost. There are also men credulous by nature, fond of trusting others, whose intelligence is not enough to assay true from false or fathom deep from shallow; what they have broadly surveyed is too narrow for them to appreciate things. In this later, obstinate, shallow age, as soon as such a man meets one self-praising fellow who says "I have secret books," he stays to serve him.

而庸人小兒，多有外託有道之名，名過其實，由於誇誑，內抱貪濁，惟利是圖，有所請為，輒強喑嗚，俛仰抑揚。若所知寶秘乃深而不可得之狀。其有所請，從其所求，俛仰含笑，或許以頃後，故使不覺者，欲罷而不能，自謂事之未勤，而禮幣之尚輕也。於是篤信之心，尤加恭肅，賂以殊玩，為之執奴僕之役，不辭負重涉遠，不避經險履危，欲以積勞自效，服苦求哀，庶有異聞。而虛引歲月，空委二親之供養，捐妻子而不恤，戴霜蹈冰，連年隨之，而妨資棄力，卒無所成。彼初誠欺之，末或慚之，懵然體中，實自空罄短乏，無能法以相教，將何法以成人乎？餘目見此輩不少，可以有十餘人。或自號高名，久居於世，世或謂之已三四百歲，但易名字，詐稱聖人，託於人閒，而多有承事之者，餘但不喜書其人之姓名耳。頗遊俗閒，凡夫不識妍蚩，為共吹揚，增長妖妄，為彼巧偽之人，虛生華譽，歙習遂廣，莫能甄別。故或令高人偶不留意澄察，而但任兩耳者，誤於學者，常由此輩，莫不使人嘆息也。每見此曹，欺誑天下，以規勢利者，遲速皆受殃罰，天網雖疏，終不漏也。但誤有志者可念耳。世人多逐空聲，鮮能校實。聞甲乙多弟子，至以百許，必當有異，便載馳競逐，赴為相聚守之徒，妨工夫以崇重彼愚陋之人也。而不復尋精，彼得門人之力。或以致富，辨逐之雖久，猶無成人之道，愚夫故不知此人不足可事，何能都不與悟，自可悲哉！夫搜尋仞之壟，求幹天之木；漉牛跡之中，索吞舟之鱗，用日雖久，安能得乎？嗟乎！將來之學者，雖當以求師為務，亦不可以不詳擇為急也。陋狹之夫，行淺德薄，功微緣少，不足成人之道，亦無功課以塞人重恩也。深思其趣，勿令徒勞也。”

(Baopuzi continued:) Now many petty men and paltry fellows outwardly borrow the name of possessing the Way—their fame exceeding their substance through bragging lies—while inwardly harboring greed and foulness, scheming only for profit. When something is asked of them, they put on a great show of grunts and murmurs, nodding and intoning up and down, as though the treasured secrets they knew were too deep to be obtained. When a disciple begs for something, they go along with the plea, smiling knowingly up and down, or promise it a little later—so that the undiscerning, wanting to quit, cannot, and suppose their service is not yet diligent enough and their gifts still too light. Thereupon the devoted heart grows yet more reverent, bribing with rare curios, performing servants' tasks for him, not shirking heavy loads on far roads, not avoiding peril and danger, hoping by accumulated toil to prove themselves, submitting to hardship to beg for pity, hoping for some extraordinary teaching. Meanwhile the months and years are emptied away in vain; they leave the support of their two parents abandoned, cast off wife and children uncared-for, wearing frost and treading ice, following him for years on end, wasting substance and strength, and in the end accomplish nothing. The fellow was truly deceiving them from the start; at the end he may even feel ashamed, muddled within, for in fact his own store is emptied and wanting—he has no doctrine he could teach; by what method could he perfect a man? I have seen not a few of this kind with my own eyes—perhaps a dozen or more. Some give themselves grand titles and have long dwelt in the world; the world has even claimed them to be three or four hundred years old; they merely change their names, falsely claim to be sages, lodge among men—and many come to serve them. I simply dislike writing out that man's name. They roam widely among the vulgar; ordinary folk cannot tell fair from foul and blow the same trumpet for them, swelling monstrous falsehoods, so that for these artful counterfeits a florid reputation grows up out of nothing, their deceit spreads, and none can sift it out. Thus it happens that even lofty men, through one careless failure to examine and clarify, relying only on their two ears, let learners be misled—again and again because of this kind; it never fails to make one sigh. Whenever I see these fellows deceiving all under heaven to scheme for power and profit—sooner or later they meet calamity; heaven's net is wide-meshed but in the end loses nothing. It is only the aspiring men they mislead who are to be pitied. Most of the world chases empty noise; few can weigh the substance. Hearing that so-and-so has many disciples, up to a hundred or more, they decide he must be extraordinary, then gallop and race after him, rushing to become a crowd of attendants, wasting their effort to exalt those foolish, boorish men, and never seek the refined again. He gains strength from his disciples, some even growing rich thereby; though the sorting and chasing have gone on long, they still do not see that this is not a man worth serving—how can they all fail to wake? Pitiable indeed! To search a mere furlong-long ridge for a tree that pierces the clouds; to strain an ox's hoof-print puddle for a fish that could swallow a boat—however long the days spent, how could it be got? Alas! Students of times to come, though you should make seeking a teacher your task, you must also make careful choosing your urgency. Narrow and petty men, shallow in conduct, thin in virtue, slight in merit and few in affinity, are not up to perfecting a man's way, nor have they any merit to repay such heavy kindness. Ponder well whither you turn—do not let men toil in vain.

抱朴子曰：“諸虛名之道士，既善為誑詐，以欺學者；又多護短匿愚，恥於不知，陽若以博涉已足，終不肯行求請問於勝己者，蠢爾守窮，面牆而立；又不但拱默而已，乃復憎忌於實有道者而謗毀之，恐彼聲名之過己也。此等豈有意於長生之法哉？為欲以合致弟子，圖其財力，以快其情慾而已耳。而不知天高聽卑，其後必受斯殃也。夫貧者不可妄雲我富也，賤者不可虛雲我貴也，況道德之事實無，而空養門生弟子乎？凡俗之人，猶不宜懷妒善之心，況於道士，尤應以忠信快意為生者也，云何當以此之亻敝然函胸臆閒乎？人自不能聞見神明，而神明之聞見己之甚易也。此何異乎在紗幌之外，不能察軒房之內，而肆其倨慢，謂人之不見己。此亦如竊鍾棖物，鏗然有聲，惡他人聞之，因自掩其耳者之類也。而聾瞽之存乎精神者，唯欲專擅華名，獨聚徒眾，外求聲價，內規財力，患疾勝己，乃劇於俗人之爭權勢也。遂以唇吻為刃鋒，以譭譽為朋黨，口親心疏，貌合行離，陽敦同志之言，陰挾蜂蠆之毒，此乃天人所共惡，招禍之符檄也。夫讀五經，猶宜不恥下問，以進德修業，日有緝熙。至於射御之粗伎，書數之淺功，農桑之露事，規矩之小術，尚須師授以盡其理，況營長生之法，欲以延年度世，斯與救恤死事無異也。何可務惜請受之名，而永守無知之困，至老不改，臨死不悔，此亦天民之篤暗者也。令人代之慚悚，為之者獨不顧形影也。為儒生尚當兀然守樸，外託質素，知而如否，有而如無，令庸兒不得盡其稱，稱而不問不對，對必辭讓而後言。何其道士之人，強以不知為知，以無有為有，虛自衒耀，以圖奸利者乎？迷而不知返者，愈以遂往，若有以行此者，想不恥改也。吾非苟為此言，誠有為而興，所謂疾之而不能默然也。徒愍念愚人，不忍見嬰兒之投井耳。若覽之而悟者，亦仙藥之一草也，吾何為哉！

Baopuzi said: 'Those Taoists of empty fame are skilled at lies and fraud to deceive learners, and moreover cover their faults and hide their ignorance, ashamed of not knowing; on the surface they seem broadly versed and sufficient, but to the end they will not go ask those who surpass them—muddled, they hold fast in their poverty, standing facing a wall. Nor is it only folded hands and silence: they even resent and slander those who truly possess the Way, fearing their fame will exceed their own. What interest does such a kind have in the method of long life? They only want to gather disciples, eye their wealth and strength, and gratify their own passions—never knowing that heaven is high but hears what is below; afterward they must suffer this calamity. The poor cannot falsely claim to be rich; the base cannot falsely claim to be noble—how much less when there is in fact no virtue of the Way, and they vainly keep disciples and pupils? Even ordinary men should not harbor an envious heart—how much more a Taoist, who above all should make loyalty, trustworthiness, and contentment his living; how could it be right to enfold such a choking thought in his breast? A man cannot himself hear or see the gods and spirits, but the gods and spirits hear and see him easily enough. How does that differ from standing outside a gauze screen, unable to see into the chamber, while indulging one's arrogance, saying "they cannot see me"? It is also like the bell-thief who, when the thing clangs, fears others will hear and so stops his own ears. Such spiritual deafness and blindness wants only to monopolize a florid name, to gather followers alone, seeking reputation abroad while scheming for wealth within, hating those who surpass them more bitterly than worldly men fight for power. So they make blades of their lips and factions of slander and praise; mouths intimate, hearts estranged; faces joined, deeds apart; on the surface earnest words of fellowship, in secret the venom of wasp and scorpion—this is what heaven and man alike abhor, a writ that summons calamity. In reading the Five Classics one should still not be ashamed to ask those below, so as to advance in virtue and cultivate the work, growing brighter day by day. Even the coarse arts of archery and charioteering, the shallow skills of writing and reckoning, the exposed business of farming and sericulture, the petty arts of compass and square—all still require a teacher's transmission to exhaust their principles. How much more the work of managing long life, meant to extend one's years and transcend the world, which differs not at all from rescuing a man from death! How could one begrudge the name of having asked and received, and forever keep to the straits of ignorance, unchanging to old age, unrepentant at death? Such is the most thoroughly benighted among heaven's people—it makes others feel shame on his behalf while the doer alone never looks to his own shadow. Even a Ru scholar should sit steadfast in plainness, outwardly unadorned, knowing as though not knowing, having as though not having, so that ordinary boys cannot fully praise him; praised, he does not reply unbidden, and replying, must defer before he speaks. Why then should Taoist men insist on taking not-knowing for knowing, nothing for something, vainly glorifying themselves to scheme for base gain? The deluded who do not turn back only run further on; if any act on this account, let them not be ashamed to change. I do not speak these words idly; truly I have cause—what is called hating a thing so that one cannot stay silent. I only pity the foolish, unable to bear the sight of an infant being thrown into a well. If anyone reads this and wakes, that too is one herb among the medicines of the immortals—what have I to gain?'

不御苦口，其危至矣，不俟脈診而可知者也。”

(Baopuzi continued:) 'If the bitter dose does not go in, the peril is at hand—one can know it without waiting to feel the pulse.'

抱朴子曰：“設有死罪，而人能救之者，必不為之吝勞辱而憚卑辭也，必獲生生之功也。今雜猥道士之輩，不得金丹大法，必不得長生可知也。雖治病有起死之效，絕谷則積年不飢，役使鬼神，坐在立亡，瞻視千里，知人盛衰，發沈祟於幽翳，知禍福於未萌，猶無益於年命也，尚羞行請求，恥事先達，是惜一日之屈，而甘罔極之痛，是不見事類者也。古人有言曰，生之於我，利亦大焉。論其貴賤，雖爵為帝王，不足以此法比焉。論其輕重，雖富有天下，不足以此術易焉。故有死王樂為生鼠之喻也。夫治國而國平，治身而身生，非自至也，皆有以致之也。惜短乏之虛名，恥師授之暫勞，雖日不愚，吾不信也。今使人免必死而就戮刑者，猶欣然喜於去重而即輕，脫炙爛而保視息，甘其苦痛，過於更生矣。人但莫知當死之日，故不暫憂耳。若誠知之，而刖劓之事，可得延期者，必將為之。況但躬親灑掃，執巾竭力於勝己者，可以見教之不死之道，亦何足為苦，而蔽者憚焉。假令有人，恥迅走而待野火之燒爇，羞逃風而致沈溺於重淵者，世必呼之為不曉事也，而鹹知笑其不避災危，而莫怪其不畏實禍，何哉？”

Baopuzi said: 'Suppose a man under sentence of death could be rescued—he would never begrudge the toil and indignity, nor fear humble words; he would surely gain the merit of life upon life. Now one can see that the motley sort of Taoists, not obtaining the great method of the golden elixir, certainly cannot obtain long life. Yet though curing illness can raise the dead, abstaining from grain can keep hunger off for years, commanding ghosts and spirits, sitting down and instantly vanishing, seeing a thousand li, knowing men's rise and decline, bringing hidden baleful things to light in the dark, knowing fortune and misfortune before they sprout—none of this profits one's allotted years—and still they are ashamed to make requests and ashamed to serve those who have gone before. This is begrudging one day's bending while willingly accepting endless pain; it is failing to see the analogy of things. The ancients had a saying: life, for me, is the greatest profit. Speak of noble and base: even the rank of emperor is not worth comparing with this method. Speak of light and heavy: even possession of all under heaven is not worth trading for this art. Hence the parable of the dead king glad to be a living rat. Governing a state, the state is at peace; governing the body, the body lives. None of this comes of itself; everything has that whereby it is brought about. To begrudge an empty name for being in want, to be ashamed of a teacher's brief toil of transmission—though such a one says daily he is no fool, I do not believe him. Now let a man escape certain death and the executioner's blade—he is still delighted to leave the heavy for the light; to escape being burnt to pulp and keep sight and breath, he endures the bitter pain, happier than being born again. It is only that men do not know which day they must die, so they do not fret for a while. If they truly knew, and amputation of foot and nose could buy them a reprieve, they would surely do it. How much more when merely sweeping the floors themselves, holding the towel and straining their strength for one who surpasses them, they could receive the teaching of the way that does not die—where is the hardship? Yet the benighted fear it. Suppose there were a man ashamed to run fast who waited for a prairie fire to burn him, or one ashamed to flee the wind until he sank in the deep abyss—the world would surely call him senseless, and all would laugh at him for not avoiding disaster and danger, yet no one faults the man who does not fear real calamity. Why is that?'

抱朴子曰：“昔者之著道書多矣，莫不務廣浮巧之言，以崇玄虛之旨，未有究論長生之階徑，箴砭為道之病痛，如吾之勤勤者也。實欲令迷者知反，失之東隅，收之桑榆，墜井引綆，愈於遂沒。但惜美疢而距惡石者，不可如何耳。人誰無過，過而能改，日月之蝕，睎顏氏之子也。又欲使將來之好生道者，審於所託，故竭其忠告之良謀，而不飾淫麗之言，言發則指切，筆下則辭痛，惜在於長生而折抑邪耳，何所索哉？”

Baopuzi said: 'Of old, many wrote books on the Way, and all of them strove for broad, floating, artful words to exalt dark and empty themes; none inquired into the steps and paths of long life or lanced the ailments of practicing the Way, laboring as earnestly as I do. Truly I want the lost to know the way back—to lose in the east at sunrise but gather in the west at sunset; having fallen into a well, to be hauled out by the rope is better than sinking where one fell. Only for those who love a fine-sounding ailment and refuse the bitter stone is there nothing to be done. Who among men has no faults? To have faults and be able to change, like the eclipses of sun and moon—that is to look up to Master Yan. And I want those in times to come who love the way of life to be careful about whom they entrust themselves to; therefore I have poured out the good counsel of loyal warning rather than adorn wanton and lovely words. When my words issue, they point and cut; when my brush descends, the phrasing is bitter—my bitter concern is for long life and for breaking down what is perverse; what else do I seek?'

抱朴子曰：“深念學道藝養生者，隨師不得其人，竟無所成，而使後之有志者，見彼之不得長生，因雲天下之果無仙法也。凡自度生，必不能苦身約己以修玄妙者，亦徒進失干祿之業，退無難老之功，內誤其身，外沮將來也。仙之可學致，如黍稷之可播種得，甚炳然耳。然未有不耕而獲嘉禾，未有不勤而獲長生度世也。”

Baopuzi said: 'I have long reflected that those who study the arts of the Way and nourish life often follow a teacher who is not the right man, accomplish nothing in the end, and cause later aspirants, seeing that they did not obtain long life, to conclude that the world truly has no arts of the immortals. Whoever would cross over this life for himself must be able to make his body suffer and keep himself strict to cultivate the dark and wondrous; otherwise it is useless—advancing, he loses the work of seeking emolument; retreating, he has not the merit that resists old age; within he misleads himself, without he discourages those to come. That immortality can be attained by study is as plain as that millet can be had by sowing. But there is no gaining a fine harvest without plowing, and no gaining long life and world-transcendence without toil.'

或曰：“敢問斷穀人可以長生乎？凡有幾法，何者最善與？”抱朴子答曰：“斷穀人止可息餚糧之費，不能獨令人長生也。問諸曾斷谷積久者云，差少病痛，勝於食谷時。其服術及餌黃精，又禹餘糧丸，日再服，三日，令人多氣力，堪負擔遠行，身輕不極。其服諸石藥，一服守中十年五年者及吞氣服符飲神水輩，但為不飢耳，體力不任勞也。道書雖言欲得長生，腸中當清；欲得不死，腸中無滓。又云，食草者善走而愚，食肉者多力而悍，食谷者智而不壽，食氣者神明不死。此乃行氣者一家之偏說耳，不可便孤用也。若欲服金丹大藥，先不食百許日為快。若不能者，正爾服之，但得仙小遲耳，無大妨也。若遭世荒，隱竄山林，知此法者，則可以不餓死。其不然也，則無急斷，急既無可大益。又止人中斷肉，聞肥鮮之氣，皆不能不有欲於中心。若未便絕俗委家，巖棲岫處者，固不成遂休五味，無致自苦，不如莫斷谷而節量飢飽。近有一百許法，或服守中石藥數十丸，便辟四五十日不飢，練松柏及術，亦可以守中，但不及大藥，久不過十年以還。或闢一百二百日，或須日日服之，乃不飢者。或先作美食極飽，乃服藥以養所食之物，令不消化，可闢三年。欲還食谷，當以葵子豬膏下之，則所作美食皆下，不壞如故也。洛陽有道士董威輦，常止白社中，了不食，陳子敘共守事之，從學道積久，乃得其方，雲以甘草、防風、莧實之屬十許種搗為散，先服方寸匕，乃吞石子大如雀卵十二枚，足闢百日，輒更服散，氣力顏色如故也。欲還食谷者，當服葵子湯下石子，乃可食耳。又赤龍血青龍膏作之，用丹砂曾青水，以石內其中，復須臾，石柔而可食也。若不即取，便消爛盡也。食此石以口取飽，令人丁壯。又有引石散，以方寸匕投一斗白石子中，以水合煮之，亦立熟如芋子，可食以當谷也。

Someone asked: 'May I ask whether those who abstain from grain can live forever? How many methods are there in all, and which is best?' Baopuzi replied: 'Those who abstain from grain can only save the cost of meat and grain; they cannot by this alone make a man live forever. I have questioned people who abstained for many years; all said their ailments were somewhat fewer than when they ate grain. Taking atractylis and eating Solomon's seal, plus taking Yu's-Surplus-Grain pills twice a day—after three days these give a man more strength, able to bear burdens on long marches, the body light and unwearied. Taking the various mineral drugs, and in one dose guarding the center for ten years or five, together with swallowing qi, swallowing talismans, drinking spirit water and the like—these merely prevent hunger; the strength cannot bear labor. The Taoist books say: to obtain long life the bowels should be clear; to obtain undying, there should be no dregs in the bowels. They also say: grass-eaters run well but are stupid; meat-eaters are strong but savage; grain-eaters are wise but not long-lived; qi-eaters are spirit-bright and do not die. This is only the one-sided saying of the qi-circulation school; it cannot be used alone. If one wishes to take the great drug of the golden elixir, it is best to eat nothing for a hundred-odd days first. If one cannot, one may take it while eating as usual—attaining immortality is merely a little later, with no great harm. If one meets a year of famine and hides in the mountains and forests, knowing this method one can avoid starving to death. If not for such a case, there is no need to hasten abstention; haste brings no great gain anyway. Moreover, staying among men and merely abstaining from meat, one smells the savor of fat and fresh things and cannot keep desire out of the heart. If one has not yet left the world and abandoned home to roost on cliffs and dwell in caves, one certainly cannot then be rid of the five flavors—no need to seek hardship for oneself; better not to abstain from grain but to moderate hunger and satiety. There are nearly a hundred methods: some take several dozen pills of center-guarding mineral drugs and are cut off from hunger for forty or fifty days; refining pine and cypress with atractylis can also guard the center, only not equal to the great drug—at longest within ten years. Some are cut off for a hundred or two hundred days; some must take it daily to keep hunger off. Some first make fine food and eat to utmost fullness, then take a drug to nourish what was eaten, keeping it undigested—this can cut off grain for three years. To return to eating grain one should purge with mallow seed and lard; then the fine food all comes down, undamaged as when made. In Luoyang the Taoist Dong Weinian long stayed at Baishe, eating nothing at all. Chen Zixu attended him with others and studied the Way with him for years before obtaining his method: he said to take licorice, fangfeng, amaranth seed, and some ten such things, pounded to powder; first take a square-inch spoonful, then swallow twelve stones the size of sparrow eggs—this suffices to cut off grain for a hundred days; then take the powder again, and strength and complexion stay as before. To return to eating grain, one should take mallow-seed broth to purge the stones down before one may eat. Again, Red Dragon's Blood and Blue Dragon's Grease are made by putting stones into cinnabar and azurite water; after a moment the stones soften and can be eaten; if not taken out at once, they rot away entirely. Eating these stones fills the mouth and makes a man sturdy. There is also the stone-inducing powder: cast a square-inch spoonful into a peck of white stones and boil with water; they too are cooked at once like taro and can be eaten in place of grain.'

張太元舉家及弟子數十人，隱居林慮山中，以此法食石十餘年，皆肥健。但為須得白石，不如赤龍血青龍膏，取得石便可用，又當煮之，有薪火之煩耳。或用符，或用水，或符水兼用。或用乾棗，日九枚，酒一二升者。或食十二時氣，從夜半始，從九九至八八七七六六五五而止。或春向東食歲星青氣，使入肝；夏服熒惑赤氣，使入心；四季之月食鎮星黃氣，使入脾；秋食太白白氣，使入肺；冬服辰星黑氣，使入腎。又中嶽道士郗元節食六戊之精，亦大有效。假令甲子之旬，有戊辰之精，則竟其旬十日，常向辰地而吞氣，到後甲復向其旬之戊也。甘始法，召六甲六丁玉女，各有名字，因以祝水而飲之，亦可令牛馬皆不飢也。或思脾中神名，名黃裳子，但合口食內氣，此皆有真效。餘數見斷穀人三年二年者多，皆身輕色好，堪風寒暑溼，大都無肥者耳。雖未見數十歲不食者，然人絕谷不過十許日皆死，而此等已積載而自若，亦何疑於不可大久乎？若令諸絕谷者專羸，極常慮之，恐不可久耳。而問諸為之者，無不初時少氣力，而後稍丁健，月勝一月，歲勝一歲，正爾，可久無嫌也。夫長生得道者，莫不皆由服藥吞氣，而達之者而不妄也。夫服藥斷谷者，略無不先極也。但用符水及單服氣者，皆作四十日中疲瘦，過此乃健耳。鄭君云：本性飲酒不多，昔在銅山中，絕谷二年許，飲酒數鬥不醉。以此推之，是為不食更令人耐毒，耐毒則是難病之候也。餘因此問山中那得酒？鄭君言，先釀好雲液勿壓漉，因以桂附子甘草五六種末合丸之，曝乾，以一丸如雞子許，投一斗水中，立成美酒。又有黃帝雲液泉法，以糵米及七八種藥合之，取一升，輒內一升水投中，如千歲苦酒之內水也。無知盡時，而味常好不變，飲之大益人。又符水斷谷，雖先令人羸，然宜兼知者，倘卒遇荒年，不及合作藥物，則符水為上矣。

(Baopuzi continued:) Zhang Taiyuan with his whole household and several dozen disciples lived in hiding on Mount Linlü, eating stone by this method for more than ten years, all plump and hale. Only one must get white stone—it is not as good as Red Dragon's Blood or Blue Dragon's Grease, which are ready to use as soon as the stone is got; besides, it must be boiled, with the bother of firewood and fire. Some use talismans, some use water, some use talisman and water together. Some use dried jujubes, nine a day, with one or two sheng of wine. Some eat the qi of the twelve double-hours, beginning at midnight, counting down from nine-nines to eight-eights, seven-sevens, six-sixes, and five-fives, then stopping. Some in spring face east and eat the green qi of the Year Star, letting it enter the liver; in summer take the red qi of Yinghuo, letting it enter the heart; in the months between the four seasons eat the yellow qi of the Quelling Star, letting it enter the spleen; in autumn eat the white qi of Taibai, letting it enter the lungs; in winter take the black qi of the Chronometer Star, letting it enter the kidneys. Also the Taoist Xi Yuanjie of the Central Marchmount ate the essence of the six wu days, with much effect: if in a given jiazi decade the essence falls on wuchen, then throughout the ten days of that decade one always swallows qi toward the chen direction, and at the next jia day one turns to that decade's wu. Gan Shi's method summons the Jade Maidens of the Six Jia and Six Ding, each having her name; water is thus invoked and drunk—it can even keep oxen and horses from hunger. Some contemplate the name of the spirit within the spleen, called Huangshangzi, and merely with closed mouth eat the inner qi. All these have real effect. I have often seen many who had abstained from grain for two or three years: all were light-bodied with fine complexion, able to endure wind, cold, heat, and damp—only almost none of them were fat. Though I have not seen anyone go dozens of years without eating, yet ordinary men who cut off grain die in ten days or so, while these have gone on for years at ease—why then doubt it cannot last very long? If all who cut off grain were invariably gaunt and ever anxious, I would fear they could not last; but ask those who do it, and all say they are short of strength at first, then gradually grow strong and hale, each month better than the last, each year better than the last—being thus, they can go on without misgiving. Those who have obtained long life and the Way have all without exception taken drugs and swallowed qi; those who understand are not speaking idly. Those who take drugs and cut off grain nearly all begin with extreme fatigue. Those who use only talisman-water or qi alone all grow worn and thin within forty days, and grow strong only after that has passed. Master Zheng said: 'By nature I drank little wine; formerly on Tong Mountain I abstained from grain for about two years and could drink several dou without getting drunk.' From this it may be inferred that not eating makes a man better able to endure poison, and enduring poison is the sign of being hard to sicken. I therefore asked him where wine could be got in the mountains. Master Zheng said: first brew the cloud-liquid and do not press and strain it; then take five or six things such as cinnamon, aconite, and licorice, grind them, make pills, and dry them; take one pill the size of a chicken egg, cast it into a dou of water, and at once it becomes fine wine. There is also the Yellow Emperor's cloud-liquid-spring method, using malted rice and seven or eight drugs blended with it: take one sheng of it, put it into a sheng of water and cast it in, as when water is added into thousand-year vinegar—it never comes to an end, and the taste stays good and unchanging; drinking it greatly benefits a man. Also, cutting off grain by talisman-water, though it first makes a man gaunt, should also be kept in mind: if a famine year should come suddenly and there is no time to compound drugs, then talisman-water is best.

有馮生者，但單吞炁，斷谷已三年，觀其步陟登山，擔一斛許重，終日不倦。又時時引弓，而略不言語，言語又不肯大聲。問之云，斷谷亡精費氣，最大忌也。餘亦屢見淺薄道士輩，為欲虛曜奇怪，招不食之名，而實不知其道，但虛為不啖羹飯耳。至於飲酒，日中鬥餘，脯臘臺甫棗栗雞子之屬，不絕其口。或大食肉而咽其汁，吐其滓，終日經口者數十斤，此直是更作美食矣。凡酒客但飲酒食脯而不食谷，皆自堪半歲一歲而不蹙頓矣，未名絕谷耳。吳有道士石春，每行氣為人治病，輒不食，以須病者之愈，或百日，或一月乃食。吳景帝聞之曰，此但不久，必當飢死也。乃召取鎖閉，令人備守之。春但求三二升水，如此一年餘，春顏色更鮮悅，氣力如故。景帝問之，可復堪幾時？春言無限，可數十年，但恐老死耳，不憂飢也。乃罷遣之。按如春言，是為斷谷不能延年可知也。今時亦有得春之法者。”

'There was a man named Feng who merely swallowed qi and had abstained from grain for three years; watching him climb step by step into the mountains carrying a load of about a hu, he was unwearied all day. He also drew a bow from time to time, and scarcely spoke; when he did speak he would not raise his voice. Asked about it, he said: abstaining from grain diminishes the essence and spends the qi—it is the greatest taboo. I have also often seen the shallow sort of Taoists who, to make a vain show of the marvellous and claim the name of not eating, do not actually know that Way, but merely make a pretense of not eating soup and rice—while as for wine, they take more than a dou in a day, and dried meat, malt sugar, jujubes and chestnuts, eggs and the like never leave their mouths. Some eat meat in quantity and swallow its juice and spit out the dregs, dozens of pounds passing their lips in a day—this is simply making fine food by another name. All wine-bibbers who only drink wine and eat dried meat without grain naturally hold out half a year or a year without collapsing; that cannot be called cutting off grain. In Wu there was a Taoist, Shi Chun, who whenever he circulated qi to heal people did not eat, waiting until the sick man was cured—sometimes a hundred days, sometimes a month—before eating. Emperor Jing of Wu heard of it and said this could not last; he would surely starve to death. He had him summoned and locked up under guard. Chun asked only for two or three sheng of water; so it went on for more than a year, while Chun's complexion grew ever fresher and his strength stayed as before. Emperor Jing asked him how much longer he could hold out. Chun said: without limit—it could go on for ten of years; I only fear dying of old age, not of hunger. Only then was he released. Judging by what Chun said, one can know that cutting off grain cannot extend the years. There are also people today who have obtained Chun's method.'

或問不寒之道。抱朴子曰：“或以立冬之日，服六丙六丁之符，或閉口行五火之炁千二百遍，則十二月中不寒也。或服太陽酒，或服紫石英朱漆散，或服雄丸一，後服雌丸二，亦可堪一日一夕不寒也。雌丸用雌黃、曾青、礬石、磁石也。雄丸用雄黃、丹砂、石膽也。然此無益於延年之事也。”

Someone asked about the way of not being cold. Baopuzi said: 'Either on the day of winter's onset take the talismans of the six bing and six ding, or with closed mouth circulate the qi of the five fires one thousand two hundred times—then in the twelfth month one will not be cold. Or take sun wine, or take the powder of purple quartz and vermilion lacquer, or first take one male pill then two female pills—this too can hold off cold for a day and a night. The female pill uses orpiment, azurite, alum, and magnetite; the male pill uses realgar, cinnabar, and blue vitriol. But these do nothing for the matter of extending the years.'

或問不熱之道。抱朴子曰：“或以立夏日，服六壬六癸之符，或行六癸之炁，或服玄冰之丸，或服飛霜之散。然此用蕭丘上木皮，及五月五日中時北行黑蛇血，故少有得合之者也。唯幼伯子王仲都，此二人衣以重裘，曝之於夏日之中，周以十爐之火，口不稱熱，身不流汗，蓋用此方者也。”

Someone asked about the way of not being hot. Baopuzi said: 'Either on the day summer begins take the talismans of the six ren and six gui, or circulate the qi of the six gui, or take dark-ice pills, or take flying-frost powder. But these require the bark of trees from Xiaoqiu and the blood of a northward-crawling black snake taken at noon on the fifth day of the fifth month, so few can compound them successfully. Only Youbozi and Wang Zhongdu—those two men wore layered furs under the summer sun with ten braziers of fire around them, and their mouths never said hot and their bodies never sweated; presumably they used this method.'

或問闢五兵之道。抱朴子答曰：“吾聞吳大皇帝曾從介先生受要道云，但知書北斗字及日月字，便不畏白刃。帝以試左右數十人，常為先登鋒陷陣，皆終身不傷也。鄭君云，但誦五兵名亦有驗。刀名大房，虛星主之；弓名曲張，氐星主之；矢名彷徨，熒惑星主之；劍名失傷，角星主之；弩名遠望，張星主之；戟名大將，參星主之也。臨戰時，常細祝之。或以五月五日作赤靈符，著心前。或丙午日日中時，作燕君龍虎三囊符。歲符歲易之，月符月易之，日符日易之。或佩西王母兵信之符，或佩熒惑朱雀之符，或佩南極鑠金之符，或戴卻刃之符，祝融之符。或傅玉札散，或浴禁蔥湯，或取牡荊以作六陰神將符，符指敵人。或以月蝕時刻，三歲蟾蜍喉下有八字者血，以書所持之刀劍。或帶武威符熒火丸。或交鋒刃之際，乘魁履罡刂，呼四方之長，亦有明效。今世之人，亦有得禁闢五兵之道，往往有之。”

Someone asked about the way of warding off the five weapons. Baopuzi replied: 'I have heard that the Great Emperor of Wu once received essential teachings from Master Jie, who said that one need only know how to write the characters of the Northern Dipper and the characters for sun and moon to have no fear of naked blades. The emperor tested it on several dozen of his attendants, having them always go first to mount the ramparts and break the line, and all their lives they were unharmed. Master Zheng said that merely reciting the names of the five weapons also has effect. The sword is named Dafang and the star Xu governs it; the bow is named Quzhang and the star Di governs it; the arrow is named Panghuang and the star Yinghuo governs it; the longsword is named Shishang and the star Jue governs it; the crossbow is named Yuanwang and the star Zhang governs it; the halberd is named Dajiang and the star Shen governs it. At the moment of battle one constantly recites them in detail. Or on the fifth day of the fifth month make the Red Spirit talisman and place it before the heart. Or at noon on a bingwu day make Lord Yan's dragon-tiger three-pouch talisman. Year talismans are changed yearly, month talismans monthly, day talismans daily. Or wear the Queen Mother of the West's soldier-credential talisman, or wear the Yinghuo Vermilion-Bird talisman, or wear the South Pole metal-melting talisman, or carry the blade-turning talisman or the Zhurong talisman. Or apply jade-slip powder to the body, or bathe in charmed scallion broth, or take Vitex twigs to make the six-yin divine-generals talisman and point it at the enemy. Or at the moment of a lunar eclipse take the blood of a three-year-old toad that has the character "eight" beneath its throat, and write on the sword one carries. Or carry the martial-majesty talisman or the Firefly pill. Or in the clash of blades ride Kui and tread Gang, calling on the chiefs of the four quarters—this too has clear effect. There are people in the world today who have obtained the way of warding off the five weapons; they occur often enough.'

或問隱淪之道。抱朴子曰：“神道有五，坐在立亡其數焉。然無益於年命之事，但在人閒無故而為此，則致詭怪之聲，不足妄行也。可以備兵亂危急，不得已而用之，可以免難也。鄭君云，服大隱符十日，欲隱則左轉，欲見則右回也。或以玉臺丸塗人身中；或以蛇足散，或懷離母之草，或折青龍之草，以伏六丁之下；或入竹田之中，而執天樞之壤；或造河龍石室，而隱雲蓋之陰；或伏清泠之淵，以過幽闕之徑；或乘天一馬以遊紫房；或登天一之明堂；或入玉女之金匱；或背輔向官，立三蓋之下；或投巾解履、膽煎及兒衣符，子居蒙人，青液桂梗，六甲父母，僻側之膠，駁馬泥丸，木鬼之子，金商之艾，或可為小兒，或可為老翁，或可為鳥，或可為獸，或可為草，或可為木，或可為六畜，或依木成木，或依石成石，依水成水，依火成火，此所謂移形易貌，不能都隱者也。”

Someone asked about the way of concealment. Baopuzi said: 'The divine ways are five, and sitting down to vanish instantly is one of them. But it does not profit one's allotted years, and to do it among men without cause only invites a name for weirdness—it is not to be practiced wantonly. It may be kept for military disorder and mortal peril; used when there is no choice, it can deliver one from calamity. Master Zheng said: take the great-concealment talisman for ten days; to hide, turn left; to be seen, turn right. Or anoint the body with jade-terrace pills; or use snake-foot powder; or carry the herb Lilimu; or break off the herb Qinglong and crouch beneath the six ding; or enter a bamboo field grasping soil of the Pivot of Heaven; or go to the river-dragon's stone chamber and hide beneath the shadow of the cloud-canopy; or crouch in the Clear-Cold Abyss and pass along the Hidden Gate's path; or ride the Heaven-One horse to roam the Purple Chamber; or ascend Heaven-One's Luminous Hall; or enter the Jade Maiden's golden coffer; or stand with one's back to Fu facing Guan, beneath the three canopies; or cast off the cap and slip off the shoes—the gall-fried and the child-robe talismans, Ziju the veiled man, green-fluid cassia stalk, the six-jia father and mother, the glue of the secluded nook, the piebald-horse mud-pellet, the wood-ghost's son, the mugwort of metal-shang. Some can become a little child, some can become an old man, some can become a bird, some can become a beast, some can become a herb, some can become a tree, some can become one of the six domestic animals; or resting on wood become wood, resting on stone become stone, resting on water become water, resting on fire become fire. This is what is called shifting the form and changing the look—it cannot wholly hide one away.'

或問：“魏武帝曾收左元放而桎梏之，而得自然解脫，以何法乎？”抱朴子曰：“吾不能正知左君所施用之事。然歷覽諸方書，有月三服薏苡子，和用三五陰丹，或以偶牙陽胞，或以七月七日東行跳脫蟲，或以五月五日石上龍子單衣，或以夏至日霹靂楔，或以天文二十一字符，或以自解去父血，或以玉子餘糧，或合山君目，河伯餘糧，浮雲滓以塗之，皆自解。然左君之變化無方，未必由此也。自用六甲變化，其真形不可得執也。”

Someone asked: 'When Emperor Wu of Wei had Zuo Yuanfang arrested and put in fetters, he freed himself with no one doing it—what method did he use?' Baopuzi said: 'I cannot know for certain what Master Zuo employed. But surveying all the books of methods: there is taking Job's-tears seeds three times a month; or the three-five yin elixir; or the paired-teeth yang-cell; or the eastward-hopping tiaotuo insect found on the seventh day of the seventh month; or the single coat of the stone dragon-child found on the fifth day of the fifth month; or a thunder-split wedge from the summer solstice; or the twenty-one-character celestial script talisman; or self-loosing father's blood; or jade-son surplus-grain; or blending mountain-lord's eye, river-earl's surplus-grain, and floating-cloud dregs to smear on—any of these can make one free oneself. But Master Zuo's transformations had no fixed method; it need not have been because of these. By his own six-jia transformations, his true form could not be seized.'

或問曰：“為道者可以不病乎？”抱朴子曰：“養生之盡理者，既將服神藥，又行氣不懈，朝夕導引，以宣動榮衛，使無輟閡，加之以房中之術，節量飲食，不犯風溼，不患所不能，如此可以不病。但患居人閒者，志不得專，所修無恆，又苦懈怠不勤，故不得不有疹疾耳。苦徒有信道之心，而無益己之業，年命在孤虛之下，體有損傷之危，則三尸因其衰月危日，入絕命病鄉之時，招呼邪氣，妄延鬼魅，來作殃害。其六厄並會，三刑同方者，其災必大。其尚盛者，則生諸疾病，先有疹患者，則令發動。是故古之初為道者，莫不兼修醫術，以救近禍焉。凡庸道士，不識此理，恃其所聞者，大至不關治病之方。又不能絕俗幽居，專行內事，以卻病痛，病痛及己，無以攻療，乃更不如凡人之專湯藥者。所謂進不得邯鄲之步，退又失壽陵之義者也。餘見戴霸華他所集金匱綠囊崔中書黃素方及百家雜方五百許卷。甘胡呂傅周始甘唐通阮南河等，各撰集暴卒備急方，或一百十，或九十四，或八十五，或四十六，世人皆為精悉，不可加也。餘究而觀之，殊多不備，諸急病甚尚未盡，又渾漫雜錯，無其條貫，有所尋按，不即可得。而治卒暴之候，皆用貴藥，動數十種，自非富室而居京都者，不能素儲，不可卒辦也。又多令人以針治病，其灸法又不明處所分寸，而但說身中孔穴榮輸之名。自非舊醫備覽明堂流注偃側圖者，安能曉之哉？餘所撰百卷，名曰玉函方，皆分別病名，以類相續，不相雜錯，其救卒參卷，皆單行徑易，約而易驗，籬陌之閒，顧眄皆藥，眾急之病，無不畢備，家有此方，可不用醫。醫多承襲世業，有名無實，但養虛聲，以圖財利。寒白退士，所不得使，使之者乃多誤人，未若自閒其要，勝於所迎無知之醫。醫又不可卒得，得又不肯即為人使，使腠理之微疾，成膏肓之深禍，乃至不救。

Someone asked: 'Can one who practices the Way avoid illness?' Baopuzi said: 'One who exhausts the principles of nourishing life, who both takes the divine drugs and circulates qi without ceasing, who does daoyin exercises morning and evening to move the nutritive and defensive qi so that nothing is blocked, who adds the art of the bedchamber, measures food and drink, does not offend wind and damp, and does not vex himself over what he cannot do—such a one can be free of illness. Only those living among men cannot fix their will, their practice lacks constancy, they suffer from laziness and are not diligent—so they cannot help having ailments. Ailing that they have the heart to believe in the Way but no work that profits the self, with their destined years beneath the orphaned and empty and their bodies in peril of injury—then the Three Corpses take advantage of their declining months and perilous days, when they enter the land of cut-off fate and the village of sickness, summon evil qi, and wantonly invite ghosts and goblins to do them harm. When the six calamities coincide and the three punishments are in one quarter, the disaster is certain to be great. If one is still flourishing, illnesses of every kind arise; if one already has ailments, they are set in motion. Therefore the men of old who practiced the Way all also cultivated the physician's art, to rescue themselves from near calamity. The mediocre Taoists do not know this; they rely on what they have heard, which at most has nothing to do with prescriptions for curing disease. Unable to quit the world and dwell in seclusion, unable to practice the inner work exclusively to repel illness, when illness reaches their own bodies they have no means of attack or cure—worse off than ordinary men devoted to decoctions and drugs. This is called: advancing, one fails to gain the gait of Handan; retreating, one loses the meaning of Shouling. I have seen the Jingui Lünang compiled by Dai Ba and Hua Tuo, the Huangsu Prescriptions of Palace Writer Cui, and five hundred-odd scrolls of miscellaneous prescriptions by a hundred authors. Gan Hu, Lü Fu, Zhou Shi, Gan Tangtong, Ruan Nanhe, and others each compiled emergency prescriptions for sudden collapse—one hundred and ten, or ninety-four, or eighty-five, or forty-six items—which the world all regarded as exact and exhaustive, beyond improvement. I examined them thoroughly and found much incompleteness: the urgent illnesses are far from all covered; they are tangled and jumbled without order, so that what one seeks cannot be found at once. And in treating sudden and violent conditions they all use costly drugs, often dozens of kinds, which none but a rich householder living in the capital can keep in store—they cannot be got in haste. They also often have people treat disease with needles, while their moxa method does not state the place or measure, giving only the names of the body's points and channels. Unless one is an old physician who has thoroughly studied the Mingtang flow-and-pour charts for the recumbent and side postures, how could he understand? The hundred scrolls I have compiled, called the Yuhan Prescriptions, distinguish the names of diseases and follow one another by kind, without jumbling; its three scrolls of emergency relief are all single-ingredient and easy, compact and easy to verify—between fence and field-path, look where you will and it is all medicine; every urgent illness is completely covered; a household with this book can do without a physician. Physicians mostly inherit a family trade, have name without substance, and are merely nourished by empty fame to scheme for gain. The poor recluse and retired scholar cannot command their services, and those they can get mostly mislead a man—better to be thoroughly versed in the essentials oneself than to receive a physician who knows nothing. Nor can a physician be got in haste; got, he will not come at once for another's sake—so a subtle illness of the pores becomes the deep calamity of the gaohuang, even to the point of no rescue.'

且暴急之病，而遠行借問，率多枉死矣。”

(Baopuzi continued:) 'Moreover, when a sudden and violent illness strikes, to go far afield borrowing and asking—most die in vain.'

或問：“將來吉凶，安危去就，知之可全身，為有道乎？”

Someone asked: 'As for the fortune or misfortune to come, safety or peril, whether to go or to stay—knowing it could preserve one's whole life. Is there such a way?'

抱朴子曰：“仰觀天文，俯察地理，占風氣，布籌算，推三棋，步九宮，檢八卦，考飛伏之所集，診訞訛於物類，占休咎於龜策，皆下術常伎，疲勞而難恃。若乃不出帷幕而見天下，乃為入神矣。或以三皇天文，召司命司危五嶽之君，阡陌亭長六丁之靈，皆使人見之，而對問以諸事，則吉凶昭然，若存諸掌，無遠近幽深，鹹可先知也。或召六陰玉女，其法六十日而成，成則長可役使。或祭致八史，八史者，八卦之精也，亦足以預識未形矣。或服葛花及秋芒麻勃刀圭方寸匕，忽然如欲臥，而聞人語之以所不決之事，吉凶立定也。或用明鏡九寸以上自照，有所思存，七日七夕則見神仙，或男或女，或老或少，一示之後，心中自知千里之外，方來之事也。明鏡或用一，或用二，謂之日月鏡。或用四，謂之四規鏡。四規者，照之時，前後左右各施一也。用四規所見來神甚多。或縱目，或乘龍駕虎，冠服彩色，不與世同，皆有經圖。欲修其道，當先闇誦所當致見諸神姓名位號，識其衣冠。不爾，則卒至而忘其神，或能驚懼，則害人也。為之，率欲得靜漠幽閒林麓之中，外形不經目，外聲不入耳，其道必成也。三童九女節壽君，九首蛇軀百二十官，雖來勿得熟視也。或有問之者，或有訶怒之者，亦勿答也。或有侍從煒曄，力士甲卒，乘龍駕虎，簫鼓嘈嘈，勿舉目與言也。但諦念老君真形，老君真形見，則起再拜也。老君真形者，思之，姓李名聃，字伯陽，身長九尺，黃色，鳥喙，隆鼻，秀眉長五寸，耳長七寸，額有三理上下徹，足有八卦，以神龜為床，金樓玉堂，白銀為階，五色云為衣，重疊之冠，鋒鋋之劍，從黃童百二十人，左有十二青龍，右有二十六白虎，前有二十四朱雀，後有七十二玄武，前道十二窮奇，後從三十六辟邪，雷電在上，晃晃昱昱，此事出於仙經中也。見老君則年命延長，心如日月，無事不知也。”

Baopuzi said: 'To look up and view the patterns of heaven, look down and discern the patterns of earth, divine by wind and vapor, lay out counting rods, push the three boards, pace the nine palaces, check the eight trigrams, examine where the flying and the hidden gather, diagnose portents among the kinds of things, and divine good and ill fortune on tortoise and milfoil—these are all lesser arts, common skill: laborious and hard to rely on. To see all under heaven without leaving one's curtain—only that is entering the spirit. Or use the celestial script of the Three August Ones to summon the Director of Destiny, the Director of Peril, the lords of the Five Marchmounts, the wardens of field-path and post-station, and the spirits of the six ding; make them all visible and ask them face to face about every matter—then fortune and misfortune are as plain as if held in the palm; far or near, dark or deep, all can be known beforehand. Or summon the Jade Maidens of the six yin—that method takes sixty days to complete, and once complete they may be commanded forever. Or sacrifice to call in the eight scribes, who are the essences of the eight trigrams, and are likewise enough to know the unformed beforehand. Or take kudzu flowers, autumn awns, and hemp flowers, a daogui's square-inch spoonful; suddenly as though about to sleep, one hears men telling him the matters he cannot decide, and fortune and misfortune are settled at once. Or use a bright mirror nine inches or more to gaze upon oneself; with something held in mind, after seven days and seven nights one sees gods and immortals—now men, now women, now old, now young—and once shown, one knows in the heart what is a thousand li away and what is yet to come. For the bright mirror one may use one, or two—called the sun-and-moon mirror; or four—called the four-rule mirror. In the four-rule, when gazing, one mirror is set before, behind, left, and right. With the four-rule the spirits that come to be seen are many. Some are vertical-eyed, some ride dragons and drive tigers, their caps and robes colored and not like the world's; all have diagrams in the scriptures. To cultivate that Way one must first recite silently the names and titles of the gods one is to summon and see, and know their robes and caps. Otherwise, if they arrive abruptly and one forgets that god, it may cause fright and do harm. To do this, one generally wants to be amid still, silent, secluded forests and foothills, where no outer shape passes the eyes and no outer sound enters the ears—then the Way is sure to be achieved. The three lads and nine maids, the Lord Jieshou, the nine-headed snake-bodied hundred and twenty officials—though they come, do not stare at them. If any ask questions, if any rage and scold, do not answer either. If attendants come blazing bright, strongmen and armored soldiers riding dragons and driving tigers with pipes and drums in din, do not lift your eyes to speak with them. Only fix your thought on Lord Lao's true form; when Lord Lao's true form appears, rise and bow twice. When contemplating Lord Lao's true form: surname Li, given name Dan, courtesy name Boyang; body nine chi tall; yellow of hue; a bird's beak; a high nose; fine brows five cun long; ears seven cun long; on the forehead three furrows running through from top to bottom; the eight trigrams upon his feet; a divine tortoise for his bed; halls of gold and chambers of jade, stairs of white silver, five-colored clouds for clothing; a many-layered cap and a sharp sword; attended by a hundred and twenty yellow lads; on his left twelve blue dragons, on his right twenty-six white tigers, before him twenty-four vermilion birds, behind him seventy-two dark warriors; twelve qiongqi as forerunners, thirty-six bixie following after; thunder and lightning above, gleaming and glowing. This account comes from the scriptures of the immortals. To see Lord Lao lengthens one's allotted years; the heart becomes like sun and moon, and there is nothing it does not know.'

或問堅齒之道。抱朴子曰：“能養以華池，浸以醴液，清晨建齒三百過者，永不搖動。其次則含地黃煎，或含玄膽湯，及蛇脂丸、礬石丸、九棘散。則已動者更牢，有蟲者即愈。又服靈飛散者，則可令既脫者更生也。”

Someone asked about the way of hardening the teeth. Baopuzi said: 'One who can nourish them with the Flower Pool and steep them in sweet fluid, and in the clear morning clacks the teeth three hundred times—they will never loosen. Next best is to hold rehmannia decoction in the mouth, or dark-gall broth, or snake-fat pills, alum pills, and nine-thorn powder. Then teeth already loose grow firmer, and worm-eaten ones are healed at once. Also, those who take spirit-flight powder can make teeth already fallen grow again.'

或問聰耳之道。抱朴子曰：“能龍導虎引，熊經龜咽，燕飛蛇屈鳥伸，天俛地仰，令赤黃之景，不去洞房，猿據兔驚，千二百至，則聰不損也。其既聾者，以玄龜燻之，或以棘頭、羊糞、桂毛、雀桂成裹塞之；或以狼毒冶葛，或以附子蔥涕，合內耳中，或以蒸鯉魚腦灌之，皆愈也。”

Someone asked about the way of sharpening the hearing. Baopuzi said: 'If one can lead like the dragon, draw like the tiger, stretch like the bear, swallow like the tortoise; the swallow's flight, the snake's bend, the bird's stretch; bending to heaven, lifting to earth; keeping the red-yellow rays never leaving the Cavern Chamber; the ape's crouch and the hare's start—doing these one thousand two hundred times, the keenness of hearing is not lost. For those already deaf: fumigate with dark tortoise, or plug the ears with jujube-stone, sheep dung, cinnamon hairs, and sparrow-cinnamon wrapped together; or use wolfsbane and gelsemium; or blend aconite and scallion juice and put it into the ear; or pour in steamed carp brain—all are cured.'

或問明目之道。抱朴子曰：“能引三焦之升景，召大火於南離，洗之以明石，慰之以陽光，及燒丙丁洞視符，以酒和洗之，古人曾以夜書也。或以苦酒煮蕪菁子令熟，曝乾，末服方寸匕，日三，盡一斗，能夜視有所見矣。或以犬膽煎青羊、班鳩、石決明、充蔚百華散，或以雞舌香、黃連、乳汁煎注之。諸有百疾之在目者皆愈，而更加精明倍常也。”

Someone asked about the way of brightening the eyes. Baopuzi said: 'If one can draw up the rising light of the three burners, summon the great fire in the southern li trigram, wash with bright-stone water and soothe with sunlight, and also burn the bing-ding cave-vision talisman, steep it in wine and wash with that—the ancients used it to write at night. Or boil turnip seeds in bitter wine until done, dry them in the sun, grind to powder, and take a square-inch spoonful three times a day; on finishing a dou, one can see at night. Or use dog's bile to decoct blue-goat, turtledove, abalone shell, and motherwort hundred-flowers powder; or decoct clove, coptis, and milk to drip in. All the hundred diseases of the eye are cured, and sight becomes twice as keen as normal.'

或問登峻涉險、遠行不極之道。抱朴子曰：“惟服食大藥，則身輕力勁，勞而不疲矣。若初入山林，體未全實者，宜以雲珠粉、百華醴、玄子湯洗腳，及虎膽丸、朱明酒、天雄鶴脂丸、飛廉煎秋芒、車前、澤瀉散，用之旬日，不但涉遠不極，乃更令人行疾，可三倍於常也。若能乘蹻者，可以周流天下，不拘山河。凡乘蹻道有三法：一曰龍蹻，二曰虎蹻，三曰鹿盧蹻。或服符精思，若欲行千里，則以一時思之。若晝夜十二時思之，則可以一日一夕行萬二千里，亦不能過此，過此當更思之，如前法。或用棗心木為飛車，以牛革結環劍以引其機，或存念作五蛇六龍三牛交罡而乘之，上升四十里，名為太清。太清之中，其氣甚罡刂，能勝人也。師言鳶飛轉高，則但直舒兩翅，了不復扇搖之而自進者，漸乘罡刂炁故也。龍初升階云，其上行至四十里，則自行矣。此言出於仙人，而留傳於世俗耳，實非凡人所知也。又乘蹻須長齋，絕葷菜，斷血食，一年之後，乃可乘此三蹻耳。雖復服符，思五龍蹻行最遠，其餘者不過千里也。其高下去留，皆自有法，勿得任意耳。若不奉其禁，則不可妄乘蹻，有傾墜之禍也。”

Someone asked about the way of climbing the steep, crossing the perilous, and travelling far without fatigue. Baopuzi said: 'Only by taking the great drug does the body grow light and strong, toiling without weariness. If one has just entered the mountain forests and the body is not yet wholly firm, one should use cloud-pearl powder, hundred-flower sweet wine, and dark-seed broth to wash the feet, as well as tiger-gall pills, vermilion-brightness wine, aconite-and-crane-fat pills, feilian decoction, autumn awns, plantain, and water-plantain powder—using these for a ten-day week, not only does one travel far unwearied, one is even made faster, up to three times the usual. If one can ride the jiao-stilts, one can stream round all under heaven, unhindered by mountains and rivers. The way of riding the jiao has three methods: the first called dragon-jiao, the second called tiger-jiao, the third called windlass-jiao. Or take talismans and fix the thought: if you wish to go a thousand li, contemplate it for one double-hour. If you contemplate through the twelve double-hours of day and night, you can go twelve thousand li in a day and a night; it cannot exceed this—beyond this you must contemplate again as before. Or make a flying carriage of jujube-heart wood, using ox-leather knot-rings and a sword to work its mechanism; or fix the thought as five snakes, six dragons, and three oxen joined at the Dipper's handle and ride it—rising forty li, this is called Grand Clarity. Within Grand Clarity the qi is exceedingly strong and can overcome a man. My teacher said: when the kite flies wheeling ever higher, it merely spreads its two wings level and, wholly without flapping, advances of itself—this is because it gradually rides the gang qi. When the dragon first ascends the stairs of cloud, it climbs to forty li and then goes on its own. This saying comes from the immortals and has been handed down to the common world; truly it is not something ordinary men know. Also, riding the jiao requires long fasting, giving up pungent vegetables and cutting off blood-food; only after a year may one ride these three jiao. Though one may also take talismans, contemplating the five-dragon jiao goes farthest; the rest do not exceed a thousand li. The rising and descending, going and staying all have their own method—one cannot do as one pleases. If one does not keep those prohibitions, one must not ride the jiao recklessly; there is the calamity of a fall.'

或曰：“老子篇中記及龜文經，皆言藥兵之後，金木之年，必有大疫，萬人餘一，敢問闢之道。”抱朴子曰：“仙人入瘟疫秘禁法，思其身為五玉。五玉者，隨四時之色，春色青，夏赤，四季月黃，秋白，冬黑。又思冠金巾，思心如炎火，大如鬥，則無所畏也。又一法，思其發散以被身，一發端，輒有一大星綴之。又思作七星北斗，以魁覆其頭，以罡指前。又思五臟之氣，從兩目出，周身如雲霧，肝青氣，肺白氣，脾黃氣，腎黑氣，心赤氣，五色紛錯，則可與疫病者同床也。或禹步呼直日玉女，或閉氣思力士，操千斤金錘，百二十人以自衛。或用射鬼丸、赤車使者丸、冠軍丸、徐長卿散、玉函精粉、青年道士燻身丸、崔文黃散、草玉酒、黃庭丸、皇符、老子領中符、赤鬚子桃花符，皆有良效者也。”

Someone said: "In the chapters of Laozi the Tortoise-Writing Classic is cited, saying that after warfare and pestilence, in the years of metal and wood, there will surely be a great epidemic leaving one survivor in ten thousand. May I ask the way to ward it off?" Baopuzi said: "The immortals' secret method of interdiction for entering a plague: imagine your own body as the five jades. The five jades follow the colors of the four seasons — azure in spring, red in summer, yellow in the seasonal months, white in autumn, black in winter. Then imagine wearing a cap of golden kerchief, and imagine your heart as a blazing fire the size of a bushel — then there is nothing to fear. Another method: imagine your hair loosened and spread over your body, each tip of hair bearing a great star hung upon it. Or imagine forming the seven stars of the Northern Dipper, covering your head with the bowl and pointing forward with the handle. Or imagine the qi of the five viscera issuing from your two eyes and wrapping your whole body like cloud-mist — azure qi from the liver, white qi from the lungs, yellow qi from the spleen, black qi from the kidneys, red qi from the heart, the five colors interweaving — then you may even share a bed with a plague victim. Or pace the Pace of Yu and call on the Jade Maiden of the day; or hold your breath and imagine strongmen wielding thousand-jin golden hammers, a hundred and twenty of them coming to guard you. Or use the Pellet for Shooting Specters, the Red-Chariot Envoy Pellet, the Champion Pellet, the Xu Changqing Powder, the Jade-Casket Essence Powder, the Young Daoist's Body-Fumigating Pellet, the Cuiwen Yellow Powder, the Herb-Jade Wine, the Yellow Court Pellet, the August Talisman, Laozi's Neck-Worn Talisman, or Red-Whiskers' Peach-Blossom Talisman — all have excellent effect."

抱朴子曰：神仙經黃白之方二十五卷，千有餘首。黃者，金也。白者，銀也。古人秘重其道，不欲指斥，故隱之云爾。或題篇雲庚辛，庚辛亦金也。然率多深微難知，其可解分明者少許爾。世人多疑此事為虛誕，與不信神仙者正同也。餘昔從鄭公受九丹及金銀液經，因復求受黃白中經五卷。鄭君言，曾與左君於廬江銅山中試作，皆成也。然而齋潔禁忌之勤苦，與金丹神仙藥無異也。俗人多譏餘好攻異端，謂予為趣欲強通天下之不可通者。餘亦何為然哉！餘若欲以此輩事，騁辭章於來世，則餘所著外篇及雜文二百餘卷，足以寄意於後代，不復須此。且此內篇，皆直語耳，無藻飾也。餘又知論此曹事，世人莫不呼為迂闊不急，未若論俗間切近之理，可以合眾心也。然餘所以不能已於斯事，知其不入世人之聽，而猶論著之者，誠見其效驗，又所承授之師非妄言者。而餘貧苦無財力，又遭多難之運，有不已之無賴，兼以道路梗塞，藥物不可得，竟不遑合作之。餘今告人言，我曉作金銀，而躬自飢寒，何異自不能行，而賣治躄之藥，求人信之，誠不可得。然理有不如意，亦不可以一概斷也。所以勤勤綴之於翰墨者，欲令將來好奇賞真之士，見餘書而具論道之意耳。夫變化之術，何所不為。蓋人身本見，而有隱之之法。鬼神本隱，而有見之之方。能為之者往往多焉。水火在天，而取之以諸燧。鉛性白也，而赤之以為丹。丹性赤也，而白之而為鉛。雲雨霜雪，皆天地之氣也，而以藥作之，與真無異也。至於飛走之屬，蠕動之類，稟形造化，既有定矣。及其倏忽而易舊體，改更而為異物者，千端萬品，不可勝論。人之為物，貴性最靈，而男女易形，為鶴為石，為虎為猿，為沙為黿，又不少焉。至於高山為淵，深谷為陵，此亦大物之變化。變化者，乃天地之自然，何為嫌金銀之不可以異物作乎？

Baopuzi said: In the scriptures of gods and immortals there are twenty-five juan of recipes for the yellow-and-white, over a thousand in all. Yellow is gold; white is silver. The ancients treasured that art and kept it secret; unwilling to point at it and name it outright, they concealed it under such terms. Some title the chapter 'Gengxin', and geng and xin are also metal. But it is all deeply subtle and hard to know; only a little of it can be clearly explained. People of the world mostly doubt that this is empty fantasy — exactly like their disbelief in gods and immortals. Formerly I received from Lord Zheng the Nine Elixirs and the Classic of the Liquor of Gold and Silver, and on that account sought and received also the five juan of the Middle Classic of the Yellow and White. Lord Zheng said that he once tried making them with Lord Zuo in the copper mountains of Lujiang, and both succeeded. Yet the toil of fasting, purity and taboos is no different from that of the golden elixir, the medicine of divine immortals. Worldly men mostly ridicule me for fondly attacking heterodoxies, saying I am one who strains to force a passage where all under Heaven cannot pass. Yet why else should I do this? If I wished to spread fine writing on such things for later ages, the Outer Chapters and miscellaneous writings I have composed, over two hundred juan, would suffice to convey my meaning to posterity — this would not be needed. Moreover, this Inner Chapters is all plain speech, without ornament. I also know that in discussing such matters, everyone in the world calls them pedantic and impractical — not like discussing the near-at-hand principles of common life, which can win the crowd's assent. Yet the reason I cannot let this matter rest — knowing it will not enter the ears of the world, yet writing it down all the same — is truly that I have seen its effects, and the teacher from whom I received it was not a man of false words. But I am poor and without means, met a fate of many hardships, had endless want, and besides the roads were blocked and the drugs unobtainable, so that in the end I had no leisure to compound it. If I now told people 'I know how to make gold and silver' while I myself hunger and freeze, it would be no different from a man who cannot walk selling medicine for lameness and seeking to be believed — truly impossible. Yet principles sometimes run counter to our wishes, and one cannot decide everything by a single rule. So I diligently string these things into writing, wishing only that men of later times who delight in the strange and prize the true may see my book and thereby see fully the meaning of the discourse on the Way. As for the arts of transformation — what can they not accomplish? The human body is originally visible, yet there are methods to hide it; ghosts and spirits are originally hidden, yet there are recipes to make them visible. The things that can be done are often many. Water and fire are in the heavens, yet we fetch them down with mirrors and drills. Lead's nature is white, yet it can be reddened into cinnabar; cinnabar's nature is red, yet it can be whitened into lead. Clouds, rain, frost and snow are all the qi of heaven and earth, yet they can be made with drugs, and differ not at all from the real. As for the kinds that fly and run, the sorts that crawl and squirm — the forms they receive from creation are already fixed. Yet in a flash they change their old bodies and become different creatures — thousands upon thousands of kinds, too many to recount. Among creatures, man is the most intelligent in nature, yet men and women change their forms to become cranes, stones, tigers, apes, sand or softshell turtles — these too are not few. And when high mountains turn into abysses and deep valleys into mounds, these too are the transformations of great things. Transformation is the nature of heaven and earth — why balk at the thought that gold and silver can be made from other substances?

譬諸陽燧所得之火，方諸所得之水，與常水火，豈有別哉？蛇之成龍，茅糝為膏，亦與自生者無異也。然其根源之所緣由，皆自然之感致，非窮理盡性者，不能知其指歸，非原始見終者，不能得其情狀也。狹觀近識，桎梏巢穴，揣淵妙於不測，推神化於虛誕，以周孔不說，墳籍不載，一切謂為不然，不亦陋哉？又俗人以劉向作金不成，便雲天下果無此道，是見田家或遭水旱不收，便謂五穀不可播殖得也。成都內史吳大文，博達多知，亦自說昔事道士李根，見根煎鉛錫，以少許藥如大豆者投鼎中，以鐵匙攪之，冷即成銀。大文得其秘方，但欲自作，百日齋便為之，而留連在官，竟不能得，恆嘆息言人閒不足處也。又桓君山言漢黃門郎程偉，好黃白朮，娶妻得知方家女。偉常從駕出而無時衣，甚憂。妻曰，請致兩端縑。縑即無故而至前。偉按枕中鴻寶，作金不成。妻乃往視偉，偉方扇炭燒筒，筒中有水銀。妻曰，吾欲試相視一事。乃出其囊中藥，少少投之，食頃發之，已成銀。偉大驚曰，道近在汝處，而不早告我，何也？妻曰，得之須有命者。於是偉日夜說誘之，賣田宅以供美食衣服，猶不肯告偉。偉乃與伴謀撾笞伏之。妻輒知之，告偉言，道必當傳其人，得其人，道路相遇輒教之；如非其人，口是而心非者，雖寸斷支解，而道猶不出也。偉逼之不止，妻乃發狂，裸而走，以泥自塗，遂卒。近者前廬江太守華令思，高才達學，洽聞之士也，而事之不經者，多所不信。後有道士說黃白之方，乃試令作之，雲以鐵器銷鉛，以散藥投中，即成銀。又銷此銀，以他藥投之，乃作黃金。又從此道士學徹視之方，行之未百日，夜臥即便見天文及四鄰了了，不覺復有屋舍籬障。又妾名瑤華者已死，乃見形，與之言語如平生。又祭廟，聞廟神答其拜，床似動有聲。令思乃嘆曰，世閒乃定無所不有，五經雖不載，不可便以意斷也。

(Continuing from above:) Take the fire obtained from a burning-mirror and the water obtained from a moon-mirror — how do they differ from ordinary fire and water? A snake turning into a dragon, or grass chaff turning into grease, are no different from what is born so of itself. Yet the root from which these arise is a natural response; one who does not exhaust principle and fathom nature cannot know where it points, and one who does not trace things to their origin and see them to their end cannot grasp their true state. Men of narrow view and near sight, shackled in their burrows, try to sound the abyssal mystery in unfathomable places; they dismiss divine transformation as empty fantasy, and because the Duke of Zhou and Confucius did not speak of it and the ancient texts do not record it, they declare it all to be otherwise — is that not philistine? Again, because Liu Xiang tried to make gold and failed, the vulgar say that this Way assuredly does not exist under Heaven — which is like seeing a farmer's fields fail from flood or drought and declaring that the five grains cannot be got by sowing. Wu Dawen, chamberlain of the capital at Chengdu, broadly learned and much knowing, himself said that formerly he served the Daoist Li Gen and saw Gen boil lead and tin, cast a bit of drug like a soybean into the cauldron, and stir with an iron spoon — when it cooled it became silver. Dawen obtained the secret recipe and wanted only to perform it himself; he kept the hundred-day fast and set to work, but lingering in office he never obtained it, and ever sighed over what is lacking among men. Again, Huan Junshan tells of Cheng Wei, a Gentleman of the Yellow Gates under the Han, who loved the art of the yellow-and-white and married the daughter of a family versed in recipes. Wei often followed the imperial carriage out but had no clothes fit for the season, and was much distressed. His wife said, 'Let me fetch two lengths of silk' — and the silk came before him unaccountably. Wei, following the Pillow-Kept Grand Treasure, tried to make gold and failed. His wife then went to see Wei; Wei was fanning charcoal to heat a tube in which there was quicksilver. His wife said, 'Let me try showing you something.' She took the drug from a pouch and cast a little in; in the space of a meal, when it was opened, it had already become silver. Wei was amazed and said, 'The Way was near at hand in you, yet you did not tell me sooner — why?' His wife said, 'To obtain it one must be a man of the right destiny.' Wei then cajoled her day and night, sold his fields and house to supply her with fine food and clothes, but still she would not tell Wei. Wei then plotted with a companion to beat her into submission. His wife always knew of it, and told Wei: 'The Way must be passed to the right kind of man; having found such a man, one teaches him on meeting him by the road. If he is not such a man — correct in speech but false at heart — though you cut me to pieces inch by inch, the Way will still not come out.' Wei pressed her without cease; his wife went mad, went about naked, smeared herself with mud, and so died. More recently Hua Lingsi, the former governor of Lujiang, was a man of high talent, accomplished learning and wide information, yet did not believe many things that lie outside the canon. Later a Daoist told him a recipe of the yellow-and-white; he merely tried it out — melting lead in an iron vessel and casting in the powdered drug — and it became silver. Melting this silver again and casting in another drug, he then made yellow gold. Again he learned from that Daoist the method of penetrating sight; before he had practiced it a hundred days, lying in bed at night he could see the patterns of the sky and the four neighbors clearly, no longer aware of house or fence between. Again, his dead concubine named Yaohua appeared in form and spoke with him as in life. Again, when he sacrificed at the temple, he heard the temple god answer his bow, and his bed seemed to stir with a sound. Lingsi then sighed and said that in the world there is truly nothing that does not exist; that though the Five Classics do not record it, one must not decide it by one's own notions.

然不聞方伎者，卒聞此，亦焉能不驚怪邪？又黃白朮亦如合神丹，皆須齋潔百日已上，又當得閒解方書，意合者乃可為之，非濁穢之人，及不聰明人，希涉術數者所辨作也。其中或有須口訣者，皆宜師授。又宜入於深山之中，清潔之地，不欲令凡俗愚人知之。而劉向止宮中作之，使宮人供給其事，必非齋潔者，又不能斷絕人事，使不來往也，如此安可得成哉？桓譚新論曰：史子心見署為丞相史，官架屋，發吏卒及官奴婢以給之，作金不成。丞相自以力不足，又白傅太后。太后不復利於金也，聞金成可以作延年藥，又甘心焉，乃除之為郎，舍之北宮中，使者待遇。寧有作此神方可於宮中，而令凡人雜錯共為之者哉？俗閒染繒練，尚不欲使雜人見之，見之即壞，況黃白之變化乎？凡事無鉅細，皆宜得要。若不得其法，妄作酒醬醋羹臛猶不成，況大事乎？餘曾諮於鄭君曰：“老君云，不貴難得之貨。而至治之世，皆投金於山，捐玉於谷，不審古人何用金銀為貴而遺其方也？”鄭君答餘曰：“老君所云，謂夫披沙剖石，傾山漉淵，不遠萬里，不慮壓溺，以求珍玩，以妨民時，不知止足，以飾無用。及欲為道，志求長生者，復兼商賈，不敦信讓，浮深越險，乾沒逐利，不吝軀命，不修寡慾者耳。至於真人作金，自欲餌服之致神仙，不以致富也。故經曰，金可作也，世可度也，銀亦可餌服，但不及金耳。”餘難曰：“何不餌世閒金銀而化作之，作之則非真，非真則詐偽也。”鄭君答餘曰：“世閒金銀皆善，然道士率皆貧。故諺云，無有肥仙人富道士也。師徒或十人或五人，亦安得金銀以供之乎？又不能遠行採取，故宜作也。又化作之金，乃是諸藥之精，勝於自然者也。仙經云，丹精生金。此是以丹作金之說也。故山中有丹砂，其下多有金。且夫作金成則為真物，中表如一，百鍊不減。故其方曰，可以為釘。明其堅勁也。

(Continuing from above:) But when one who has never heard of methods and arts suddenly hears this, how can he not be startled and think it strange? Moreover the art of the yellow-and-white, like the compounding of the divine elixirs, requires a fast of purity for a hundred days and more, and must be done by one who has leisure, understands recipe-books and whose intent accords — it cannot be accomplished by the foul and impure, by the unintelligent, or by those who have seldom dipped into the arts of number. Among the recipes some require oral formulae; all should be received from a teacher. One should also go deep into the mountains, to a clean place, not wanting ordinary foolish men to know. But Liu Xiang worked only within the palace, and had palace people supply the work — surely that was not fasting purity, and he could not cut off human comings and goings; how could it succeed that way? Huan Tan's New Discourses says: Shi Zixin was appointed secretary to the chancellor; the office built him a shed, and clerks, soldiers and official slaves were mobilized to supply him — he failed to make gold. The chancellor thought the effort insufficient and reported to the Dowager Fu. The Dowager no longer profited from gold, but hearing that once gold is made it can serve as a life-prolonging medicine, she was won over, and so appointed him a gentleman and lodged him in the Northern Palace with the treatment of an envoy. How could one work this divine recipe within a palace, letting ordinary people mix in and do it together? In common life, when dyeing silks one does not even want outsiders to see it — if they see it, it spoils — how much more the transformations of the yellow and white! In all affairs, great or small, one must get the essentials. Without the method, even making wine, sauce, vinegar or stew at random fails — how much more a great affair? I once asked Lord Zheng: 'The Old Lord says, do not prize goods that are hard to obtain, and in an age of perfect order gold was cast into the mountains and jade thrown into the valleys. I do not understand why the ancients prized gold and silver and left behind that recipe.' Lord Zheng answered me: 'What the Old Lord spoke of was men who comb the sands and split rocks, overturn mountains and drain deeps, going ten thousand li, heedless of burial and drowning, to seek precious baubles, hindering the people's seasons, knowing no satiety, adorning what is useless — and those who wish to practice the Way and seek long life yet also engage in trade, not honoring faith and deference, floating the deeps and crossing the passes, dashing after profit, grudging not their lives, and not cultivating fewness of desires. As for a True Man's making gold, he wishes himself to take it as food to attain godhood and immortality — not to grow rich. Thus the scripture says: gold can be made, the world can be transcended, and silver too can be eaten — only it does not equal gold.' I objected: 'Why not eat the world's gold and silver rather than transform it? If it is made it is not true, and if not true it is a cheat.' Lord Zheng answered me: 'The world's gold and silver are all fine, but Daoists are mostly poor. Thus the proverb says: there are no fat immortals or rich Daoists. With master and disciples of perhaps ten or five, where would they get gold and silver for provision? Nor can they travel far to gather it; therefore it is fitting to make it. Moreover, transformed gold is the essence of all the drugs, and surpasses the natural. The immortal scripture says: the essence of cinnabar breeds gold — this is the saying that cinnabar makes gold. Thus where there is cinnabar in a mountain, beneath it there is much gold. And once gold is made it is true stuff, within and without the same; a hundred smeltings do not diminish it. Thus the recipe says it can serve for nails — to show that it is hard and firm.

此則得夫自然之道也。故其能之，何謂詐乎？詐者謂以曾青塗鐵，鐵赤色如銅；以雞子白化銀，銀黃如金，而皆外變而內不化也。夫芝菌者，自然而生，而仙經有以五石五木種芝，芝生，取而服之，亦與自然芝無異，俱令人長生，此亦作金之類也。雉化為蜃，雀化為蛤，與自然者正同。故仙經曰，流珠九轉，父不語子，化為黃白，自然相使。又曰，硃砂為金，服之昇仙者，上士也；茹芝導引，嚥氣長生者，中士也；餐食草木，千歲以還者，下士也。又曰，金銀可自作，自然之性也，長生可學得者也。玉牒記云：天下悠悠，皆可長生也，患於猶豫，故不成耳。凝水銀為金，可中釘也。銅柱經曰：丹沙可為金，河車可作銀，立則可成，成則為真，子得其道，可以仙身。黃山子曰：天地有金，我能作之，二黃一赤，立成不疑。龜甲文曰：我命在我不在天，還丹成金億萬年。古人豈欺我哉？但患知此道者多貧，而藥或至賤而生遠方，非亂世所得也。若戎鹽滷鹹皆賤物，清平時了不直錢，今時不限價直而買之無也。羌裡石膽，千萬求一斤，亦不可得。徒知其方，而與不知者正同，可為長嘆者也。有其法者，則或飢寒無以合之，而富貴者復不知其法也。就令知之，亦無一信者。假令頗信之，亦已自多金銀，豈肯費見財以市其藥物，恐有棄系逐飛之悔，故莫肯為也。又計買藥之價，以成所得之物，尤有大利，而更當齋戒辛苦，故莫克為也。且夫不得明師口訣，誠不可輕作也。”夫醫家之藥，淺露之甚，而其常用效方，便復秘之。故方有用後宮遊女，僻側之膠，封君泥丸，木鬼子，金商芝，飛君根，伏龍肝，白馬汗，浮雲滓，龍子丹衣，夜光骨，百花醴，冬鄒齋之屬，皆近物耳，而不得口訣，猶不可知，況於黃白之術乎？今能為之者，非徒以其價貴而秘之矣，此道一成，則可以長生。長生之道，道之至也，故古人重之也。

(Lord Zheng went on:) This means it has obtained the Way of nature. That he can do so — how is it cheating? Cheating means coating iron with malachite so the iron turns red like copper, or transforming silver with egg white so the silver turns yellow like gold — in both the outside changes but the inside does not transform. Mushrooms grow of themselves, yet in the immortal scriptures mushrooms are planted with the five minerals and five woods; when the mushrooms grow and are gathered and eaten, they differ not at all from natural mushrooms — both give long life. This too is the same sort of thing as making gold. The pheasant turning into the great clam and the sparrow into the clam are exactly like the natural. Thus the immortal scripture says: the flowing pearl, nine times revolved — a father does not tell his son; transformed into the yellow and white, they work of themselves. It also says: he who makes gold of cinnabar and takes it to rise immortal is the highest officer; he who eats mushrooms, practices guiding exercises and swallows qi to long life is the middle officer; he who feeds on herbs and trees, within a thousand years, is the lowest officer. It also says: gold and silver can be made by oneself — such is nature; long life can be learned. The Jade Slips Record says: all under the distant heavens may live long; the trouble lies in hesitation — that is all that keeps it from succeeding. Congealing quicksilver into gold can serve for nails. The Copper Pillar Classic says: cinnabar can make gold, the river-chariot can make silver — it is accomplished at once, and once accomplished it is true; get that Way and you can make your body immortal. Huangshanzi said: heaven and earth have gold; I can make it — two yellows and one red, accomplished at once beyond doubt. The Tortoise-Shell Text says: my destiny is in me, not in Heaven; the reverted cinnabar makes gold for a hundred million years. How could the ancients have cheated me? Only, those who know this Way are mostly poor, and the drugs, though most cheap, may grow in distant places, not to be obtained in a disordered age. Things like Rong salt and brine salt are cheap goods — in clear and peaceful times they are worth nothing at all, yet today they cannot be bought at any price. As for Qiangli vitriol, one could offer ten thousand coins for a jin and not obtain it. To know the recipe in vain is exactly like not knowing it — worth a long sigh. Those who have the method may starve and freeze with no means to compound it, while the rich and honored do not know the method; and even if they knew, not one would believe it. Even should they somewhat believe, they already have much gold and silver of their own — would they spend present wealth to buy those drugs, fearing the regret of dropping the secured to chase the flown? So none is willing to do it. Also, reckoning the price of buying the drugs against what is obtained when made, the profit is especially great, yet one must fast and toil — so none can manage to finish it. And without an enlightened teacher's oral formulae, one truly must not lightly attempt it.' The medicines of physicians are very plain and open, yet their commonly used efficacious recipes they keep secret. Thus recipes use such names as Palace Roaming Maiden, Beside-the-Path Glue, Fief-Lord Mud-Pellet, Tree-Ghost Seed, Gold-Merchant Mushroom, Flying-Lord Root, Crouching-Dragon Liver, White-Horse Sweat, Floating-Cloud Dregs, Dragon-Son Cinnabar-Cloth, Night-Shine Bone, Hundred-Flower Sweet Wine and Winter-Mourning Fast — all near-at-hand things, but without the oral formula one cannot know them — how much more the art of the yellow and white! Those who can do it today keep it secret not merely for its price; once this Way is accomplished, one can live forever. The Way of long life is the utmost of the Way — that is why the ancients prized it.

凡方書所名藥物，又或與常藥物同而實非者，如河上奼女，非婦人也；陵陽子明，非男子也；禹餘糧，非米也；堯漿，非水也。而俗人見方用龍膽虎掌、雞頭鴨蹠、馬蹄犬血、鼠尾牛膝，皆謂之血氣之物也；見用缺盆覆盆、釜釒歷大戟、鬼箭天鉤，則謂之鐵瓦之器也；見用胡王使者、倚姑新婦、野丈人、守田公、戴文浴、徐長卿，則謂人之姓名也。近易之草，或有不知，玄秘之方，孰能悉解？劉向作金不成，無可怪之也。及得其要，則復不煩聖賢大才而後作也，凡人可為耳。劉向豈頑人哉，直坐不得口訣耳。今將載其約而效之者，以貽將來之同志焉。當先取武都雄黃，丹色如雞冠，而光明無夾石者，多少任意，不可令減五斤也。搗之如粉，以牛膽和之，煮之令燥。以赤土釜容一斗者，先以戎鹽石膽末薦釜中，令厚三分，乃內雄黃末，令厚五分，復加戎鹽於上。如此，相似至盡。又加碎炭火如棗核者，令厚二寸。以蚓螻土及戎鹽為泥，泥釜外，以一釜覆之，皆泥令厚三寸，勿洩。陰乾一月，乃以馬糞火熅之，三日三夜，寒，發出，鼓下其銅，銅流如冶銅鐵也。乃令鑄此銅以為筒，筒成以盛丹砂水。又以馬屎火熅之，三十日發爐，鼓之得其金，即以為筒，又以盛丹砂水。又以馬通火熅三十日，發取搗治之。取其二分生丹砂，一分並汞，汞者，水銀也，立凝成黃金矣。光明美色，可中釘也。

All the drugs named in recipe-books may share names with ordinary drugs yet not be the same in fact — such as 'the maiden on the river', which is not a woman (this is a hidden name of outer alchemy, referring to actual things like quicksilver, not the inner-alchemical borrowing of it for the yin qi within the body); 'Ziming of Lingyang', which is not a man; 'Yu's leftover grain', which is not rice; and 'Yao's broth', which is not water. The vulgar see recipes calling for dragon gall, tiger palm, chicken head, duck's foot, horse hoof, dog blood, rat tail and ox knee, and say they are things of blood and breath; seeing empty basin, overturned basin, cauldron-pot (the base text writes li 鬲 as 钅历), great euphorbia, ghost arrow and heaven hook, they say they are vessels of iron and tile; seeing envoy of the Hu king, leaning-aunt new bride, wild old man, field-keeping lord, pattern-wearing bather and Xu Changqing, they say they are men's names. Even the near and easy herbs may still go unknown — who can fully understand the dark and secret recipes? That Liu Xiang failed to make gold is nothing to marvel at. Once one obtains the essentials, it does not require the great talent of sages and worthies to work — ordinary men can do it. Was Liu Xiang a dullard? It was only that he did not get the oral formulae. I will now set down the simplest and most effective, to leave for like-minded men of times to come. First take Wudu realgar, cinnabar-red like a cock's comb, bright and unmixed with stone — any amount, but not less than five jin. Pound it to powder and blend it with ox bile; boil it until dry. In a red-clay cauldron holding a dou, first spread powdered Rong salt and vitriol in the bottom three-tenths of a cun thick, then put in realgar powder five-tenths of a cun thick, then lay Rong salt on top; continue alternating until all is used. Add broken charcoal the size of jujube pits two cun deep. Make clay of worm-and-ant soil with Rong salt and plaster it outside the cauldron; cover with another cauldron and plaster it all three cun thick so that nothing leaks. Dry in the shade for a month, then heat it with a horse-dung fire for three days and nights; when it has cooled, open it and blow out the copper, which flows like smelted copper or iron. Then cast this copper to make a tube; when the tube is done use it to hold cinnabar water. Again heat it with a horse-dung fire for thirty days, open the furnace, blow it and obtain that gold — make it into a tube, again to hold cinnabar water. Again heat it with a horse-dung fire for thirty days, take it out, pound and treat it. Take two parts of it with one part crude cinnabar and one part mercury — mercury is quicksilver — and it congeals at once into yellow gold. Bright and fine in color, it can serve for nails.

△作丹砂水法

The method for making cinnabar water.

治丹砂一斤，內生竹筒中，加石膽消石各二兩，覆薦上下，閉塞筒口，以漆骨丸封之，須乾，以內醇苦酒中，埋之地中，深三尺，三十日成水，色赤味苦也。

Treat one jin of cinnabar, put it into a tube of fresh bamboo, add two liang each of vitriol and saltpeter bedded and covered above and below, close the mouth of the tube, seal it with a lacquer-bone pellet, wait until dry, put it in mature strong vinegar, bury it three chi deep in the ground; in thirty days it becomes a water, red in color and bitter in taste.

△金樓先生所從青林子受作黃金法

Master Jinlou's method of making yellow gold, received from Master Qinglin.

先鍛錫，方廣六寸，厚一寸二分，以赤鹽和灰汁，令如泥，以塗錫上，令通厚一分，累置於赤土釜中。率錫十斤，用赤鹽四斤，合封固其際，以馬通火熅之，三十日，發火視之，錫中悉如灰狀，中有累累如豆者，即黃金也。合治內土甌中，以炭鼓之，十煉之併成也。率十斤錫，得金二十兩。唯長沙桂陽豫章南海土釜可用耳。彼鄉土之人，作土釜以炊食，自多也。

First forge tin into a slab six cun square and 1.2 cun thick; blend red salt with ash liquor into a paste and spread it over the tin to a thickness of one-tenth cun all over; pile it in a red-clay cauldron. For roughly ten jin of tin use four jin of red salt. Seal up the seams together and heat it with a horse-dung fire for thirty days; open the fire and look — the inside of the tin is all like ash, with little bean-like lumps: that is the yellow gold. Treat them together, put them in an earthen crucible, blow them with charcoal, and after ten meltings all is done. Roughly from ten jin of tin you get twenty liang of gold. Only the earthen cauldrons of Changsha, Guiyang, Yuzhang and Nanhai can be used. The folk of those regions make earthen cauldrons to cook their food, so they are naturally plentiful.

△治作赤鹽法

The method for making red salt.

用寒鹽一斤，又作寒水石一斤，又作寒羽涅一斤，又作白礬一斤，合內鐵器中，以炭火火之，皆消而色赤，乃出之可用也。

Take one jin of cold salt, one jin of prepared cold-water stone, one jin of prepared cold-feather nie, and one jin of white alum; put them together in an iron vessel and burn them over charcoal fire; when all have melted and turned red, take it out and it can be used.

△角里先生從稷丘子所授化黃金法

Master Jueli's method of transforming yellow gold, received from Master Jichiu.

先以礬水石二分，內鐵器中，加炭火令沸，乃內汞多少自在，攪令相得，六七沸，注地上成白銀。乃取丹砂水曾青水各一分，雄黃水二分，於釒歷中加微火上令沸，數攪之，令相得，復加炭火上令沸，以此白銀內其中，多少自在，可六七沸，注地上凝，則成上色紫磨金也。

First put two parts of alum-water stone into an iron vessel, add charcoal fire to bring it to a boil, then add mercury — as much as you please — stir to blend, boil six or seven times, pour it on the ground and it becomes white silver. Then take one part each of cinnabar water and malachite water and two parts of realgar water; put them in a li cauldron (the base text writes li 鬲 as 钅历) over a gentle fire to boil, stir several times to blend, then set it again on charcoal fire to boil, put this white silver into it — as much as you please — boil six or seven times, pour it on the ground to congeal, and it becomes top-grade purple-burnished gold.

△治作雄黃水法

The method for making realgar water.

治雄黃內生竹筒中一斤，輒加消石二兩，覆薦上下，封以漆骨丸，內醇大醋中，埋之深三尺，二十日即化為水也。作曾青水方，及礬石水同法，但各異筒中耳。

Treat realgar, put one jin of it into a tube of fresh bamboo, add two liang of saltpeter bedded and covered above and below, seal with a lacquer-bone pellet, put it in mature strong vinegar, and bury it three chi deep — in twenty days it turns to water. The methods for making malachite water and alum-stone water are the same, only each is in a different tube.

△小兒作黃金法

The Child's method for making yellow gold.

作大鐵筒成，中一尺二寸，高一尺二寸。作小鐵筒成，中六寸，瑩磨之。赤石脂一斤，消石一斤，雲母一斤，代赭一斤，流黃半斤，空青四兩，凝水石一斤，皆合搗細篩，以酰和，塗之小筒中，厚二分。汞一斤，丹砂半斤，良非半斤。取良非法用鉛十斤內鐵釜中，居爐上露灼之，鉛銷，內汞三兩，早出者以鐵匙抄取之，名曰良非也。攪令相得，以汞不見為候，置小筒中，雲母覆其上，鐵蓋鎮之。取大筒居爐上，銷鉛注大筒中，沒小筒中，去上半寸，取銷鉛為候，猛火炊之，三日三夜成，名曰紫粉。取鉛十斤於鐵器中銷之，二十日上下，更內銅器中，須鉛銷，內紫粉七方寸匕，攪之，即成黃金也。欲作白銀者，取汞置鐵器中，內紫粉三寸已上，火令相得，注水中，即成銀也。

Make a large iron tube with an inner diameter of 1.2 chi and a height of 1.2 chi. Make a small iron tube with an inner diameter of six cun, polished bright. One jin of red stone tallow, one jin of saltpeter, one jin of mica, one jin of ochre, half a jin of sulfur, four liang of hollow-azure, one jin of congealed-water stone — pound all together, sift fine, blend with vinegar, and coat the inside of the small tube two-tenths cun thick. One jin of mercury, half a jin of cinnabar, half a jin of liangfei. The way to get liangfei: put ten jin of lead into an iron pot, set it open on the furnace and burn it; when the lead has melted, add three liang of mercury; skim off with an iron spoon what rises first — that is called liangfei. Stir to blend until the mercury is no longer visible, put it in the small tube, cover the top with mica, and weight it down with an iron lid. Set the large tube on the furnace; melt lead and pour it into the large tube so that it submerges the small tube, stopping half a cun from its top; keep the lead molten over fierce fire for three days and nights, and it is done — it is called purple powder. Melt ten jin of lead in an iron vessel for some twenty days, then put it into a copper vessel; when the lead has melted, put in seven square-cun spoonfuls of purple powder, stir it, and it becomes yellow gold. To make white silver: put mercury in an iron vessel, put in three cun or more of purple powder, fire to blend, pour it into water, and it becomes silver.

△務成子法

The method of Wuchengzi.

作鐵筒長九寸，徑五寸，搗雄黃三斤，蚓螻壤等分，作合以為泥，塗裹使徑三寸，匱口四寸，加丹砂水二合，覆馬通火上，令極乾，內銅筒中，塞以銅合蓋堅，以黃沙築上，覆以蚓壤重泥，上無令洩，置爐炭中，令有三寸炭，筒口赤，可寒發之，雄黃皆入著銅筒，復出入如前法。三斤雄黃精，皆下入著筒中，下提取與黃沙等分，合作以為爐，爐大小自在也。欲用之，置爐於炭火中，爐赤，內水銀，銀動則內鉛其中，黃從傍起交中央，注之於地，即成金。凡作一千五百斤，爐力即盡矣。此金取牡荊赤黍酒漬之，百日，即柔可和也。如小豆，服一丸，日三服，盡一斤，三蟲伏屍，百病皆去，盲者視，聾者聞，老者即還年如三十時，入火不灼，百邪眾毒、冷風暑溼、不能侵入；盡三斤，則步行水上，山川百神，皆來侍衛，壽與天地相畢。以杼血朱草煮一丸，以拭目眥，即見鬼及地中物，能夜書；以白羊血塗一丸，投水中，魚龍立出，可以取也；以青羊血丹雞血塗一丸，懸都門上，一里不疫；以塗牛羊六畜額上，皆不疫病，虎豹不犯也；以虎膽蛇肪塗一丸，從月建上以擲敵人之軍，軍即便無故自亂，相傷殺而走矣；以牛血塗一丸以投井中，井中即沸，以投流水，流水則逆流百步；以白犬血塗一丸，投社廟舍中，其鬼神即見，可以役使；以兔血塗一丸，置六陰之地，行廚玉女立至，可俟六七十人也；以鯉魚膽塗一丸，持入水，水為之開一丈，可得氣息水中以行，冒雨衣不沾也；以紫莧煮一丸，含咽其汁，可百日不飢；以慈石煮一丸，內髻中，以擊賊，白刃流矢不中之，有射之者，矢皆自向也；以六丁六壬上土並一丸，以蔽人中則隱形，含一丸，北向以噴火，火則滅；以庚辛日申酉時，向西地以一丸擲樹，樹木即日便枯；又以一丸，禹步擲虎狼蛇蝮，皆即死；

Make an iron tube nine cun long and five cun across; pound three jin of realgar with an equal measure of worm-and-ant soil into a clay, smear it on to make a coat three cun thick, the mouth four cun; add two ge of cinnabar water; set it over a horse-dung fire until thoroughly dry; put it into a copper tube, cap it firmly with a copper lid, ram yellow sand over it, and cover it with a heavy clay of worm soil so that nothing leaks above. Set it in furnace charcoal three cun deep; when the mouth of the tube glows red, let it cool and open it — the realgar has all entered and adhered to the copper tube; pass it in and out again by the former method. The essence of the three jin of realgar all goes down and adheres to the tube; take what descends with an equal part of yellow sand and compound it into a crucible — its size as you please. To use it, set the crucible in charcoal fire; when the crucible glows red, put in quicksilver; when the silver moves, put lead into it; the yellow rises from the sides and joins in the middle; pour it on the ground and it becomes gold. After making 1,500 jin in all, the crucible's strength is spent. Steep this gold in a wine of vitex and red millet for a hundred days, and it becomes soft and workable. Made into pills like small beans, take one pill three times a day; finishing one jin, the three worms and lurking corpses are subdued, every sickness departs, the blind can see, the deaf can hear, the old return in years as at thirty, fire cannot burn them, and the hundred evils and many poisons, cold wind and summer damp, cannot invade them. Finishing three jin, they walk upon water, the hundred spirits of mountains and rivers all come to guard them, and their span equals that of heaven and earth. Boil one pill with zhu-wood blood and vermilion herb and wipe it on the corner of the eye — you see ghosts and what lies within the earth, and can write at night; smear one pill with white goat's blood and cast it into water — fish and dragons come out at once and can be caught; smear one pill with dark goat's blood and red rooster's blood and hang it on the capital gate — for a li around there is no plague; smear it on the foreheads of oxen, sheep and the six beasts — none falls sick, and tigers and leopards do not touch them; smear one pill with tiger's gall and snake's fat and cast it from the month-establishment position at an enemy army — the army falls into disorder for no reason, men wound and kill one another and flee; smear one pill with ox's blood and cast it into a well — the well boils; cast it into a flowing stream — the stream runs back a hundred paces; smear one pill with white dog's blood and cast it into the shrine-house of the altar — its ghosts and spirits appear and can be commanded; smear one pill with hare's blood and set it in a place of the six yins — the jade maidens of the traveling kitchen arrive at once and can serve sixty or seventy men; smear one pill with carp's gall and carry it into water — the water opens ten chi, and you can get breath within the water and walk, wearing rain gear without getting wet; boil one pill with purple amaranth, hold the juice in your mouth and swallow it — you can go a hundred days unfed; boil one pill with lodestone, put it in your topknot, and go strike bandits — white blades and stray arrows cannot hit you, and any arrow shot at you turns aside of itself; take soil from the six ding and six ren positions together with one pill to cover the groove of your nose — you become invisible; hold one pill in your mouth and breathe flame toward the north — the fire is extinguished; on a geng or xin day at the shen or you hour, face the western ground, take one pill and throw it at a tree — the tree withers that very day; take one pill again and, pacing the Pace of Yu, throw it at tigers, wolves, snakes and vipers — they die at once;

研一丸以書石即入石，書金即入金，書木入木，所書皆徹其肌理，削治不可去也。卒死未經宿，以月建上水下一丸，令入咽喉，並含水噴死人面，即活。以狐血鶴血塗一丸，內爪中，以指萬物，隨口變化，即山行木徙，人皆見之，然而實不動也。凡作黃白，皆立太乙、玄女、老子坐醮祭，如作九丹法，常燒五香，香不絕。又金成，先以三斤投深水中，一斤投市中，然後方得恣其意用之耳。

(Continuing from above:) Grind one pill to write on stone — it enters the stone; write on metal — it enters the metal; write on wood — it enters the wood; whatever is written penetrates to the grain and cannot be scraped away. For a man who has died suddenly, not yet through the night, send down one pill with water from the month-establishment, letting it enter his throat, and take water in your mouth and spray the dead man's face — he lives. Smear one pill with fox's blood and crane's blood, hold it in your fingertips, and point at the myriad things — they change at your word: mountains walk, trees move, everyone sees it, yet in truth nothing moves. In all work of the yellow and white, set up seats for Taiyi, Xuannü and Laozi and make offering sacrifice, as in the method of making the nine elixirs, always burning the five aromatics so the incense never ceases. Also, once the gold is made, first cast three jin into deep water and one jin into the market, and only then use it as you please.

或問登山之道。抱朴子曰：“凡為道合藥，及避亂隱居者，莫不入山。然不知入山法者，多遇禍害。故諺有之曰，太華之下，白骨狼藉。皆謂偏知一事，不能博備，雖有求生之志，而反強死也。山無大小，皆有神靈，山大則神大，山小即神小也。入山而無術，必有患害。或被疾病及傷刺，及驚怖不安；或見光影，或聞異聲；或令大木不風而自摧折，岩石無故而自墮落，打擊煞人；或令人迷惑狂走，墮落坑谷；或令人遭虎狼毒蟲犯人，不可輕入山也。當以三月九月，此是山開月，又當擇其月中吉日佳時。若事久不得徐徐須此月者，但可選日時耳。凡人入山，皆當先齋潔七日，不經汙穢，帶升山符出門，作周身三五法。又五嶽有受殃之歲，如九州之地，更有衰盛，受飛符煞炁，則其地君長不可作也。按周公城名錄，天下分野，災之所及，可避不可禳，居宅亦然，山嶽皆爾也。又大忌不可以甲乙寅卯之歲，正月二月入東嶽；不以丙丁巳午之歲，四月五月入南嶽；不以庚辛申酉之歲，七月八月入西嶽；不以戊巳之歲，四季之月入中嶽；不以壬癸亥子之歲，十月十一月入北嶽。不須入太華霍山恆山太山嵩高山，乃忌此歲，其嶽之方面，皆同禁也。又萬物之老者，其精悉能假託人形，以眩惑人目而常試人，唯不能於鏡中易其真形耳。是以古之入山道士，皆以明鏡徑九寸已上，懸於背後，則老魅不敢近人。或有來試人者，則當顧視鏡中，其是仙人及山中好神者，顧鏡中故如人形。若是鳥獸邪魅，則其形貌皆見鏡中矣。又老魅若來，其去必卻行，行可轉鏡對之，其後而視之，若是老魅者，必無踵也，其有踵者，則山神也。昔張蓋蹋及偶高成二人，並精思於蜀雲臺山石室中，忽有一人著黃練單衣葛巾，往到其前曰，勞乎道士，乃辛苦幽隱！於是二人顧視鏡中，乃是鹿也。因問之曰：汝是山中老鹿，何敢詐為人形。

Someone asked about the way of climbing mountains. Baopuzi said: "All who compound medicines for the Way, and all who flee disorder to live in hiding, enter the mountains without exception. But those who do not know the method of entering the mountains mostly meet calamity. Thus the proverb has it: beneath Taihua, white bones lie scattered — all saying that a man who partially knows a single thing but cannot be broadly prepared, though he has the will to seek life, instead meets a violent death. Mountains great or small all have spirits; a great mountain has a great god, a small mountain a small god. To enter a mountain without the art is sure to bring harm: one may suffer illness and injury by thorns, and alarm and unrest; or see shadows and lights, or hear strange sounds; or have great trees snap with no wind, or rocks fall without cause to strike and kill; or be made confused, running wild, tumbling into pits and valleys; or be set upon by tigers, wolves and venomous creatures — one must not enter the mountains lightly. It should be in the third or ninth month — these are the months when the mountains open — and one should choose an auspicious day and good hour within those months. If affairs press and one cannot slowly wait for those months, one can only choose the day and hour. In all cases a man entering the mountains should first fast in purity for seven days without passing through defilement, carry the mountain-ascending talisman out the door, and perform the three-five method over his whole body. Also, the Five Peaks have years in which they suffer calamity, just as the lands of the nine provinces each have decline and flourishing; when they receive the destructive qi of the flying talismans, the lords of that region cannot work. According to the Zhougong Register of City Names, under the allotted fields of heaven, where disaster reaches it can be avoided but not expiated; dwellings are thus, and the peaks are thus too. Again, it is greatly taboo to enter the Eastern Peak in a jia, yi, yin or mao year, in the first or second month; to enter the Southern Peak in a bing, ding, si or wu year, in the fourth or fifth month; to enter the Western Peak in a geng, xin, shen or you year, in the seventh or eighth month; to enter the Central Peak in a wu or ji year, in the four seasonal months; and to enter the Northern Peak in a ren, gui, hai or zi year, in the tenth or eleventh month. It is not only when entering Taihua, Huoshan, Hengshan, Taishan or Songgao that one avoids these years — the whole direction of each peak shares the same prohibition. Also, when things grow old, their essences can borrow human shape to dazzle men's eyes and often test them — only they cannot change their true form in a mirror. Thus the Daoists who entered mountains in olden times all carried a bright mirror nine cun or more across hung behind their backs, so that old specters dared not approach. If one comes to test you, you should turn to look at it in the mirror: if it is an immortal or a good spirit of the mountain, seen in the mirror it still appears as a man; if it is a bird-beast specter, its true form shows in the mirror. Also, if an old specter comes, when it leaves it always walks backward; while it walks you can turn the mirror to face it and look from behind — if it is an old specter it surely has no heels; if it has heels, it is a mountain god. Formerly Zhang Gaita and Ou Gaocheng, two men, were together in pure contemplation in a stone chamber on Yuntai Mountain in Shu, when suddenly a man wearing a yellow silk unlined robe and a ramie kerchief came before them and said: 'Toilsome, O Daoists — how bitterly you labor in hidden retreat!' The two men looked back at him in the mirror — it was a deer. So they asked it: 'You are an old deer of the mountain — how dare you falsely take human shape?"

言未絕，而來人即成鹿而走去。林慮山下有一亭，其中有鬼，每有宿者，或死或病，常夜有數十人，衣色或黃或白或黑，或男或女。後郅伯夷者過之宿，明燈燭而坐誦經，夜半有十餘人來，與伯夷對坐，自共樗蒲博戲，伯夷密以鏡照之，乃是群犬也。伯夷乃執燭起，佯誤以燭燼爇其衣，乃作燋毛氣。伯夷懷小刀，因捉一人而刺之，初作人叫，死而成犬，餘犬悉走，於是遂絕，乃鏡之力也。上士入山，持三皇內文及五嶽真形圖，所在召山神，及按鬼錄，召州社及山卿宅尉問之，則木石之怪，山川之精，不敢來試人。其次即立七十二精鎮符，以制百邪之章，及朱官印包元十二印，封所住之四方，亦百邪不敢近之也。其次執八威之節，佩老子玉策，則山神可使，豈敢為害乎？餘聞鄭君之言如此，實復不能具知其事也。餘師常告門人曰：“夫人求道，如憂家之貧，如愁位之卑者，豈有不得耶？但患志之不篤，務近忘遠，聞之則悅，倔倔前席，未久，則忽然若遺，毫釐之益未固，而丘山之損不已，亦安得窮至言之微妙，成罔極之峻崇乎？”

(Baopuzi went on:) Before the words were out, the visitor turned into a deer and fled. Below Mount Linlü there is a lodge in which there are ghosts; whoever lodged there either died or sickened; often at night there were scores of them, in clothes of yellow, white or black, men and women. Later Zhi Boyi passed and lodged there, lit lamps and candles, and sat chanting the scriptures; at midnight a dozen or so of them came and sat facing Boyi, amusing themselves together at the game of chupu. Boyi secretly took the mirror and shone it on them — they were a pack of dogs. Boyi rose with a candle and, pretending to slip, touched their clothes with the candle's ember, and there was a smell of singed fur. Boyi kept a little knife hidden in his bosom; with it he caught one and stabbed it — it first cried out like a man, and dead it became a dog. The other dogs all fled, and thereafter the haunting ceased — it was the power of the mirror. The highest officer entering the mountains carries the Inner Text of the Three Sovereigns and the Chart of the True Forms of the Five Peaks; wherever he is he summons the mountain spirits, and by the register of ghosts summons the altars of the province and the mountain stewards and house wardens to be questioned — then the goblins of wood and stone and the essences of mountains and rivers dare not come to test a man. Next best is to set up the suppressing talismans of the seventy-two essences, use the writ that masters the hundred evils, and seal the four quarters of one's lodging with the vermilion seals of the twelve enclosing-the-origin seals — the hundred evils again dare not approach. Next is to hold the Staff of the Eight Majesties and wear Laozi's jade tablets — then the mountain gods can be commanded; how would they dare do harm? This is what I heard from Lord Zheng; I cannot truly know the matter in detail. My teacher always told his disciples: 'When a man seeks the Way with the anxiety of one grieved by household poverty or fretting over low rank, what is there he cannot obtain? One only fears his resolve is not sincere — he pursues the near and forgets the far, hears and delights, bends eagerly forward on the mat, and soon it is as though all were lost; a hair's breadth of gain is not yet firm while a mountain of loss never stops — how can he plumb the subtlety of the utmost word and achieve the towering height that has no limit?'"

抱朴子曰：“入山之大忌，正月午，二月亥，三月申，四月戌，五月未，六月卯，七月甲子，八月申子，九月寅，十月辰未，十一月己丑，十二月寅。入山良日：甲子、甲寅、乙亥、乙巳、乙卯、丙戌、丙午、丙辰，已上日大吉。”抱朴子曰：“按九天秘記及太乙遁甲云，入山大月忌：三日、十一日、十五日、十八日、二十四日、二十六日、三十日；小月忌：一日、五日、十三日、十六日、二十六日、二十八日。以此日入山，必為山神所試。又所求不得，所作不成。不但道士，凡人以此日入山，皆兇害，與虎狼毒蟲相遇也。”

Baopuzi said: "The great taboo days for entering the mountains: in the first month, wu days; second month, hai days; third month, shen days; fourth month, xu days; fifth month, wei days; sixth month, mao days; seventh month, jiazi days; eighth month, shen and zi days; ninth month, yin days; tenth month, chen and wei days; eleventh month, jichou days; twelfth month, yin days. Good days for entering the mountains: jiazi, jiayin, yihai, yisi, yimao, bingxu, bingwu, bingchen — the days above are all greatly auspicious." Baopuzi said: "According to the Secret Record of the Nine Heavens and the Taiyi Dunjia, the taboo days for entering the mountains in a long month are the third, eleventh, fifteenth, eighteenth, twenty-fourth, twenty-sixth and thirtieth; in a short month: the first, fifth, thirteenth, sixteenth, twenty-sixth and twenty-eighth. If you enter the mountains on these days you are sure to be tested by the mountain spirits; moreover what you seek will not be got and what you do will not be accomplished. Not only Daoists — any man who enters the mountains on these days meets evil harm, encountering tigers, wolves and venomous creatures."

抱朴子曰：“天地之情狀，陰陽之吉凶，茫茫乎其亦難詳也，吾亦不必謂之有，又亦不敢保其無也。然黃帝太公皆所信仗，近代達者嚴君平司馬遷皆所據用，而經傳有治歷明時剛柔之日。古言曰，吉日惟戊。有自來矣。王者立太史之官，封拜置立，有事宗廟，郊祀天地，皆擇良辰；而近才庸夫，自許脫俗，舉動所為，恥揀善日，不亦戇愚哉？每伺今入山，不得其良時日交，下有其驗，不可輕入也。按玉鈐經云，欲入名山，不可不知遁甲之秘術，而不為人委曲說其事也。而靈寶經云，入山當以保日及義日，若專日者大吉，以制日伐日必死，又不一一道之也。餘少有入山之志，由此乃行學遁甲書，乃有六十餘卷，事不可卒精，故鈔集其要，以為囊中立成，然不中以筆傳。今論其較略，想好事者欲入山行，當訪索知之者，亦終不乏於世也。遁甲中經曰，欲求道，以天內日天內時，劾鬼魅，施符書；以天禽日天禽時入名山，欲令百邪虎狼毒蟲盜賊，不敢近人者。出天藏，入地戶。凡六癸為天藏，六己為地戶也。又曰，避亂世，絕跡於名山，令無憂患者，以上元丁卯日，名曰陰德之時，一名天心，可以隱淪，所謂白日陸沈，日月無光，人鬼不能見也。又曰，求仙道入名山者，以六癸之日六癸之時，一名天公日，必得度世也。又曰，往山林中，當以左手取青龍上草，折半置逢星下，歷明堂入太陰中，禹步而行，三祝曰，諾皋大陰，將軍獨聞，曾孫王甲，勿開外人；使人見甲者，以為束薪；不見甲者，以為非人。則折所持之草置地上，左手取土以傅鼻人中，右手持草自蔽，左手著前，禹步而行，到六癸下，閉氣而住，人鬼不能見也。凡六甲為青龍，六乙為逢星，六丙為明堂，六丁為陰中也。ⅴⅵ比成既濟卦，初一初二跡不任九跡數，然相因仍一步七尺。又云，一尺合二丈一尺，顧視九跡。

Baopuzi said: "The condition of heaven and earth, the auspice and bane of yin and yang, are vast and hard to know in detail; I need not assert that they exist, nor dare I vouch that they do not. Yet the Yellow Emperor and the Grand Duke both believed and relied on them; the enlightened men of recent times, Yan Junping and Sima Qian, both took them as ground and use; and the classics and commentaries set the calendar in order and mark the days of hard and soft. The old saying goes: for an auspicious day, only wu. It has its grounds. Kings established the office of Grand Historian; in enfeoffment and investiture, in services at the ancestral temple and the suburban sacrifices to heaven and earth, they always chose a good day. Yet men of slight talent and common clay, fancying themselves above the vulgar, are ashamed to pick a good day in all they do — is that not foolish? Whenever I observe men entering the mountains today, they never obtain the crossing of a good day and hour; there is proof of this below — one must not enter lightly. The Jade Seal Classic says that one who wishes to enter famous mountains must know the secret arts of Dunjia — but it does not explain the matter to men in detail. And the Numinous Treasure Classic says that in entering the mountains one should do so on a bao day or a yi day; on a zhuan day it is greatly auspicious, while on a zhi day or a fa day one is sure to die — again without explaining them one by one. In my youth I had the will to enter the mountains, and so went and studied the books of Dunjia — there were over sixty juan; the matter cannot be mastered in haste, so I gathered and copied their essentials to make a ready manual in the bag, though it is not fit to transmit by the brush. I will now discuss its rough outline: one fond of the affair who wishes to go into the mountains should seek out one who knows — such men are never lacking in the world. The Middle Classic of Dunjia says: one who wishes to seek the Way should, on a heaven-within day at a heaven-within hour, impeach ghosts and specters and issue talisman-writs; and on a heaven-bird day at a heaven-bird hour enter the famous mountains, so that the hundred evils, tigers, wolves, venomous creatures and robbers dare not approach a man. Go out by the heaven-store; enter by the earth-door. In all, the six gui are the heaven-store, and the six ji are the earth-door. It also says: to flee a disordered age and leave no tracks in famous mountains, so as to be free of care, go on a dingmao day of the upper epoch — named the hour of hidden virtue, also called heaven's heart — when one can sink away and hide, in what is called the sun sinking in broad daylight, sun and moon without light, so that men and ghosts cannot see you. It also says: one who seeks the Way of immortality and enters famous mountains should go on a six-gui day at a six-gui hour — also named the heaven-sire day — and is sure to win deliverance from the world. It also says: going into the mountain forests, take with the left hand a grass from above the green dragon, break off half of it and lay it beneath the meeting-star; pass through the bright hall and enter into the great yin, walking the Pace of Yu, thrice invoking: 'Nuogao, great yin! Let the general alone hear; let your distant descendant at the royal jia not be opened to outsiders.' Then those who see jia take him for a bundle of firewood, and those who do not see jia take him for something not human. Break the grass you hold and lay it on the ground; with the left hand take soil to spread on the groove beneath your nose; with the right hand hold the grass to screen yourself, the left hand in front; walk the Pace of Yu, arrive beneath the six gui, hold your breath and stay — men and ghosts cannot see you. In all, the six jia are the green dragon, the six yi the meeting-star, the six bing the bright hall, and the six ding the midst of yin. (The base text bears the marks 'v-vi'; reading the Pace of Yu as forming the jiji hexagram, the tracks of the first and second steps do not fill the count of nine tracks, yet running together they still make one pace of seven chi. It is also said that one chi amounts to two zhang and one chi; looking back, there are nine tracks.)"

又禹步法：正立，右足在前，左足在後，次復前右足，以左足從右足並，是一步也。次復前右足，次前左足，以右足從左足並，是二步也。次復前右足，以左足從右足並，是三步也。如此，禹步之道畢矣。凡作天下百術，皆宜知禹步，不獨此事也。”

(Baopuzi went on:) Again, the method of the Pace of Yu: stand upright with the right foot in front and the left foot behind; next advance the right foot again, and bring the left foot up beside the right — that is one step. Next advance the right foot again, then advance the left foot, and bring the right foot up beside the left — that is two steps. Next advance the right foot again, and bring the left foot up beside the right — that is three steps. In this way the way of the Pace of Yu is complete. In all the hundred arts under Heaven one should know the Pace of Yu — not only for this matter."

抱朴子曰：“靈寶經曰，所謂寶日者，謂支幹上生下之日也，若用甲午乙巳之日是也。甲者，木也。午者，火也。乙亦木也，巳亦火也，火生於木故也。又謂義日者，支幹下生上之日也，若壬申癸酉之日是也。壬者，水也。申者，金也。癸者，水也。酉者，金也，水生於金故也。所謂制日者，支幹上克下之日也。若戊子己亥之日是也。戊者，土也。子者，水也。己亦土也，亥亦水也，五行之義，土克水也。所謂伐日者，支幹下克上之日，若甲申乙酉之日是也。甲者，木也。申者，金也。乙亦木也，酉亦金也，金克木故也。他皆仿此，引而長之，皆可知之也。”

Baopuzi said: "The Numinous Treasure Classic says: what is called a bao day is a day on which the stem above generates the branch below — as on jiawu or yisi days: jia is wood, wu is fire; yi is likewise wood, si likewise fire — because fire is born of wood. What is called a yi day is a day on which the branch below generates the stem above — as on renshen or guiyou days: ren is water, shen is metal; gui is water, you is metal — because water is born of metal. What is called a zhi day is a day on which the stem above overcomes the branch below — as on wuzi or jihai days: wu is earth, zi is water; ji is likewise earth, hai likewise water — by the rule of the five phases, earth overcomes water. What is called a fa day is a day on which the branch below overcomes the stem above — as on jiashen or yiyou days: jia is wood, shen is metal; yi is likewise wood, you likewise metal — because metal overcomes wood. All the rest follow this pattern; extend the analogy and all can be known."

抱朴子曰：“入名山，以甲子開除日，以五色繒各五寸，懸大石上，所求必得。又曰，入山宜知六甲秘祝。祝曰，臨兵鬥者，皆陣列前行。凡九字，常當密祝之，無所不闢。要道不煩，此之謂也。”

Baopuzi said: "Enter famous mountains on a jiazi kaichu day; take five-colored silks five cun each and hang them on a great rock — what you seek you are sure to get. It is also said that in entering the mountains one should know the secret invocation of the six jia. The invocation says: 'Those who come to fight — array them all in ranks and march them on.' Nine words in all; it should always be invoked in secret — there is nothing it does not ward off. That the essential Way is not troublesome — this is what it means."

抱朴子曰：“山中山精之形，如小兒而獨足，走向後，喜來犯人。人入山，若夜聞人音聲大語，其名曰蚑，知而呼之，即不敢犯人也。一名熱內，亦可兼呼之。又有山精，如鼓赤色，亦一足，其名曰暉。又或如人，長九尺，衣裘戴笠，名曰金累。或如龍而五色赤角，名曰飛飛，見之皆以名呼之，即不敢為害也。”

Baopuzi said: "The mountain sprites within the mountains have a shape like a child with a single foot, walking backwards, fond of attacking men. When a man enters the mountains, if at night he hears a human voice loudly talking, its name is qi; knowing it and calling it by name, it dares not attack men. It is also named renei — one may call both names together. There is another mountain sprite like a red drum, also with one foot, named hui. Another is like a man nine chi tall, wearing furs and a rain-hat, named jinlei. Another is like a dragon, five-colored with red horns, named feifei. On seeing any of them, call it by its name and it dares not work harm."

抱朴子曰：“山中有大樹，有能語者，非樹能語也，其精名曰云陽，呼之則吉。山中夜見火光者，皆久枯木所作，勿怪也。山中夜見胡人者，銅鐵之精。見秦者，百歲木之精。勿怪之，並不能為害。山水之閒見吏人者，名曰四徼，呼之名即吉。山中見大蛇著冠幘者，名曰升卿，呼之即吉。山中見吏，若但聞聲不見形，呼人不止，以白石擲之則息矣；一法以葦為矛以刺之即吉。山中見鬼來喚人，求食不止者，以白茅投之即死也。山中鬼常迷惑使失道徑者，以葦杖投之既死也。山中寅日，有自稱虞吏者，虎也。稱當路君者，狼也。稱令長者，老狸也。卯日稱丈人者，兔也。稱東王父者，麋也。稱西王母者，鹿也。辰日稱雨師者，龍也。稱河伯者，魚也。稱無腸公子者，蟹也。巳日稱寡人者，社中蛇也。稱時君者，龜也。午日稱三公者，馬也。稱仙人者，老樹也。未日稱主人者，羊也。稱吏者，獐也。申日稱人君者，猴也。稱九卿者，猿也。酉日稱將軍者，老雞也。稱捕賊者，雉也。戌日稱人姓字者，犬也。稱成陽公者，狐也。亥日稱神君者，豬也。稱婦人者，金玉也。子日稱社君者，鼠也。稱神人者，伏翼也。丑日稱書生者，牛也。但知其物名，則不能為害也。”

Baopuzi said: "In the mountains there are great trees that can speak — it is not the tree that speaks; its sprite is named yunyang — call it and there is good fortune. When you see a fire's light in the mountains at night, it is made by wood long dried up — do not marvel. When you see a Hu man in the mountains at night, it is the sprite of copper and iron; when you see a man of Qin, it is the sprite of hundred-year wood — do not marvel at them, they can do no harm. If between mountain and water you see an official, it is named sijiao — call its name and there is good fortune. If in the mountains you see a great snake wearing a cap and headwrap, it is named shengqing — call it and there is good fortune. If in the mountains you see an official — or only hear a voice without seeing a shape — calling men without cease, cast a white stone at it and it stops; another method is to make a spear of reed and stab it, which is auspicious. If in the mountains a ghost comes calling men, begging food without cease, throw white rushes at it and it dies. If in the mountains a ghost confuses you so that you lose the path, throw a reed staff at it and it dies. On yin days in the mountains, whatever calls itself the warden Yu is a tiger; whatever calls itself the lord of the road is a wolf; whatever calls itself the prefect is an old wildcat. On mao days, whatever calls itself the old man is a hare; whatever calls itself the Royal Father of the East is an elk; whatever calls itself the Queen Mother of the West is a deer. On chen days, whatever calls itself the master of rain is a dragon; whatever calls itself the earl of the river is a fish; whatever calls itself the gutless master is a crab. On si days, whatever calls itself the solitary one is a snake of the altar; whatever calls itself the lord of the season is a tortoise. On wu days, whatever calls itself the three dukes is a horse; whatever calls itself the immortal is an old tree. On wei days, whatever calls itself the host is a goat; whatever calls itself the official is a river-deer. On shen days, whatever calls itself the lord of men is a monkey; whatever calls itself the nine ministers is a gibbon. On you days, whatever calls itself the general is an old rooster; whatever calls itself the thief-catcher is a pheasant. On xu days, whatever calls itself by a man's surname and name is a dog; whatever calls itself the duke of Chengyang is a fox. On hai days, whatever calls itself the divine lord is a pig; whatever calls itself the woman is gold or jade. On zi days, whatever calls itself the lord of the altar is a rat; whatever calls itself the divine man is a bat. On chou days, whatever calls itself the scholar is an ox. If you only know the thing's name, it can do you no harm."

或問隱居山澤闢蛇蝮之道。抱朴子曰：“昔圓丘多大蛇，又生好藥，黃帝將登焉，廣成子教之佩雄黃，而眾蛇皆去。今帶武都雄黃，色如雞冠者五兩以上，以入山林草木，則不畏蛇。蛇若中人，以少許雄黃末內瘡中，亦登時愈也。蛇種雖多，唯有蝮蛇及青金蛇中人為至急，不治之，一日則煞人。人不曉治之方術者，而為此二蛇所中，即以刀割所傷瘡肉以投地，其肉沸如火炙，須臾焦盡，而人得活。此蛇七八月毒盛之時，不得咬人，而其毒不洩，乃以牙咬大竹及小木，皆即燋枯。今為道士人入山，徒知大方，而不曉闢之之道，亦非小事也。未入山，當預止於家，先學作禁法，思日月及朱雀玄武青龍白虎，以衛其身，乃行到山林草木中，左取三口炁閉之，以吹山草中，意思令此炁赤色如雲霧，彌滿數十里中。若有從人，無多少皆令羅列，以炁吹之，雖踐蛇，蛇不敢動，亦略不逢見蛇也。若或見蛇，因向日左取三炁閉之，以舌柱天，以手捻都關，又閉天門，塞地戶，因以物抑蛇頭而手縈之，畫地作獄以盛之，亦可捉弄也。雖繞頭頸，不敢咬人也。自不解禁，吐炁以吹之，亦終不得復出獄去也。若他人為蛇所中，左取三口炁以吹之，即愈不復痛。若相去十數里者，亦可遙為作炁，呼彼姓字，男祝我左手，女祝我右手，彼亦愈也。介先生法，到山中住，思作五色蛇各一頭，乃閉炁以青竹及小木板屈刺之，左徊禹步，思作吳蚣數千板，以衣其身，乃去，終亦不逢蛇也。或以乾姜附子帶之肘後，或燒牛羊鹿角燻身，或帶王方平雄黃丸，或以豬耳中垢及麝香丸著足爪甲中，皆有效也。又麝及野豬皆啖蛇，故以厭之也。又云日鳥及蠳龜，亦皆啖蛇。故南人入山，皆帶蠳龜之尾，雲日之喙以闢蛇。蛇中人，刮此二物以塗其瘡，亦登時愈也。雲日，鴆鳥之別名也。

Someone asked about the way to ward off vipers while dwelling hidden in mountain and marsh. Baopuzi said: "Formerly the Round Hill had many great snakes and also grew fine herbs; when the Yellow Emperor was about to ascend it, Guangchengzi taught him to wear realgar, and the many snakes all went away. Now if you carry five liang or more of Wudu realgar, colored like a cock's comb, into mountain forests and undergrowth, you need not fear snakes. If a snake strikes a man, put a little powdered realgar into the wound and it heals at once. Though the kinds of snakes are many, only the viper and the green-metal snake strike men with the greatest urgency; untreated, they kill a man within a day. If a man does not know the healing art and is struck by these two snakes, let him cut away the flesh of the wound with a knife and cast it on the ground; the flesh boils as if roasted by fire and in a moment is scorched away, while the man lives. When these snakes' venom is at its height in the seventh and eighth months and they cannot bite a man to discharge it, they bite great bamboos and small trees with their fangs, which wither at once. Nowadays those who become Daoists and enter the mountains know only the great methods but not the way to ward them off — and this too is no small matter. Before entering the mountains one should first remain at home and first learn to make the interdictions, imagining the sun and moon and the Vermilion Bird, the Dark Warrior, the Green Dragon and the White Tiger to guard one's person; then go to the mountain forests and undergrowth, draw in three mouthfuls of qi from the left and hold them, and blow them into the mountain grass, intending this qi to be red like cloud-mist, spreading over scores of li. If there are followers, whatever their number, have them arrayed and blow qi upon them; though you tread on snakes, the snakes dare not move, and you will hardly meet snakes at all. If you happen to see a snake, then facing the sun draw three mouthfuls of qi from the left and hold them, press your tongue to the pillar of heaven, pinch the passes of the capital with your fingers, close heaven's gate and stop earth's door, then use an object to press down the snake's head while your hand winds round it, drawing a prison on the ground to hold it — you may even toy with it. Though it coils about your head and neck, it dares not bite. If you yourself do not release the interdiction by breathing qi upon it, it can never again leave the prison and depart. If another man is struck by a snake, draw three mouthfuls of qi from the left and blow — he heals and hurts no more. If he is a dozen-odd li away, you can still work the qi at a distance, calling that person's surname and name — for a man, invoke my left hand; for a woman, invoke my right hand — and that person also heals. The method of Master Jie: when going to lodge in the mountains, imagine making five-colored snakes, one of each; then hold the breath, pierce with bent slips of green bamboo and little wooden boards, pace the Pace of Yu turning left, imagine several thousand centipedes clothing your body, and then leave — in the end you will not meet a snake. Or carry dried ginger and aconite behind the elbow; or burn the horns of oxen, sheep and deer to fumigate the body; or carry Wang Fangping's realgar pills; or put wax from pigs' ears and musk pills inside the toenails — all are effective. Also musk-deer and wild boar both eat snakes, so they are used to overawe them. And the yunri bird and the ying turtle likewise both eat snakes. Thus when southerners enter the mountains they all carry the tail of the ying turtle and the beak of the yunri to ward off snakes. If a snake strikes a man, scrape these two things and smear them on the wound — it also heals at once. Yunri is another name for the zhen bird."

又南人入山，皆以竹管盛活蜈蚣，蜈蚣知有蛇之地，便動作於管中，如此則詳視草中，必見蛇也。大蛇丈餘，身出一圍者，蜈蚣見之，而能以炁禁之，蛇即死矣。蛇見蜈蚣在涯岸間，大蛇走入川穀深水底逃，其蜈蚣但浮水上禁，人見有物正青，大如綖者，直下入水至蛇處，須臾蛇浮出而死。故南人因此末蜈蚣治蛇瘡，皆登愈也。”

(Baopuzi went on:) 'Also, when southerners enter the mountains they all carry live centipedes in bamboo tubes. The centipede knows where there is a snake and stirs inside the tube; then, looking carefully through the grass, one is sure to see the snake. For a great snake over a zhang long with a body a full span thick, the centipede, upon seeing it, can hex it with qi and the snake dies. If the snake sees the centipede on the bank, a great snake flees down into the deep bottom of the ravine, while the centipede simply floats on the water and works the hex; one sees a thing pure blue, thick as a silk cord, go straight down through the water to where the snake is, and in a moment the snake floats up dead. For this reason southerners grind centipedes to powder to treat snake-bites, and all are cured at once.'

或問曰：“江南山谷之閒，多諸毒惡，闢之有道乎？”抱朴子答曰：“中州高原，土氣清和，上國名山，了無此輩。今吳楚之野，暑溼鬱蒸，雖衡霍正嶽，猶多毒蠚也。又有短狐，一名蜮，一名射工，一名射影，其實水蟲也，狀如鳴蜩，狀似三合杯，有翼能飛，無目而利耳，口中有橫物角弩，如聞人聲，緣口中物如角弩，以氣為矢，則因水而射人，中人身者即發瘡，中影者亦病，而不即發瘡，不曉治之者煞人。其病似大傷寒，不十日皆死。又有沙蝨，水陸皆有，其新雨後及晨暮前，跋涉必著人，唯烈日草燥時，差稀耳。其大如毛髮之端，初著人，便入其皮裡，其所在如芒刺之狀，小犯大痛，可以針挑取之，正赤如丹，著爪上行動也。若不挑之，蟲鑽至骨，便周行走入身，其與射工相似，皆煞人。人行有此蟲之地，每還所住，輒當以火炙燎令遍身，則此蟲墮地也。若帶八物麝香丸、及度世丸、及護命丸、及玉壺丸、犀角丸、及七星丸、及薺苨，皆闢沙蝨短狐也。若卒不能得此諸藥者，但可帶好生麝香亦佳。以雄黃大蒜等分合搗，帶一丸如雞子大者亦善。若已為所中者，可以此藥塗瘡亦愈。父咀赤莧汁，飲之塗之亦愈。五茄根及懸鉤草葍藤，此三物皆可各單行，可以搗服其汁一二升。又射工蟲冬天蟄於山谷間，大雪時索之，此蟲所在，其雪不積留，氣起如灼蒸，當掘之，不過入地一尺則得也，陰乾末帶之，夏天自闢射工也。若道士知一禁方，及洞百禁，常存禁及守真一者，則百毒不敢近之，不假用諸藥也。”

Someone asked: 'In the mountains and valleys south of the Yangzi there are many sorts of venom and evil. Is there a way to repel them?' Baopuzi answered: 'The high plateaus of the central lands have clear and temperate soil-qi, and in the famous mountains of the upper realm these things are wholly absent. But in the wilds of Wu and Chu the heat and damp steam and ferment, so that even on the proper peaks of Heng and Huo there is much venomous stinging. There is also the duanhu, also called the yu, also called the shooting-worker, also called the shadow-shooter. It is really a water insect, shaped like a singing cicada, shaped like a three-lobed cup; it has wings and can fly, has no eyes but sharp ears, and in its mouth a crosswise horn-bow. When it hears a human voice it lets fly along that mouth-piece as if with the horn-bow, taking qi for its arrow, and by way of the water shoots the man. One it strikes in the body at once breaks out in sores; one it strikes in the shadow also falls ill, though without sores appearing at once, and one who does not know the cure it kills. That sickness is like a great cold-damage; before ten days are out all die of it. There is also the sand-louse, found on water and land alike; after fresh rain, and before dawn and at dusk, it is sure to fasten on anyone wading about; only under blazing sun on dry grass is it somewhat scarce. It is no bigger than the tip of a hair; when it first fastens on a man it enters the skin, and where it is there is a sting like a beard-prickle—touch it lightly and the pain is great. It can be picked out with a needle—pure red like cinnabar—and set on the nail it walks about. If it is not picked out, the insect bores to the bone and runs all through the body, like the shooting-worker—both kill. When a man passes where this insect is, each time he returns to his lodging he should scorch himself all over with fire; then the insects fall to the ground. Wearing the Eight-Substance Musk pills, the World-Crossing pills, the Life-Guarding pills, the Jade-Flask pills, the rhinoceros-horn pills, the Seven-Star pills, or jini—all repel the sand-louse and the duanhu. If none of these drugs can be got in haste, merely carrying good fresh musk does well. Realgar and garlic pounded together in equal parts and worn as a pill the size of an egg is also good. If one has already been struck, smearing this medicine on the sore also cures. Chewing red amaranth for its juice, drinking it and smearing it on, also cures. Wujia root, the xuangou herb, and the fu vine—these three can each be used alone: pound them and drink a sheng or two of the juice. Also, the shooting-worker winters dormant in the mountains and valleys; seek it in the season of great snow: where this insect lies the snow does not settle, and vapor rises as if steaming. Dig there, and within a foot of ground you get it; dry it in the shade, grind it, and wear it—in summer it repels the shooting-worker of itself. If a Daoist knows the single prohibition-formula and thoroughly knows the hundred prohibitions, ever keeping the prohibitions and guarding the True One, then the hundred poisons dare not approach and he need not borrow any of these drugs.'

或問：“道士山居，棲巖庇岫，不必有絪縟之溫，直使我不畏風溼，敢問其術也？”抱朴子曰：“金餅散、三陽液、昌辛丸、葷草耐冬煎、獨搖膏、茵芋玄華散、秋地黃血丸，皆不過五十日服之而止，可以十年不畏風溼。若服金丹大藥，雖未升虛輕舉，然體不受疾，雖當風臥溼。不能傷也。服此七藥，皆謂始學道者耳。姚先生但服三陽液，便袒臥冰上，了不寒振。此皆介先生及梁有道臥石上，及秋冬當風寒，已試有驗，秘法也。”

Someone asked: 'A Daoist dwelling in the mountains, lodged on cliffs and sheltered by peaks, need not have the warmth of bedding; only let me not fear wind and damp—may I ask the method?' Baopuzi said: 'The Golden-Cake powder, the Three-Yang liquid, the Changxin pills, the huncao winter-enduring decoction, the Duyao salve, the Yinyu dark-flower powder, and the autumn Dihuang blood pills—take any of them for no more than fifty days and stop, and you can go ten years without fearing wind and damp. If you take the great medicine of the golden elixir, though you have not yet ascended the void and risen light, the body can receive no illness: though you lie in the wind upon damp, it cannot hurt you. Taking these seven medicines is spoken of only for beginners in the Way. Master Yao took nothing but the Three-Yang liquid and lay bare upon the ice, wholly without a shiver of cold. All these were tried and proven by Master Jie and Liang Youdao lying upon stone in autumn and winter amid wind and cold—it is a secret method.'

或問涉江渡海闢蛇龍之道。抱朴子曰：“道士不得已而當遊涉大川者，皆先當於水次，破雞子一枚，以少許粉雜香末，合攪器水中，以自洗濯，則不畏風波蛟龍也。又佩東海小童符、及制水符、蓬萊札，皆卻水中之百害也。又有六甲三金符、五木禁。又法，臨川先祝曰：卷蓬卷蓬，河伯導前闢蛟龍，萬災消滅天清明。又金簡記云，以五月丙午日日中，搗五石，下其銅。五石者，雄黃、丹砂、雌黃、礬石、曾青也。皆粉之，以金華池浴之，內六一神爐中鼓下之，以桂木燒為之，銅成以剛炭煉之，令童男童女進火，取牡銅以為雄劍，取牝銅以為雌劍，各長五寸五分，取土之數，以厭水精也。帶之以水行，則蛟龍巨魚水神不敢近人也。欲知銅之牝牡，當令童男童女俱以水灌銅，灌銅當以在火中向赤時也，則銅自分為兩段，有凸起者牡銅也，有凹陷者牝銅也，各刻名識之。欲入水，以雄者帶左，以雌者帶右。但乘船不身涉水者，其陽日帶雄，陰日帶雌。又天文大字，有北帝書，寫帛而帶之，亦闢風波蛟龍水蟲也。”或問曰：闢山川廟堂百鬼之法。抱朴子曰：“道士常帶天水符、及上皇竹使符、老子左契、及守真一思三部將軍者，鬼不敢近人也。其次則論百鬼錄，知天下鬼之名字，及白澤圖九鼎記，則眾鬼自卻。其次服鶉子赤石丸、及曾青夜光散、及蔥實烏眼丸、及吞白石英祇母散，皆令人見鬼，即鬼畏之矣。”抱朴子曰：“有老君黃庭中胎四十九真秘符，入山林，以甲寅日丹書白素，夜置案中，向北鬥祭之，以酒脯各少少，自說姓名，再拜受取，內衣領中，闢山川百鬼萬精虎狼蟲毒也。何必道士，亂世避難入山林，亦宜知此法也。”

Someone asked about the way to ward off snakes and dragons in crossing rivers and seas. Baopuzi said: 'A Daoist who has no choice but to journey over great waters should first, at the water's edge, break an egg, take a little powder mixed with incense-dust, stir it together in a vessel of water, and wash himself with it—then he need not fear waves or jiaolong. Also, wearing the Little Lad of the Eastern Sea talisman, the Water-Ruling talisman, and the Penglai slip drives back the hundred harms of the water. There is also the Three-Gold talisman of the Six Jia, and the Five-Wood prohibition. There is another method: at the stream first chant—"Swirl, weed, swirl, weed; the Earl of the River leads ahead and wards off the jiaolong; the ten thousand calamities perish, heaven clear and bright." And the Record of the Golden Slips says: at noon on the bingwu day of the fifth month, pound the five stones and cast the copper in. The five stones are realgar, cinnabar, orpiment, alum-stone, and azurite; all are ground to powder, bathed in the Pool of Golden Flower, put into the Six-One divine furnace and smelted; cassia wood is burned to work it. When the copper is done, refine it with hard charcoal and have a virgin boy and a virgin girl feed the fire; take the male copper and make a male sword, take the female copper and make a female sword, each five cun and five fen long—the number of earth—to subdue the essences of water. Carrying them while going in water, jiaolong, giant fish, and water-spirits dare not approach the man. To tell male from female copper, let the boy and girl both pour water over the copper while it glows red in the fire; the copper then splits of itself into two pieces—the one with a boss is male copper, the one with a hollow is female copper—and each is engraved with its name. To enter water, wear the male at the left and the female at the right; for those who ride a boat and do not wade, wear the male on yang days and the female on yin days. Also, the great characters of the celestial script—the writing of the Northern Emperor—written on silk and worn likewise ward off wind, waves, jiaolong, and water insects.' Someone asked about the method of warding off the hundred ghosts of mountains, rivers, and shrine-halls. Baopuzi said: 'Daoists who always wear the Heaven-Water talisman, the Bamboo-Messenger talisman of the High August, Laozi's left tally, and who keep the True One and meditate on the generals of the three divisions—ghosts dare not approach such a man. Next is the Register of the Hundred Ghosts: knowing the names of all ghosts under heaven, together with the Baize Charts and the Records of the Nine Tripods, the many ghosts withdraw of themselves. Next, taking the quail-egg and red-stone pills, the azurite night-gleam powder, the scallion-seed crow-eye pills, or swallowing the white-quartz qimu powder—all make a man see ghosts, and the ghosts fear him.' Baopuzi said: 'There are Laojun's forty-nine true secret talismans of the inner womb of the Yellow Court: entering the mountains, on a jiayin day write them in cinnabar on white silk; at night set them on the altar, sacrifice toward the Northern Dipper with a little wine and dried meat each, speak your own name, bow twice and receive them, and put them inside your collar—they ward off mountains' and rivers' hundred ghosts, ten thousand sprites, tigers, wolves, insects, and poisons. And not only Daoists—anyone fleeing the troubles of a disordered age into the mountains should know this method.'

△入山符

The talisman for entering the mountains.

抱朴子曰：“上五符，皆老君入山符也。以丹書桃板上，大書其文字，令彌滿板上，以著門戶上，及四方四隅，及所道側要處，去所住處，五十步內，闢山精鬼魅。戶內梁柱，皆可施安。凡人居山林及暫入山，皆可用，即眾物不敢害也。三符以相連著一板上。意謂爾非葛氏。”

Baopuzi said: 'The five talismans above are all Laojun's talismans for entering the mountains. Write them in cinnabar on peach boards, write the characters large so that they fill the board, and set them on doors and gates, on the four sides and four corners, and at the key places along the ways that are passed, at a distance from the dwelling—within fifty paces they ward off mountain sprites and goblins. On the beams and pillars inside the house they may all be set. Any man dwelling among mountains and forests, or entering the mountains for a time, may use them, and the creatures will not dare do harm. Three talismans joined together on one board.' (The base text has a line reading "meaning to say you are not of the Ge family," which looks like a later interlinear note; it is nonetheless translated: it means that you are not of the Ge lineage.)

抱朴子曰：“此符亦是老君入山符，戶內梁柱皆可施。凡人居山林及暫入山，皆宜用之也。”

Baopuzi said: 'This talisman is also Laojun's talisman for entering the mountains; it may be set on the beams and pillars inside the house. Any man dwelling among mountains and forests, or entering the mountains for a time, should use it.'

抱朴子曰：“此是仙人陳安世所授入山闢虎狼符，以丹書絹二符，各異之。常帶著所住之處，各四枚。移涉當拔收之以去，大神秘也。開山符以千歲虆名山之門，開寶書古文金玉，皆見秘之。右一法如此，大同小異。”

Baopuzi said: 'This is the talisman for entering the mountains and warding off tigers and wolves, transmitted by the immortal Chen Anshi: write two talismans in cinnabar on silk, each different. Keep them constantly set at the place where you dwell, four of each; when you move on they should be pulled up and carried away—greatly secret. For opening mountains, use the thousand-year lei to open the gates of a famous mountain; opening treasure texts, ancient scripts, gold, and jade—see them all and keep them secret. The method on the right is thus; the large is the same, the small differs.'

抱朴子曰：“此符是老君所戴，百鬼及蛇蝮虎狼神印也。以棗心木方二寸刻之，再拜而帶之，甚有神效。仙人陳安世符矣。”

Baopuzi said: 'This talisman was worn by Laojun; it is the divine seal against the hundred ghosts, vipers, tigers, and wolves. Carve it in a two-cun square of jujube heartwood, bow twice, and wear it—it is of very divine effect. It is the talisman of the immortal Chen Anshi.'

△入山佩帶符

Talisman worn when entering the mountains.

此三符，兼同著牛馬屋左右前後及豬欄上，闢虎狼也。或問曰：“昔聞談昌，或步行水上，或久居水中，以何法乎？”抱朴子曰：“以蔥涕和桂，服如梧桐子大七丸，日三服，至三年，則能行水上也。鄭君言但習閉氣至千息，久久則能居水中一日許。得真通天犀角三寸以上，刻以為魚，而銜之以入水，水常為人開，方三尺，可得炁息水中。又通天犀角有一赤理如綖，有自本徹末，以角盛米置群雞中，雞欲啄之，未至數寸，即驚卻退。故南人或名通天犀為駭雞犀。以此犀角著谷積上，百鳥不敢集。大霧重露之夜，以置中庭，終不沾濡也。此犀獸在深山中，晦冥之夕，其光正赫然如炬火也。以其角為叉導，毒藥為湯，以此叉導攪之，皆生白沫湧起，則了無復毒勢也。以攪無毒物，則無沫起也。故以是知之者也。若行異域有蠱毒之鄉，每於他家飲食，則常先以犀攪之也。人有為毒箭所中欲死，以此犀叉刺瘡中，其瘡即沫出而愈也。通天犀所以能煞毒者，其為獸專食百草之有毒者，及眾木有刺棘者，不妄食柔滑之草木也。歲一解角於山中石閒，人或得之，則須刻木色理形狀，令如其角以代之，犀不能覺，後年輒更解角著其處也。他犀亦辟惡解毒耳，然不能如通天者之妙也。或食六戊符千日，或以赤班蜘蛛及七重水馬，以合馮夷水仙丸服之，則亦可以居水中，只以塗蹠下，則可以步行水上也。頭垢猶足以使金鐵浮水，況妙於茲乎？”

These three talismans are likewise set at left and right, front and back, of the ox and horse stalls and upon the pig-pens—they ward off tigers and wolves. Someone asked: 'I have heard of Tan Chang—some walked upon the water, some dwelt long within the water—by what method?' Baopuzi said: 'Take scallion juice and cinnamon, seven pills the size of wutong seeds, three times a day; after three years you can walk on water. Lord Zheng said one need only practice closing the breath up to a thousand breaths, and after long practice one can stay in water for a day or so. Obtain a true heaven-piercing rhinoceros horn of three cun or more, carve it into a fish, hold it in the mouth and enter the water—the water opens for a man over a space of three chi, and one can breathe beneath the water. Also, the heaven-piercing rhinoceros has a single red vein like a thread running from the root to the tip of the horn; fill the horn with rice and set it among the chickens—they want to peck it, but inches short of it they startle and shrink back. So southerners sometimes call the heaven-piercing rhinoceros the chicken-frightening rhinoceros. Set this horn upon a heap of grain and the hundred birds dare not alight. On a night of heavy fog and deep dew, set it in the middle courtyard and it is never wetted. This rhinoceros beast in the deep mountains on a dark night—its light blazes forth like a torch. Make a hairpin of its horn; when a poisoned broth is prepared and stirred with this pin, white foam wells up and the power of the poison is wholly gone; stirred into something without poison, no foam rises—by this it is known. If you travel to a foreign region where gu-poison is used, whenever you take food and drink in a house, first stir it with the rhinoceros. A man struck by a poisoned arrow on the point of death: prick the wound with this rhinoceros pin and the wound foams and heals. The heaven-piercing rhinoceros can kill poison because as a beast it eats only the poisonous among the hundred herbs and the thorned among the trees, never recklessly eating soft and smooth plants. Each year in the mountains among the rocks it sheds one horn; whoever gets it must carve wood to match that horn's color, grain, and shape and set it in the place as a substitute—the rhinoceros does not notice, and the next year it sheds its horn there again. Other rhinoceroses also ward off evil and resolve poison, but none is as wondrous as the heaven-piercing. Or eat the liuwu talisman for a thousand days; or take the red-spotted spider and the seven-layer water-horse and compound them into the Pingyi water-immortal pills to swallow—then too one can dwell in the water; merely smeared beneath the sole, one can walk upon the water. Even the grease of the head can make iron float on water—how much more what is subtler than this!'

或問：“為道者多在山林，山林多虎狼之害也，何以闢之？”抱朴子曰：“古之人入山者，皆佩黃神越章之印，其廣四寸，其字一百二十，以封泥著所住之四方各百步，則虎狼不敢近其內也。行見新虎跡，以印順印之，虎即去；以印逆印之，虎即還；帶此印以行山林，亦不畏虎狼也。不但只闢虎狼，若有山川社廟血食惡神能作福禍者，以印封泥，斷其道路，則不復能神矣。昔石頭水有大黿，常在一深潭中，人因名此潭為黿潭。此物能作鬼魅，行病於人。吳有道士戴炳者，偶視之，以越章封泥作數百封，乘舟以此封泥遍擲潭中，良久，有大黿徑長丈餘，浮出不敢動，乃格煞之，而病者並愈也。又有小黿出，羅列死於渚上甚多。山中卒逢虎，便作三五禁，虎亦即卻去。三五禁法，當須口傳，筆不能委曲矣。一法，直思吾身為朱鳥，令長三丈，而立來虎頭上，因即閉氣，虎即去。若暮宿山中者，密取頭上釵，閉炁以刺白虎上，則亦無所畏。又法，以左手持刀閉炁，畫地作方，祝曰，恆山之陰，太山之陽，盜賊不起，虎狼不行，城郭不完，閉以金關，因以刀橫旬日中白虎上，亦無所畏也。或用大禁，吞三百六十氣，左取右以叱虎，虎亦不敢起。以此法入山，亦不畏虎。或用七星虎步，及玉神符、八威五勝符、李耳太平符、中黃華蓋印文、及石流黃散，燒牛羊角，或立西嶽公禁山符，皆有驗也。闕此四符也。”

Someone asked: 'Those who practice the Way mostly dwell in mountains and forests, and the mountains and forests harbor the harm of tigers and wolves—what repels them?' Baopuzi said: 'The men of old who entered the mountains all wore the seal of Huangshen Yuezhang, four cun wide with a hundred twenty characters; pressed in sealing-clay and set a hundred paces on each of the four sides of the dwelling, tigers and wolves dare not come within that range. If on the path you see fresh tiger tracks, stamp the seal along their grain and the tiger departs; stamp it against their grain and the tiger comes back. Carrying this seal through the mountains, one fears no tigers or wolves. Nor does it only ward off tigers and wolves: if there are mountain-and-river or shrine evil spirits that feed on blood-offerings and can work fortune and calamity, press the seal in clay and cut off their paths, and they can be gods no more. In former times in the waters of Shitou there was a great yuan turtle, always in a deep pool, and men for that reason called the pool Yuan Pool. This creature could do goblin-work and send illness upon people. There was a Daoist of Wu, Dai Bing, who chanced to see it; he used the Yuezhang seal to make several hundred clay sealings, took a boat, and scattered the clay all over the pool. Long after, a great yuan more than a zhang across floated up not daring to move; it was speared and killed, and all the sick recovered. Small yuan also came out, lying dead in rows upon the islet in great numbers. Meeting a tiger suddenly in the mountains, make the three-five prohibition and the tiger withdraws. The three-five prohibition method must be gotten by word of mouth; the brush cannot render it in full. One method: simply imagine your body as a vermilion bird, three zhang tall, standing upon the tiger's head; then hold your breath and the tiger departs. If you lodge at night in the mountains, secretly take the pin from your hair, hold your qi, and prick the White Tiger—then too there is nothing to fear. There is another method: holding a knife in the left hand and holding the qi, draw a square on the ground and chant—"Yin of Mount Heng, yang of Mount Tai; robbers do not rise, tigers and wolves do not move; walls and ramparts incomplete, shut fast with the golden pass"—then lay the knife across upon the White Tiger in the ten-day cycle, and there is nothing to fear. Or use the great prohibition: swallow three hundred sixty breaths, left hand taking and right hand coming to rebuke the tiger, and the tiger dares not rise. Using this method to enter the mountains, one fears no tigers. Or use the seven-star tiger-step, the Jade-Spirit talisman, the Eight-Powers Five-Conquests talisman, the Li'er Great-Peace talisman, the seal-script of the Central Yellow Canopy, the flowing-yellow mineral powder, burning the horns of ox and sheep, or setting up the Western Peak Lord's mountain-prohibition talisman—all have been proven. These four talismans are missing.'

此符是老君入山符，下說如文。又可戶內梁柱皆施之。凡人居山林及暫入，皆可用之。

This talisman is Laojun's talisman for entering the mountains; what is said below is according to the text. It may also be set on all the beams and pillars inside the house. Any man dwelling among mountains and forests, or entering for a time, may use it.

抱朴子曰：“餘聞之師云，人能知一，萬事畢。知一者，無一之不知也。不知一者，無一之能知也。道起於一，其貴無偶，各居一處，以象天地人，故曰三一也。天得一以清，地得一以寧，人得一以生，神得一以靈。金沈羽浮，山峙川流，視之不見，聽之不聞，存之則在，忽之則亡，向之則吉，背之則兇，保之則遐祚罔極，失之則命雕氣窮。老君曰：忽兮恍兮，其中有象；恍兮忽兮，其中有物。一之謂也。故仙經曰：子欲長生，守一當明；思一至飢，一與之糧；思一至渴，一與之漿。一有姓字服色，男長九分，女長六分，或在臍下二寸四分下丹田中，或在心下絳宮金闕中丹田也，或在人兩眉閒，卻行一寸為明堂，二寸為洞房，三寸為上丹田也。此乃是道家所重，世世歃血口傳其姓名耳。一能成陰生陽，推步寒暑。春得一以發，夏得一以長，秋得一以收，冬得一以藏。其大不可以六合階，其小不可以毫芒比也。昔黃帝東到青丘，過風山，見紫府先生，受三皇內文，以劾召萬神，南到圓隴陰建木，觀百靈之所登，採若乾之華，飲丹巒之水；西見中黃子，受九加之方，過崆峒，從廣成子受自然之經；北到洪堤，上具茨，見大隗君黃蓋童子，受神芝圖，還陟王屋，得神丹金訣記。到峨眉山，見天真皇人於玉堂，請問真一之道。皇人曰：子既君四海，欲復求長生，不亦貪乎？其相覆不可具說，粗舉一隅耳。夫長生仙方，則唯有金丹；守形卻惡，則獨有真一，故古人尤重也。仙經曰：九轉丹，金液經，守一訣，皆在崑崙五城之內，藏以玉函，刻以金札，封以紫泥，印以中章焉。吾聞之於先師曰：一在北極大淵之中，前有明堂，後有絳宮；巍巍華蓋，金樓穹隆；左罡右魁，激波揚空；玄芝被崖，朱草蒙瓏；白玉嵯峨，日月垂光；歷火過水，經玄涉黃；城闕交錯，帷帳琳琅；龍虎列衛，神人在傍；不施不與，一安其所；

Baopuzi said: 'I heard from my teacher: if a man can know the One, the ten thousand things are done. One who knows the One—there is not one thing he cannot know; one who does not know the One—there is not one thing he can know. The Way arises from the One; it is honored as having no mate; each dwells in a single place to image heaven, earth, and man—hence they are called the Three Ones. Heaven gets the One and is clear; earth gets the One and is still; man gets the One and lives; spirit gets the One and is numinous. Metal sinks and feathers float; mountains stand and rivers flow; looked at, it cannot be seen; listened for, it cannot be heard; keep it and it is there, slight it and it is gone; face it and there is fortune, turn from it and there is ill; preserve it and far-reaching blessing has no limit; lose it and life withers and qi comes to an end. Laojun said: Dim! Vague! Within it there is an image; vague! dim! within it there is a thing—this speaks of the One. So the immortal scripture says: you who want long life should be clear on keeping the One; when thinking on the One brings you to hunger, the One gives you grain; when thinking on the One brings you to thirst, the One gives you broth. The One has surname, name, and dress-colors: the male is nine fen tall, the female six fen. It is either in the lower cinnabar field two cun and four fen below the navel, or in the middle cinnabar field of the Scarlet Palace and Golden Towers beneath the heart, or between a man's two brows—one cun inward is the Hall of Light, two cun the Bridal Chamber, three cun the upper cinnabar field. This is what the Daoists hold weighty; generation upon generation they smear blood and pass down that surname and name by word of mouth. The One can perfect yin and bear yang, and pace the steps of cold and heat. Spring gets it and buds; summer gets it and grows; autumn gets it and gathers; winter gets it and stores. Its greatness cannot be stairwayed by the six directions; its smallness cannot be measured against a hair's tip. In old times the Yellow Emperor went east to Qingqiu, crossed Fengshan, saw the Master of the Purple Palace, and received the Inner Text of the Three August Ones to call up the ten thousand spirits; south he went to the shade of the Jianmu on Yuanyou, beheld where the hundred numina ascend, plucked the Ruogan flowers, and drank the waters of the cinnabar ridges; west he saw the Master of Central Yellow and received the ninefold formula, crossed Kongtong, and followed Guangchengzi to receive the Scripture of the Natural; north he reached Hongdi, climbed Juci, saw Lord Dawei and the Lad of the Yellow Canopy, and received the Chart of the Divine Zhi; returning he climbed Wangwu and obtained the record of the golden formula of the divine elixir. At Mount Emei, in the Jade Hall, he saw the August Man of Heaven's Truth and asked about the way of the True One. The August Man said: you already rule over the four seas, and you want to seek long life besides—is that not greedy? What mutually covers one another cannot be told in full; I shall raise but one corner. For the immortal recipe of long life there is only the golden elixir; for guarding the form and fending off evil there is only the True One—so the men of old prized them above all. The immortal scripture says: the Nine-Cycled Elixir, the Scripture of the Golden Liquor, and the Formula of Keeping the One all lie within the five cities of Kunlun, stored in jade cases, inscribed on slips of gold, sealed with purple clay, stamped with the central seal. I heard from my late teacher: the One is in the great deep of the northern pole; before it the Hall of Light, behind it the Scarlet Palace; towering the floriate canopy, the golden towers vaulting; the gang on the left, the kui on the right, beating waves that lift the sky; dark zhi draping the cliffs, vermilion herbs entwining; white jade soaring, sun and moon shedding their light; passing through fire, crossing water, treading the dark, pacing the yellow; walls and towers crossing, curtains of jade and gem; dragon and tiger ranged in guard, the divine man beside; it bestows not, it gives not—the One rests in its place;

不遲不疾，一安其室；能暇能豫，一乃不去；守一存真，乃能通神；少欲約食，一乃留息；白刃臨頸，思一得生；知一不難，難在於終；守之不失，可以無窮；陸辟惡獸，水卻蛟龍；不畏魍魎，挾毒之蟲；鬼不敢近，刃不敢中。此真一之大略也。”

(Baopuzi went on:) 'not slow, not fast—the One rests at ease in its chamber; able to idle, able to take leisure—the One does not depart; keep the One and preserve the true—then you can commune with spirits; few desires and sparing food—the One stays its breath; a white blade at your neck—think on the One and live; knowing the One is not hard—the hard is carrying through to the end; keep it unfailing—you may go on without limit; on land it wards off evil beasts, in water it drives back the jiaolong; fear not the wangliang or the poison-bearing insects; ghosts dare not draw near, blades dare not strike. This is the outline of the True One.'

抱朴子曰：“吾聞之於師云，道術諸經，所思存念作，可以卻惡防身者，乃有數千法。如含影藏形，及守形無生，九變十二化二十四生等，思見身中諸神，而內視令見之法，不可勝計，亦各有效也。然或乃思作數千物以自衛，率多煩難，足以大勞人意。若知守一之道，則一切除棄此輩，故曰能知一則萬事畢者也。受真一口訣，皆有明文，歃白牲之血，以王相之日受之，以白絹白銀為約，克金契而分之，輕說妄傳，其神不行也。人能守一，一亦守人。所以白刃無所措其銳，百害無所容其兇，居敗能成，在危獨安也。若在鬼廟之中，山林之下，大疫之地，冢墓之閒，虎狼之藪，蛇蝮之處，守一不怠，眾惡遠迸。若忽偶忘守一，而為百鬼所害。或臥而魘者，即出中庭視輔星，握固守一，鬼即去矣。若夫陰雨者，但止室中，向北思見輔星而已。若為兵寇所圍，無復生地，急入六甲陰中，伏而守一，則五兵不能犯之也。能守一者，行萬里，入軍旅，涉大川，不須卜日擇時，起工移徙，入新屋舍，皆不復按堪輿星曆，而不避太歲太陰將軍、月建煞耗之神，年命之忌，終不復值殃咎也。先賢歷試有驗之道也。”

Baopuzi said: 'I heard from my teacher: among the scriptures of the Way's arts, the meditations, visualizations, and workings that can repel evil and guard the body run to thousands of methods—such as containing the shadow and hiding the form, guarding the form without begetting, the nine transformations, the twelve changes, the twenty-four begettings, and the methods of visualizing the spirits within the body and seeing them with inward sight—beyond counting, and each has its effect. But then to visualize thousands of things for one's own defense is mostly troublesome and hard, enough to weary a man's mind greatly. If one knows the way of keeping the One, all such are cast aside; so it is said: knowing the One, the ten thousand things are done. Receiving the oral formula of the True One has clear written rules: smear the blood of a white beast, receive it on a kingly day, take white silk and white silver as the pledge, carve a golden tally and split it; speak of it lightly or transmit it wrongly, and the spirits will not act. If a man can keep the One, the One also keeps him. So a white blade has nowhere to set its edge, a hundred harms no room to work their evil; in defeat he can succeed, in danger he alone is safe. In the temples of ghosts, beneath the mountains and forests, on lands of great plague, among graves and mounds, in the thickets of tigers and wolves, in the haunts of vipers—keep the One unflagging and the many evils burst far away. If suddenly one forgets to keep the One, the hundred ghosts may hurt him. If a nightmare oppresses him in sleep, let him go out to the middle court, look upon the star Fuxing, grip firmly and keep the One—the ghost departs. In dark rain he may simply stay within the room, face north, and think on Fuxing. If beset by soldiers with no ground of life left, let him quickly enter the shade of the Six Jia, crouch, and keep the One—the five weapons cannot touch him. One who can keep the One may walk ten thousand li, enter the ranks of armies, and cross great waters without need to divine days or choose times; beginning works, changing dwelling, entering a new house—he no longer consults geomancy or the star-calendars and does not shun Taisui, Taiyin, the generals, the baleful star of the month-establishment, or the taboos of his year-fate, and he never meets calamity. This is the way the former worthies proved by repeated trial.'

抱朴子曰：“玄一之道，亦要法也。無所不闢，與真一同功。吾內篇第一名之為暢玄者，正以此也。守玄一復易於守真一。真一有姓字長短服色目，玄一但此見之。初求之於日中，所謂知白守黑，欲死不得者也。然先當百日潔齋，乃可候求得之耳，亦不過三四日得之，得之守之，則不復去矣。守玄一，並思其身，分為三人，三人已見，又轉益之，可至數十人，皆如己身，隱之顯之，皆自有口訣，此所謂分形之道。左君及薊子訓葛仙公所以能一日至數十處，及有客座上，有一主人與客語，門中又有一主人迎客，而水側又有一主人投釣，賓不能別何者為真主人也。師言守一兼修明鏡，其鏡道成則能分形為數十人，衣服面貌，皆如一也。”

Baopuzi said: 'The way of the Dark One is also an essential method. It wards off everything, equal in work to the True One. That my first inner chapter calls it "Unfolding the Dark" is for this reason. Keeping the Dark One is easier than keeping the True One. The True One has surname and name, stature, dress-colors, and eyes; the Dark One is simply seen as it is. At first you seek it within the sun—what is called knowing the white and keeping the black, where wanting to die you cannot. But first you must fast in purity a hundred days before you may await and seek it, and it is obtained in no more than three or four days; once obtained, keep it, and it does not leave again. Keeping the Dark One, you also think of your own body divided into three men; once the three men are seen, you increase them again and again, up to dozens, all like your own body; hiding them and showing them each has its oral formula—this is called the way of dividing the form. That Lord Zuo, Ji Zixun, and the immortal Lord Ge could be in dozens of places in one day: a guest seated, one host talking with the guest, another host in the doorway greeting guests, and yet another host by the water casting a line—the guest cannot tell which is the true host. My teacher said: keep the One and cultivate the bright mirror besides; when the way of the mirror is done you can divide the form into dozens of persons, dress and features all like one.'

抱朴子曰：“師言欲長生，當勤服大藥，欲得通神，當金水分形。形分則自見其身中之三魂七魄，而天靈地祇，皆可接見，山川之神，皆可使役也。”

Baopuzi said: 'My teacher said: to want long life, take the great medicine diligently; to want communion with spirits, use gold and water to divide the form. Once the form is divided you see for yourself the three hun and seven po within your body, and the celestial numina and earthly spirits can all be received in audience, and the spirits of mountains and rivers can all be put to work.'

抱朴子曰：“生可惜也，死可畏也。然長生養性闢死者，亦未有不始於勤，而終成於久視也。道成之後，略無所為也。未成之閒，無不為也。採掘草木之藥，劬勞山澤之中，煎餌治作，皆用筋力，登危涉險，夙夜不怠，非有至志，不能久也。及欲金丹成而昇天，然其大藥物，皆用錢直，不可卒辦。當復由於耕牧商販以索資，累年積勤，然後可合。及於合作之日，當復齋潔清淨，斷絕人事。有諸不易，而當復加之以思神守一，卻惡衛身，常如人君之治國，戎將之待敵，乃可為得長生之功也。以聰明大智，任經世濟俗之器，而修此事，乃可必得耳。淺近庸人，雖有志好，不能克終矣。故一人之身，一國之象也。胸腹之位，猶宮室也。四肢之列，猶郊境也。骨節之分，猶百官也。神猶君也，血猶臣也，氣猶民也。故知治身，則能治國也。夫愛其民所以安其國，養其氣所以全其身。民散則國亡，氣竭即身死，死者不可生也，亡者不可存也。是以至人消未起之患，治未病之疾，醫之於無事之前，不追之於既逝之後。民難養而易危也，氣難清而易濁也。故審威德所以保社稷，割嗜慾所以固血氣。然後真一存焉，三七守焉，百害卻焉，年命延矣。”

Baopuzi said: 'Life is to be cherished, death to be feared. Yet lengthening life, nourishing the nature, and repelling death never fails to begin in diligence and end in long watching. Once the Way is completed there is almost nothing to be done; before it is completed there is nothing that is not done. Digging and gathering the medicines of herb and tree is toilsome labor in mountains and meres; decocting, preparing, and compounding them all takes the strength of sinew; climbing the perilous and treading the steep without flagging morning or night—except by utmost will it cannot last. When at last one wants the golden elixir to be made so as to ascend to heaven, yet those great materials all cost money and cannot be hastily got ready; one must, by tilling and herding and trading as a merchant, seek the funds, piling up years of toil before they can be compounded. And when the day of compounding comes, one must again fast in purity and quiet and cut off the affairs of men. When all these difficulties are done, one must add thinking on the spirits and keeping the One, repelling evil and guarding the person, ever like a ruler governing a state or a war-leader awaiting the foe—only then can the work of long life be reckoned done. Take a man of keen intelligence and great wisdom, endowed with the capacity to order the age and aid the age's customs, and let him cultivate this work—only then can it be surely obtained. Shallow, common men, though they have the will and the love of it, cannot carry it to the end. Therefore a single man's body is the image of a single state. The place of breast and belly is like the palace; the array of the four limbs is like the marches; the division of the joints is like the hundred officers. The spirit is like the lord, the blood like the ministers, the qi like the people. Thus to know how to govern the body is to know how to govern the state. He cherishes his people and so his state is at peace; he nourishes his qi and so his body is whole. When the people scatter the state is lost; when the qi is used up the body dies; the dead cannot be brought to life, the lost cannot be made to stand. So the perfect man extinguishes the calamity not yet risen, treats the illness not yet formed, heals before anything is wrong and does not chase after it once it has gone. The people are hard to nourish and easy to endanger; the qi is hard to keep clear and easy to make turbid. Thus weighing out awe and bounty preserves the altars of the state, and cutting off appetites and desires makes blood and qi firm. Then the True One abides, the three and the seven are kept, the hundred harms withdraw, and the years of life are lengthened.'

抱朴子曰：“師言服金丹大藥，雖未去世，百邪不近也。若但服草木及小小餌八石，適可令疾除命益耳，不足以禳外來之禍也。或為鬼所冒犯，或為大山神之所輕凌，或為精魅所侵犯，唯有守真一，可以一切不畏此輩也。次則有帶神符。若了不知此二事以求長生，危矣哉。四門而閉其三，盜猶得入，況盡開者邪？”

Baopuzi said: 'My teacher said: taking the great medicine of the golden elixir, though one has not yet departed the world, the hundred evils do not approach. If one takes only herbs and trees and small preparations of the eight minerals, it can only make illness leave and life increase—it is not enough to avert calamity coming from without. If one is offended by ghosts, or slighted and bullied by the spirits of great mountains, or trespassed on by sprites and goblins, only keeping the True One lets one fear none of these at all. Next there is wearing the divine talismans. If a man knows neither of these two things and seeks long life, he is in peril. Of four doors shut three, and a thief can still get in—how much more when all stand open!'

或曰：“鄙人面牆，拘繫儒教，獨知有五經三史百氏之言，及浮華之詩賦，無益之短文，盡思守此，既有年矣。既生值多難之運，亂靡有定，干戈戚揚，藝文不貴，徒消工夫，苦意極思，攻微索隱，竟不能祿在其中，免此壟畝；又有損於精思，無益於年命，二毛告暮，素志衰頹，正欲反迷，以尋生道，倉卒罔極，無所趨向，若涉大川，不如攸濟。先生既窮觀墳典，又兼綜奇秘，不審道書，凡有幾卷，願告篇目。”

Someone said: 'This lowly man has faced a wall, bound and tied to the Ru teaching; he knows only the words of the Five Classics, the Three Histories, and the hundred schools, together with flower-floating poems and rhapsodies and useless short pieces; giving all his thought to keeping these, he has spent his years. Having been born into a fate of many troubles, with disorder unsettled, shield and axe lifted, letters and arts unprized, he vainly consumed his labor, racking his mind to the utmost, attacking the subtle, plumbing the hidden—and in the end could not win an emolument by them, nor escape the furrows; and moreover they wore down his keen thinking while profiting his years and life nothing. His two streaks of hair announce the evening; his lifelong aim lies fallen. Now he longs to turn back from the lost road and seek the way of life, but in haste has no bound and no direction, like one crossing a great river not knowing where to ford. Since you, sir, have thoroughly surveyed the ancient texts and have also mastered the strange and secret, may I not ask how many scrolls the books of the Way number in all? I beg you to tell me the titles.'

抱朴子曰：“餘亦與子同斯疾者也。昔者幸遇明師鄭君，但恨弟子不慧，不足以鑽至堅極彌高耳。於時雖充門人之灑掃，既才識短淺，又年尚少壯，意思不專，俗情未盡，不能大有所得，以為巨恨耳。鄭君時年出八十，先發鬢班白，數年閒又黑，顏色豐悅，能引強弩射百步，步行日數百里，飲酒二斗不醉。每上山，體力輕便，登危越險，年少追之，多所不及。飲食與凡人不異，不見其絕谷。餘問先隨之弟子黃章，言鄭君嘗從豫章還，於掘溝浦中，連值大風。又聞前多劫賊，同侶攀留鄭君，以須後伴，人人皆以糧少，鄭君推米以恤諸人，己不復食，五十日亦不飢。又不見其所施為，不知以何事也。火下細書，過少年人。性解音律，善鼓琴，閒坐，侍坐數人，口答諮問，言不輟響，而耳並料聽，左右操弦者，教遣長短，無毫釐差過也。餘晚充鄭君門人，請見方書，告餘曰：要道不過尺素，上足以度世，不用多也。然博涉之後，遠勝於不見矣。既悟人意，又可得淺近之術，以防初學未成者諸患也。乃先以道家訓教戒書不要者近百卷，稍稍示餘。餘亦多所先見，先見者頗以其中疑事諮問之。鄭君言：君有甄事之才，可教也。然君所知者，雖多未精，又意在於外學，不能專一，未中以經深涉遠耳，今自當以佳書相示也。又許漸得短書縑素所寫者，積年之中，合集所見，當出二百許卷，終不可得也。他弟子皆親僕使之役，採薪耕田，唯餘尪羸，不堪他勞，然無以自效，常親掃除，拂拭床幾，磨墨執燭，及與鄭君繕寫故書而已。見待餘同於先進者，語餘曰，雜道書卷卷有佳事，但當校其精粗，而擇所施行，不事盡諳誦，以妨日月而勞意思耳。若金丹一成，則此輩一切不用也。亦或當有所教授，宜得本末，先後淺始，以勸進學者，無所希準階由也。鄭君亦不肯先令人寫其書，皆當決其意，雖久借之，然莫有敢盜寫一字者也。

Baopuzi said: 'I share this same sickness with you. Long ago I was fortunate to meet the enlightened teacher Lord Zheng; I regret only that his disciple was not clever, unequal to boring into the hardest and scaling the highest. Though I filled the place of a sweeper among his disciples, my talent and knowledge were short and shallow, my years still young and strong, my intent not single, my worldly feelings not yet spent—I could gain nothing great, which I take as a great regret. Lord Zheng was then past eighty; his hair and temples had been streaked with white, yet within a few years they turned black again; his look was full and pleased; he could draw a strong crossbow to shoot a hundred paces, walk several hundred li in a day, and drink two dou of wine without drunkenness. Whenever he climbed a mountain his strength was light and quick; mounting the perilous and crossing the steep, young men chasing him mostly could not keep up. In eating and drinking he differed nothing from ordinary men; one never saw him cut off grain. I asked Huang Zhang, a disciple who had followed him earlier, who said that once when Lord Zheng was returning from Yuzhang, in the Juegou reach he met with a great wind for days; hearing there were robbers ahead, his companions held Lord Zheng back to wait for the rear party. Since everyone's grain was short, Lord Zheng gave up his rice to aid the others and himself ate no more—fifty days and he was not hungry. Yet one could not see what he practiced, nor know by what he did it. He wrote small characters by firelight better than a youth. By nature he understood music and played the qin well; sitting at leisure with several attendants by, he answered their questions aloud without pause, while his ear at once gauged the players at his sides, directing each long or short note without a hair's error. When I late became Lord Zheng's disciple and asked to see the books of methods, he told me: the essential way takes no more than a foot of silk; what surpasses it suffices to pass beyond the world—no need for much. Yet after ranging broadly, one far surpasses not having seen. Once it opens a man's mind, one may also pick up the shallow and near methods to guard against the troubles of beginners not yet accomplished. So he first let me see, little by little, nearly a hundred scrolls of Daoist admonitions and precepts that were not essential. Much of it I had already seen, and on what I had seen I questioned him about doubtful points. Lord Zheng said: you have the gift of discrimination; you may be taught. But what you know, though much, is not yet keen; and your mind is still on outer learning, not single—unfit to be taken through the deep and far; now of course I will show you good books. He also promised that I should gradually get short texts written on silk; gathering over the years what I saw came to more than two hundred scrolls, yet in the end I could not have them. His other disciples all did the work of servants—gathering firewood, plowing fields; only I was frail and unfit for the other labors, and having no way to make myself of use, I always swept in person, dusted couch and table, ground ink and held the candle, and copied old books for Lord Zheng. He treated me like one of the senior men and told me: the miscellaneous books of the Way have good matter in every scroll; you should only weigh the fine from the coarse and choose what to put into practice—there is no need to master them all, hindering your days and wearying your mind. Once the golden elixir is made, all of this kind is of no use. Still, as there was to be teaching, it was right to have root and branches, beginning from the shallow, to encourage learners onward, though without hope of a stair to climb by. Lord Zheng would not let men copy his books beforehand; all had to be decided by his own intent, and though one might borrow them long, none dared steal a single character.'

鄭君本大儒士也，晚而好道，由以禮記尚書教授不絕。其體望高亮，風格方整，接見之者皆肅然。每有諮問，常待其溫顏，不敢輕銳也。書在餘處者，久之一月，足以大有所寫，以不敢竊寫者，政以鄭君聰敏，邂逅知之，失其意則更以小喪大也。然於求受之初，復所不敢，為斟酌時有所請耳。是以徒知飲河，而不得滿腹。然弟子五十餘人，唯餘見受金丹之經及三皇內文枕中五行記，其餘人乃有不得一觀此書之首題者矣。他書雖不具得，皆疏其名，今將為子說之，後生好書者，可以廣索也。

(Baopuzi went on:) 'Lord Zheng was at root a great Ru scholar; late in life he loved the Way, yet still taught the Book of Rites and the Book of Documents without ceasing. His person and name stood high and bright, his manner square and ordered; all who were received by him felt awe. Whenever one had a question, one always waited for a kindly look, not daring to be forward. The books stayed in my keeping as long as a month, long enough to copy much; that I dared not copy secretly was because Lord Zheng was keen—should he learn of it by chance I would lose his favor, losing the great for the small. And at the start of seeking and receiving, it was also what I dared not do; I only asked at times as measure allowed. Thus I only knew to drink from the river, never getting my belly full. Of his fifty and more disciples, I alone was taught the scripture of the golden elixir, the Inner Text of the Three August Ones, and the Record of the Five Phases from Within the Pillow; of the rest there were some who never got so much as a look at these books' title slips. Though I did not obtain all the other books, I noted down their names and will now tell them to you; young men who love books may seek them widely.'

道經有三皇內文天地人三卷、元文上中下三卷、混成經二卷、玄錄二卷、九生經、二十四生經、九仙經、靈卜仙經、十二化經、九變經、老君玉曆真經、墨子枕中五行記五卷、溫寶經、息民經、自然經、陰陽經、養生書一百五卷、太平經五十卷、九敬經、甲乙經一百七十卷、青龍經、中黃經、太清經、通明經、按摩經、道引經十卷、元陽子經、玄女經、素女經、彭祖經、陳赦經、子都經、張虛經、天門子經、容成經、入山經、內寶經、四規經、明鏡經、日月臨鏡經、五言經、柱中經、靈寶皇子心經、龍蹻經、正機經、平衡經、飛龜振經、鹿盧蹻經、蹈形記、守形圖、坐亡圖、觀臥引圖、含景圖、觀天圖、木芝圖、菌芝圖、肉芝圖、石芝圖、大魄雜芝圖、五嶽經五卷、隱守記、東井圖、虛元經、牽牛中經、王彌記、臘成記、六安記、鶴鳴記、平都記、定心記、龜文經、山陽記、玉策記、八史圖、入室經、左右契、玉曆經、昇天儀、九奇經、更生經、四衿經十卷、食日月精經、食六氣經、丹一經、胎息經、行氣治病經、勝中經十卷、百守攝提經、丹壺經、岷山經、魏伯陽內經、日月廚食經、步三罡六紀經、入軍經、六陰玉女經、四君要用經、金雁經、三十六水經、白虎七變經、道家地行仙經、黃白要經、八公黃白經、天師神器經、枕中黃白經五卷、白子變化經、移災經、厭禍經、中黃經、文人經、涓子天地人經、崔文子肘後經、神光占方來經、水仙經、尸解經、中遁經、李君包天經、包元經、黃庭經、淵體經、太素經、華蓋經、行廚經、微言三卷、內視經、文始先生經、歷藏延年經、南闊記、協龍子記七卷、九宮五卷、三五中經、宣常經、節解經、鄒陽子經、玄洞經十卷、玄示經十卷、箕山經十卷、鹿臺經、小僮經、河洛內記七卷、舉形道成經五卷、道機經五卷、見鬼記、無極經、宮氏經、真人玉胎經、道根經、候命圖、反胎胞經、枕中清記、幻化經、詢化經、金華山經、鳳網經、召命經、保神記、鬼谷經、凌霄子安神記、去丘子黃山公記、王子五行要真經、小餌經、鴻寶經、鄒生延命經、安魂記、皇道經、九陰經、雜集書錄、銀函玉匱記金板經、黃老仙錄、原都經、玄元經、日精經、渾成經、三尸集、呼身神治百病經、收山鬼老魅治邪精經三卷、入五毒中記、休糧經三卷、採神藥治作秘法三卷、登名山渡江海敕地神法三卷、趙太白囊中要五卷、入溫氣疫病大禁七卷、收治百鬼召五嶽丞太山主者記三卷、興利宮宅官舍法五卷、斷虎狼禁山林記、召百里蟲蛇記、萬畢高丘先生法三卷、王喬養性治身經三卷、服食禁忌經、立功益算經、道士奪算律三卷、移門子記、鬼兵法、立亡術、練形記五卷、郄公道要、角里先生長生集、少君道意十卷、樊英石壁文三卷、思靈經三卷、龍首經、荊山記、孔安仙淵赤斧子大覽七卷、董君地仙卻老要記、李先生口訣肘後二卷。

Among the scriptures of the Way there are the Inner Text of the Three August Ones in three scrolls—Heaven, Earth, and Man; the Primal Text in three scrolls—upper, middle, and lower; the Scripture of Blended Wholeness in two scrolls; the Dark Register in two scrolls; the Scripture of the Nine Begettings; the Scripture of the Twenty-four Begettings; the Scripture of the Nine Immortals; the Scripture of the Numinous Divination of the Immortals; the Scripture of the Twelve Transformations; the Scripture of the Nine Changes; the True Scripture of Laojun's Jade Calendar; the Record of the Five Phases from Mozi's Pillow in five scrolls; the Scripture of the Warm Treasure; the Scripture of Resting the Folk; the Scripture of the Natural; the Scripture of Yin and Yang; the Book of Nourishing Life in a hundred five scrolls; the Scripture of Great Peace in fifty scrolls; the Scripture of the Nine Reverences; the Scripture of Jia and Yi in a hundred seventy scrolls; the Scripture of the Green Dragon; the Scripture of the Central Yellow; the Scripture of Grand Clarity; the Scripture of Penetrating Light; the Scripture of Massage; the Scripture of Daoyin in ten scrolls; the Scripture of Master Yuanyang; the Scripture of the Dark Maiden; the Scripture of the Plain Maiden; the Scripture of Pengzu; the Scripture of Chen She; the Scripture of Zidu; the Scripture of Zhang Xu; the Scripture of Master Tianmen; the Scripture of Rongcheng; the Scripture of Entering Mountains; the Scripture of the Inner Treasure; the Scripture of the Four Rules; the Scripture of the Bright Mirror; the Scripture of Sun and Moon Looking into the Mirror; the Scripture of the Five Words; the Scripture Within the Pillar; the Heart Scripture of Prince Lingbao; the Scripture of Dragon Stilts; the Scripture of the Right Mechanism; the Scripture of the Level Balance; the Scripture of the Flying Tortoise's Wingbeat; the Scripture of the Windlass Stilts; the Record of Treading the Form; the Chart of Guarding the Form; the Chart of Sitting Death; the Chart of Beholding the Reclining Stretch; the Chart of Containing the Light; the Chart of Beholding Heaven; the Chart of Wood Zhi; the Chart of Fungus Zhi; the Chart of Flesh Zhi; the Chart of Stone Zhi; the Chart of the Great Po and Assorted Zhi; the Scripture of the Five Peaks in five scrolls; the Record of Hidden Keeping; the Chart of the Eastern Well; the Scripture of the Empty Origin; the Inner Scripture of the Herdboy; the Record of Wang Mi; the Record of Lacheng; the Record of Liu'an; the Record of the Crane's Cry; the Record of Pingdu; the Record of Settling the Heart; the Scripture of the Tortoise Script; the Record of Shanyang; the Record of the Jade Slips; the Chart of the Eight Scribes; the Scripture of Entering the Chamber; the Left and Right Tallies; the Scripture of the Jade Calendar; the Rite of Ascending to Heaven; the Scripture of the Nine Marvels; the Scripture of Renewed Life; the Scripture of the Four Collars in ten scrolls; the Scripture of Eating the Essences of Sun and Moon; the Scripture of Eating the Six Qi; the Scripture of the Cinnabar One; the Scripture of the Womb-Breath; the Scripture of Circulating Qi to Cure Illness; the Scripture of the Victorious Center in ten scrolls; the Scripture of the Hundred Keeps of Sheti; the Scripture of the Cinnabar Flask; the Scripture of Mount Min; the Inner Scripture of Wei Boyang; the Scripture of Kitchen-Fare of Sun and Moon; the Scripture of Pacing the Three Gang and Six Rules; the Scripture of Entering Armies; the Scripture of the Jade Maidens of the Six Yin; the Scripture of the Essential Uses of the Four Lords; the Scripture of the Golden Goose; the Scripture of the Thirty-six Waters; the Scripture of the White Tiger's Seven Transformations; the Scripture of the Daoist Earth-Walking Immortals; the Essential Scripture of the Yellow and the White; the Scripture of the Eight Lords' Yellow and White; the Scripture of the Celestial Master's Divine Vessel; the Scripture of the Yellow and the White from Within the Pillow in five scrolls; the Scripture of Master Bai's Transformations; the Scripture of Shifting Calamity; the Scripture of Suppressing Misfortune; the Scripture of the Central Yellow; the Scripture of the Cultured Man; the Scripture of Juanzi's Heaven, Earth, and Man; the Scripture of Cui Wenzi's Behind-the-Elbow; the Scripture of Spirit-Light Divining What Approaches; the Scripture of the Water Immortal; the Scripture of Corpse-Release; the Scripture of the Central Retreat; the Scripture of Lord Li's Encompassing Heaven; the Scripture of Encompassing the Origin; the Scripture of the Yellow Court; the Scripture of the Deep Body; the Scripture of Grand Simplicity; the Scripture of the Floriate Canopy; the Scripture of the Traveling Kitchen; the Subtle Words in three scrolls; the Scripture of Inward Vision; the Scripture of Master Wenshi; the Scripture of Prolonging Years through the Viscera; the Record of Nankuo; the Record of Master Xielong in seven scrolls; the Nine Palaces in five scrolls; the Middle Scripture of the Three and the Five; the Scripture of Proclaiming the Constant; the Scripture of Explaining the Joints; the Scripture of Master Zouyang; the Scripture of the Dark Cavern in ten scrolls; the Scripture of Dark Instruction in ten scrolls; the Scripture of Mount Ji in ten scrolls; the Scripture of the Deer Terrace; the Scripture of the Little Lad; the Inner Record of the River and the Luo in seven scrolls; the Scripture of Raising the Form, the Way Completed, in five scrolls; the Scripture of the Mechanism of the Way in five scrolls; the Record of Seeing Ghosts; the Scripture of the Limitless; the Scripture of the Gong Family; the Scripture of the True Man's Jade Embryo; the Scripture of the Root of the Way; the Chart of Awaiting the Mandate; the Scripture of Returning to the Womb; the Pure Record from Within the Pillow; the Scripture of Illusory Transformation; the Scripture of Inquiring Transformation; the Scripture of Mount Jinhua; the Scripture of the Phoenix Net; the Scripture of the Summoning Mandate; the Record of Preserving the Spirit; the Scripture of Ghost Valley; the Record of Master Lingxiao's Quieting the Spirit; the Record of Master Quqiu on Lord Huangshan; the True Scripture of Master Wang's Essentials of the Five Phases; the Scripture of the Little Diet; the Scripture of the Vast Treasure; the Scripture of Zou Sheng's Prolonging Life; the Record of Quieting the Hun; the Scripture of the August Way; the Scripture of the Nine Yin; the Miscellaneous Collected Catalogue; the Scripture of the Golden Tablets Recorded in the Silver Case and Jade Coffer; the Immortal Register of Huang-Lao; the Scripture of the Primal Metropolis; the Scripture of the Dark Origin; the Scripture of the Sun's Essence; the Scripture of Merged Wholeness; the Collection on the Three Corpses; the Scripture of Calling the Body's Spirits to Cure the Hundred Ills; the Scripture of Gathering Mountain Ghosts and Old Goblins to Treat Vicious Sprites in three scrolls; the Record of Entering among the Five Poisons; the Scripture of Leaving Off Grain in three scrolls; the Secret Method of Gathering Divine Medicines and Preparing Them in three scrolls; the Method of Mounting Famous Mountains and Crossing Rivers and Seas, Commanding the Earth Spirits, in three scrolls; the Essentials from Zhao Taibai's Bag in five scrolls; the Great Prohibition for Entering Warm Miasma and Epidemic in seven scrolls; the Record of Gathering and Governing the Hundred Ghosts, Summoning the Assistants of the Five Peaks and the Governor of Mount Tai, in three scrolls; the Method of Prospering Palace, House, and Official Dwelling in five scrolls; the Record of Barring Tigers and Wolves and Prohibiting in Mountains and Forests; the Record of Summoning Insects and Snakes from a Hundred Li; the Method of Master Wanbi Gaoqiu in three scrolls; the Scripture of Wang Qiao's Nourishing the Nature and Governing the Body in three scrolls; the Scripture of Taboos in Taking Medicines; the Scripture of Establishing Merit and Increasing the Count; the Statutes of the Daoists' Seizure of the Count in three scrolls; the Record of Master Yimen; the Method of Ghostly Soldiery; the Art of Vanishing on the Spot; the Record of Refining the Form in five scrolls; the Essential Way of Lord Xi; the Long-Life Collection of Master Luli; the Intent of the Way of Shaojun in ten scrolls; Fan Ying's Stone-Wall Text in three scrolls; the Scripture of Thinking on the Numina in three scrolls; the Scripture of the Dragon's Head; the Record of Mount Jing; the Great Survey of Kong An, Xianyuan, and Master Chifu in seven scrolls; Lord Dong's Essential Record of the Earth-Immortal Repelling Age; and Master Li's Oral Formula Behind the Elbow in two scrolls.

凡有不言卷數者，皆一卷也。

Wherever no number of scrolls is stated, it is one scroll.

其次有諸符，則有自來符、金光符、太玄符三卷、通天符、五精符、石室符、玉策符、枕中符、小童符、九靈符、六君符、玄都符、黃帝符、少千三十六將軍符、延命神符、天水神符、四十九真符、天水符、青龍符、白虎符、朱雀符、玄武符、朱胎符、七機符、九天發兵符、九天符、老經符、七符、大捍厄符、玄子符、武孝經燕君龍虎三囊闢兵符、包元符、沈羲符、禹蹻符、消災符、八卦符、監乾符、雷電符、萬畢符、八威五勝符、威喜符、巨勝符、采女符、玄精符、玉曆符、北臺符、陰陽大鎮符、枕中符、治百病符十卷、厭怪符十卷、壺公符二十卷、九臺符九卷、六甲通靈符十卷、六陰行廚龍胎石室三金五木防終符合五百卷、軍火召治符、玉斧符十卷，此皆大符也。其餘小小，不可具記。”抱朴子曰：“鄭君言符出於老君，皆天文也。老君能通於神明，符皆神明所授。今人用之少驗者，由於出來歷久，傳寫之多誤故也。又信心不篤，施用之亦不行。又譬之於書字，則符誤者，不但無益，將能有害也。書字人知之，猶尚寫之多誤。故諺曰，書三寫，魚成魯，虛成虎，此之謂也。七與士，但以倨勾長短之閒為異耳。然今符上字不可讀，誤不可覺，故莫知其不定也。世閒又有受體使術，用符獨效者，亦如人有使麝香便能芳者，自然不可得傳也。雖爾，必得不誤之符，正心用之。但當不及真體使之者速效耳，皆自有益也。凡為道士求長生，志在藥中耳，符劍可以卻鬼辟邪而已。諸大符乃雲行用之可以得仙者，亦不可專據也。昔吳世有介象者，能讀符文，知誤之與否。有人試取治百病雜符及諸厭劾符，去其籤題以示象，皆一一據名之。其有誤者，便為人定之。自是以來，莫有能知者也。”

Next there are the various talismans: the Self-Coming talisman; the Golden-Light talisman; the Great Dark Talismans in three scrolls; the Heaven-Piercing talisman; the Five-Essences talisman; the Stone-Chamber talisman; the Jade-Slip talisman; the Within-the-Pillow talisman; the Little-Lad talisman; the Nine-Numina talisman; the Six-Lords talisman; the Dark-Capital talisman; the Yellow-Emperor talisman; the talisman of Shaoqian's Thirty-six Generals; the Divine Life-Prolonging talisman; the Divine Heaven-Water talisman; the Forty-nine True talismans; the Heaven-Water talisman; the Green-Dragon talisman; the White-Tiger talisman; the Vermilion-Bird talisman; the Dark-Warrior talisman; the Vermilion-Embryo talisman; the Seven-Mechanisms talisman; the Nine-Heavens Muster-Troops talisman; the Nine-Heavens talisman; the Old-Classic talisman; the Seven talismans; the Great Warding-Calamity talisman; the Dark-Master talisman; the talisman of Lord Yan's three dragon-and-tiger bags of the Wuxiao Scripture for repelling weapons; the Encompassing-Origin talisman; the Shen Xi talisman; the Yu-Stilt talisman; the Calamity-Dissolving talisman; the Eight-Trigrams talisman; the Overseeing-Qian talisman; the Thunder-and-Lightning talisman; the Wanbi talisman; the Eight-Powers Five-Victories talisman; the Weixi talisman; the Jusheng talisman; the Cainü talisman; the Dark-Essence talisman; the Jade-Calendar talisman; the Northern-Terrace talisman; the Great Yin-Yang Quelling talisman; the Within-the-Pillow talisman; the Talismans for Curing the Hundred Ills in ten scrolls; the Talismans for Suppressing Prodigies in ten scrolls; the Talismans of Lord Hu in twenty scrolls; the Nine-Terrace Talismans in nine scrolls; the Talismans of the Six Jia for Communion with Numina in ten scrolls; the talismans of the Six Yin, the Traveling Kitchen, the Dragon Embryo, the Stone Chamber, the Three Metals, the Five Woods, and the Guarding-the-End—five hundred scrolls in all; the talisman for quelling army-fires; and the Jade-Axe Talismans in ten scrolls—these are all great talismans; the small and lesser ones cannot all be recorded.' Baopuzi said: 'Lord Zheng said that talismans came forth from Laojun and are all celestial script. Laojun could commune with the divine illumination, and the talismans were all bestowed by the divine illumination. That men who use them today find little proof is because they have come down through long ages and been copied with many errors; and again, where the believing heart is not firm, the putting to use does not work either. It is like the writing of characters: a talisman gone wrong is not only useless—it can even do harm. Men who write characters know this, and still they write many errors. So the proverb says: copy a text three times and a fish becomes a lu, an xu becomes a tiger—this is just what is meant. Between qi and shi the difference is only a longer or shorter hooked stroke. But now the characters on talismans cannot be read, and their errors cannot be seen, so no one can know whether they are right. In the world there are also those who receive a body-enabling art by which talismans alone take effect, as there are men for whom carrying musk makes them fragrant—it naturally cannot be transmitted. Even so, get talismans free of error and use them with a right heart; it is merely that the effect is not as swift as with one who can truly embody the art—all of them have benefit. In general a Daoist seeking long life sets his aim in the medicines; talismans and swords can only drive off ghosts and repel evil. That the great talismans claim one may attain immortality by using them is not to be trusted alone. In former times under Wu there was Jie Xiang, who could read talisman script and knew whether it was wrong or not. Someone tested him with the miscellaneous cure-the-hundred-ills talismans and the various suppressive talismans, removed the title slips, and showed them to Xiang—he named them one and all; those that had errors he corrected for them. From that time to this, none has been able to know.'

或問：“仙藥之大者，莫先於金丹，既聞命矣，敢問符書之屬，不審最神乎？”抱朴子曰：“餘聞鄭君言，道書之重者，莫過於三皇內文五嶽真形圖也。古人仙官至人，尊秘此道，非有仙名者，不可授也。受之四十年一傳，傳之歃血而盟，委質為約。諸名山五嶽，皆有此書，但藏之於石室幽隱之地，應得道者，入山精誠思之，則山神自開山，令人見之。如帛仲理者，於山中得之，自立壇委絹，常畫一本而去也。有此書，常置清潔之處。每有所為，必先白之，如奉君父。其經曰，家有三皇文，辟邪惡鬼，溫疫氣，橫殃飛禍。若有困病垂死，其信道心至者，以此書與持之，必不死也。其乳婦難艱絕氣者持之，兒即生矣。道士欲求長生，持此書入山，闢虎狼山精，五毒百邪，皆不敢近人。可以涉江海，卻蛟龍，止風波。得其法，可以變化起工。不問地擇日，家無殃咎。若欲立新宅及冢墓，即寫地皇文數十通，以布著地，明日視之，有黃色所著者，便於其上起工，家必富昌。又因他人葬時，寫人皇文，並書己姓名著紙裡，竊內人冢中，勿令人知之，令人無飛禍盜賊也。有謀議己者，必反自中傷。又此文先潔齋百日，乃可以召天神司命及太歲，日遊五嶽四瀆，社廟之神，皆見形如人，可問以吉凶安危，及病者之禍祟所由也。又有十八字以著衣中，遠涉江海，終無風波之慮也。又家有五嶽真形圖，能闢兵凶逆，人慾害之者，皆還反受其殃。道士時有得之者，若不能行仁義慈心，而不精不正，即禍至滅家，不可輕也。

Someone asked: 'Among the immortal medicines the greatest is none before the golden elixir—I have received the charge; may I ask, among the talisman-books and the like, which kind is the most divine?' Baopuzi said: 'I heard Lord Zheng say that among the books of the Way the weightiest are none other than the Inner Text of the Three August Ones and the Charts of the True Forms of the Five Peaks. The immortal officers and perfect men of old honored and kept this Way secret; one who did not bear an immortal name could not be given it. Once received it is transmitted but once in forty years, smearing blood in covenant at the passing and pledging gifts as the bond. All the famous mountains and five peaks hold these books, but they are stored in stone chambers in hidden places; a man who is due to obtain the Way enters the mountains and thinks on them with utmost sincerity, and the mountain god opens the mountain of himself and lets the man see. So it was with Bo Zhongli, who obtained them within the mountains, set up an altar himself, offered the silk, and often painted a copy to take away. One who has these books always keeps them in a clean place; before every undertaking he first reports to them as if serving his lord and father. That scripture says: a household that holds the Three Augusts' text wards off vicious ghosts, pestilent qi, and sudden flying calamity. If there is a gravely ill man at death's door, let one who believes the Way with utmost heart be given this book to hold—he is sure not to die. A nursing woman in hard labor whose breath is failing holds it and the child is born. A Daoist who seeks long life and carries this book into the mountains wards off tigers, wolves, and mountain sprites; the five poisons and the hundred evils dare not approach the man. He may cross rivers and seas, drive back jiaolong, and still wind and waves. Having that method he can transform and begin works; without consulting the ground or choosing the day, his house suffers no calamity. If you wish to build a new house or a tomb, write the Earth-August text several dozen times and spread them over the ground; next day look, and where there is a yellow mark, begin the work there—the house will surely grow rich and flourish. Also, while others are holding a burial, write the Man-August text together with your own name inside the paper, secretly slip it into the grave without letting anyone know, and that man will have no flying calamity or robbers. Those who plot against yourself are sure to wound themselves in return. Also, having fasted in purity a hundred days over this text, one can summon the celestial gods, the Arbiter of Fate, and Taisui, roam by day the five peaks and four rivers, and the spirits of shrines all appear in human form—one may ask of fortune and peril, and of the cause of a sick man's curse. Again, eighteen characters kept within the clothes: traveling far over rivers and seas, one never has the worry of wind and waves. Again, a house that holds the Charts of the True Forms of the Five Peaks wards off weapons and perverse violence; whoever would harm its people receives that calamity back upon himself. Daoists do at times obtain them, but if they cannot practice humaneness, rightness, and a merciful heart, and are not keen and upright, calamity comes to extinguish the house—it must not be treated lightly.'

其變化之術，大者唯有墨子五行記，本有五卷。昔劉君安未仙去時，鈔取其要，以為一卷。其法用藥用符，乃能令人飛行上下，隱淪無方，含笑即為婦人，蹙面即為老翁，踞地即為小兒，執杖即成林木，種物即生瓜果可食，畫地為河，撮壤成山，坐致行廚，興雲起火，無所不作也。其次有玉女隱微一卷，亦化形為飛禽走獸，及金木玉石，興雲致雨方百里，雪亦如之，渡大水不用舟梁，分形為千人，因風高飛，出入無閒，能吐氣七色，坐見八極，及地下之物，放光萬丈，冥室自明，亦大術也。然當步諸星數十，曲折難識，少能譜之。其淮南鴻寶萬畢，皆無及此書者也。又有白虎七變法，取三月三日所殺白虎頭皮，生扆血、虎血，紫綬，履組，流萍，以三月三日合種之。初生草似胡麻，有實，即取此實種之，一生輒一異。凡七種之，則用其實合之，亦可以移形易貌，飛沈在意，與墨子及玉女隱微略同，過此不足論也。”

(Baopuzi continued:) Of the arts of transformation, the greatest is the Record of the Five Phases of Mozi, originally in five scrolls. Long ago Liu Jun'an, before he departed as an immortal, extracted its essentials and made one scroll. That method uses drugs and talismans, and can make a man fly up and down, sink into formlessness without a place, smile and become a woman, knit the face and become an old man, squat to the ground and become a small child, grasp a staff and become forest trees, plant a thing and have it bear melons and fruit fit to eat, draw a river on the ground, mound a hill of soil into a mountain, summon the traveling kitchen where one sits, raise clouds and kindle fire—there is nothing it cannot do. Next there is the Jade Maiden's Hidden Subtleties in one scroll, which likewise transforms the shape into flying birds and running beasts, and into metal, wood, jade, and stone; it raises clouds and brings rain over a hundred li, and snow likewise; one crosses great waters without boat or bridge, divides the form into a thousand men, rides the wind on high, goes in and out without barrier, can breathe out vapor of seven colors, sitting sees the eight extremities and the things beneath the earth, sends out light ten thousand zhang, and brightens dark rooms of itself—this too is a great art. But one must tread the several dozen stars, whose turnings are hard to know, and few can chart them. The Great Treasure and Ten Thousand Ends of Huainan do not come up to this book. There is also the method of the White Tiger's Seven Transformations: take the hide of the head of a white tiger killed on the third day of the third month, raw yi blood, tiger's blood, a purple ribbon, shoe cords, and drifting duckweed, and plant them together on the third day of the third month. The first-sprouting grass resembles sesame and bears seed; take this seed and plant it, and each planting yields one further marvel. In all, plant it seven times, then compound the seed and take it: it too can shift the shape and change the looks, with soaring and sinking at one's will—roughly the same as the methods of Mozi and the Jade Maiden's Hidden Subtleties; beyond these, the rest is not worth discussing."

遐覽者，欲令好道者知異書之名目也。鄭君不徒明五經、知仙道而已，兼綜九宮三奇、推步天文、河洛讖記，莫不精研。太安元年，知季世之亂，江南將鼎沸，乃負笈持仙藥之撲，將入室弟子，東投霍山，莫知所在。

What is called 'far-ranging survey' is meant to let lovers of the Way know the names of the rare books. Master Zheng did not merely understand the Five Classics and know the way of immortals; he also embraced the nine palaces and the three wonders, the reckoning of the heavens, and the River-Chart and Luo prophecies, and there was none he did not study deeply. In the first year of Tai'an, knowing the age's end would be in turmoil and the lands south of the River would boil, he shouldered his book-box, took up the bundle of immortal medicines, and leading his chamber disciples went east to lodge in Mount Huo, and no man knew where he was.

抱朴子曰：“凡探明珠，不於合浦之淵，不得驪龍之夜光也。採美玉，不於荊山之岫，不得連城之尺璧也。承師問道，不得其人，委去則遲遲冀於有獲，守之則終已竟無所成，虛費事妨功，後雖痛悔，亦不及已。世閒淺近之事，猶不可坐知，況神仙之事乎？雖聖雖明，莫由自曉，非可以歷思得也，非可以觸類求也。誠須所師，必深必博，猶涉滄海而挹水，造長林而伐木，獨以力劣為患，豈以物少為憂哉？夫虎豹之所餘，乃狸鼠之所爭也。陶朱之所棄，乃原顏之所無也。所從學者，不得遠識淵潭之門，而值孤陋寡聞之人，彼所知素狹，源短流促，倒裝與人，則靳靳不捨，分損以授，則淺薄無奇能，其所寶宿已不精，若復料其粗者以教人，亦安能有所成乎？譬如假谷於夷齊之門，告寒於黔婁之家，所得者不過橡栗縕褐，必無太牢之膳、錦衣狐裘矣。或有守事庸師，終不覺悟。或有幸值知者，不能勤求，此失之於不覺，不可追者也。知人之淺深，實復未易。古人之難，誠有以也。白石似玉，奸佞似賢。賢者愈自隱蔽，有而如無，奸人愈自衒沽，虛而類實，非至明者，何以分之？彼之守求庸師而不去者，非知其無知而故不止也，誠以為足事故也。見達人而不能奉之者，非知其實深而不能請之也，誠以為無異也。夫能知要道者，無慾於物也，不狥世譽也，亦何肯自摽顯於流俗哉？而淺薄之徒，率多夸誕自稱說，以厲色希聲飾其虛妄，足以眩惑晚學，而敢為大言。乃云，已登名山，見仙人。倉卒聞之，不能清澄檢校之者，鮮覺其偽也。餘昔數見雜散道士輩，走貴人之門，專令從者作為空名，雲其已四五百歲矣。人適問之年紀，佯不聞也，含笑俯仰，雲八九十。須臾自言，我曾在華陰山斷谷五十年，復於嵩山少室四十年，復在泰山六十年，復與某人在箕山五十年，為同人遍說所歷，正爾，欲令人計合之，已數百歲人也。

Baopuzi said: "In general, to fish for bright pearls, if it is not in the deeps of Hepu one cannot get the black dragon's night-gleam. To gather fine jade, if it is not in the cliffs of Mount Jing one cannot get the city-chain disc. To serve a teacher and ask the Way, if one has not got the right man, then to leave him is to hope slowly for gain, and to keep him is to end with nothing accomplished—a vain waste of effort hindering achievement, and though afterwards one bitterly repents, it is too late. Even shallow, near-at-hand matters of the world cannot be known by sitting still—how much less the matter of the immortals! Though one be a sage, though one be bright, there is no way to know it of oneself; it cannot be got by long brooding, nor sought by touching on kindred things. One truly must have a teacher, and he must be deep and broad—as when one wades the gray sea to ladle water or goes to the tall forest to fell timber: the fear is only that one's strength falls short, never that the stuff is scarce. What the tiger and leopard leave is what the wildcat and rat fight over. What Tao Zhu cast off is what Yuan and Yan lacked. If the man one learns from cannot reach the gate of far sight and deep pools, but instead one meets one who is narrow, mean, and little heard—whose knowledge was always narrow, whose source is short and stream brief—if he pours it out whole for others he grudges and will not part with it; if he parcels it out bit by bit to teach, it is shallow and thin without rare power. What he treasures as his stock is already impure; if he then weighs out the coarsest of it to teach men, how can they accomplish anything? It is like going to the gate of Bo Yi and Shu Qi to borrow grain, or crying cold at the house of Qianlou: what you get is no more than acorns and coarse hemp rags—there is sure to be no feast of the great sacrifice, no brocade robe and fox furs. Some keep serving mediocre teachers and never awake to the end. Some have the fortune to meet a knower but cannot seek diligently; this loss lies in not being aware, and cannot be recovered. To know men's depth and shallowness is truly not easy either. The ancients' difficulty had a real cause. White stone resembles jade; the crafty flatterer resembles the worthy. The more a worthy man hides himself, having yet seeming to lack; the more a crafty man flaunts and peddles himself, empty yet seeming full. Without the utmost discernment, what can tell them apart? Those who keep seeking a mediocre teacher and do not leave do not knowingly persist knowing him ignorant—they truly think him worth serving. Those who see an accomplished man and cannot serve him do not knowingly decline knowing his depth—they truly think him no different. He who can know the essential Way has no desires toward things and does not chase worldly praise; how would he consent to display himself before the vulgar? But the shallow and thin mostly boast and brag of themselves, using stern looks and faint words to dress up their falsity, enough to dazzle late learners—and they dare big talk, even saying: I have already climbed the famous mountains and seen the immortals. Heard in haste and not clearly sifted and checked, few can perceive the falsehood. Long ago I often saw the motley sort of Daoists who run to the gates of the great, deliberately having their followers pass the empty word that the man was already four or five hundred years old. When someone happened to ask his age, he would feign not to hear, smiling, bow and rise, and say: eighty or ninety. A moment later he would say of himself: I once fasted fifty years on Mount Huayin, then forty years at Shaoshi on Mount Song, then sixty years on Mount Tai, then with so-and-so fifty years on Mount Ji—telling each comrade everywhere what he had passed through, just so, meaning to have them add it up: already a man of several hundred years."

於是彼好之家，莫不煙起霧合，輻輳其門矣。

(Baopuzi continued:) Thereupon the households that love this way, without exception, gathered to his gate like smoke rising and mist closing, like spokes converging on the hub.

又術士或有偶受體自然，見鬼神，頗能內占，知人將來及已過之事，而實不能有禍福之損益也。譬如蓍龜耳。凡人見其小驗，便呼為神人，謂之必無所不知。不爾者，或長於符水禁祝之法，治邪有效，而未必曉於不死之道也。或修行雜術，能見鬼怪，無益於年命。問之以金丹之道，則率皆不知也。因此細驗之，多行欺誑世人，以收財利，無所不為矣。此等與彼穿窬之盜，異途而同歸者也。夫託之於空言，不如著之於行事之有徵也，將為晚覺後學，說其比故，可徵之偽物焉。

(Baopuzi continued:) Moreover, among the arts-masters there are those who by chance received an endowment and naturally see ghosts and spirits, can fairly well divine within, and know men's future and past affairs—yet in fact they can add or take away nothing of fortune or misfortune; they are like milfoil and tortoise-shell, that is all. When ordinary men see small verifications they straightaway call the man a spirit-man and say he must know everything. Otherwise, some are skilled in the methods of talisman-water and spell-binding, effective against evils, yet do not necessarily know the way of deathlessness. Some cultivate assorted arts and can see ghosts and prodigies, which profits the years of life nothing. Ask them about the way of the golden elixir and they mostly do not know. Therefore, examining closely, they largely practice deceit upon the world's men to gather wealth and profit, stopping at nothing. This kind comes to the same end as wall-boring thieves by a different road. Resting on empty words, it is not as good as the evidence of deeds done; so for the sake of late learners who wake afterwards, I tell of these resemblances to old cases—false things that can be put to the test.

昔有古強者，服草木之方，又頗行容成玄素之法，年八十許，尚聰明不大羸老，時人便謂之為仙人，或謂之千載翁者。揚州稽使君聞而試迎之於宜都。既至，而咽嗚掣縮，似若所知實遠，而未皆吐盡者。於是好事者，因以聽聲而響集，望形而影附，雲萃霧合，競稱歎之，饋餉相屬，常餘金錢。雖欒李之見重於往漢，不足加也。常服天門冬不廢，則知其體中未嘗有金丹大藥也。而強曾略涉書記，頗識古事。自言已四千歲，敢為虛言，言之不怍。雲已見堯舜禹湯，說之皆了了如實也。世雲堯眉八採，不然也，直兩眉頭甚豎，似八字耳。堯為人長大美髭髯，飲酒一日中二斛餘，世人因加之雲千鍾，實不能也，我自數見其大醉也。雖是聖人，然年老治事，轉不及少壯時。及見去四凶，舉元凱，賴用舜耳。舜是孤煢小家兒耳，然有異才，隱耕歷山，漁於雷澤，陶於海濱，時人未有能賞其奇者。我見之所在以德化民，其目又有重瞳子，知其大貴之相，常勸勉慰勞之。善崇高尚，莫憂不富貴，火德已終，黃精將起，誕承歷數，非子而誰！然其父至頑，其弟殊惡，恆以殺舜為事。吾常諫諭曰，此兒當興卿門宗，四海將受其賜，不但卿家，不可取次也。俄而受禪，嘗憶吾言之有徵也。又云：孔子母年十六七時，吾相之當生貴子，及生仲尼，真異人也，長九尺六寸，其顙似堯，其項似皋陶，其肩似子產，自腰以下不及禹三寸。雖然，貧苦孤微，然為兒童便好俎豆之事。吾知之必當成就。及其長大，高談驚人，遠近從之受學者，著錄數千人。我喜聽其語，數往從之，但恨我不學，不能與之覆疏耳。常勸我讀易云，此良書也，丘竊好之，韋編三絕，鐵撾三折，今乃大悟。魯哀公十四年，西狩獲麟，麟死。孔子以問吾，吾語之，言此非善祥也。孔子乃愴然而泣。後得惡夢，乃欲得見吾。

(Baopuzi continued:) Long ago there was one Gu Qiang, who took the recipes of herbs and trees and also practiced the methods of Rongcheng, Xuan and Su; at eighty or so he was still sharp and not too frail, and the people of the time thereupon said he was an immortal, or called him the Thousand-Year Man. Inspector Ji of Yangzhou heard of him and tried inviting him to Yidu. Once arrived, he gurgled and shrank, as though what he knew truly reached far and he had not yet spat it all out. Thereupon the lovers of novelty, hearing his voice, gathered like an echo; beholding his shape, attached themselves like a shadow; mustering like clouds, closing like mist, they vied to praise and sigh, and presents of food came in succession, with ever a surplus of coin—though Luan and Li were valued in former Han, it could not have exceeded this. That he always took asparagus without cease suffices to know he had never had the great medicine of the golden elixir in his body. Gu Qiang had once dabbled in books and records and fairly well knew ancient matters. He claimed to be already four thousand years old, daring to utter empty words and speaking them without shame. He said he had already seen Yao, Shun, Yu, and Tang, and spoke of it all lucidly as though truly so. The world says Yao's brows had eight colors—not so; it is only that the two brow-heads stood up very straight, like the figure eight. Yao as a man was tall with a fine mustache and beard; he drank more than two hu of wine in a day, on which account the world added 'a thousand cups'—in truth he could not; I myself several times saw him dead drunk. Though a sage, governing affairs in old age he did less well than when young and strong. Presently I saw him remove the Four Malefactors and raise the Yuan and Kai, which depended on employing Shun. Shun was but a lone child of a small house, yet had uncommon gifts: he farmed in hiding at Mount Li, fished at Thunder Marsh, and made pots on the seashore, and the men of that time could not prize his rareness. Seeing that wherever he dwelt he transformed the people by virtue, and that his eyes had double pupils, I knew it was the mark of great honor, and often encouraged and heartened him: keep your aim high, do not worry that you will not be rich and honored; the power of fire is already spent, the yellow essence is about to rise, and the succession will fall to none but you! But his father was utterly obstinate and his brother very wicked, ever making Shun's death their business. I always admonished and told them: this child is destined to raise up your house, and the four seas will receive his bounty—he is not yours alone; do not be rash. Before long he received the abdication, and then recalled that my words had been verified. He also said: when Confucius's mother was sixteen or seventeen, I read her features and found she would bear a noble son; when Zhongni was born he was indeed an extraordinary man, nine chi six cun tall, his forehead like Yao's, his neck like Gao Yao's, his shoulders like Zichan's, and below the waist three cun shorter than Yu. Even so, poor, lowly, orphaned, and mean, as a child he already loved the business of sacrificial vessels. I knew he was bound to accomplish much. When he grew up, his lofty talk astonished men; those who came from near and far to learn from him were recorded in the thousands. I loved to hear his words and went to him several times, only regretting that I was untaught and could not discuss with him back and forth. He always urged me to read the Changes, saying: this is a fine book; Qiu privately loves it, the leather bindings thrice broke, the iron weights thrice snapped, and only now do I greatly awaken. In the fourteenth year of Duke Ai of Lu, the western hunt caught a lin, and the lin died. Confucius brought it and asked me; I told him this was no good omen. Only then did Confucius grieve and weep. Afterwards he had an evil dream, and then wished he had been able to see me.

時四月中盛熱，不能往，尋聞之病七日而沒，於今彷彿記其顏色也。又云：秦始皇將我到彭城，引出周時鼎。吾告秦始皇，言此鼎是神物也。有德則自出，無道則淪亡。君但修己，此必自來，不可以力致也。始皇當時大有怪吾之色，而牽之果不得出也。乃謝吾曰，君固是遠見理人也。又說漢高祖項羽皆分明，如此事類，不可具記。時人各共識之，以為戲笑。然凡人聞之，皆信其言。又強轉惛耄，廢忘事幾。稽使君曾以一玉卮與強，後忽語稽曰，昔安期先生以此物相遺。強後病於壽春黃整家而死。整疑其化去。一年許，試鑿其棺視之，其屍宛在矣。此皆有名無實，使世閒不信天下有仙，皆坐此輩以偽亂真也。

(Gu Qiang continued:) At the time it was mid-fourth-month and very hot, so I could not go; presently I heard that after seven days' sickness he died, and to this day I seem to remember his face. He also said: the First Emperor of Qin took me to Pengcheng to draw out the Zhou tripod. I told the First Emperor: this tripod is a divine thing. With virtue it comes out of itself; without the Way it sinks and is lost. You need only cultivate yourself, and it is certain to come of itself; it cannot be brought by force. The First Emperor at the time looked greatly displeased with me, and pulling on it he indeed could not bring it up. Then he apologized to me, saying: you are indeed one who sees the pattern far. He also spoke of the High Ancestor of Han and Xiang Yu, all distinctly—matters of this kind cannot all be recorded. The men of that time all together saw through him and took it as a joke, yet ordinary folk who heard all believed his words. Afterwards Gu Qiang in turn grew dim and doddering, forgetting most affairs. Inspector Ji once gave Gu Qiang a jade goblet, and later he suddenly told Ji: long ago Master Anqi gave me this very thing. Gu Qiang later fell ill and died in the house of Huang Zheng at Shouchun. Zheng suspected he had transformed away; about a year later, he tried boring the coffin open to look, and the corpse was plainly there. All these are men with name and no substance, causing the world not to believe there are immortals under heaven—all because this kind mixes the false with the true.

成都太守吳文，說五原有蔡誕者，好道而不得佳師要事，廢棄家業，但晝夜誦詠黃庭、太清中經、觀天節詳之屬，諸家不急之書，口不輟誦，謂之道盡於此。然竟不知所施用者，徒美其浮華之說而愚人。又教之但讀千遍，自得其意，為此積久，家中患苦之，坐消衣食，而不能有異，己亦慚忿，無以自解，於是棄家，言仙道成矣。因走之異界深山中，又不曉採掘諸草木藥可以辟穀者，但行賣薪以易衣食，如是三年，飢凍辛苦，人或識之，而詭不知也。久不堪而還家，黑瘦而骨立，不似人。其家問之，從何處來，竟不得仙邪？因欺家云，吾未能昇天，但為地仙也。又初成位卑，應給諸仙先達者，當以漸遷耳。曏者為老君牧數頭龍，一班龍五色最好，是老君常所乘者，令吾守視之，不勤，但與後進諸仙共博戲，忽失此龍，龍遂不知所在。為此罪見責，送吾付崑崙山下，芸鋤草三四頃，並皆生細，而中多荒穢，治之勤苦不可論，法當十年乃得原。會偓佺子王喬諸仙來按行，吾守請之，併為吾作力，且自放歸，當更自修理求去，於是遂老死矣。初誕還云，從崑崙來，諸親故競共問之，崑崙何似？答云：天不問其高几裡，要於仰視之，去天不過十數丈也。上有木禾，高四丈九尺，其穗盈車，有珠玉樹沙棠琅玕碧瑰之樹，玉李玉瓜玉桃，其實形如世閒桃李，但為光明洞徹而堅，須以玉井水洗之，便軟而可食。每風起，珠玉之樹，枝條花葉，互相扣擊，自成五音，清哀動心。吾見謫失志，聞此莫不愴然含悲。又見崑崙山上，一面輒有四百四十門，門廣四里，內有五城十二樓，樓下有青龍白虎，蜲蛇長百餘裡，其中口牙皆如三百斛船，大蜂一丈，其毒煞象。又有神獸，名獅子辟邪、三鹿焦羊，銅頭鐵額、長牙鑿齒之屬，三十六種，盡知其名，則天下惡鬼惡獸，不敢犯人也。

(Baopuzi continued:) Wu Wen, Administrator of Chengdu, said that in Wuyuan there was one Cai Dan, who loved the Way but could not obtain a good teacher or the essentials; he abandoned his family and property and day and night chanted only the Huangting, the Central Classic of the Grand Purity, the Guantian Jie Xiang, and the like—books of no urgency in any school—his mouth never ceasing to recite, saying the Way is all herein. Yet in the end he did not know what to apply; it was vain to praise those florid sayings and fool men. He was also taught merely to read a thousand times and he would grasp the meaning himself; for this he persisted long, his household suffered bitterly, eating and wearing away their store without gaining anything out of the ordinary, and he himself, ashamed and angry, could find no way out—so he left home, saying the way of immortality was complete. Thereupon he walked into deep mountains of another realm; not knowing how to gather the various herbs and trees that can cut off grain, he could only go about selling firewood to barter for clothes and food, and thus for three years, hungry, frozen, and hard-pressed; some people recognized him, but he claimed falsely not to know them. After a long while he could bear it no more and went home, black, thin, bones standing out, not looking human. His family asked: where have you come from—so you did not obtain immortality after all? Thereupon he deceived his family, saying: I could not yet ascend to heaven; I am only an earthly immortal. And newly made, my rank is low; I must serve the senior immortals first, and will gradually be promoted. Before, I herded several dragons for Lord Lao; one piebald dragon of five colors was best, the one Lord Lao always rode; I was set to watch it, was not diligent, and only gamed at dice with the junior immortals—suddenly the dragon was lost, and its whereabouts unknown. For this crime I was sentenced and sent below Mount Kunlun to weed three or four qing of grass, all growing thin, and the ground much choked with weeds—no telling the toil of working it, and by rule ten years before pardon. It happened that Wojuanzi, Wangzi Qiao, and the other immortals came by on inspection; I begged and kept them, they all labored for me, and then let me return, saying I should set myself to cultivate again and ask to go back—and so in the end he grew old and died. When Cai Dan first came back he said he had come from Kunlun, and all his kin and friends vied to ask: what is Kunlun like? He answered: no asking how many li the sky is high—looking up, it is barely a dozen or so zhang away. Up there is the grain-tree, four zhang nine chi high, its ears filling a cart; there are pearl-jade trees, shatang, langgan, bigui trees, jade plums, jade melons, jade peaches—the fruit in shape like the plums and peaches of our world, only bright, translucent, and hard; they must be washed in jade-well water, and then they soften and can be eaten. Whenever the wind rises, the jade and pearl trees knock branch, flower, and leaf against one another, making the five notes of themselves, clear and plaintive, moving the heart. Banished and crushed in spirit, whenever I heard these sounds I could not but ache with grief. I also saw that on Mount Kunlun, on one face there are four hundred and forty gates, each gate four li wide, within which are five walls and twelve towers; below the towers are azure dragons and white tigers, coiling serpents over a hundred li long, whose mouths and fangs are like three-hundred-hu ships; great wasps a zhang long whose sting kills an elephant. There are also divine beasts named lion, bixie, three-deer, jiaoyang, bronze-headed iron-browed, long-fanged chisel-toothed, and the like, thirty-six kinds—know all their names, and the evil ghosts and evil beasts under heaven dare not trespass on a man.

其神則有無頭子、倒景君、翕鹿公、中黃先生、與六門大夫。張陽字子淵，浹備玉闕，自不帶老君竹使符左右契者，不得入也。五河皆出山隅，弱水繞之，鴻毛不浮，飛鳥不過，唯仙人乃得越之。其上神鳥神馬，幽昌、鷦明、騰黃、吉光之輩，皆能人語而不死，真濟濟快仙府也，恨吾不得善周旋其上耳。於時聞誕此言了了，多信之者。

(Cai Dan continued:) Its gods are Wutouzi, Lord Daojing, Lord Xilu, Master Zhonghuang, and the Six-Gate Grandees. Zhang Yang, styled Ziyuan, keeps the jade towers fully supplied; whoever does not carry Lord Lao's bamboo tally or the left and right contracts cannot enter. The five rivers all issue from the corners of the mountain, circled by the Weak Water, which a goose feather cannot float on nor a flying bird cross—only immortals can pass over. Above are spirit birds and spirit beasts—Youchang, Jiaoming, Tenghuang, Jiguang, and their like—all able to speak human speech and deathless; truly a crowded, happy immortal realm, and my only regret is that I could not dwell up there at ease. At the time, hearing Cai Dan speak this distinctly, many believed him.

又河東蒲阪有項●都者，與一子入山學仙，十年而歸家，家人問其故。●都曰：在山中三年精思，有仙人來迎我，共乘龍而昇天。良久，低頭視地，窈窈冥冥，上未有所至，而去地已絕遠。龍行甚疾，頭昂尾低，令人在其脊上，危怖嶮巇。及到天上，先過紫府，金床玉幾，晃晃昱昱，真貴處也。仙人但以流霞一杯與我，飲之輒不飢渴。忽然思家，到天帝前，謁拜失儀，見斥來還，令當更自修積，乃可得更復矣。昔淮南王劉安昇天見上帝，而箕坐大言，自稱寡人，遂見謫守天廚三年，吾何人哉！河東因號●都為斥仙人。世多此輩，種類非一，不可不詳也。此妄語乃爾，而人猶有不覺其虛者，況其微茫欺誑，頗因事類之象似者而加益之，非至明者，倉卒安能辨哉？乃復有假託作前世有名之道士者，如白和者，傳言已八千七百歲，時出俗閒，忽然自去，不知其在。其洛中有道士，已博涉眾事，洽煉術數者，以諸疑難諮問和，和皆尋聲為論釋，皆無疑礙，故為遠識。人但不知其年壽，信能近千年不啻耳。後忽去，不知所在。有一人於河北自稱為白和，於是遠近競往奉事之，大得致遺至當。而白和子弟，聞和再出，大喜，故往見之，乃定非也。此人因亡走矣。

Again, at Puban in Hedong there was one Xiang Du (the base text lacks this character), who with one son went into the mountains to study immortality, returning home after ten years; his family asked the reason. (Character missing.) All said: after three years of pure contemplation in the mountains, an immortal came to receive me, and we rode a dragon together and rose to heaven. A long while—looking down at the earth, dim and dark; above, not yet arrived anywhere, yet already utterly far from the ground. The dragon went very fast, head reared and tail low; sitting on its spine was terrifying and perilous. On reaching heaven, we first passed the Purple Palace: beds of gold, tables of jade, brilliant and shining—truly a noble place. The immortal gave me only a cup of flowing sunset-mist to drink, after which I knew no hunger or thirst. Suddenly I longed for home; before the Celestial Thearch, my salute missed the proper form, and I was sent back in rebuke, being told to cultivate and accumulate anew before I could go again. In days past Liu An, King of Huainan, ascended to heaven and saw the Supreme Thearch, and sat sprawling and spoke big, calling himself 'the royal we'—so he was banished to guard the celestial kitchen three years; and what manner of man am I? The folk of Hedong therefore call Xiang Du 'the Expelled Immortal'. The world has many of this kind, of more than one sort, and they cannot but be carefully examined. This lie was like this, and men still did not perceive its emptiness—how much more those dim deceits that build on the semblance of real things! Without the utmost discernment, how could one tell them in haste? There are further those who pretend to be famous Daoists of a former age, like Bai He, who by report was already eight thousand seven hundred years old, appearing from time to time among the vulgar and suddenly departing, no one knew where. In Luo there was a Daoist, already widely versed in many matters and practiced in the arts of number, who took all his doubts and difficulties to consult Bai He; Bai He answered each question as it was put, leaving no doubt or hindrance—thus a far-reaching knowledge. Men merely did not know his years; truly he could approach a thousand without ceasing. Later he suddenly departed, no one knew where. A man north of the River claimed to be Bai He, whereupon men near and far vied to go serve him, and gifts poured in richly. But Bai He's disciples, hearing that He had reappeared, were overjoyed and so went to see him—and determined he was not the man; whereupon that man fled.

五經四部，並已陳之芻狗，既往之糟粕。所謂‘跡’者，足之自出而非足也。‘書’者聖人之所作而非聖也，而儒者萬里負笈以尋其師；況長生之道，真人所重，可不勤求足問者哉？然不可不精簡其真偽也！餘恐古強、蔡誕、項●都、白和之不絕於世閒，好事者省餘此書，可以少加沙汰其善否矣。又仙經云：仙人目瞳皆方。洛中見之白仲理者，為餘說其瞳正方，如此果是異人也。”

The Five Classics and four divisions are all straw dogs already offered, dregs already spent. The so-called 'tracks' are what the feet themselves walked out and are not the feet. The 'books' were written by the sages and are not the sages—yet Confucians shoulder book-boxes for ten thousand li to seek teachers; how much more the way of long life, prized by the true men—can it be not diligently sought and inquired after? But the true and the false cannot but be sifted! I fear the likes of Gu Qiang, Cai Dan, Xiang Du (the base text lacks this character), and Bai He will never die out in the world; if the lovers of novelty will read this book of mine, they may sift out somewhat the good from the bad. Also, the scriptures of immortals say: the pupils of immortals' eyes are all square. The Bai Zhongli I saw in Luo told me his pupils were indeed square—so he was truly an extraordinary man."

餘手校抱朴子，因翻檢群書所引見，往往有今本所無者。隨見隨錄，省並復重，得百四十五事。輒依本書大例，以其言神仙黃白事者，為內篇佚文。其餘駁難通釋，為外篇佚文。各一卷。長白繼昌。（明案此錄系嚴可均代輯，見鐵橋漫稿卷六，參全晉文卷一百一十七）

With my own hand I collated the Baopuzi, and in leafing through the various books' citations I often found passages absent from the present text. Recording each as I found it, cutting and merging duplicates, I obtained a hundred and forty-five items. Following the book's own broad division, I made those speaking of spirits, immortals, and yellow-and-white into Lost Passages of the Inner Chapters, and the rest, refutations and general explanations, into Lost Passages of the Outer Chapters—one scroll each. Jichang of Changbai. (Wang Ming's note: this compilation was actually made by Yan Kejun; see Tieqiao Mangao scroll 6, and cf. Quan Jin Wen scroll 117.)

葛仙翁為丹書符投江中，順流而下。次投一符，逆流而上。次又投一符，不上不下，停住，而水中向二符皆還就之。舊寫本北堂書鈔一百三。

Ge Xianweng wrote talismans in elixir script and cast them into the river, and they went downstream. Next he cast a talisman, and it went upstream. Next he cast another talisman, which neither rose nor fell but stopped still, and the two earlier talismans in the water both came back to join it. Old manuscript of the Beitang Shuchao, scroll 103.

魏武帝以左慈為妖妄，欲殺之，使軍人收之。慈故欲見而不去。欲拷之，而獄中有七慈，形狀如一，不知何者為真。以白武帝。帝使人盡殺之。須臾，六慈盡化為札，而一慈徑出，走赴羊群。舊寫本北堂書鈔一百四札篇，又御覽六百六。魏武收左慈，慈走入市。吏傳言慈一目眇，葛巾單衣。於是一市皆然也。御覽七百四十。

Emperor Wu of Wei held Zuo Ci to be a monster and a fraud, and wanted to kill him, ordering soldiers to arrest him. Ci deliberately stayed to be seen and did not leave. When they were about to flog him, there were seven Zuo Ci in the jail, all alike in shape, and no one knew which was real. This was reported to Emperor Wu. The Emperor had them all killed. In a moment, six of the Ci all turned into wooden slips, and one Ci went straight out and ran to join the flock of sheep. Old manuscript of the Beitang Shuchao, scroll 104, the slips chapter; also Yulan scroll 606. When Emperor Wu arrested Zuo Ci, Ci ran into the marketplace. The officers passed word that Ci was blind in one eye, wearing a hemp kerchief and single robe—whereupon the whole market at once looked so. Yulan scroll 740.

城陽郄儉少時行獵，墮空冢中飢餓。見冢中先有大龜，數數迴轉，所向無常，張口吞氣，或俛或仰。儉亦素聞龜能導引，乃試隨龜所為，遂不復飢。百餘日，頗苦極。後人有偶窺冢中，見儉而出之。後竟能嚥氣斷谷。魏王召御覽作拘，又作棄。置土室中，閉試之，一年不食，顏色悅澤，氣力自若。藝文類聚七十七，御覽七百二十，又九百三十一。

Xi Jian of Chengyang, while hunting in his youth, fell into an empty tomb and starved. Seeing that in the tomb there was already a great tortoise, which kept turning round and round facing no constant direction, mouth open swallowing breath, now stooping now rearing. Jian had also long heard that tortoises can guide-and-stretch, so he tried doing as the tortoise did, and thereupon was no longer hungry. After a hundred and some days he was in much distress. Later someone chanced to peer into the tomb, saw Jian, and brought him out. Afterwards he could indeed swallow breath and cut off grain. The King of Wei summoned (Yulan reads: confined; also: abandoned) him and set him in an earthen chamber, shut in, to test it; for a year he did not eat, his complexion glad and sleek, his strength as ever. Yiwen Leiju scroll 77; Yulan scroll 720 and scroll 931.

吳世有姚光者，有火術。吳主躬臨試之。積荻數千束，光坐其上，又以數千束荻累之。因猛風燔之，火盡，謂光當已化為煙燼。而光恬然端坐灰中，振衣而起，把一卷書，吳主取而視之，不能解也。藝文類聚八十、又八十二。御覽八百七十一，又一千。

In the age of Wu there was one Yao Guang, who had the art of fire. The ruler of Wu himself came to test him. Several thousand bundles of reeds were piled, Guang sat on top, and another several thousand bundles were heaped over him. Thereupon with fierce wind it blazed; when the fire died they thought Guang must have turned to smoke and ash. But Guang sat calmly in the ashes, shook his robe and rose, holding a scroll of book in his hand; the ruler of Wu took it and looked, but could not make it out. Yiwen Leiju scroll 80 and scroll 82; Yulan scroll 871 and scroll 1000.

李南乘赤馬行，道逢他人乘白馬者，白馬先鳴，赤馬應之。南謂從者曰，彼白馬言汝今當見一黃馬左目盲者，是吾子，可令使駛，行相及也。從者不信。須臾行二里，果逢所乘黃馬而左目盲。南之赤馬先鳴，而盲馬應之。問其子，疑作人。果向白馬子也。藝文類聚九十三，御覽八百九十七。

Li Nan rode off on a red horse and on the road met another man riding a white horse; the white horse neighed first and the red horse answered it. Nan said to his followers: that white horse says you are now about to see a yellow horse blind in the left eye—it is my offspring; urge it on and you will catch up. The followers did not believe him. Presently, after going two li, they indeed met someone riding a yellow horse blind in the left eye. Nan's red horse neighed first and the blind horse answered it. Asking its master (probably should read 'the man'), it proved to have been the white horse's offspring. Yiwen Leiju scroll 93; Yulan scroll 897.

王業疏疑當作為字。荊州卒，白虎三頭匍匐於輀下。舊寫本北堂書鈔三十五，此據嚴氏覆校補。

When Wang Ye went as a soldier of Jingzhou (probably should be the character 'became'), three white tigers crouched beneath the hearse. Old manuscript of the Beitang Shuchao scroll 35; this is supplemented according to Yan's re-collation.

案使者甘宗全晉文一百十七宗作崇。所奏西域事云，外國方士能神祝者，臨淵禹步吹氣，龍即浮出，其初出乃長十數丈。於是方士更一吹之，一吹則龍輒一縮。至長數寸，方士乃掇取著壺中。壺中或有四五龍，以少水養之，以疏物塞壺口。國常患旱災。於是方士聞餘國有少雨屢旱處，輒齎龍往賣之，一龍直金數十斤。舉國會斂以顧之直畢。乃發壺出一龍，著淵潭之中。因復禹步吹之，一吹一長，輒長數十丈，須臾而云雨四集矣。藝文類聚九十六，御覽十一，七百三十六，九百二十九。天陵偃蓋之松，大谷倒生之柏，皆為天齊其長，地等其久。藝文類聚八十八，此據嚴氏覆校補。

According to the report on Western Regions affairs submitted by the envoy Gan Zong (Quan Jin Wen scroll 117 writes the name Chong), a fangshi of a foreign state who could perform spirit invocations, standing by a deep pool, walked the Pace of Yu and blew his breath, and a dragon floated out; when it first came out it was some ten zhang long. Thereupon the fangshi blew again, and at each blow the dragon shrank once. When it was a few cun long the fangshi picked it up and put it in a pot. In the pot there might be four or five dragons, kept in a little water, the pot's mouth stopped with something porous. That state often suffers drought. So whenever a fangshi hears that some other state has had little rain and repeated drought, he takes a dragon there and sells it, one dragon fetching several dozen jin of gold. The whole state contributes to hire him, and when the price is settled he opens the pot, brings out a dragon, and sets it in the deep pool. Thereupon he walks the Pace of Yu and blows again; at each blow it grows once, until it lengthens to several dozen zhang, and in a moment clouds and rain gather from every side. Yiwen Leiju scroll 96; Yulan scrolls 11, 736, and 929. The pine of the canopy at Tianling and the cypress born upside-down in the great valley have each matched heaven in height and earth in duration. Yiwen Leiju scroll 88; this is supplemented according to Yan's re-collation.

薺麥大蒜，仲夏而枯。藝文類聚八十二，御覽九百八十。若士所食，必此草也。又海中有蛤蜊螺蚌之類，未加煮炙，凡人所不能啖，況君子與若士乎？藝文類聚九十七，御覽九百四十二。

Ji wheat and garlic wither in mid-summer. Yiwen Leiju scroll 82; Yulan scroll 980. What the Ruo scholar eats is sure to be these herbs. Also, among the clams, snails, and mussels in the sea, before boiling or roasting ordinary men cannot eat them—how much less gentlemen and the Ruo scholar! Yiwen Leiju scroll 97; Yulan scroll 942.

青雲芝生於名山之陰，大青石間。青蓋三重，上有云氣覆之。味辛甘，以陰乾食之，令人壽千歲不老，能乘雲通天見鬼神。藝文類聚九十八。案此以下十九條疑仙藥篇佚文。

The blue-cloud mushroom grows on the shady face of famous mountains, among large blue stones. It has a blue canopy of three layers, with cloudy vapor covering above. Its taste is acrid and sweet; dried in the shade and eaten, it gives a man a thousand years without aging, lets him ride the clouds, reach heaven, and see ghosts and spirits. Yiwen Leiju scroll 98. Note: the following nineteen items are suspected to be lost text of the Xianyao chapter.

黃龍芝生於神山之中，狀如黃龍。味辛甘，以四時採，陰乾治。日食一合，壽萬年，令人光澤。同上。

The yellow-dragon mushroom grows within the spirit mountains, shaped like a yellow dragon. Its taste is acrid and sweet; gathered according to the four seasons and dried in the shade. Eating one ge daily gives a span of ten thousand years and gives a man gloss and luster. Same source.

金蘭芝生於名山之陰，金石之間。上有水蓋，莖出。疑作赤。入秋旬求之，飲其中水，壽千歲，耳目聰明。同上。

The gold-orchid mushroom grows on the shady face of famous mountains, among metal and stone. Above it is a watery canopy; the stem emerges (probably 'red'). Seek it in the first ten days of autumn; drinking the water within it gives a thousand years and makes ears and eyes keen and bright. Same source.

蒼山岑石之中赤雲芝，狀如人豎，豎如連鼓。其色如澤，以夏採之。陰乾食之，令人乘云，能上天觀見八極，通見神明，延壽萬年。同上。

Among the towering stones of the green mountain, the red-cloud mushroom is shaped like a standing man, the standing figures like a row of drums. Its color is like lustre; gather it in summer. Dried in the shade and eaten, it lets a man ride the clouds, ascend to heaven and look over the eight extremities, commune with and see the spirits, and lengthens the span ten thousand years. Same source.

丹芝生於名山之陰，崑崙之山，大谷源泉，金石之中。同上。

The cinnabar mushroom grows on the shady face of famous mountains, on Mount Kunlun, in great valley springs, amid metal and stone. Same source.

火芝常以夏採之，葉上赤，下莖青。赤松子服之，常在西王母前，隨風上下，往來東西。同上。

The fire mushroom is always gathered in summer, red on the leaf, green on the stem. Master Redpine took it, was ever in the presence of the Queen Mother of the West, and rode the wind up and down, coming and going east and west. Same source.

人芝生名山之陰，青蓋白莖。治乾食，日半合，則使人壽，入水可久也。同上。

The man mushroom grows on the shady face of famous mountains, with blue canopy and white stem. Prepared dry and eaten, half a ge daily, it gives a man long life and lets him stay long under water. Same source.

月精芝秋生山陽石上，莖青上赤。味辛苦，盛以銅物，十月食之，壽萬歲。同上。

The moon-essence mushroom in autumn grows on sunny-face rocks of the mountains, its stem blue below and red above. Its taste is acrid and bitter; kept in a copper vessel and eaten in the tenth month, it gives a span of ten thousand years. Same source.

黑芝生於山之陰，大谷中，白蓋赤莖。味甘，秋採之，陰乾。日食，令人身輕齒堅，與天地無極。同上。

The black mushroom grows on the shady faces of mountains, in great valleys, with white canopy and red stem. Its taste is sweet; gathered in autumn and dried in the shade. Eaten daily, it makes a man's body light and teeth firm, boundless with heaven and earth. Same source.

火芝案上已有火芝，疑有一誤。生於名山陽，其色黃澤，大如車蓋。同上

The fire mushroom (note: a fire mushroom already appeared above; one place is probably wrong) grows on the sunny face of famous mountains, yellow and lustrous in color, large as a carriage canopy. Same source.

金芝生於金石之中，青蓋莖。味甘辛，以秋取，陰乾治食。令人身有光，壽萬歲。同上。

The metal mushroom grows amid metal and stone, with blue canopy and stem. Its taste is sweet and acrid; taken in autumn, dried in the shade, prepared and eaten, it gives a man's body light and a span of ten thousand years. Same source.

萬年芝令人不老，延壽九千。同上。

The ten-thousand-year mushroom keeps a man from aging and lengthens the span nine thousand. Same source.

夜光芝出於名山之陰，大谷源泉中金石閒。上有浮雲翔其上，有五色，有目如兩日。同上。

The night-shining mushroom comes out on the shady face of famous mountains, amid the metal and stone of great valley springs. Above it floating clouds hover, of five colors, with eyes like two suns. Same source.

白雲芝生於名山之陰，白石上，有白雲覆之，白蓋二重。味辛甘，小苦。以秋採之，陰乾治食，日一合，不中風雷，令人色澤光也。同上。

The white-cloud mushroom grows on the shady face of famous mountains, upon white stone, with white clouds covering it and a white canopy of two layers. Its taste is acrid and sweet, slightly bitter. Gathered in autumn, dried in the shade, prepared and eaten at one ge daily, one is not struck by wind or thunder, and it gives a man luster and shining. Same source.

雲母芝生於名山之陰，青蓋赤莖。味甘，以季秋竹刀採之，陰乾治食，使人身光，壽千歲，醮以牛脯。同上。

The mica mushroom grows on the shady face of famous mountains, with blue canopy and red stem. Its taste is sweet; gathered in late autumn with a bamboo knife, dried in the shade, prepared and eaten, it gives a man's body light and a span of a thousand years; make libation offering of beef jerky. Same source.

葉芝生於名山之陽，及出央山大谷源泉水中。赤蓋白莖，上有兩葉三實。同上。葉當作華。

The leaf mushroom grows on the sunny faces of famous mountains, and emerges in the waters of the great valley springs of Mount Yang. It has a red canopy and white stem, bearing two leaves and three fruits. Same source. 'Leaf' should read 'flower'.

鬼芝青蓋長莖，陰乾屑之，日食五合，所見神明，令人長生。同上。

The ghost mushroom has a blue canopy and long stem; dried in the shade and crumbled, five ge eaten daily, it lets one see the spirits and gives a man long life. Same source.

有自然之龍，有蛇蠋化成之龍。初學記三十、白孔六帖九十五、御覽九百二十九。

There are natural-born dragons, and there are dragons transformed from snakes and caterpillars. Chuxue Ji scroll 30; Bai Kong Liutie scroll 95; Yulan scroll 929.

田地既有自然之鱔，而有荇莖芩根土龍之屬化為鱔。御覽九百三十七，又一千引{艹琴}根化為蘚，當即此。

In fields and paddies there are both natural-born eels and eels transformed from xing stems, qin roots, earth dragons, and the like. Yulan scroll 937, and scroll 1000 which cites roots with a grass-head radical over 'qin' turning into moss—this must be that.

龜蛇潛蟄則食氣，夏恣口而甚瘦，冬穴蟄而大肥。初學記三十。案對俗篇云：龍蛇蛟螭狙猥鼉■，皆能竟冬不食。不食之時，乃肥於食時也。語意同而文全異。此當是佚文。

When turtles and snakes hide in hibernation they eat breath; in summer they feast by mouth and grow very lean, while in winter, holed up in hibernation, they grow very fat. Chuxue Ji scroll 30. Compare the Duishu chapter: dragons, snakes, flood-dragons, krakens, and the rest can all go through winter without eating; while not eating they are fatter than when eating. The sense is the same but the wording entirely differs. This must be lost text.

黃帝醫經有蝦蟆圖，言月生始二日，蝦蟆始生，人亦不可針灸其處。御覽四。

The Yellow Emperor's medical classic has a chart of the toad, saying that when the moon has just begun the second day, the toad is just born, and one may not needle or moxa that spot on a man. Yulan scroll 4.

歷陽有彭祖仙室，請雨必得。御覽十一。

In Liyang there is Pengzu's immortal chamber; praying for rain there is always answered. Yulan scroll 11.

左元放言，金華山可以合神丹，免五兵洪水之害。御覽四十七。

Zuo Yuanfang said: on Mount Jinhua one can compound the divine elixir and escape the calamities of the five weapons and great flood. Yulan scroll 47.

崑崙及蓬萊，其上鳥獸飲玉井，皆長生不死也。御覽二十。井下脫泉字。

On Kunlun and Penglai the birds and beasts drink from the jade wells, and all live long and do not die. Yulan scroll 20. Below 'well' the character 'spring' is missing.

上古無諡，始於周家耳。黃帝諡，蓋後人追為之。諡取其法法當作治世時行跡而已，非黃帝群臣之作也。俗人通自不信仙，寧肯以仙諡黃帝乎？御覽五百六十二。

In highest antiquity there were no posthumous names; they began only with the house of Zhou. The Yellow Emperor's posthumous name was presumably made by men of later ages. A posthumous name takes only the traces of his governing of the age ('law' should read 'governing'); it was not made by the Yellow Emperor's own ministers. If even the vulgar have never all believed in immortals, how could they consent to give the Yellow Emperor an immortal's posthumous name? Yulan scroll 562.

吳景帝時，戍將於江陵又作廣陵掘冢，取板治城。後發一大冢，內有重合石扉，皆樞轉開閉，四周徼道通事，當作車。且廣高可乘馬。又鑄銅為人數十枚，又作十數頭。長五尺，皆大冠衣，執劍列侍。靈坐皆刻銅人，背後石壁。言殿中將將下脫軍字。或言侍郎，似王公冢也。破其棺。棺中有人，鬢毛班白鮮明，面體如生人。棺中有云母，厚尺許，白玉璧三十雙以藉身又作屍。兵人舉出死人以倚冢壁。一玉長一尺，形似冬瓜，從死人懷中出墮地。兩耳及鼻孔中，皆有黃金，大如棗許。此等等當作則骨骸三字。有假物而不朽之效也。御覽五百五十八，八百五，八百六，八百八，八百十，又八百十三。

In the time of Emperor Jing of Wu, a garrison commander at Jiangling (also read Guangling) dug into a tomb to take planks for repairing the walls. Afterwards, excavating a great tomb, they found within it doubled stone doors, all pivoting open and shut, with patrol roads around the sides passable by carriages ('affairs' should read 'carriages'), broad and high enough to ride horses. There were also bronze figures cast, several dozen, and a dozen or so more besides, five chi tall, all in great caps and robes, bearing swords in rows on guard. At the spirit seat were all engraved bronze men against the stone wall behind, said to be palace generals (the character 'army' is missing below 'general') or palace attendants, like a king's or duke's tomb. Breaking open the coffin: within was a man, his temple hair streaked white yet fresh and clear, his face and body like a living man's. In the coffin was mica about a chi thick, and thirty pairs of white jade discs used to pad the body (also read 'the corpse'). The soldiers lifted out the dead man and leaned him against the tomb wall. A piece of jade a chi long, shaped like a winter melon, came out of the dead man's arms and fell to the ground. In both ears and nostrils there was gold, large as dates. Such things have the effect of lending borrowed objects to keep from rotting. Yulan scrolls 558, 805, 806, 808, 810, and 813.

專心憑師，依法行道，濟身度世，利在永亨，事師盡敬，得道為期，承間候色也。不盡力明師道，有罪不可除也。學道得明師事之，害亂不得發也。御覽六百五十九。

With a single mind rely on your teacher, walk the Way according to its rule; crossing the body and crossing the world, the profit lies in eternal fortune. Serve your teacher with utter reverence; take obtaining the Way as your set term; watch his color for your chance. If you do not exert all your strength to make your teacher's way clear, sins cannot be removed. If in studying the Way you obtain an enlightened teacher to serve, calamity and disorder cannot arise. Yulan scroll 659.

道林子有五種尸解符，今太玄陰生符，及是一病解者。御覽六百六十四。

Daolinzi had five kinds of deliverance-from-the-corpse talismans; the present Taixuan Yinsheng talisman is one of them, deliverance by a single sickness. Yulan scroll 664.

薛振，字季和，燕代人。周武王時，學道於鍾山北河，經七試而不過者，由淫泆鄙滯敗其試耳。御覽六百六十六。郭文舉，河內軹縣人。入陸渾山學道，獨能無情，意不生也。同上

Xue Zhen, styled Jihe, was a man of Yan and Dai. In the time of King Wu of Zhou he studied the Way at the North River of Mount Zhong; that he passed through seven trials without failing was because licentious idleness and mean obstruction had defeated his trials (sic). Yulan scroll 666. Guo Wenju was a man of Zhi county in Henei. He entered Mount Luhun to study the Way; alone he could be without passion, his thoughts never arising. Same source.

範零子，少好仙道，如此積年。後遇司馬季主。季主同入常山，積七年，入石室當有脫文甕。季主出行，懇戒之曰，慎勿開。零子忽發視之。季主還，乃遣歸。後復召至，使守一銅匱，又戒勿發。零子復發之。季主乃遣之，遂不得道。同上。石室下脫北東角有石五字。

Fan Lingzi in youth loved the way of immortals, and so for many years. Later he met Sima Jizhu. Jizhu took him into Mount Chang; after seven years in all, they entered a stone chamber (there is probably missing text, 'jar'). When Jizhu went out he earnestly warned him: be sure not to open it. Lingzi suddenly opened it and looked. When Jizhu returned, he sent him home. Later he was summoned back and set to guard a bronze chest, and again warned not to open it. Lingzi opened it again. Jizhu then dismissed him, and so he never obtained the Way. Same source. Below 'stone chamber' the five characters 'at the north-east corner there is a stone' are missing.

馮良者，南陽人，少作縣吏。年三十為尉佐史，迎督郵，自恥無志，乃毀車殺牛裂敗衣。尋去從師，受詩傳禮易，復學道術占候。遊十五年，乃還。州郡禮闢不就。詔特舉賢良高第。平道委此句有脫誤，平當作半。還家。年六十七，棄世東度入山，在鹿跡洞中。同上安丘望之，字仲都，京兆長陵人也。修尚黃老。漢成帝從疑作重。或此下有脫文。其道德，常宗師之。愈自損退。成帝詣之，若值望之章醮，則待事畢然後往。老子章句有安丘之學。望之忽病篤，弟子公沙都與與當作輿。於庭樹下，望之曉然病有痊。時冬月，鼻聞李香，開目則見雙赤李著枯枝。望之仰手承李，自墜掌中。因食李，所苦盡除，身輕目明，遂去，莫知何在也。同上

Feng Liang, a man of Nanyang, in youth was a county clerk. At thirty he became a commandant's assistant scribe; going to receive the inspector, ashamed of his own lack of purpose, he smashed his carriage, killed the ox, and tore his worn clothes. Presently he left to follow a teacher, receiving the Odes, the Tradition, the Rites, and the Changes, then studied the arts of the Way and watching the heavens. After wandering fifteen years he returned. The province and commandery invited him with ceremony; he would not go. By decree he was specially raised as Worthy and Excellent of high grade. Midway ('level' should read 'half') he turned back home. At sixty-seven he left the world, crossed east, and entered the mountains, dwelling in Deer-Track Cave. Same source. Anqiu Wangzhi, styled Zhongdu, was a man of Changling in Jingzhao. He cultivated and honored Huang-Lao. Emperor Cheng of Han followed (probably 'revered', or something is missing here) his Way and virtue, always taking him as teacher and master, and he the more humbled and withdrew himself. When Emperor Cheng went to see him, if he chanced on Wangzhi performing libations, he waited until the rite was done before going in. In the chapter-and-verse of the Laozi there is the learning of Anqiu. Wangzhi suddenly fell gravely ill; his disciple Gongsha Du carried him (probably 'borne' for 'and') to beneath a tree in the courtyard, and Wangzhi brightened and the sickness abated. It was the winter month; his nose smelled the fragrance of plum; opening his eyes he saw a pair of red plums on the bare branch. Wangzhi raised his hand to receive the plums and they fell of themselves into his palm. Thereupon eating the plums, all his ills were dispelled; his body light, his eyes clear, he departed, and no one knew where he was. Same source.

家有三皇圖，必先齋戒百日，乃君至此句疑有脫誤。君至當作召致。天地五嶽社稷之神，後聖君命清虛小有真人，撰集上仙真籙，總名為上清一本作真正法，以懾萬邪。百年再授於人，須齋戒方得。御覽六百六十七。案此條齋戒方得下復引三元品經靈寶赤書太素玉籙經云云，疑非抱朴子文，未敢錄之。李阿者，行道逢奔車，阿兩腳中車，腳即折。弟子古強一作古弼，誤。神仙傳作古強，祛惑篇亦有其人。見之驚怖。阿須臾取斷腳相續如故也。御覽七百三十六。案此條疑是道意篇佚文。

To keep the Charts of the Three August Ones in the house, one must first fast and keep vigil a hundred days before summoning (the words 'then the lord comes' probably contain errors and should read 'summoning') the spirits of heaven and earth, the five peaks, and the soil and grain. Later the Sage Lord commanded the Pure-Void Lesser-Possession True Man to compile the True Registers of the Highest Immortals, under the general name of the Shangqing method (one text reads 'right and true'), to awe the myriad evils. Once in a hundred years it is bestowed again upon men, who must fast and keep vigil to obtain it. Yulan scroll 667. Note: after 'fast and keep vigil to obtain' this passage further cites the Scripture of the Three Primes, the Lingbao Red Writings, the Jade Register Classic of the Great Simplicity, and the like, which I suspect are not Baopuzi text, so I have not dared record them. Li A, walking the Way, met a rushing carriage, and both his feet were caught by the carriage and broken. His disciple Gu Qiang (one text has Gu Bi, an error; the Shenxian Zhuan has Gu Qiang, and the Quhuo chapter also has this man) saw it in terror. In a moment A took the severed feet and joined them as before. Yulan scroll 736. Note: this item is suspected lost text of the Daoyi chapter.

葛仙公每飲酒醉，常入門前陂中，竟日乃出。會從吳主到荊州，還大風，仙公船沒。吳主謂其已死。須臾從水上來，衣履不溼，而有酒色，雲昨為伍子胥召，設酒不能便歸，以淹留也。御覽八百四十五。案首三語與釋滯篇異，非即彼文也。神仙傳載船沒事，亦與此文異。

Whenever Ge Xiangong got drunk on wine, he always went into the pond before the gate and came out only at day's end. Once he went with the ruler of Wu to Jingzhou, and returning they met a great wind; Xiangong's boat sank. The ruler of Wu thought he was already dead. Presently he came up out of the water, his clothes and shoes unwet and the color of wine in his face, saying: yesterday Wu Zixu summoned me, and with wine set before me I could not at once return—thus the delay. Yulan scroll 845. Note: the first three clauses differ from the Shizhi chapter, so it is not that text. The Shenxian Zhuan records the boat was unharmed, which also differs from this text.

軫星逐鬼，張星拘魂，東井還魂也。御覽八百八十六。

The Zhen constellation chases off ghosts; the Zhang constellation binds the souls; the Eastern Well returns the souls. Yulan scroll 886.

伍被記八公造淮南王安，初為老公，不見通。須臾皆成少年。御覽八百八十八。

Wu Bei records that when the Eight Lords visited Liu An, King of Huainan, they were at first old men and were not announced; in a moment they all became youths. Yulan scroll 888.

韓子治以地黃甘草，哺五十歲老馬，以生三駒，又百三十歲乃死。御覽八百九十七。

Master Han Zhi used rehmannia and licorice to feed an old mare of fifty years, whereby she bore three foals, and lived on to a hundred and thirty before dying. Yulan scroll 897.

南方水牛，無冬夏常臥水中。御覽八百九十九。

The water buffalo of the south always lies in the water, winter and summer alike. Yulan scroll 899.

以鸛血塗金丹一丸，內衣中，以指物，隨口變化。御覽九百二十五。

Smear a pill of golden elixir with stork's blood, put it inside the robe, point at things, and they change at the word. Yulan scroll 925.

胡麻好者，一夕蒸之，如炊。須曝乾復蒸，細篩，白蜜和丸，如雞子大，日二枚。一年，顏色美，身體滑；二年，白髮黑；三年，齒落更生；四年，入水不濡；五年，入火不燋；六年，走及奔馬。或蜜水和作餅如糖狀，炙食一餅。御覽九百八十九。

Good sesame: steam it overnight as in cooking; it must be dried in the sun and steamed again, sifted fine, mixed with white honey and rolled into balls the size of chicken eggs—take two daily. In one year the complexion grows fair and the body smooth; in two years white hair turns black; in three years fallen teeth regrow; in four years one enters water unwetted; in five years one enters fire unburnt; in six years one runs as fast as a galloping horse. Or mix it with honeyed water into cakes like sugar and roast and eat one cake. Yulan scroll 989.

中經曰：鉤吻狼毒，太陰之精氣，主殺，故入口令人死。御覽九百九十。

The Middle Classic says: gelsemium and wolfsbane are the finest essences of the Greater Yin and rule over killing; therefore entering the mouth they make a man die. Yulan scroll 990.

洪體乏超逸晉書作進趣。之才，偶好無為之業。假令奮翅則能凌厲玄霄，騁足則能追風躡景，猶故晉書無此字。欲戢勁翮於鷦鷯晉書作鴳。之群，藏逸跡於跛驢之伍，豈況大塊稟我以尋常之短羽，造化假我於晉書作以。至駑之蹇足，以晉書無此字。自卜者審，不能者止。晉書有又字。豈敢力蒼蠅而慕沖天之舉，策跛鱉而追飛兔之軌，飾嫫母之陋醜晉書作篤陋，求媒揚晉書作陽。之美談，推沙礫之賤質，索千金於和肆哉！夫以晉書無此字。焦僥之步，而企及夸父之蹤，近才所以躓閡藏本作閔，晉書作礙。也。以晉書無此字。要離之羸，而強赴扛鼎之契，原校或作勢，晉書作勢。秦人所以斷筋也。是以望絕於榮華之途，而志安乎窮否晉書作圮。之域。藜藿有八珍之甘，而晉書無此字。蓬蓽有藻梲之樂也。故權貴之家，雖咫尺弗從也。知道之士，雖艱遠必造也。

My body lacks the talent for soaring excellence (the Book of Jin reads 'for advance'), and by chance I love the work of doing nothing. Even granting that beating my wings I could mount and soar in the dark empyrean, or stretching my legs chase the wind and tread the sunlight, still I would rather gather my strong pinions back among the wrens (the Book of Jin reads 'the quail') and hide my fleet tracks in the company of lame donkeys—how much more, when the Great Mass endowed me with common short feathers and Creation lent me (the Book of Jin reads 'gave') the lamest of nag feet, and careful self-reckoning says: where I cannot, there I stop. (The Book of Jin has the word 'moreover'.) How would I dare to spend my strength on a gadfly and long for heaven-piercing flight, whip a lame tortoise to pursue the track of the flying hare, touch up the homely ugliness of a Momu (the Book of Jin reads 'thorough ugliness') and sue for the matchmaker's flattering talk, or push the cheap stuff of sand and gravel to ask a thousand gold in the House of He's shop! To measure a Jiaoyao pygmy's stride against Kuafu's tracks—that is what trips up the near-talented ('hindered'; the Zang text reads 'pitied', the Book of Jin 'blocked'). To take Yao Li's frailty and force him to the tripod-lifting pact (the original collation has 'posture', the Book of Jin 'posture')—that is what snapped the man of Qin's sinews. So I cut off hope on the road of glory and rank and set my will at peace in the realm of straits and ruin ('failure'; the Book of Jin reads 'ruin'). Goosefoot and pulse have the sweetness of the eight delicacies; the bramble gate has the joy of carved beams. Therefore at the houses of the great and powerful, though a foot away I do not follow; men of true knowing, though far and hard, I unfailingly visit.

考覽奇書，既不少矣，率多隱語，難可卒解。自非至精，不能尋究，自非篤勤，不能悉見也。道士淵晉書作宏。博洽聞者寡，而意斷妄說者眾。至於時有好事者，欲有所修為，倉卒不知所從，而意之所疑，又無可晉書作足。諮問。晉書無此字。今為此書，粗舉長生之理，甚至妙者，不得宣之於翰墨。蓋粗言較略，以示一隅。冀悱憤之徒省之，可以思過半矣，豈為暗塞必能窮微暢遠乎！聊論其所先舉原校：先舉一本作“先覺者”。晉書作“先覺者”。耳。

The rare books I have examined and read are already not few, but most are in veiled speech, hard to explain at once. Without utmost devotion one cannot search them out; without steady diligence one cannot see them all. Among Daoists, the deep and broad and widely heard are few, while those who decide matters by whim and talk recklessly are many. When sometimes a lover of these things wishes to cultivate something, in haste he does not know where to begin, and if doubt enters his mind there is no one (the Book of Jin reads 'adequate one') to ask. So now I make this book, roughly setting out the principles of long life; the utterly subtle cannot be spread abroad in ink. I give broadly the main outline to show one corner. May earnest, striving men read it and grasp more than half; how could the benighted and blocked surely plumb the minute and reach the far! It is but a word for those who wake first (original collation: 'those who wake first'—one text reads 'those of earlier awakening'; the Book of Jin reads 'those of earlier awakening').

世儒徒知服膺周孔，桎梏皆死，晉書無此四字。莫信神仙之事，謂為妖妄之說，見餘此書，晉書無“事”至“此”共十字。不特大笑之。晉書作“不但大而笑之”。又將謗毀真正，故不以合於此下舊衍“世字”，今校刪。餘所箸子書之數，而別為此一部，名曰內篇，凡二十卷，與外篇各起次第也。晉書“故不”至“第也”作“故予所著子，言黃白之事，名曰內篇，其餘駁難通釋，名曰外篇，大凡內外一百一十六篇”，蓋史家刪改之耳。雖不足以藏晉書“以藏”作“藏諸”名山石室，晉書無此二字。且欲緘之金匱，以示識者。晉書止此，無下三十一字。其不可與言者，不令見也。貴使來世好長生者，有以釋其惑，豈求信於不信者乎！謹序。藏本作葛洪稚川謹序。後人所增。

The Confucians of the world know only to cherish the Duke of Zhou and Confucius, fettered till death (the Book of Jin lacks these four words), and do not believe the matter of spirits and immortals, calling it devil's nonsense; seeing this book of mine (the Book of Jin lacks the ten characters from 'matter' through 'this'), they do more than laugh at it (the Book of Jin reads 'not only greatly laugh at it'). They will also slander the true and upright, so I do not count it among my own master's writings (below this the old text erroneously repeats the character 'age', now deleted by collation) but make this separate part, called the Inner Chapters—twenty scrolls in all—each beginning its own sequence with the Outer Chapters. (The Book of Jin renders 'so I do not... sequences' as: 'therefore among my master's writings, those speaking of yellow-and-white are named the Inner Chapters, the rest refutations and general explanations named the Outer Chapters, in all a hundred and sixteen chapters, inner and outer'—presumably the historian's abridgment.) Though it is not worth hiding (the Book of Jin reads 'to hide it') in the stone chambers of famous mountains, still I want to seal it in a metal coffer to show to those who know. (The Book of Jin ends here, lacking the following thirty-one characters.) Those to whom it may not be spoken shall not see it. The worth lies in letting the men of later ages who love long life have something to untie their doubts—why seek belief among those who do not believe! Respectfully prefaced. (The Zang text reads 'respectfully prefaced by Ge Hong, Zhichuan'—a later addition.)

抱朴子者，姓葛，名洪，字稚川，丹陽句容人也。其先葛天氏，蓋古之有天下者也，後降為列國，因以為姓焉。洪曩祖為荊州刺史，王莽之篡，君恥事國賊，棄官而歸，與東郡太守翟義共起兵，將以誅莽，為莽所敗，遇赦免禍，遂稱疾自絕於世。莽以君宗強，慮終有變，乃徙君於琅邪。君之子浦廬，起兵以佐光武，有大功。光武踐祚，以廬為車騎，又遷驃騎大將軍，封下邳僮縣侯，食邑五千戶。開國初，侯之弟文，隨侯征討，屢有大捷。侯比上書為文藏本作文為，從舊寫本乙轉。訟功，而官以文私從兄行，無軍名，遂不為論。侯曰：弟與我同冒矢石，瘡痍周身，傷失右眼，不得尺寸之報，吾乃重金累紫，何心以安？乃自表乞轉封於弟。書至上請報。漢朝欲成君高義，故特聽焉。文辭不獲已受爵，即第為驃騎營立宅舍於博望裡，於今基兆石礎存焉。又分割租秩，以供奉吏士，給如二君焉。驃騎殷勤止之而不從。驃騎曰：此更煩役國人，何以為讓？乃託他行，遂南渡江，而家於句容。子弟躬耕，以典籍自娛。文累使奉迎驃騎，驃騎終不還。又令人守護博望宅舍，以冀驃騎之反，至於累世無居之者。

Baopuzi: surname Ge, personal name Hong, courtesy name Zhichuan, a man of Jurong in Danyang. His remote forebear was the Getian clan, who presumably in ancient times possessed all under heaven and afterwards descended among the ranked states, whence the surname came. Hong's forebear served as Inspector of Jingzhou. When Wang Mang usurped the throne, the lord was ashamed to serve a traitor to the state, resigned his office and returned, and together with Zhai Yi, Administrator of Dong commandery, raised troops to execute Mang; defeated by Mang, he met amnesty and escaped ruin, then pleaded illness and cut himself off from the world. Because the lord's clan was strong, Mang feared he might yet rise, and moved the lord to Langya. The lord's son Pu Lu raised troops in aid of Guangwu and did great service. When Guangwu ascended the throne he made Lu Chariots-and-Cavalry, then promoted him to General of Agile Cavalry, enfeoffed him Marquis of Tong county in Xiapi, with a fief of five thousand households. At the founding of the state the Marquis's younger brother Wen followed the Marquis on campaign and won repeated great victories. The Marquis repeatedly sent up memorials pleading Wen's merits (the Zang text reads 'Wen's', following the old manuscript's transposition), but the office held that Wen had followed his elder brother privately and had no name on the rolls, and so would not discuss it. The Marquis said: my brother braved arrows and stones with me, his whole body a mass of wounds, losing his right eye, and gets not a foot of reward, while I wear heavy gold and doubled purple cords—with what heart can I rest? So he memorialized himself begging to transfer his fief to his brother. The document went up and came back with approval. The Han court, wishing to perfect the lord's high rightness, specially granted it. Wen could not decline and accepted the rank, and at once built a house at the encampment of the General of Agile Cavalry in Bowang ward, whose foundations and plinth stones remain to this day. He also divided out his revenues and stipends to provide for the officers and men, supplying two lords' worth. The General earnestly tried to stop him but he would not listen. The General said: this further burdens and uses the men of the state—with what shall I requite it? So he excused himself on the pretext of other business, crossed the Yangzi south, and made his home in Jurong. His sons and younger brothers plowed with their own hands and entertained themselves with the classics. Wen repeatedly sent men to fetch the General back; the General would not return to the end. Wen also had men keep watch over the Bowang house, hoping the General would return, and for several generations none dwelt in it.

洪祖父學無不涉，究測精微，文藝之高，一時莫倫，有經國之藏本作史，從舊寫本改。才。仕吳，歷宰海鹽臨安山陰三縣，入為吏部侍郎、御史中丞、廬陵太守、吏部尚書、太子少傅、中書、大鴻臚、侍中、光祿勳、輔吳將軍，封吳壽縣侯。洪父以孝友聞，行為士表，方冊所載，罔不窮覽。仕吳五官郎、中正，建城南昌二縣令，中書郎、廷尉平、中護軍、拜會稽太守未辭，而晉軍順流，西境不守。博簡秉文經武之才，朝野之論，僉然推君，於是轉為五郡赴警。大都督給親兵五千，總統徵軍，戍遏疆場。天之所壞，人不能支，故主欽若，九有同賓。藏本作實，從舊寫本改。君以故官赴除郎中，稍遷至大中大夫，歷位大中正、肥鄉令，藏本無正字，肥作肐，從舊寫本補改。縣戶二萬，舉州最治，德化尤異，恩洽刑清，野有頌聲，路無奸跡，不佃公田，越界如市，秋毫之贈，不入於門，紙筆之用，皆出私財，刑厝而禁止，不言而化行。以疾去官，發詔見用為吳王郎中令，正色弼違，進可替不，舉善彈枉，軍國肅雍。遷邵陵太守，卒於官。

Hong's grandfather left no field of learning untouched; he plumbed the subtle and the refined. The height of his literary art had no peer in his time, and he had the talent for ordering the state [the Daozang text has a different character; emended following the old manuscript]. He held office in Wu, successively governing the three counties of Haiyan, Lin'an, and Shanyin, then entered the court as Vice Minister of Personnel, Palace Aide to the Censor-in-chief, Administrator of Luling, Minister of Personnel, Junior Tutor to the Heir Apparent, gentleman of the Central Secretariat, Grand Herald, Palace Attendant, Chamberlain for Attendants, and General Who Supports Wu, and was enfeoffed as Marquis of Wushou county. Hong's father was renowned for filial piety and brotherliness; his conduct was the model of gentlemen, and there was nothing recorded in the books that he did not read through to the end. In Wu he served as court gentleman of the Five Offices, as Rectifier, as magistrate of Jiancheng and Nanchang counties, as a gentleman of the Central Secretariat, as assistant to the Commandant of Justice, and as Central Protector of the Army. He had been appointed Administrator of Kuaiji but had not yet taken leave when the Jin armies came down the river and the western frontier was lost. Broadly versed, with talent for both civil letters and military affairs, he was unanimously recommended by opinion at court and in the country, and so was transferred to go to the aid of five commanderies. The commander-in-chief gave him five thousand picked troops; he commanded the expeditionary army and held the frontier fast. What Heaven destroys man cannot prop up: thus the former ruler submitted reverently, and all nine regions became guests together [the Daozang text has a different character; emended following the old manuscript]. He went up under his old rank and was appointed a court gentleman, gradually rising to Grand Master of the Palace, successively holding the posts of Grand Rectifier and magistrate of Feixiang [the Daozang text lacks a character and writes another differently; supplied and emended following the old manuscript]. The county had twenty thousand households and was judged the best governed in the whole province; his moral transformation was exceptional, his kindness pervasive and his punishments clear. There were songs of praise in the fields and no trace of crime on the roads. He did not till the public lands; folk crossed the borders as if going to market. Not so much as a hair's gift entered his gate; even paper and brush came out of his private purse. Punishments were set aside yet prohibitions held; without a word his transforming influence spread. He left office because of illness, then was summoned by edict to serve as Prefect of the Palace Gentlemen to the King of Wu. With stern countenance he corrected faults, advanced the acceptable and replaced the unfit, recommended the good and impeached the crooked, so that army and state were solemn and harmonious. He was promoted to Administrator of Shaoling and died in office.

洪者，君之第三子也。生晚，為二親所嬌饒，不早見督以書史。年十有三，而慈父見背，夙失庭訓，飢塞困瘁，躬執耕穡，承星履草，密勿疇襲。又累遭兵火，先人典籍蕩盡，農隙之暇無所讀。乃負笈徒步行借，又卒於一家，少得全部之書。益破功日伐薪賣之，以給紙筆，就營田園處，以柴火寫書。坐此之故，不得早涉藝文。常乏紙，每所寫，反覆有字，人鮮能讀也。年十六，始讀孝經論語詩易。貧乏無以遠尋師友，孤陋寡聞，明淺思短，大義多所不通。但貪廣覽，於眾書乃無不闇誦精持，曾所披涉，自正經諸史百家之言，下至短雜文章，近萬卷。既性暗善忘，又少文，意志不專，所識者甚薄，亦不免惑。而著述時猶得有所引用，竟不成純儒，不中為傳授之師。其河洛圖緯，一視便止，不得留意也。不喜星書、及算術、九宮、三棋、太一、飛符之屬，了不從焉，由其苦人而少氣味也。晚學風角、望氣、三元、遁甲、六壬、太一之法，粗知其旨，又不研精。亦計此輩率是為人用之事，同出身情，無急以此自勞役，不如省子書之有益，遂又廢焉。案別錄藝文志，眾有萬三千二百九十九卷，而魏代以來，群文滋長，倍於往者，乃自知所未見之多也。江表書籍，通同不具。昔欲藏本作故，從舊寫本改。詣京師，索奇異，而正值大亂，半道而還，每自藏本作具，從舊寫本改。嘆恨。今齒近不惑，素志衰頹，但含損之又損，為乎無為，偶耕藪澤，苟存性命耳。博涉之業，於是日沮矣。

Hong was that lord's third son. Born late, he was doted on by his parents and not early pressed to his books and histories. At thirteen his kind father passed away; early deprived of his father's instruction and suffering hunger, cold, and hardship, he himself took up ploughing and reaping, shouldering the stars and treading the dewy grass, toiling diligently among the fields. He also met repeated warfare and fire; his forebears' books were swept away entirely, and in the spare moments between farm work he had nothing to read. So he would shoulder a book box and go on foot to borrow; and stopping at a single house, he seldom obtained complete books. Moreover he spent his working days cutting firewood to sell in order to supply paper and brush, and at the field huts he copied out books by the light of burning firewood. For these reasons he could not early engage with letters and arts. Always short of paper, whatever he wrote was covered over and over with characters, so that few could read it. At sixteen he first read the Classic of Filial Piety, the Analects, the Odes, and the Changes. Poor and with no means to seek teachers and friends afar, isolated and ill-informed, shallow in insight and short in thought, he failed to grasp the great meaning in many places. Greedy only for wide reading, of the many books there was none he did not memorize and hold fast; all that he had leafed through — from the proper classics and the various histories and the sayings of the hundred schools down to short miscellaneous pieces — came to nearly ten thousand scrolls. Being by nature dull and forgetful, and moreover lacking polish, his will not single-minded, what he understood was very slight and he could not avoid perplexity. Still, when writing he could sometimes cite sources; in the end he did not become a pure Confucian, not fit to be a teacher of transmission. As for the River and Luo diagrams and the weft texts, he glanced at them and stopped, never lingering. He did not like the books of astrology, arithmetic and calculation, the Nine Palaces, the Three Boards, the Great Unity, flying tallies, and the like — he wholly avoided them, for they are toilsome and offer little savor. Later he studied the methods of wind-angle, watching the ethers, the Three Primes, the Hidden Stems, the Six Ren, and the Great Unity; he grasped their gist roughly but never refined it. He also calculated that these are mostly arts employed on others' behalf — matters of offering one's services — and there was no urgency to toil at them himself; better to economize with the books of the masters, which are of more benefit. So he abandoned them again. According to the Bie Lu and the Treatise on Literature, books amounted to thirteen thousand two hundred and ninety-nine scrolls, and since the Wei era writings have multiplied, doubling what came before; only then did he know how much he had not seen. South of the Yangzi, books were nowhere complete. Formerly he wished [the Daozang text has a different word; emended following the old manuscript] to go to the capital and seek out rare works, but he happened upon great disorder and turned back midway, sighing and regretting it to himself [the Daozang text has a different word; emended following the old manuscript] ever since. Now his years approach forty; his lifelong aims have waned. He merely holds to diminish and diminish again, acts in nonaction, tills by chance among the marshes, and barely preserves his life. The enterprise of broad learning has thus daily declined.

洪之為人也，（有脫文）而呆野，性鈍口訥，形貌醜陋，而終不辯自矜飾也。冠履垢弊，衣或襤縷，而或不恥焉。俗之服用，俄而屢改。或忽廣領而大帶，或促身本作身促，從意林乙轉。而修袖，或長裾曳地，或短不蔽腳。洪期於守常，不隨世變，言則率實，杜絕嘲戲，不得其人，終日默然。故邦人鹹稱之為抱朴之士，是以洪著書，因以自號焉。洪稟性尪羸，兼之多疾，貧無車馬，不堪徒行，行亦性所不好。又患弊俗，捨本逐末，交遊過差，故遂撫筆閒居，守靜蓽門，而無趨從之所。藏本作趨所之從，今從舊寫本改。至於權豪之徒，雖在密跡，而莫或相識焉。衣不闢寒，室不免漏，食不充虛，名不出戶，不能憂也。貧無僮僕，籬落頓決，荊棘叢於庭宇，蓬莠塞乎階溜，披榛出門，排草入室，論者以為意遠忽近，而不恕藏本作怒，從舊寫本改。其乏役也。不曉謁有脫文。以故初不修見官長，至於吊大喪，省困疾，乃心欲自勉強，令無不必至，而居疾少健，恆復不周，每見譏責於論者，洪引咎而不恤也。意苟無餘，而病使心違，顧不媿己而已，亦何理於人之不見亮乎？唯明鑑之士，乃恕其信抱朴，非以養高也。

Hong as a person [a passage is missing] is dull and rustic, slow of nature, halting of speech, ugly of feature, and in the end could not explain or adorn himself. His cap and shoes were soiled and worn, his clothes sometimes ragged, and he was not ashamed of it. Fashion in dress changes from moment to moment — now suddenly wide collars and broad sashes, now tight bodies [the word order is reversed in the text; transposed following the Yilin] and long sleeves, now long trains sweeping the ground, now too short to cover the ankles. Hong resolved to keep to the constant and not follow the world's shifts; his words stuck to fact, he cut out all joking and banter, and if he did not have the right man he would stay silent the whole day. Therefore his countrymen all called him 'the scholar who embraces simplicity', and so, when Hong wrote his book, he took this as his own style-name. Hong's constitution is frail and weak, and he is moreover much plagued by illness; poor, without carriage or horse, he cannot bear to go on foot — and going out is anyway not to his nature. He also loathes the corrupted custom of abandoning the root to chase the branches and of excessive social intercourse; therefore he holds his brush and lives at leisure, keeping still behind a wicker gate, and has no company he hurries after [the Daozang text's wording is transposed; corrected following the old manuscript]. As for the powerful and great, though they lived close by, he sometimes did not even know them. That his clothes could not keep out the cold, his room could not keep out the leaks, his food could not fill his hunger, and his name never left his door — none of this could worry him. Poor and without servants, his fences fallen to ruin, thorns and brambles crowding the courtyard, weeds and tares choking the steps and gutters — he pushed through the brushwood to go out and parted the grass to come in. Critics thought him intent on the distant and heedless of the near, and did not excuse [the Daozang text has 'resented', emended following the old manuscript] his lack of laborers. [Some text is missing concerning] not understanding how to pay calls. Therefore from the start he made no practice of calling on officials; as for condoling at great funerals or visiting those gravely ill, though his heart wished to force itself and there was no courtesy he could omit, living in sickness with little strength he always again fell short, and was often chided and blamed by critics — Hong took the blame on himself and did not mind. His intent was never lacking; illness made him fail his heart. He sought only not to be ashamed before himself — what did it matter that others did not forgive him? Only men of clear discernment could excuse him, trusting that he truly embraced simplicity, and was not using it to cultivate loftiness.

世人多慕豫親之好，推暗室藏本作至，從舊寫本改。之密，洪以為知人甚未易，上聖之所難，浮雜之交，口合神疕，舊寫本作離。無益有損，雖不能如朱公叔一切絕之，且必須清澄詳悉，乃處意焉。又為此見憎者甚眾而不改也。馳逐苟達，側立勢門者，又共疾洪之異於己而見疵毀，謂洪為泬物輕俗。而洪之為人，信心而行，譭譽皆置於不聞。藏本置作之，舊寫本作譭譽之皆如不聞，今從盧本。至患近人，或恃其所長而輕人所短。洪忝為儒者之末，每與人言，常度其所知而論之，不強引之以造彼所不聞也。及與學士有所辯識，每舉綱領，若值惜短，難解心義。藏本作家，從舊寫本改。但粗說意之與向，使足以發寤而已，不致苦理，使彼率不得自還也。彼靜心者存舊寫本存字空白，疑是衍文。詳而思之，則多自覺而得之者焉。度不可藏本無不字，從舊寫本補。與言者，雖或有問，常辭以不知，以免辭費之過也。

Most men of the world admire intimacy at first meeting and push for closeness in private [the Daozang text has a different character; emended following the old manuscript]; Hong holds that knowing men is very hard, difficult even for the highest sages. Shallow and mixed friendships — agreement of the lips while the spirits are divided [the old manuscript has 'divided'] — bring no benefit and much harm. Although he could not, like Zhu Gongshu, cut them all off entirely, yet he had to be clear and thorough before committing his heart. Moreover, many hated him for this, yet he did not change. Those who race for advancement at any cost and stand at the gates of the powerful together resented Hong for differing from them and attacked him as flawed, saying Hong was aloof from things and made light of the world. But Hong's way is to follow his heart in action; blame and praise he treats alike as unheard [the Daozang text and old manuscript differ in wording; the Lu edition is followed]. He also faults his contemporaries who rely on their own strengths to make light of others' shortcomings. Hong, an unworthy tail-end of the Confucians, whenever he talks with people always gauges what they know before discoursing, never forcing them toward what they have not heard. And when he debates and discriminates with scholars, he always raises the main outline; if he meets one who grudges admitting shortcomings and cannot grasp the meaning of the heart [the Daozang text has a different character; emended following the old manuscript], he only roughly conveys the drift and direction, enough to awaken the man, and does not press the reasoning hard, so that for the most part the man cannot come back at him. Those whose hearts are still keep it in mind [the old manuscript has a blank here; the character is perhaps an interpolation], ponder it carefully, and mostly awaken and gain it by themselves. To those he gauges to be unfit to speak with [the Daozang text lacks the negative; supplied following the old manuscript], though they may sometimes ask, he always excuses himself with 'I do not know', to avoid the fault of wasted words.

洪性深不好乾煩官長，自少及長，曾救知己之抑者數人，不得已藏本無已字，從舊寫本補。有言於在位者。然其人皆不知洪之恤也，不忍見其陷於非理，密自營之耳。其餘雖親至者，在事秉勢，與洪無惜者，終不以片言半字少累之也。至於糧用窮匱，急合湯藥，則喚求朋類，或見濟，亦不讓也。受人之施，必皆久久漸有以報之，不令覺也。非類則不妄受其饋致焉。洪所食有旬日之儲，則分以濟人之乏，若殊自不足，亦不割己也。不為皎皎之細行，不治察察之小廉。村裡凡人之謂舊寫本謂字空白，疑有誤。良守善者，用舊寫本用字空白，疑有誤。時或齎酒餚候洪，雖非儔匹，亦不拒也。後有以答之，亦不登時也。洪嘗謂史雲不食於昆弟，華生治潔於暱客，蓋邀名之偽行，非廊廟之遠量也。洪尤疾無義之人，不勤農桑之本業，而慕非義之奸利。持鄉論者，則賣選舉以取謝。有威勢者，則解符疏以索財。或有有字當誤，舊寫本空白。罪人之賂，或當作而。枉有理之家，或為逋逃之藪，而饗亡命之人，疑作入。或挾使民丁以妨本作妨以，從下文乙轉。公役，或強收錢物以求貴价，或占錮市肆，奪百姓之利，或割人田地，劫孤弱之業，愡恫官府之閒，以窺掊克之益，內以誇妻妾，外以釣名位，其如此者，不與交焉。由是俗人憎洪疾己，自然疏絕。故巷無車馬之跡，堂無異志之賓，庭可設雀羅，而几筵積塵焉。

By nature Hong deeply dislikes troubling those in office. From youth to age there have been several friends who were suppressed, on whose behalf he could not but [the Daozang text lacks a character; supplied following the old manuscript] say a word to those in power. Yet those men never knew that Hong pitied them and could not bear to see them trapped in injustice — he acted for them in secret. For the rest, even those closest to him who held affairs and wielded power, if they had no regard for Hong he never burdened them with so much as a word or half a syllable. As for times when grain and supplies ran out, or he urgently needed to compound a medicine, then he would call on and seek his friends; if he was helped, he did not decline. Whatever he received from others, he was sure over time, gradually, to find a means to repay without letting them notice. From those not of his kind he never wrongly accepted a gift. If Hong's own food had ten days' store, he would share it to relieve others' want; but if he was himself notably short, he would not cut into himself. He does not perform the glittering petty acts of virtue nor cultivate the scrupulous small probities. The common villagers whom people call [the old manuscript has a blank; possibly corrupt] good and decent sometimes [the old manuscript has a blank; possibly corrupt] bring wine and dishes to wait on Hong; though they are not his peers he does not refuse them. Later he finds means to answer them, but not at once. Hong once remarked that Shi Yun would not eat at his brothers' homes and that Huasheng kept aloof in purity before his intimates — these were probably false acts for fishing after fame, not the far-reaching measure of one who belongs in the halls of state. Hong especially hates men without righteousness who do not labor at the fundamental work of farming and sericulture yet covet wrongful gain. Those who hold village opinion sell recommendations and selections to take thanks. Those with power and influence release writs and requisitions to exact wealth. Some accept [the character is likely corrupt; the old manuscript has a blank] bribes from criminals; some [should read 'and'] twist the cause of houses in the right; some make themselves a marsh for fugitives and feast outlaws [the character is perhaps another]; some forcibly take commoners' labor to obstruct [the word order transposed, corrected following the text below] public service; some forcibly collect money and goods to demand inflated prices; some monopolize the markets and shops, snatching the people's profit; some cut away others' fields and rob the holdings of orphans and the weak — blustering among the offices to spy out the gains of extortion, inwardly to boast before wife and concubines, outwardly to angle for name and position. Men like this, he will not keep company with. Therefore worldly men hate Hong as an enemy of themselves and naturally shun him. So no tracks of carriages or horses are found in his lane, no guest of divided purpose in his hall; his courtyard could hold a sparrow net, and dust gathers on his mats and tables.

洪自有識以逮。將老，口不及人之非，不說人之私，乃自然也。雖僕豎有其所短所羞之事，不以戲之也。未嘗論評人物之優劣，不喜訶譴人交舊寫本作又人。之好惡。或為尊長所逼問，辭不獲已，其論人也，則獨舉彼體中之勝事而已。其論文也，則撮其所得之佳者，而不指摘其病累。故無譭譽之怨。貴人時或問官吏民甲乙何如。其清高閒舊寫本作賢。能者，洪指說其快事；其貪暴暗塞者，對以偶不識悉。洪由此頗見譏責，以顧護太多，不能明辯臧否，使皂白區分，而洪終不敢改也。每見世人有好論人物者，比方倫匹，未必當允，而褒貶與奪，或失準格。見譽者自謂已分，未必信德也；見侵者則恨之入骨，劇於血讎。洪益以為戒，遂不復言及士人矣。雖門宗子弟，其稱兩皆以付邦族，不為輕乎當作平，舊寫本作評。其價數也。或以譏洪。洪答曰：我身在我者也，法當易知。設令有人問我，使自比古人，及同時令我自求輩，則我實不能自知可與誰為匹也，況非我安可為取而。評定之耶？漢末俗弊，朋黨分部，許子將之徒，以口舌取戒，爭訟論議，門宗成讎。故汝南人士無復定價，而有月旦之評。魏武帝深亦疾之，欲取其首，爾乃奔波亡走，殆至屠滅。前鑑不遠，可以得師矣。且人之未易知也，雖父兄不必儘子弟也。同乎我者遽是乎？異於我者遽非乎？或有始無卒，唐堯公旦仲尼季札，皆有不全得之恨，無以近人信其嘍嘍管見熒舊寫本作螢。燭之明，而輕評人藏本作人評，從舊寫本乙轉。物，是皆賣賣字疑舊寫本空白。彼上聖大賢乎？

From the time Hong first knew anything until nearly old age, his mouth has never touched others' faults nor spoken of their private affairs — this is simply his nature. Even when a servant boy had some shortcoming or shameful matter, he would not use it to mock him. He has never debated the good and bad points of men, nor liked to scold or rebuke the likes and dislikes of men's friendships [the old manuscript has a different wording]. If sometimes pressed by the questions of elders, unable to decline, when he spoke of a man he would single out only the fine points in the man's makeup; when he spoke of a piece of writing he would gather the good in it and not pick at faults and flaws. Therefore he has incurred no resentment from blame or praise. When distinguished men occasionally ask him how this or that official, clerk, or commoner is — those who are pure, lofty, and capable [the old manuscript has 'worthy'], Hong points out their admirable deeds; those who are greedy, violent, and muddled he answers by pretending not to know them well. For this Hong has been rather chided and blamed, as being too protective, unable to judge good and bad plainly, to distinguish black and white; yet Hong to the end dares not change. Whenever he sees men of the world fond of judging persons, their comparisons and matchings are not necessarily fair, and their praise and blame, their grant and denial, sometimes miss the standard. The praised take it as their due and are not necessarily truly virtuous; the attacked hate it to the bone, more bitterly than a blood feud. Hong took this all the more as a warning, and thereafter no longer spoke about gentlemen. Even for the sons and brothers of his own clan — those they reckoned fit to hand to the state's service — he would not lightly assign [should read 'weigh'; the old manuscript has 'assess'] a rating for them. Some chide Hong for this. Hong answers: 'My person is in myself; by rights I should be easy to know. Yet if someone asked me to compare myself to the ancients, or to seek out a peer among my contemporaries, then I truly could not know myself whom I might match — how much less can I take up and fix the rating of those who are not me!' At the end of Han, customs decayed and cliques divided into factions; men of Xu Zijiang's sort won fame by their tongues, wrangling and judging until clan fought clan. Thus the gentlemen of Runan no longer had a fixed evaluation but only the verdicts of the first day of the month. Emperor Wu of Wei deeply hated this; he wanted the man's head, so that Xu fled in haste and wanderings, nearly to being slaughtered. The mirror of the past is not far; it may serve as a teacher. Moreover men are not easy to know — even fathers and elder brothers do not fully know their sons and brothers. Is one who agrees with me thereby right, and one who differs from me thereby wrong? Or is there beginning without end? Tang Yao, the Duke of Zhou, Confucius, and Ji Zha all suffered the regret of not getting it entirely right; there is no way to take the petty men close at hand, trust their paltry tube-view and firefly-candle glimmer [the old manuscript has 'firefly'], and lightly judge persons [the Daozang text's word order is transposed; corrected following the old manuscript] — are these not all betrayals [the character is doubtful; the old manuscript has a blank] of the highest sages and great worthies?

昔大安中，石冰作亂，六州之地，柯振葉藏本作鎮業，從舊寫本改。靡，違正黨逆，義軍大都督邀洪為將兵都尉，累見敦迫。既桑梓恐虜，禍深憂大，古人有急疾之義。又畏軍法，不敢任志。遂募合數百人，與諸軍旅進。曾攻賊之別將，破之日，錢帛山積，珍玩蔽地。諸軍莫不放兵收拾財物，繼轂連擔。洪獨約令所領，不得妄離行陣。士有摭得眾者，洪即斬之以徇。於是無敢委杖。而果有伏賊數百，出傷諸軍。諸軍悉發，無部隊，皆人馬負重，無復戰心，遂致驚亂，死傷狼藉，殆欲不振。獨洪軍整齊轂張，無所損傷，以救諸軍之大崩，洪有力焉。後別戰，斬賊小帥，多獲甲首，而獻捷幕府。於是大都督加洪伏波將軍。例給布百匹，諸將多封閉之，或送還家。而洪分賜將士，及施知故之貧者。餘之十匹，又徑以市肉酤酒，以饗將吏。於時竊擅一日之美談焉。

Formerly, in the Da'an era, Shi Bing raised a rebellion; in the lands of six provinces the branches shook and the leaves fell flat [the Daozang text has different characters; emended following the old manuscript], and men departed the right and banded with the rebels. The commander-in-chief of the loyalist army invited Hong to be a commandant leading troops, pressing him repeatedly. Since his homeland was in danger of capture, the calamity deep and the care great, and since the ancients held it right to answer dire emergency — and moreover he feared martial law and dared not indulge his own will — he raised and gathered several hundred men and advanced with the various armies. Once they attacked a detached rebel commander; on the day of the victory, coins and silk lay heaped like hills and precious trifles covered the ground. None of the armies failed to loose their men to gather up the goods, carts hub to hub and loads pole to pole. Hong alone held his command in order, forbidding them to leave the ranks without leave. When a soldier picked up a quantity of goods, Hong had him beheaded as an example; thereafter none dared quit their arms. And in fact several hundred rebels lay in ambush and came out to strike the armies. The armies all broke ranks, lost their units, men and horses laden down, with no more heart to fight, and so fell into panic and rout, dead and wounded strewn about, nearly past recovery. Hong's army alone stayed in order and deployed its carts, suffering no loss; that the collapse of the armies was relieved owed much to Hong. Later, in another battle, he beheaded a minor rebel leader, took many armored heads, and presented the victory at headquarters. Thereupon the commander-in-chief made Hong General Who Calms the Waves. By regulation he was granted a hundred bolts of cloth; most generals sealed them away or sent them home, but Hong divided them among his officers and men, and even bestowed some on poor old acquaintances. Of the ten bolts left, he straightway took them to buy meat and wine to feast his officers — and for a day it was the fine story on everyone's lips.

事平，洪投戈釋甲，徑詣洛陽，欲廣尋異書，了不論戰功。竊慕魯連不受聊城之金，包胥不納存楚之賞，成功不處之義焉。正遇上國大亂，北道不通，而陳敏又反於江東，歸塗隔塞。會有故人譙國嵇君道，本作居道，從意林及晉書改，下放此。見用為廣州刺史，乃表請洪為參軍，雖非所樂，然利可避地於南，故黽勉就焉。見遣先行催兵，而君道於後遇害，遂停廣州，頻為節將見邀用，皆不就。永惟富貴可以漸得，而不可頓合，其閒屑屑亦足以勞人。且榮位勢利，譬如寄客，既非常物，又其去不可得留也。隆隆者絕，赫赫者滅，有若春華，須臾凋落。得之不喜，失之安悲？悔吝百端，憂懼兢戰，不可勝言，不足為也。且自度性篤懶而才至短，以篤懶而御短才，雖翕肩屈膝，趨走風塵，猶必不辦，大致名位而免患累，況不能乎？未若修松喬之道，在我而已，不由於人焉。將登名山，服食養性，非有廢也。事不兼濟，自非藏本作不，從舊寫本改。絕棄世務，則曷緣修習玄靜哉？且知之誠難，亦不得惜問而與人議也。是以車馬之跡，不經貴勢之域；藏本作貴世之域，從舊寫本改。片字之書，不交在位之家。又士林之中，雖不可出，而見造之賓，意不能拒，妨人所作，不得專一。乃嘆曰，山林之中無道也。而古之修道者，必入山林者，誠欲以違遠讙譁，使心不亂也。今將遂本志，委桑梓，適嵩嶽，以尋方平梁公之軌。先所作子書內外篇，幸已用功夫，聊復撰次，以示將來云爾。

When the affair was settled, Hong threw down his spear and doffed his armor and went straight to Luoyang, wishing to seek widely for rare books, saying nothing at all of his war service. In his heart he admired the righteousness of Lu Lian, who would not accept the gold of Liaocheng, and of Shen Baoxu, who would not take the reward for preserving Chu — to succeed and not dwell on it. It happened that the realm fell into great disorder and the northern roads were closed, while Chen Min rebelled in Jiangdong; the way home was cut off. He met an old friend, Ji Jundao of Qiao [the text has a different name; emended following the Yilin and the Book of Jin; so below], who was being employed as Inspector of Guangzhou and who petitioned to have Hong as his adjutant. Though the post was not to his liking, it had the advantage of letting him take refuge in the south, so he forced himself to take the office. Sent ahead to hurry on troops, he learned that Jundao had been killed behind him; so he stayed on in Guangzhou, and though the commanding generals repeatedly invited his service, he accepted none of them. Long he pondered that wealth and honor can be gradually gained but cannot be grasped in an instant, and that in between the petty fuss is enough to wear a man down. Moreover glorious station, power, and profit are like a lodged guest: since they are no lasting thing, once they go they cannot be kept. Their thunderous passing, their brilliant extinction, is like a spring flower that fades in a moment. To gain them is no cause for joy; why then grieve to lose them? Regret and vexation a hundredfold, care and trembling past all telling — not worth doing. Moreover, measuring himself, his nature is staunchly lazy and his talent exceedingly short; to harness staunch laziness to short talent, though one shrug one's shoulders and bend one's knees and hurry through the dust and wind, one still could not accomplish it — let alone roughly gain name and station while escaping trouble. Better to cultivate the way of Master Redpine and Wangzi Qiao, which lies in oneself and does not depend on others. He resolved to climb a famed mountain, take elixirs and nourish his nature — this is not abandoning anything. Since affairs cannot both be carried through, if he did not [the Daozang text has a different reading; emended following the old manuscript] utterly cast off worldly business, whence could he cultivate mystery and stillness? Moreover, knowing this is truly hard, and he cannot begrudge asking and debating with others. So the tracks of his carriages never cross the domains of the honored and powerful [the Daozang text has a different wording; emended following the old manuscript], and no note of a single character passes to the houses of those in office. Again, among the forest of gentlemen, though one cannot wholly withdraw, guests who come visiting cannot in conscience be refused; they hinder one's work and leave no single-mindedness. He sighed that amid the mountains and forests there is, they say, no Way — yet the ancients who cultivated the Way always entered the mountains and forests, truly because they wished to keep far from clamor and keep the heart unconfused. Now he is about to fulfill his original intent, leave his homeland behind, and go to Mount Song, to seek the tracks of Fangping and Lord Liang. The inner and outer chapters of the master's book he wrote earlier are, fortunately, already worked out; he has merely arranged them again to hand to later viewers.

洪年十五六時，所作詩賦雜文，當時自謂可行於代。本脫於代二字，從意林補。至於弱冠，更詳省之，殊多不稱意，天才未必為增也，直所覽差廣，而覺妍媸之別。於是大有所制，棄十不存一。今除所作子書，但雜尚餘百所卷，猶未盡損益之理，而多慘憤，不遑復料護之。他人文成，便呼快意。餘才鈍思遲，實不能爾。作文章每一更字，輒自轉勝，但患懶，又所作多，不能數省之耳。

When Hong was fifteen or sixteen, the poems, rhapsodies, and miscellaneous pieces he wrote he at the time thought fit to circulate in the age [the text omits two characters; supplied following the Yilin]. By the time he was capped at twenty, examining them again in detail, he found most of them very unsatisfying — his natural talent had not necessarily grown; it was only that his reading had widened a little and he now perceived the difference between lovely and ugly. So he made great cuts: he threw away nine tenths and kept not one in ten. Now, apart from the master book he wrote, only about a hundred scrolls of miscellany remain, not yet fully brought to the measure of gain and loss; and since much of it is bitter and indignant, he has had no leisure to tend it further. Other men finish a piece and at once cry out in delight. My talent is dull and my thought slow — I truly cannot do that. Each time I change a single character in an essay, I find it turned for the better; my only fault is laziness, and since what I have written is much, I cannot keep reviewing it all.

洪年二十餘，乃計作細碎小文，妨棄功日，未若立一家之言，乃草創子書。會遇兵亂，流離播越，有所亡失，連在道路，不復投筆十餘年，至建武中乃定，凡著內篇二十卷，外篇五十卷，碑頌詩賦百卷，軍書檄移章表箋記三十卷。又撰俗所不列者為神仙傳十卷，又撰高尚藏本作上，今從舊寫本。不仕者為隱逸傳十卷，又抄五經七史百家之言，兵事方伎短雜奇要三百一十卷，別有目錄。其內篇言神仙方藥鬼怪變化養生延年禳邪卻禍之事，屬道家。其外篇言人閒得失，世事臧否，屬儒家。洪見魏文帝典論藏本作典目，從舊寫本改。自敘，末藏本作未，從舊寫本改。及彈棋擊劍之事，有意於略說所知，而實不數少所便能，不可虛自稱揚，今將具言，所不閒焉。

When Hong was just past twenty, he reckoned that writing petty trifles and small pieces wasted working days — better to establish the words of a single school — and began drafting the master book. He happened to meet war and disorder; fleeing and wandering, he lost part of it and was constantly on the road, not taking up his brush again for over ten years. It was only settled in the Jianwu era. In all he wrote twenty scrolls of Inner Chapters, fifty scrolls of Outer Chapters, a hundred scrolls of stele inscriptions, eulogies, poems, and rhapsodies, and thirty scrolls of military letters, proclamations, missives, memorials, and notes. He also compiled the Biographies of Divine Immortals in ten scrolls for those whom the common lists do not record; he compiled the Biographies of Recluses in ten scrolls for the lofty [the Daozang text has a different character; the old manuscript is followed] who would not serve; and he excerpted the sayings of the Five Classics, the seven histories, and the hundred schools, together with military matters, arts, and sundry rare essentials, in three hundred and ten scrolls, with a separate catalogue. The Inner Chapters speak of divine immortals, recipes and drugs, ghosts and marvels, transformations, nourishing life and lengthening years, repelling evils and warding off calamities — they belong to the Daoist school. The Outer Chapters speak of gain and loss among men and the good and bad of worldly affairs — they belong to the Confucian school. Hong saw that Emperor Wen of Wei in the Self-Account in his Dianlun [the Daozang text has a different title; emended following the old manuscript], at the end [the Daozang text has a different character; emended following the old manuscript], touched on pellet chess and fencing, and meant to speak briefly of what he knew; yet in truth he does not reckon up the few things he can do, and must not praise himself emptily. So now he will set out in full those in which he is not practiced.

洪體鈍性駑，寡所玩好，自總髮垂髫，有脫句。又擲瓦手搏，不及兒童之群，未曾鬥雞鶩走狗馬。見人博戲，了不目眄，或強牽引觀之，殊不入神，有若晝睡。是以至今不知棋局上有幾道，樗蒲齒名。亦念此輩末伎，亂意思而妨日月，在位有損政事，儒者則廢講誦，凡民則忘稼穡，商人則失貨財。至於勝負未分，交爭都市，心熱於中，顏愁於外，名之為樂，而實煎悴。喪廉恥之操，興爭競之端，相取重貨，密結怨隙。昔宋閔公吳太子致碎首之禍，生叛亂之變，覆滅七國，幾傾天朝，作戒百代，其鑑明矣。每觀戲者，慚恚交集，手足相交，醜詈相加，絕交壞友，往往有焉。怨不在大，亦不在小，多召悔吝，不足為也。仲尼雖有晝寢之戒，以洪較之，洪實未許其賢於晝寢。何者，晝寢但無益，而未有怨恨之憂，鬥訟之變。聖者猶韋編三絕，以勤經業，凡才近人，安得兼修。惟諸戲盡不如示一尺之書，故因本不喜而不為，蓋此俗人所親焉。

Hong's body is dull and his nature slow; from boyhood, when his hair was bound in tufts and hung loose, [a passage is missing] he took little delight in games. At throwing tiles or wrestling he could not keep up with the children's band; he never fought cocks or raced ducks, dogs, or horses. Seeing others at board games, he would not so much as glance sidelong; if someone dragged him over to watch, it never caught his spirit — it was like sleeping by day. Therefore to this day he does not know how many lines the chessboard has, nor the names of the throws in the game of chupu. He also reflects that these trivial arts disorder the mind and waste the days: those in office harm the affairs of government by them, scholars neglect lecture and recitation, common people forget ploughing and harvest, merchants lose their goods and wealth. And when victory and defeat hang undecided, men quarrel in the marketplaces, hearts burning within, faces wretched without — calling it pleasure when in truth it is torment and waste. They lose the discipline of shame and honor, breed the beginnings of contention, snatch each other's heavy goods, and secretly knot grudges and feuds. Of old, Duke Min of Song and the Heir of Wu brought on the calamity of shattered skulls, gave birth to the change of rebellion, overthrew seven kingdoms, and nearly toppled the celestial dynasty — a warning for a hundred generations; the lesson is bright and clear. Whenever one watches gamesters, shame and rage crowd together, hands and feet fly at each other, foul curses are heaped up, friendships broken off — it happens again and again. Resentment lies neither in the great nor in the small; it mostly summons regret and vexation — not worth doing. Though Confucius gave his warning against sleeping by day, comparing the two, Hong truly does not grant that gaming is better than sleeping by day. Why? Daytime sleep is merely unprofitable; it breeds no cares of resentment, no calamities of brawling and litigation. Even the sage thrice wore out the leather bindings of his book in his diligence at the classics; how can ordinary talent, barely above the crowd, cultivate both? On reflection, none of the games can compare with unrolling a foot of writing; therefore, since I have never liked them, I do not play them — though they are perhaps what common folk hold dear.

少嘗學射，但力少不能挽強，若顏高之弓耳。意為射既在六藝，又可以禦寇闢劫，及取鳥獸，是以習之。昔在軍旅，曾手射追騎，應弦而倒，殺二賊一馬，遂以得免死。又曾受刀楯及單刀雙戟，皆有口訣要術，以待取人，乃有秘法，其巧入神。若以此道與不曉者對，便可以當全獨勝，所向無前矣。晚又學七尺杖術，可以入白刃，取大戟。然亦是不急之末學，知之譬如麟角鳳距，何必用之？過藏本脫過字，從舊寫本補。此已往，未之或知。

In youth he once studied archery, but his strength was too slight to draw a strong bow like Yan Gao's. He reflected that archery is both among the Six Arts and can be used to repel raiders and ward off robbers, and to take birds and beasts, so he practiced it. Once, in the army, he himself shot a pursuing rider who fell at the twang of the string, killing two rebels and a horse, and by this he escaped death. He also received instruction in saber-and-shield, single saber, and double halberd; all have oral formulas and essential techniques for taking men, and there are secret methods whose skill enters the divine. If one who knows this art faces men who do not, he can count on complete and solitary victory, with none to stand before him. Later he also studied the art of the seven-foot staff, which can enter naked blades and take great halberds. Yet these are likewise unessential last studies: knowing them is like having a unicorn's horn or a phoenix's spur — what use are they? Beyond [the Daozang text omits this character; supplied following the old manuscript] this, he knows nothing more.

洪少有定志，決不出身。每覽巢許子州北人石戶二姜兩袁法真子龍之傳，嘗廢書前席，慕其為人。念精治五經，著一部子書，令後世知其為文儒而已。後州郡及車騎大將軍闢，皆不就。薦名琅邪王丞相府。昔起義兵，賊平之後，了不修名，詣府論功，主者永無賞報之冀。晉王應天順人，撥亂反正，結皇綱於垂絕，修宗廟之廢祀，念先朝之滯賞，並無報以勸來。洪隨例就彼。庚寅詔書，賜爵關中侯，食句容之邑二百戶。竊謂藏本作詔，從舊寫本改。討賊以救桑梓，勞不足錄，金紫之命，非其始願，本欲遠慕魯連，近引田疇，上書固辭，以遂微志。適有大例，同不見許。昔仲由讓應受之賜，而沮為善。醜虜未夷，天下多事，國家方欲明賞必罰，以彰憲典，小子豈敢苟潔區區之懦志，而距弘通之大制，故遂息意而恭承詔命焉。

From youth Hong had a fixed resolve never to enter official life. Whenever he read the biographies of Chaofu, Xu You, Zizhou, the Man of the North, Shihu, the two Jiangs, the two Yuans, Fa Zhen, and Zilong, he would set down the book and lean forward on his mat, admiring the men they were. His thought was to master the Five Classics thoroughly and write one master book, so that later ages would know him as a lettered Confucian — that was all. Later the province, the commandery, and the General of Chariots and Cavalry all summoned him; he accepted none. His name was recommended to the ministerial office of the King of Langye. Formerly, when he raised loyal troops and the rebels were pacified, he did not at all cultivate a name nor go to headquarters to discuss his merit, so those in charge never had any prospect of rewarding him. The King of Jin, answering Heaven and following men's hearts, brought order out of chaos, tied up the imperial bonds where they were about to break, restored the neglected sacrifices of the ancestral temple, and, mindful of the unrewarded merits of the former reign, sought to repay them and thereby encourage what was to come. Hong accordingly went to take his part. By edict of the gengyin day he was granted the rank of Marquis of the Interior, with a fief of two hundred households in Jurong. Privately he held [the Daozang text has a different character; emended following the old manuscript] that campaigning against rebels to save his homeland was a service not worth recording, and that the appointment to gold and purple was not his original wish. He had meant to follow Lu Lian at a distance and cite Tian Chou near at hand, to submit a letter firmly declining, and so fulfill his slight intent. But it happened there was a general ruling and, like the rest, he was not permitted. Formerly Zhong You declined a reward he was entitled to and discouraged the doing of good. The foul foe was not yet pacified; the world was full of troubles; the state wished to make rewards clear and punishments sure in order to give glory to its statutes. How could a petty fellow presume to keep spotless his small fainthearted resolve and refuse the great far-reaching rule? So he stilled his intent and respectfully received the edict's command.

洪既著自敘之篇。或人難曰：昔王充年在耳順，道窮望絕，懼身名之偕滅，故自紀終篇。先生以始立之盛，值乎有道之運，方將解申公之束帛，登穆藏本作枚，從舊寫本改。生之蒲輪，耀藻九五，絕聲昆吾，何憾芬芳之不揚，而務老生之彼務。洪答曰：夫二儀彌邈，而人居若寓，以朝菌之耀秀，不移晷而殄瘁，類春華之暫榮，未改旬而凋墜，雖飛飆之經霄，激電之乍照，未必速也。夫期頤猶奔星之騰煙，藏本作炯，從舊寫本改。黃髮如激箭之過隙，況或未萌藏本作明，從舊寫本改。而殞籜，逆秋而零瘁者哉？故項子有含穗之嘆，揚烏有夙折之哀。歷覽遠古逸倫之士，或以文藝而龍躍，或以武功而虎踞，高勳著於盟府，德音被乎管絃，形器雖沈鑠於淵壤，美談飄颻而日載，故雖千百代，猶穆如也。餘以庸陋，沈抑婆娑，用不合時，行舛於世，發音則響與俗乖，抗足則跡與眾迕，內無金張之援，外乏彈冠之友，循塗雖坦，而足無騏驎，六虛雖曠，而翼非大鵬，上不能鷹揚匡國，下無以顯親垂名，美不寄於良史，聲不附乎鍾鼎。故因著述之餘，而為自敘之篇，雖無補於窮達，亦賴將來之有述焉。

When Hong had written the autobiographical chapter, someone objected: 'Formerly Wang Chong, in his sixtieth year, at the end of his road and with all hope gone, feared that his body and name would perish together, and so wrote a self-record as the final chapter. You, sir, in the prime of early establishment and meeting a fortunate age, are just the one to undo Shengong's bundle of silk and mount Musheng's cushioned wheel [the Daozang text has a different name; emended following the old manuscript], to shine your luster at the sovereign's seat and leave even Kunwu behind in renown — what regret could you have that your fragrance should not spread, that you busy yourself with the tasks of an old man?' Hong answered: The two realms stretch on without end, yet man's dwelling in them is but a lodging; take the morning mushroom that blooms in splendor and withers before the sundial's shadow moves, like the spring flower whose brief glory falls before a fortnight has turned — even a flying whirlwind crossing the sky or a sudden blaze of lightning is not necessarily quicker. A hundred years is still like a rushing star, like rising smoke [the Daozang text has a different character; emended following the old manuscript]; yellowed old age is like a driven arrow through a crack — how much more those who perish unbudded [the Daozang text has a different character; emended following the old manuscript], shed like sheaths, or fall blighted before autumn! Thus Xiang Tuo had his sigh for the unripe ear, and Yang Wu had his grief for the early cutting. Surveying the surpassing men of remote antiquity: some leapt like dragons by literary art, some crouched like tigers by martial deed; their high merit was recorded in the archives of covenants, their virtuous fame spread through pipe and string. Though their forms sank and melted into the deep earth, the fine talk of them floats and is borne on from day to day — so that after a hundred thousand generations they are still reverent and near. I, mediocre and mean, sunk low and drifting, useless and out of season, my conduct at odds with the world — when I utter a sound its echo clashes with the common run, when I lift a foot my track crosses the multitude. Within I have no backing of a Jin or a Zhang; without, no friend to dust off the cap for me. The way along the path may be smooth, but my feet are no thoroughbred; the six voids may be vast, but my wings are no great Peng's. Above, I cannot soar like a hawk to set the state right; below, I have no means to glorify my parents or hand down a name; my goodness is not lodged with a fine historian, my sound not attached to bell or tripod. Therefore, on the margins of my writing, I have made this autobiographical chapter; though it adds nothing to failure or success, it may yet give later men something to relate.

道家宗旨，清淨沖虛而已。其弊或流為權謀，或流為放誕，無所謂金丹仙藥、黃白玄素、吐納導引、禁祝符■之術也。秦漢方士，絕不附會老子。即依託黃帝，亦非道家之說。漢書藝文志以黃帝諸篇，分屬道家神仙，蓋本七略。七略又本於別錄。劉子政固誦習鴻寶，篤信神仙者，而典校秘書，仍別方技於諸子之外，不相殽也。

The essence of the Daoist school is nothing more than purity, stillness, and empty receptivity. Its corruptions flowed some into scheming and strategy, some into unrestrained license; it had none of the so-called arts of gold elixirs and immortal drugs, the yellow-and-white (the smelting of gold and silver), the dark-and-pale (the bedchamber arts), exhaling and inhaling and guiding-and-stretching, prohibitions, invocations, and talismans [a character is missing in the base text]. The adepts of Qin and Han never attached themselves to Laozi. Even when they lodged themselves in the Yellow Emperor, that was not a Daoist doctrine. The Treatise on Literature in the Book of Han assigns the various Huangdi texts partly to the Daoists and partly to the adepts of immortality, probably following the Qilüe, which in turn followed the Bie Lu. Although Liu Zizheng chanted and studied the Hongbao and firmly believed in immortals, when he collated the palace library he still placed the recipes and arts in a class apart from the masters, not mixing them together.

東漢之季，桓帝好神仙，祠老子。張陵之子衡，使人為祭酒，主以老子五千文都習。神仙之附會道家，實昉於此。抱朴子內篇，古之神仙家言也。雖自以內篇屬之道家，然所舉仙經神符，多至二百八十二種，絕無道家諸子。且謂老子泛論較略，莊子文子關尹喜之徒，祖述黃老，永無至言，去神仙千億裡。尋其旨趣，與道家判然不同。又後世學仙者，奉魏伯陽為正宗。是書偶及伯陽內篇之名，並無一語稱述，惟神仙傳中言參同契假爻象以說作丹之意而已。是稚川之學，匪特與道家異，並與後世神仙家無幾微之合。

At the end of Eastern Han, Emperor Huan loved the divine immortals and offered sacrifices to Laozi. Zhang Ling's son Zhang Heng appointed libationers to preside over the universal recitation of Laozi's text of five thousand characters. The attachment of the immortality cult to the Daoist school truly began here. The Inner Chapters of Baopuzi is a work of the ancient adepts of immortality. Although Ge Hong himself assigned the Inner Chapters to the Daoists, the immortal classics and divine talismans he cites number as many as two hundred and eighty-two, and among them are none of the Daoist masters. Moreover he says Laozi's general discussion is comparatively slight, and that Zhuangzi, Wenzi, Guanyin Xi, and their like, in transmitting Huang-Lao, never offer the ultimate word — they are a hundred billion leagues from the immortals. Tracing its aim, it is markedly different from the Daoist school. Further, later students of immortality honor Wei Boyang as the orthodox ancestor. This book only occasionally mentions the title of Boyang's Inner Chapters without a single word of praise; only in the Biographies of Divine Immortals does it say that the Cantong qi borrows the images of the hexagrams to expound the making of the elixir. This shows that Zhichuan's learning is not only different from the Daoists' but shares not a jot with the later immortality school either.

餘嘗謂漢之仙術，元與黃老分途。魏晉之世，玄言日盛，經術多歧。道家自詭於儒，神仙遂溷於道。然第假借其名，不易其實也。迨及宋元，乃緣參同爐火而言內丹，煉養陰陽，混合元氣，斥服食胎息為小道，金石符祝為旁門，黃白玄素為邪術，惟以性命交修，為谷神不死，羽化登真之訣。其說旁涉禪宗，兼附易理，襲微重妙，且欲並儒釋而一之。自是而漢晉相傳神仙之說，盡變無餘，名實交溷矣。然則葛氏之書，墨守師傳，不矜妙悟。譬之儒者說經，其神仙家之漢學乎！

I once said that the immortal arts of Han were originally a separate path from Huang-Lao. In the Wei-Jin age, mysterious discourse grew stronger by the day and the learning of the classics divided into many branches. The Daoists falsely called themselves near to the Confucians, and immortality was thus mixed into the Way. Yet this was only borrowing the name; it did not change its substance. It was not until Song and Yuan that the inner elixir was expounded along the lines of the Cantong qi's furnace and fire — refining and nourishing yin and yang, blending the primal ethers — while dismissing elixir-eating and embryo-breathing as petty ways, metals-and-stones and talismans-and-spells as side gates, and the yellow-and-white and dark-and-pale as heterodox arts, taking only the joint cultivation of inner nature and life-destiny as the oral formula for 'the valley spirit does not die' and 'growing feathers and mounting to the Real'. That doctrine reached sideways into the Chan school and attached itself to the principles of the Changes; it took over subtle words and prized the mysterious, and even sought to fuse Confucianism and Buddhism into one. From then on, the lore of immortals handed down from Han and Jin was wholly transformed, name and substance mingled and confused. So Ge Hong's book, guarding its teacher's transmission and not priding itself on wondrous enlightenment — comparing it to the Confucians' commenting on the classics, is it not precisely the Han learning of the immortality school!

孫伯淵漕司，篤好古義，兼綜九流，以明刻抱朴子及天一閣鈔本錯亂脫誤，手自校讎，復屬餘與顧澗●各以家藏諸本，參證他書，覆校數過，伯淵敘錄篇目，將以刊行。餘因舉神仙與道家者流，古今分合之故，論次為序，覽者或有考焉。嘉慶十七年七月甲戌桐城方維甸撰。

Sun Boyuan of the Grain Transport Office deeply loved ancient learning and mastered the nine schools as well. Because the Ming printing of Baopuzi and the Tianyi Pavilion manuscript were in disorder with omissions and errors, he collated them with his own hand, and further charged me and Gu Jian [the character is incomplete in the base text] to take the various editions in our family collections, verify them against other books, and collate them again several times over. Boyuan arranged the catalogue of chapters and was about to print it. I therefore set out the reasons for the divisions and joins between the immortality school and the Daoist school in ancient and modern times, composed them in order as a preface, so that readers may have something to examine. Written by Fang Weidian of Tongcheng, on the jiaxu day of the seventh month of the seventeenth year of Jiaqing.

按：明刻抱朴子於內篇之後，附入別旨一篇，專論吐納導引，與內篇本意不合，辭義亦甚淺近，不似晉人手筆。考之稚川自敘，本無此書。隋唐諸志，皆不著錄。惟宋史藝文志道家有抱朴子別旨二卷。注云，不知作者。亦不謂為稚川所著也。晚出之書，元不可信。且今本五百六十餘言，不盈一卷，並非宋元舊本。故削去之，不復附於篇末雲。維甸又跋。

Note: the Ming printing of Baopuzi appended a piece called Separate Purport after the Inner Chapters, treating only breathing exercises and gymnastic conduction; it does not agree with the original intent of the Inner Chapters, and its phrasing and sense are quite shallow, unlike the hand of a Jin man. Examining Zhichuan's own account, this book is not among them. The various bibliographies of Sui and Tang do not record it. Only the Treatise on Literature in the History of Song lists under the Daoists a Separate Purport of Baopuzi in two scrolls; the note says the author is unknown — it does not say Zhichuan wrote it. A book that appears late is not to be trusted. Moreover the present text is five hundred and sixty-odd characters, less than a full scroll, and is not the Song-Yuan old edition. Therefore it has been cut out and is no longer appended at the end of the chapters. A further postscript by Weidian.

暢玄卷第一，論仙卷第二，對俗卷第三，金丹卷第四，至理卷第五，微旨卷第六，塞難卷第七，釋滯卷第八，道意卷第九，明本卷第十，仙藥卷第十一，辨問卷第十二，極言卷第十三，勤求卷第十四，雜應卷第十五，黃白卷第十六，登涉卷第十七，地真卷第十八，遐覽卷第十九，袪惑卷第二十。

Expounding the Mystery, scroll one; Discoursing on Immortals, scroll two; Answering the Common World, scroll three; The Golden Elixir, scroll four; The Ultimate Principle, scroll five; The Subtle Purport, scroll six; Blocking Objections, scroll seven; Dissolving Obstructions, scroll eight; The Meaning of the Way, scroll nine; Making the Root Clear, scroll ten; The Medicines of the Immortals, scroll eleven; Resolving Questions, scroll twelve; Exhaustive Words, scroll thirteen; Earnest Seeking, scroll fourteen; Sundry Replies, scroll fifteen; The Yellow and the White, scroll sixteen; Climbing and Crossing, scroll seventeen; The Terrestrial Real, scroll eighteen; A Far-reaching Survey, scroll nineteen; Dispelling Delusions, scroll twenty.

右目錄依道藏本定。按抱朴子內篇敘云，別為此一部名曰內篇，凡二十卷，與外篇各起次第也。又外篇自敘云，凡著內篇二十卷，外篇五十卷。又云，其內篇言神仙方藥、鬼怪變化、養生延年、禳邪卻禍之事，屬道家。其外篇言人閒得失、世事臧否、屬儒家。隋書經籍志內篇亦屬道家，與外篇分行。道藏雖並收外篇，原未合為一部。觀其內篇之後，外篇之前，以抱朴子別旨一種閒隔之，可曉然矣。明人刻此書，從道藏取出，而不知其為三種，遂總名曰抱朴子，非也。今校刊內篇二十卷，不連外篇，以復葛氏之舊，兼正明人之誤。舊唐書經籍志及各家書目俱為二十卷。隋志二十一卷，音一卷者，或加序目及音為二十二卷也。音久不傳。道藏序在第一卷前，故不復列數雲。或疑別旨既自為一種，何以不見於自敘。考道藏所收，又有抱朴子養生論及稚川真人較證術一卷，抱朴子神仙金汋經三卷，葛稚川金木萬靈論，俱不見於自敘。然則別旨，正同斯例，蓋皆非稚川所撰也。嘉慶十六年十月五松居士孫星衍敘錄。

The catalogue above follows the Daozang edition. According to the Preface to the Inner Chapters of Baopuzi: 'I separately made this part called the Inner Chapters, twenty scrolls in all, numbering separately from the Outer Chapters.' Also the Self-Account of the Outer Chapters says: 'In all I wrote twenty scrolls of Inner Chapters and fifty scrolls of Outer Chapters,' and further: 'The Inner Chapters speak of divine immortals, recipes and drugs, ghosts and marvels, transformations, nourishing life and lengthening years, repelling evils and warding off calamities — they belong to the Daoist school; the Outer Chapters speak of gain and loss among men and the good and bad of worldly affairs — they belong to the Confucian school.' The Treatise on Bibliography in the Book of Sui likewise classes the Inner Chapters with the Daoists, circulating separately from the Outer Chapters. Although the Daozang received the Outer Chapters too, they were originally never united in one work. That it placed a piece called Separate Purport of Baopuzi between the Inner Chapters and the Outer Chapters makes this plain. When Ming men printed this book, they took it from the Daozang but did not know it was three works, and so gave the whole the single name Baopuzi — which is wrong. Now the Inner Chapters are collated and printed in twenty scrolls without the Outer Chapters, restoring the old arrangement of the Ge family and correcting the Ming men's error. The Treatise on Bibliography of the Old Book of Tang and the catalogues of all houses give twenty scrolls. The Sui Treatise gives twenty-one scrolls plus one scroll of pronunciation — perhaps the preface-catalogue and the pronunciation were added to make twenty-two. The pronunciation has long been lost. In the Daozang the preface stands before scroll one, so it is not listed separately. Some may wonder: since the Separate Purport formed a work of its own, why does it not appear in the Self-Account? Consider that the Daozang also contains a Treatise on Nourishing Life of Baopuzi, a Method of Verification of the Perfected Man Zhichuan in one scroll, a Classic of the Golden Ladle of Divine Immortals of Baopuzi in three scrolls, and a Discourse on Metals, Woods, and the Myriad Numina of Ge Zhichuan — none of which appear in the Self-Account. The Separate Purport is exactly the same case: presumably none of them are by Zhichuan. Tenth month of the sixteenth year of Jiaqing; catalogue note by the Recluse of Five Pines, Sun Xingyan.

道家宗旨，清淨沖虛而已。其弊或流為權謀，或流為放誕，無所謂金丹仙藥、黃白玄素、吐納導引、禁咒符籙之術也。秦漢方士，絕不附會老子。即依託黃帝，亦非道家之說。漢書藝文志以黃帝諸篇，分屬道家神仙，蓋本七略。七略又本於別錄。劉子政固誦習鴻寶，篤信神仙者，而典校秘書，仍別方技於諸子之外，不相殽也。

The essence of the Daoist school is nothing more than purity, stillness, and empty receptivity. Its corruptions flowed some into scheming and strategy, some into unrestrained license; it had none of the so-called arts of gold elixirs and immortal drugs, the yellow-and-white (the smelting of gold and silver), the dark-and-pale (the bedchamber arts), exhaling and inhaling and guiding-and-stretching, incantations, talismans, and registers. The adepts of Qin and Han never attached themselves to Laozi. Even when they lodged themselves in the Yellow Emperor, that was not a Daoist doctrine. The Treatise on Literature in the Book of Han assigns the various Huangdi texts partly to the Daoists and partly to the adepts of immortality, probably following the Qilüe, which in turn followed the Bie Lu. Although Liu Zizheng chanted and studied the Hongbao and firmly believed in immortals, when he collated the palace library he still placed the recipes and arts in a class apart from the masters, not mixing them together.

東漢之季，桓帝好神仙，祠老子。張陵之子衡，使人為祭酒，主以老子五千文都習。神仙之附會道家，實昉於此。抱朴子內篇，古之神仙家言也。雖自以內篇屬之道家，然所舉仙經神符，多至二百八十二種，絕無道家諸子。且謂老子泛論較略，莊子文子關尹喜之徒，祖述黃老，永無至言，去神仙千億裡。尋其旨趣，與道家判然不同。又後世學仙者，奉魏伯陽為正宗。是書偶及伯陽內篇之名，並無一語稱述，惟神仙傳中言參同契假爻象以說作丹之意而已。是稚川之學，匪特與道家異，並與後世神仙家無幾微之合。

At the end of Eastern Han, Emperor Huan loved the divine immortals and offered sacrifices to Laozi. Zhang Ling's son Zhang Heng appointed libationers to preside over the universal recitation of Laozi's text of five thousand characters. The attachment of the immortality cult to the Daoist school truly began here. The Inner Chapters of Baopuzi is a work of the ancient adepts of immortality. Although Ge Hong himself assigned the Inner Chapters to the Daoists, the immortal classics and divine talismans he cites number as many as two hundred and eighty-two, and among them are none of the Daoist masters. Moreover he says Laozi's general discussion is comparatively slight, and that Zhuangzi, Wenzi, Guanyin Xi, and their like, in transmitting Huang-Lao, never offer the ultimate word — they are a hundred billion leagues from the immortals. Tracing its aim, it is markedly different from the Daoist school. Further, later students of immortality honor Wei Boyang as the orthodox ancestor. This book only occasionally mentions the title of Boyang's Inner Chapters without a single word of praise; only in the Biographies of Divine Immortals does it say that the Cantong qi borrows the images of the hexagrams to expound the making of the elixir. This shows that Zhichuan's learning is not only different from the Daoists' but shares not a jot with the later immortality school either.

餘嘗謂漢之仙術，元與黃老分途。魏晉之世，玄言日盛，經術多歧。道家自詭於儒，神仙遂溷於道。然第假借其名，不易其實也。迨及宋元，乃緣參同爐火而言內丹，釒柬養陰陽，混合元氣，斥服食胎息為小道，金石符祝為旁門，黃白玄素為邪術，惟以性命交修，為谷神不死，羽化登真之訣。其說旁涉禪宗，兼附易理，襲微重妙，且欲並儒釋而一之。自是而漢晉相傳神仙之說，盡變無餘，名實交溷矣。然則葛氏之書，墨守師傳，不矜妙悟。譬之儒者說經，其神仙家之漢學乎！

I once said that the immortal arts of Han were originally a separate path from Huang-Lao. In the Wei-Jin age, mysterious discourse grew stronger by the day and the learning of the classics divided into many branches. The Daoists falsely called themselves near to the Confucians, and immortality was thus mixed into the Way. Yet this was only borrowing the name; it did not change its substance. It was not until Song and Yuan that the inner elixir was expounded along the lines of the Cantong qi's furnace and fire — refining [the base text misprints this character by splitting it in two] and nourishing yin and yang, blending the primal ethers — while dismissing elixir-eating and embryo-breathing as petty ways, metals-and-stones and talismans-and-spells as side gates, and the yellow-and-white and dark-and-pale as heterodox arts, taking only the joint cultivation of inner nature and life-destiny as the oral formula for 'the valley spirit does not die' and 'growing feathers and mounting to the Real'. That doctrine reached sideways into the Chan school and attached itself to the principles of the Changes; it took over subtle words and prized the mysterious, and even sought to fuse Confucianism and Buddhism into one. From then on, the lore of immortals handed down from Han and Jin was wholly transformed, name and substance mingled and confused. So Ge Hong's book, guarding its teacher's transmission and not priding itself on wondrous enlightenment — comparing it to the Confucians' commenting on the classics, is it not precisely the Han learning of the immortality school!

孫伯淵漕司，篤好古義，兼綜九流，以明刻抱朴子及天一閣鈔本錯亂脫誤，手自校讎，復屬餘與顧澗●各以家藏諸本，參證他書，覆校數過，伯淵敘錄篇目，將以刊行。餘因舉神仙與道家者流，古今分合之故，論次為序，覽者或有考焉。嘉慶十七年七月甲戌桐城方維甸撰。

Sun Boyuan of the Grain Transport Office deeply loved ancient learning and mastered the nine schools as well. Because the Ming printing of Baopuzi and the Tianyi Pavilion manuscript were in disorder with omissions and errors, he collated them with his own hand, and further charged me and Gu Jian [the character is incomplete in the base text] to take the various editions in our family collections, verify them against other books, and collate them again several times over. Boyuan arranged the catalogue of chapters and was about to print it. I therefore set out the reasons for the divisions and joins between the immortality school and the Daoist school in ancient and modern times, composed them in order as a preface, so that readers may have something to examine. Written by Fang Weidian of Tongcheng, on the jiaxu day of the seventh month of the seventeenth year of Jiaqing.

按：明刻抱朴子於內篇之後，附入別旨一篇，專論吐納導引，與內篇本意不合，辭義亦甚淺近，不似晉人手筆。考之稚川自敘，本無此書。隋唐諸志，皆不著錄。惟宋史藝文志道家有抱朴子別旨二卷。注云，不知作者。亦不謂為稚川所著也。晚出之書，元不可信。且今本五百六十餘言，不盈一卷，並非宋元舊本。故削去之，不復附於篇末雲。維甸又跋。

Note: the Ming printing of Baopuzi appended a piece called Separate Purport after the Inner Chapters, treating only breathing exercises and gymnastic conduction; it does not agree with the original intent of the Inner Chapters, and its phrasing and sense are quite shallow, unlike the hand of a Jin man. Examining Zhichuan's own account, this book is not among them. The various bibliographies of Sui and Tang do not record it. Only the Treatise on Literature in the History of Song lists under the Daoists a Separate Purport of Baopuzi in two scrolls; the note says the author is unknown — it does not say Zhichuan wrote it. A book that appears late is not to be trusted. Moreover the present text is five hundred and sixty-odd characters, less than a full scroll, and is not the Song-Yuan old edition. Therefore it has been cut out and is no longer appended at the end of the chapters. A further postscript by Weidian.

抱朴子內篇二十卷抱朴子內篇序。抱朴子外篇自敘。隋志作二十一卷。今存。

The Inner Chapters of Baopuzi, twenty scrolls. See the Preface to the Inner Chapters of Baopuzi and the Self-Account of the Outer Chapters. The Treatise on Bibliography in the Book of Sui gives twenty-one scrolls. Extant today.

抱朴子外篇五十卷自敘。隋志作三十卷，並雲梁有五十一卷。今存。

The Outer Chapters of Baopuzi, fifty scrolls. See the Self-Account. The Sui Treatise gives thirty scrolls and also says that under the Liang there were fifty-one scrolls. Extant today.

碑頌詩賦百卷自敘。晉書本傳頌作誄。仙苑編珠引陳馬樞道學傳同。

Stele inscriptions, eulogies, poems, and rhapsodies, one hundred scrolls. See the Self-Account. The biography in the Book of Jin writes 'dirges' for 'eulogies'; the Xianyuan Bianzhu, quoting Ma Shu's Traditions of Daoist Learning of the Chen, agrees.

軍書檄移章表箋記三十卷自敘。本傳作檄移章表。

Military letters, proclamations and missives, memorials and submissions, notes and records, thirty scrolls. See the Self-Account. The biography writes 'proclamations, missives, memorials, and submissions'.

神仙傳十卷自敘。本傳。今存。

Biographies of Divine Immortals, ten scrolls. See the Self-Account and the biography. Extant today.

隱逸傳十卷自敘。本傳。

Biographies of Recluses, ten scrolls. See the Self-Account and the biography.

兵事方伎短雜奇要三百一十卷自敘。本傳作方伎雜事。

Military matters, recipes and arts, and sundry rare essentials, three hundred and ten scrolls. See the Self-Account. The biography writes 'recipes, arts, and sundry matters'.

金匱藥方一百卷本傳。

Prescriptions of the Golden Casket, one hundred scrolls. See the biography.

玉函方一百卷

Prescriptions of the Jade Case, one hundred scrolls.

抱朴子雜應篇。疑即前金匱藥方。

The Sundry Replies chapter of Baopuzi. Presumably the same as the Prescriptions of the Golden Casket above.

肘後要急方四卷本傳。雜應篇作救卒方三卷。隋志作肘後方六卷。舊唐志作肘後救卒方四卷。四庫全書目錄作肘後備急方八卷。今存。道藏正一部肘後備急方八卷，誤題作葛仙翁。

Emergency Prescriptions Behind the Elbow, four scrolls. See the biography. The Sundry Replies chapter gives Prescriptions to Save the Sudden in three scrolls; the Sui Treatise gives Prescriptions Behind the Elbow in six scrolls; the old Tang Treatise gives Emergency Prescriptions Behind the Elbow in four scrolls; the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries catalogue gives Emergency Prescriptions Behind the Elbow in eight scrolls. Extant today. The Emergency Prescriptions Behind the Elbow in eight scrolls in the Zhengyi division of the Daozang is wrongly attributed to the Immortal Elder Ge.

神仙服食藥方十卷隋志。

Prescriptions for the Divine Immortals' Ingestion of Medicines, ten scrolls. See the Sui Treatise.

太清神仙服食經五卷新唐志。

Classic of the Divine Immortals' Ingestion in Grand Clarity, five scrolls. See the new Tang Treatise.

服食方四卷唐釋法琳辨正論卷九。

Prescriptions for Ingestion, four scrolls. See scroll nine of the Treatise on Discerning the Correct by the Tang monk Falin.

玉函煎方五卷隋志。

Decoction Prescriptions of the Jade Case, five scrolls. See the Sui Treatise.

黑髮酒方一卷崇文總目。通志略。

Wine Prescription for Blackening the Hair, one scroll. See the General Catalogue of the Chongwen Library and the Epitomes of the Comprehensive Treatise.

渾天論晉書天文志。文廷式補晉書藝文志。（簡稱補晉志）

Discourse on the Enveloping Heaven. See the Treatise on Astronomy in the Book of Jin, and Wen Tingshi's Supplementary Treatise on Literature for the Book of Jin (hereafter 'Supplementary Jin Treatise').

幕阜山記一卷補晉志。潮說補晉志。略見於外篇佚文。

Record of Mount Mufu, one scroll. See the Supplementary Jin Treatise. Discourse on the Tides: see the Supplementary Jin Treatise; partly preserved among the lost fragments of the Outer Chapters.

兵法孤虛月時秘要法一卷新唐志。

Secret Essential Method of the Orphan-and-Void Month-and-Hour in the Art of War, one scroll. See the new Tang Treatise.

陰符十德經一卷新唐志。

Classic of the Ten Virtues of the Hidden Accord, one scroll. See the new Tang Treatise.

抱朴子軍術補晉志。雲此外篇中佚篇也，嚴可均全晉文輯得四十二條。今別錄其目。

Military Arts of Baopuzi. See the Supplementary Jin Treatise, which says it is a lost chapter of the Outer Chapters; Yan Kejun's Complete Jin Prose recovered forty-two items. Its entries are now registered separately.

金木萬靈訣一卷宋志通志略。今存道藏洞神部眾術類。蓋刪改金丹篇而成。太清玉碑子一卷宋志。葛洪與鄭思遠問答。今存道藏洞神部眾術類。

Formula of the Myriad Numina of Metals and Woods, one scroll. See the Song Treatise and the Epitomes of the Comprehensive Treatise. Now extant in the Daozang, in the arts section of the Cavern of the Gods division. Presumably made by abridging and altering the Golden Elixir chapter. The Jade Stele of Grand Clarity, one scroll. See the Song Treatise. Questions and answers between Ge Hong and Zheng Siyuan. Now extant in the Daozang, in the arts section of the Cavern of the Gods division.

大丹問答一卷今存道藏洞神部眾術類。

Questions and Answers on the Great Elixir, one scroll. Now extant in the Daozang, in the arts section of the Cavern of the Gods division.

還丹肘後訣三卷今存道藏洞神部眾術類。

Formula Behind the Elbow for the Reverted Elixir, three scrolls. Now extant in the Daozang, in the arts section of the Cavern of the Gods division.

四家要訣一卷通志略。集劉向、陵陽子、抱朴子、狐剛子所記煉丹事。

Essential Formulas of the Four Masters, one scroll. See the Epitomes of the Comprehensive Treatise. It gathers the alchemical records of Liu Xiang, Lingyangzi, Baopuzi, and Hugangzi.

抱朴子養生論一卷宋志。今存道藏洞神部方法類。

Baopuzi's Treatise on Nourishing Life, one scroll. See the Song Treatise. Now extant in the Daozang, in the methods section of the Cavern of the Gods division.

稚川真人校證術一卷今存道藏洞神部眾術類。

The Method of Verification of the Perfected Man Zhichuan, one scroll. Now extant in the Daozang, in the arts section of the Cavern of the Gods division.

神仙金汋經三卷通志略不著撰人。今存道藏洞神部眾術類。

Classic of the Golden Ladle of the Divine Immortals, three scrolls. The Epitomes of the Comprehensive Treatise do not record an author. Now extant in the Daozang, in the arts section of the Cavern of the Gods division.

嚴可均曰：抱朴子養生論，前半即地真篇也，後半與極言篇相輔。稚川真人校證術是後人所演。

Yan Kejun says: the first half of Baopuzi's Treatise on Nourishing Life is simply the Terrestrial Real chapter, and the second half complements the Exhaustive Words chapter. The Method of Verification of the Perfected Man Zhichuan was elaborated by later men.

神仙金汋經三卷，其中下二卷，即金丹篇也。見鐵橋漫稿

Of the three scrolls of the Classic of the Golden Ladle of the Divine Immortals, the latter two are simply the Golden Elixir chapter. See the Random Drafts of the Iron Bridge.

卷六代繼蓮龕為抱朴子敘。

In scroll six, a Preface to Baopuzi composed in the name of the Master of the Continuing Lotus Niche.

孫詒讓札移十抱朴子微旨條云：

Sun Yirang's Zhayi, scroll ten, under the Subtle Purport chapter of Baopuzi, says:

金汋經，晉宋間人依傅抱朴子假託為之。

The Classic of the Golden Ladle was fabricated by someone between the Jin and Song periods, attached to and falsely ascribed to Baopuzi.

要用字苑一卷舊唐志。顏氏家訓書證篇作字苑。馬國翰有輯佚本。

Essential Characters of the Garden of Words, one scroll. See the old Tang Treatise. The Evidence from Books chapter of the Yan Family Instructions gives it as Garden of Words. Ma Guohan has a recovered-fragments edition.

史記鈔十四卷新唐志。

Excerpts from the Records of the Historian, fourteen scrolls. See the new Tang Treatise.

漢書鈔三十卷隋志。

Excerpts from the Book of Han, thirty scrolls. See the Sui Treatise.

後漢書鈔三十卷舊唐志。

Excerpts from the Book of the Later Han, thirty scrolls. See the old Tang Treatise.

良吏傳十卷本傳。

Biographies of Good Officials, ten scrolls. See the biography.

集異傳十卷本傳。

Collected Biographies of Marvels, ten scrolls. See the biography.

西京雜記六卷舊唐志。

Miscellaneous Records of the Western Capital, six scrolls. See the old Tang Treatise.

四庫全書簡明目錄子部十二云：舊本或題漢劉歆撰，或題晉葛洪撰，實則梁吳均撰。但餘嘉錫四庫提要辨證子部七考定為葛洪作。今存。

The Concise Catalogue of the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries, masters section twelve, says: old editions ascribe it sometimes to Liu Xin of Han, sometimes to Ge Hong of Jin; in fact it was written by Wu Jun of Liang. But Yu Jiaxi's Critical Examination of the Siku Abstracts, masters section seven, establishes that it is the work of Ge Hong. Extant today.

漢武內傳一卷隋志不著撰人。文廷式補晉志云：日本見在書目題葛洪，今從之。餘嘉錫四庫提要辨證子部七考定為晉葛洪撰。今存道藏洞真部記傳類。

Esoteric Traditions of Emperor Wu of Han, one scroll. The Sui Treatise does not record an author. Wen Tingshi's Supplementary Jin Treatise says: the Japanese Catalogue of Books Presently Extant ascribes it to Ge Hong; we follow it now. Yu Jiaxi's Critical Examination of the Siku Abstracts, masters section seven, establishes that it was written by Ge Hong of Jin. Now extant in the Daozang, in the records-and-biographies section of the Cavern of the Real division.

老子道德經序訣二卷舊唐志。

'Preface and Formulas to Laozi's Daodejing' (Laozi Daodejing Xu Jue), two scrolls. See the old Tang bibliographic treatise.

修撰莊子十七卷釋法琳辨正論。補晉志。

'Zhuangzi, Revised and Compiled' (Xiuzhuan Zhuangzi), seventeen scrolls. See the monk Falin's 'Discourse on Distinguishing the Correct' (Bianzheng Lun) and the supplemented Jin bibliographic treatise.

喪服變除一卷隋志。

'Alterations and Removals of Mourning Dress' (Sangfu Bianchu), one scroll. See the Sui bibliographic treatise.

遁甲肘後立成囊中秘一卷隋志。

'Dunjia: the Ready-Made at the Elbow, Secret for the Bag' (Dunjia Zhouhou Licheng Nangzhong Mi), one scroll. See the Sui bibliographic treatise.

登涉篇作囊中立成。

The 'Ascending and Crossing' chapter gives it as 'Ready-Made in the Bag' (Nangzhong Licheng).

遁甲返覆圖一卷隋志。

'Chart of Dunjia Reversals' (Dunjia Fanfu Tu), one scroll. See the Sui bibliographic treatise.

遁甲要用四卷隋志。

'Essential Uses of Dunjia' (Dunjia Yaoyong), four scrolls. See the Sui bibliographic treatise.

遁甲秘要一卷隋志。

'Secret Essentials of Dunjia' (Dunjia Miyao), one scroll. See the Sui bibliographic treatise.

遁甲要一卷隋志。

'Essentials of Dunjia' (Dunjia Yao), one scroll. See the Sui bibliographic treatise.

三元遁甲圖三卷舊唐志。

'Charts of Dunjia of the Three Primes' (Sanyuan Dunjia Tu), three scrolls. See the old Tang bibliographic treatise.

龜決二卷隋志。

'Turtle Decisions' (Gui Jue), two scrolls. See the Sui bibliographic treatise.

周易雜占十卷隋志。

'Miscellaneous Divinations of the Zhou Changes' (Zhouyi Zazhan), ten scrolls. See the Sui bibliographic treatise.

抱朴君書隋志集部。

'Writings of Lord Baopu' (Baopu Jun Shu). See the belles-lettres section of the Sui bibliographic treatise.

序房內秘術一卷隋志稱葛氏撰。新唐志。或即葛洪。

'Preface to the Secret Arts of the Bedchamber' (Xu Fangnei Mishu), one scroll. The Sui bibliographic treatise attributes it to a Mr. Ge; it is also in the new Tang bibliographic treatise. Possibly this is Ge Hong.

太一真君固命歌一卷宋志。

'Song of the True Lord Taiyi on Securing Destiny' (Taiyi Zhenjun Guming Ge), one scroll. See the Song bibliographic treatise.

抱朴子別旨一篇通志略。今存道藏太清部。蓋後人掇輯吐納導引之訣而成，殆與胎息術相類。

'Separate Purport of Baopuzi' (Baopuzi Biezhi), one piece. See the abstract of the Tongzhi. It survives today in the Taiqing division of the Daoist Canon. Probably it was patched together by later men from the oral formulas of breathing-out-and-in and guiding-and-stretching, roughly of the same kind as the embryonic-breathing arts.

胎息要訣一卷通志略。

'Essential Formulas of Embryonic Breathing' (Taixi Yaojue), one scroll. See the abstract of the Tongzhi.

胎息術一卷補晉志。

'The Art of Embryonic Breathing' (Taixi Shu), one scroll. See the supplemented Jin bibliographic treatise.

郭文傳補晉志。明案：郭文，字文舉，河內軹人。與葛

'Biography of Guo Wen' (Guo Wen Zhuan). See the supplemented Jin bibliographic treatise. Wang Ming notes: Guo Wen, courtesy name Wenju, was a man of Zhi in Henei, contemporary with Ge

洪同時亦遭世亂而隱者。先洪卒。見晉書隱逸本傳。

Hong; he too was a man who met the disorder of the age and went into reclusion, and he died before Hong. See his own biography in the 'Recluses' chapter of the Book of Jin.

五金龍虎歌一卷崇文總目。

'Song of the Dragon and Tiger of the Five Metals' (Wujin Longhu Ge), one scroll. See the Chongwen General Catalogue.

五嶽真形圖文一卷崇文總目。

'Text and Charts of the True Forms of the Five Peaks' (Wuyue Zhenxing Tuwen), one scroll. See the Chongwen General Catalogue.

老子戒經一卷通志略。

'Scripture of the Precepts of Laozi' (Laozi Jiejing), one scroll. See the abstract of the Tongzhi.

關中記一卷宋志。玉海引中興書目。

'Record of the Land Within the Passes' (Guanzhong Ji), one scroll. See the Song bibliographic treatise. The Jade Sea quotes the Zhongxing Catalogue.

馬陰二君內傳一卷宋志。

'Esoteric Biography of the Two Lords Ma and Yin' (Ma Yin Erjun Neizhuan), one scroll. See the Song bibliographic treatise.

隱淪雜訣一卷宋志。明案抱朴子雜應篇答問隱淪之道，或為雜訣之所本。

'Miscellaneous Formulas of Concealment and Vanishing' (Yinlun Zajue), one scroll. See the Song bibliographic treatise. Wang Ming notes: the 'Miscellaneous Responses' chapter of Baopuzi answers questions about the way of concealment and vanishing; perhaps that is the basis of these miscellaneous formulas.

元始上真眾仙記一卷宋志。今存道藏洞真部譜■類。劉師培讀道藏記云：此書“次行題葛洪枕中記五字，中志各仙官位號及治所，即今所傳枕中記也”。

'Record of the Host of Supreme Perfected Immortals of the Primal Beginning' (Yuanshi Shangzhen Zhongxian Ji), one scroll. See the Song bibliographic treatise. It survives today in the register class of the Dongzhen division of the Daoist Canon (the base text is defective at this character). Liu Shipei's 'Notes on Reading the Daoist Canon' says: in this book the next line bears the five characters 'Ge Hong's Record Within the Pillow'; within it are recorded the offices, titles, and seats of governance of the various immortal officers — it is the 'Record Within the Pillow' (Zhenzhong Ji) transmitted today.

明案：道藏洞神部方法類另有枕中記一卷，言養生接命之術，與眾仙記內容迥異。通志略著錄唐孫思邈枕中記一卷，未知孰是。四庫全書總目提要云：枕中書一卷，舊本題晉葛洪撰。考隋、唐、宋藝文志但有墨子枕中記及枕中素書，而無葛洪枕中書。此本（枕中書）一名元始上真眾仙記。餘嘉錫四庫提要辨證卷十九謂枕中書提到許穆與許玉斧，而洪當長於穆，許玉斧更其後輩，二人之去世，洪皆不及見，安得取而著之書中。是枕中書（上真眾仙記）之“不出於（葛）洪亦明矣”。餘先生之說是。

Wang Ming notes: in the methods class of the Dongshen division of the Daoist Canon there is separately a 'Record Within the Pillow' in one scroll, which treats the arts of nourishing life and receiving destiny, and its content differs entirely from the 'Record of the Host of Immortals.' The abstract of the Tongzhi records a 'Record Within the Pillow' in one scroll by Sun Simiao of Tang; it is not known which of these is meant. The General Catalogue with Abstracts of the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries says: 'Book Within the Pillow,' one scroll; the old edition attributes it to Ge Hong of Jin. On examination, the bibliographic treatises of Sui, Tang, and Song contain only 'Mozi: Record Within the Pillow' and 'Plain Book Within the Pillow,' and no 'Book Within the Pillow' by Ge Hong. This version ('Book Within the Pillow') is also called 'Record of the Supreme Perfected Host of Immortals of the Primal Beginning.' Yu Jiaxi's 'Critical Examination of the Siku Abstracts,' scroll nineteen, says that the 'Book Within the Pillow' mentions Xu Mu and Xu Yufu, whereas Hong must have been older than Mu, and Xu Yufu was even more his junior; the deaths of these two men Hong did not live to see — how could he have taken them up and written them into the book? Thus it is plain that the 'Book Within the Pillow' ('Shangzhen Zhongxian Ji') 'did not come from Hong's hand.' Mr. Yu's view is correct.

抱朴子玉策記補晉志。

'Baopuzi's Record of the Jade Slips' (Baopuzi Yuce Ji). See the supplemented Jin bibliographic treatise.

明案：此蓋抱朴子引玉策記，非葛洪所撰之玉策記也。徐堅初學記卷二十九狐第十三條引抱朴子玉策記曰：“狐及狸狼，皆壽八百歲，滿三百歲暫變為人形”。正是抱朴子對俗篇引玉策記之語（參校敦煌殘卷文字）。遐覽篇已著錄玉策記一卷，足徵葛洪曾見其書。而初學記始誤以玉策記屬抱朴子。嚴可均鐵橋漫稿卷六雲此記恐後人依託之書。亦不確。餘意並非後人有意假託，實乃唐人徐堅輩誤題耳。

Wang Ming notes: this is probably the 'Record of the Jade Slips' quoted by the Baopuzi, not a 'Record of the Jade Slips' composed by Ge Hong. Xu Jian's 'Record for Beginning Learning,' scroll twenty-nine, the thirteenth entry on foxes, quotes 'Baopuzi's Record of the Jade Slips' as saying: 'Foxes, wildcats, and wolves all live to eight hundred years; at a full three hundred years they can temporarily change into human form.' This is precisely the passage that the 'Reply to the Vulgar' chapter of Baopuzi quotes from the 'Record of the Jade Slips' (compare the text of the Dunhuang fragments). The 'Far-Ranging Survey' chapter already lists a 'Record of the Jade Slips' in one scroll, sufficient proof that Ge Hong had seen that book. It was the 'Record for Beginning Learning' that mistakenly ascribed the 'Record of the Jade Slips' to Baopuzi. Yan Kejun's 'Informal Drafts of Tieqiao,' scroll six, says this record was probably a work attributed by later men — that too is not accurate. My view is not that later men deliberately forged the attribution, but truly that Xu Jian's generation of Tang men mistitled it.