Bao Pu Zi Nei Pian (抱朴子內篇) · Volume 3

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."