Bao Pu Zi Nei Pian (抱朴子內篇) · Volume 4

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.'