Bao Pu Zi Wai Pian (抱朴子外篇) · Volume 1

抱朴子曰：有懷冰先生者，薄周流之棲遑，悲吐握之良苦。讓膏壤於陸海，爰躬耕乎斥鹵。秘六奇以括囊，含琳琅而不吐。謐清音則莫之或聞，掩輝藻則世不得睹。背朝華於朱門，保恬寂乎蓬戶。絕軌躅於金張之閭，養浩然於幽人之仵。謂榮顯為不幸，以玉帛為草土。抗靈規於雲表，獨違今而遂古。庇峻岫之巍峨，藉翠蘭之芳茵。漱流霞之澄液，茹八石之精英。思眇眇焉若居乎虹霓之端，意飄飄焉若在乎倒景之鄰。萬物不能攪其和，四海不足汩其神。

Baopuzi said: There was a Master Cherishing-Ice who thought little of the restless scurrying of those who tour the states, and grieved over the toil of the Duke of Zhou, who spat out his food and bound up his hair to receive callers. He yielded the fat fertile fields to lands rich as the sea, and himself went to plow upon the salty wastes. He sealed away stratagems like Chen Ping's six marvels and kept them hid like the tied sack of the Zhou Changes; he held jade and jasper in his mouth yet never let them out. He let his clear ringing tones fall silent so that no one could hear them; he covered his shining phrases so that the world could not see them. He turned his back on the morning glories within the vermilion gates and kept tranquil solitude behind a door of weeds. He let no wheel-ruts run in the lanes of Jin and Zhang (the houses of Jin Midi and Zhang Anshi of Han, standing for the great and powerful), and nourished his flood-like breath among the ranks of the hidden men. He counted glory and rank a misfortune, and counted jade and silk as grass and dirt. He raised the luminous measure of his spirit above the clouds, alone defying the present age to follow high antiquity. He sheltered beneath the towering sheer crags and sat upon fragrant mats of green orchids. He rinsed his mouth with the clear liquor of the drifting auroras and chewed the essence of the eight minerals (the elixir drugs of legend). His thoughts ran faint and far, as though dwelling at the rainbow's end; his bearing floated as if beside the reversed images (where the sun shines back down). The myriad things could not disturb his harmony; the four seas could not muddy his spirit.

於是有赴勢公子聞之，慨然而嘆曰：“空谷有項領之駿者，孫陽之恥也；太平遺冠世之才者，賞真之責也。安可令俊民全其獨善之分，而使聖朝乏乎元凱之用哉！”

Then a young lord who rushed toward power heard of him and sighed with feeling, saying: "For a fine horse with an arched neck to lie hidden in an empty valley is a shame to Sun Yang (Bole); for a talent unsurpassed in a generation to be cast aside in a time of peace is the fault of those who recognize true worth. How can we let a man of excellence keep only the lot of perfecting himself alone, while the sacred court lacks the service of men like Yuan and Kai (the Eight Yuan and Eight Kai, the worthy ministers of antiquity)!"

乃造而說曰：“徒聞振翅竦身，不能凌厲九霄，騰跚玄極，攸敘彝倫者，非英偉也。今先生操立斷之鋒，掩炳蔚之文，玩圖籍於絕跡之藪，括藻麗乎鳥獸之群，陳龍章於晦夜，沈琳琅於重淵，蟄伏於盛夏，藏華於當春；雖復下帷覃思，殫毫騁藻，幽贊太極，闡釋元本，言歡則木梗怡顏如巧笑，語戚則偶嚬顣而滂沱，抑輕則鴻羽沈於弱水，抗重則玉石漂於飛波，離同則肝膽為胡越，合異則萬殊而一和，切論則秋霜春肅，溫辭則冰條吐葩，摧高則峻極頹淪，竦卑則淵池嵯峨，疵清則倚暗夜光，救濁則立澄黃河。然不能沾大惠於庶物，著弘勳於皇家，名與朝露皆晞，體與蜉蝣並化，忽崇高於聖人之寶，忘川逝於大耋之嗟，竊為先生不取焉。

He went to his door and urged him, saying: "I have only heard it said that one who spreads his wings and rears up, yet cannot soar to the ninefold heavens and leap to the dark empyrean to set the constant norms in clear order, does not count as a hero. Now you, sir, wield a blade that cuts in a single stroke and cloak a brilliance of pattern; you savor the charts and records in a marsh where tracks cease, and bind up your rich ornaments among the birds and beasts; you set out dragon blazons in the dark of night and sink your jade and jasper in the deepest pool; at high summer you lie dormant, and in the very spring you hide your flowering. Even were you to let down your curtains and ponder ever more deeply, run your brush-tip dry racing through phrases, praise the Grand Ultimate in mysterious depth and explain the primal root; tell of joy so that even a wooden puppet shows the pleasant face of a knowing smile, tell of grief so that even a wooden figure knits its brows and weeps in floods; when you would press down the light you could sink a swan's feather into the weak water, when you would raise the heavy you could float jade and stone upon the flying waves; when you would part what is alike you could split liver and gall into Hu and Yue, when you would join what differs you could return the myriad kinds to one harmony; your cutting discourse would make spring itself kill like autumn frost, your mild words would make the icicles put out blossoms; to break the high you could topple the sheer peaks into ruin, to lift the lowly you could make a marsh-pool towering; to find fault with the clear you could set the night-shining pearl against a dark place, to rescue the turbid you could clear the Yellow River at once. Yet you cannot let your great bounty water the common things, cannot leave vast merit to the royal house; your name will dry away with the morning dew, your body will change with the mayfly; the exaltation the sage counts the supreme treasure you carelessly make light of, and the sigh that great age runs off like a river you forget. I privately think you ought not so, sir."

“蓋聞大者天地，其次君臣。先聖憂時，思行其道，三月無君，皇皇如也。恥今聖主不與堯舜一致，愍此黎民不可比屋而封，故或負鼎而龍躍，或扣角以鳳歌，不須蒲輪而後動，不待文王而後興。潛初飛五，與時消息，進有攸往之利，退無濡尾之累，明哲以保身，宣化以濟俗。使夫承蘭風以傾柯，濯清波以遣穢者，若沈景之應朗鑑，方圓之赴規矩。故勳格上下，惠沾八表。夫有唐所以巍巍，重華所以恭己，西伯所以三分，姬發所以革命，桓文所以一匡，漢高所以應天，未有不致群賢為六翮，托豪傑為舟輯者也。若令各守洗耳之高，人執耦耕之分，則稽古之化不建，英明之盛不彰，明良之歌不作，括天之網不張矣。

(The power-seeking young lord continued:) "I have heard that the greatest are Heaven and Earth, and next come lord and minister. The former sages were anxious about the times and wished to carry out their doctrine; if for three months they had no lord, they were restless and ill at ease. They were ashamed that the sage rulers of the day could not be one with Yao and Shun, and pitied the common people who could not be ennobled house by house. So some shouldered the tripod-ware and leaped like dragons, and some knocked on an ox's horn and sang like phoenixes; they did not wait for the rush-wheeled carriage to come fetch them before setting out, nor for a King Wen to appear before bestirring themselves. Hidden at the first position and soaring at the fifth, they waxed and waned with the fate of the times; advancing they had the benefit of somewhere to go, retreating they had no burden of a wet tail; by enlightened wisdom they preserved their persons, and by spreading teaching they rescued the drifting customs. They made those who received the orchid wind and inclined their branches, who washed in clear waves and cleansed away the filth, respond like sunken shadows to a bright mirror, like square and round hastening to compass and square. Thus their merit reached up to the heavens and down to the yellow springs, and their favor watered the eight bounds. The reason Tang Yao was towering, the reason Chonghua could fold his hands and face south, the reason the Earl of the West held two parts of the three of the world, the reason Ji Fa could change the mandate, the reason Huan and Wen could set the world aright as one, the reason the Han founder could answer Heaven — none was other than gathering the host of the worthy to serve as their six pinions, and entrusting heroes and champions to serve as their boats and oars. If every man kept to the aloofness of washing his ears, and every man clung to the lot of plowing in pairs, then the teaching that examines antiquity could not be established, the enlightened and flourishing virtue could not be made manifest, the song of enlightened lord and good ministers could not be sung, and the net that covers the whole sky could not be spread.

“故藏器者珍於變通隨時，英逸者貴於吐奇撥亂。若乃耀靈翳景於雲表，則麗天之明不著；哮虎韜牙而握爪，則搏噬之捷不揚；太阿潛鋒而不擊，則立斷之勁不顯；驥騄踠趾而不馳，則追風之迅不形；並默則子貢與喑者同口，鹹暝則離朱與蒙瞽不殊矣。先生潔身而忽大倫之亂，得意而忘安上之義，存有關機之累，沒無金石之聲，庸人且猶憤色，何有大雅而無心哉！

(The power-seeking young lord continued:) "So the man who harbors capacity is prized for being able to shift and move with the times; the outstanding man is prized for being able to put forth rare stratagems and set disorder back to right. When the brilliant spirit of the sun hides its glow beyond the clouds, the heaven-clinging light is not manifest; when the roaring tiger sheathes its teeth and folds its claws, the swiftness of its pounce cannot be shown; when the Tai'e sword keeps its edge hidden and does not strike, its instant-cutting force does not appear; when the courser curls its hooves and does not gallop, its wind-chasing speed takes no shape. If all are silent together, Zigong shares one mouth with the mute; if all shut their eyes together, Lizhu is no different from the blind. You keep your own person pure yet neglect the great disorder of the proper relations; you take your ease yet forget the great duty of making your lord secure; in life you bear the entanglements of the times, and after death you have no name like metal and stone. Even common men change color in indignation at this — how could a man of great refinement be unmoved!"

“夫繩舒則木直，正進則邪凋，有虞舉則四凶戮，宣尼任則少卯梟，猶震雷駭則鼛鼓堙，朝日出則螢燭幽也。不拯招魂之病，則無為效越人之絕伎；不獎多難之世，則無以知非常之遠量。高拱以觀溺，非勿踐之仁也，懷道以迷國，非作者之務也。若俟中唐殖占日之草，朝陽繁鳴鳳之音，郊跱獨角之獸，野攢連理之林，長旌卷而不懸，干戈戢而莫尋，少伯方將告退於成功，孰能相擢乎陸沈哉深願先生不遠迷復哉！”

(The power-seeking young lord continued:) "When the line is stretched, the wood is made straight; when the right Way is advanced, the crooked withers away; when the lord of Yu was raised up, the four criminals were slain; when Xuanni (Confucius) was employed, Shaozheng Mao was beheaded — as when the thunderclap sounds, the great drums are drowned out, and as when the morning sun comes out, the firefly's candle grows dim. If the sickness that calls for the soul-summoning is not rescued, there is no way to prove the consummate skill of Yueren (Bian Que); if hard and many-troubled times are not rewarded, there is no way to know the far-reaching capacity of the extraordinary man. To stand with hands folded high and watch a man drown is not the humaneness of 'do not tread'; to harbor the Way within while letting the state founder in confusion is not what one who writes ought to do. If one must wait until the day-counting herb (the mingjia and its kind) grows in the central court, until the cry of the phoenix sounds thickly beside the morning sun, until the single-horned beast stands in the fields and trees of joined branches cluster in the groves, until the long banners are rolled up and hung no more and shield and dagger-axe are stored away nowhere to be found — only then would Shaobo (Fan Li) withdraw after his success; who then could raise up those sunken and buried in the land? I earnestly hope, sir, you will not go too far astray on the road and fail to return!"

於是懷冰先生蕭然遐眺，遊氣天衢，情神遼緬，旁若無物。俯而答曰：“嗚呼！有是言乎蓋至人無為，棲神沖漠，不役志於祿利，故害辱不能加也；不*峙於險途，故傾墜不能為患也。藜藿不供，而意佚於方丈；齊編庸民，而心歡於有土。寢宜僚之舍，閉幹木之閭，攜莊萊之友，治陋巷之居，確嶽峙而不拔，豈有懷於卷舒乎以欲廣則濁和，故委世務而不紆眄；以位極者憂深，故背勢利而無餘疑。其貴不以爵也，富不以財也。侶雲鵬以高逝，故不縈翮於腐鼠；以蕃武為厚誡，故不改樂於簞瓢。

Then Master Cherishing-Ice gazed serenely into the distance; his qi (that flowing stuff that constitutes and courses through all things) roamed over the roads of heaven; his feeling and spirit were remote and far, as if nothing else existed beside him. He lowered his head and answered: "Ah! Can there really be such talk? The utmost man does wuwei (does not force things by subjective will, but lets things run according to their nature — not that he does nothing at all); he rests his spirit in empty stillness and solitude, and does not employ his will to serve rank and profit, so harm and disgrace cannot attach to him; he does not stand towering on perilous paths [the base text has a rare character here, lost in transcription], so falling cannot be a calamity to him. Though goosefoot and pulse are not supplied, his manner is more at ease than one facing a feast spread over a square zhang; though ranked with the registered common folk, his heart is gladder than one who possesses a state. He sleeps in Yiliao's lodging, shuts the lane-gate of Duan Ganmu, keeps company with friends like Zhuang Zhou and Laolaizi, and governs a dwelling in a narrow lane; firm as a standing peak, unpluckable — how could he keep folding and unfolding in his heart? Because desires, once broad, muddy the harmony, he casts away the affairs of the world without a sidelong glance; because a position pushed to its utmost brings deep care, he turns his back on power and profit without further doubt. His nobility does not rest on rank; his wealth does not rest on goods. Companioning the cloud-borne peng he flies far and away, so he does not wind his wings around a rotten rat; taking Fan and Wu as a grave warning, he does not change his joy for a basket and a gourd."

“且夫玄黃遐邈，而人生倏忽，以過隙之促，托罔極之間，迅乎猶奔星之暫見，飄乎似飛矢之電經。聊且優遊以自得，安能苦形於外物哉！夫鸞不絓網，驎不墮阱，相彼鳥獸，猶知為患，風塵之徒，曾是未吝也

(Master Cherishing-Ice continued:) "Moreover, the dark and yellow (Heaven and Earth) are vast and remote, while man's life is a sudden flash: lodged within the boundless for a span as brief as a colt glimpsed through a crack, swift as a shooting star's momentary gleam, fleeting as a flying arrow passing like lightning. For the while, let me roam free and content — how could I embitter my body over external things! The luan is not caught in the net; the lin does not fall into the pit; look at those birds and beasts — even they know calamity, yet men in the wind and dust fall short even of them. (The base text reads 'lin,' suspected as a corruption of 'ruo,' 'to equal.')"

若夫要離滅家以效功，紀信赴燔以誑楚，陳賈刎頸以證弟，仲由投命而菹醢，嬴門伏劍以表心，聶政感惠而屠菹，荊卿絕臏以報燕，樊公含悲而授首，皆下愚之狂惑，豈上智之攸取哉！

(Master Cherishing-Ice continued:) As for Yao Li destroying his whole family to prove his merit, Ji Xin going into the flames to deceive Chu, Chen Jia cutting his throat to bear witness for his younger brother, Zhong You staking his life and being made into mince, Ying of the gate falling on his sword to make his heart plain, Nie Zheng moved by kindness going to his butcher's work, Jing Qing breaking his shin to repay Yan, and Lord Fan bearing his grief and offering up his own head — these are all the mad delusions of the lowest foolishness; whence would the highest wisdom choose them!

“蓋祿厚者責重，爵尊者神勞。故漆園垂綸，而不顧卿相之貴；柏成操耜，而不屑諸侯之高。羊說安乎屠肆，楊朱吝其一毛。僥求之徒，昧乎可欲，集不擇木，仕不料世，貪進不慮負乘之禍，受任不計不堪之敗；論榮貴則引伊周以救溺，言亢悔則諱覆餗而不記；伺河龍之睡而撥明珠，居量表之寵而冀無患；耽漏刻之安，蔽必至之危；無朝菌之榮，望大椿之壽；似蹈薄冰以待夏日，登朽枝而須勁風；淵魚之引芳餌，澤雉之咽毒粒；咀漏脯以充飢，酣鴆酒以止渴也。

(Master Cherishing-Ice continued:) "The man with a fat salary bears heavy charge; the man with an honored title wears out his spirit. So the keeper of the lacquer garden (Zhuang Zhou) trailed his fishing line and paid no heed to the dignity of minister; Baicheng Zigao plied his plowshare and disdained the high seat of a feudal lord. Yang Yue was content in the butcher's stalls, and Yang Zhu begrudged a single one of his hairs. Those who advance by lucky chance have their eyes dazzled by desirable things: they roost without choosing the tree, take office without weighing the age, and in greed for advancement give no thought to the calamity of bearing a load in a cart meant for better men; accepting the appointment they do not reckon the collapse of what they cannot carry. When glory and rank are discussed they bring out Yi Yin and the Duke of Zhou to save men from drowning; when the overreaching dragon's regret is mentioned they hide the words of the overturned stew and do not remember. They pluck at the bright pearl while the river-dragon sleeps, and dwelling in favor beyond measure still hope there will be no calamity; sinking in a safety short as the water-clock, they cannot see through to the peril sure to come; without even the flowering of the morning fungus, they hope for the lifespan of the great chun tree; like treading on thin ice while waiting for summer, climbing a rotten bough to await the strong wind; like the fish of the deep drawing at the fragrant bait, the pheasant of the marsh swallowing the poisoned pellet; chewing leak-dripping meat to fill their hunger, drinking deep of poisoned wine to quench their thirst.

“昔箕子睹象箸而流泣，尼父聞偶葬而永嘆，蓋尋微以知著，原始以見終。然而暗夫蹈機不覺，何前識之至難，而利慾之*篤邪！周成賢而信流言，公旦聖而走南楚，托鴟鴞以告悲，賴金縢以僅免。況能寤之主，不世而一有；不悅之謗，無時而暫乏。德不以激烈風而起斃禾，事不以載圭璧而稱多才，嗟泣靡及，宜其然也。

(Master Cherishing-Ice continued:) "Of old, Jizi wept when he saw the ivory chopsticks, and Nifu sighed long when he heard of burying wooden figures with the dead — that was following the faint sign and knowing the manifest, tracing the beginning and seeing the end. Yet dim men tread on the trigger-mechanism and do not feel it — why is foreknowledge so hard, and the hunger for profit [the base text has a rare character here, lost in transcription] so thick? King Cheng of Zhou was wise yet believed the rumors; Dan, Duke of Zhou, was a sage yet fled to southern Chu, told his grief through 'The Owl,' and barely escaped disaster by the metal-bound coffer. Moreover, lords who can awaken are not found in every generation, while unwelcome slander is not absent for a single moment. Virtue cannot raise again the grain already flattened by the violent wind; a task cannot be called manifold talent merely because jade tablets were borne upon it; sighing and weeping come too late — such is how it is.

“夫漸漬之久，則膠漆解堅；浸潤之至，則骨肉乖析；塵羽之積，則沈舟折軸；三至之言，則市虎以成。故江充疏賤，非親於元儲，後母假繼，非密於伯奇；而掘梗之誣，滅父子之恩；袖蜂之誑，破天性之愛。又況其他，安可自必。嗟乎！伍員所以懷忠而漂屍；悲夫！白起所以秉義而刎頸也。蓋徹鑑所為寒心，匠人之所眩惑矣。

(Master Cherishing-Ice continued:) "Long soaking can loosen even glue and lacquer; when slander soaks to the utmost, even bone and flesh come apart and split; dust and feathers piled high can sink a boat and break an axle; a tale told a third time makes it fact that there is a tiger in the market. Thus Jiang Chong was distant and lowly, no closer than the crown prince; the stepmother was a borrowed successor, no closer than Boqi; yet the slander of the dug-up puppet extinguished a father's love for his son, and the deceit of the wasp hidden in the sleeve broke heaven-born affection. How much more the rest — who can be sure he is safe? Alas! This is why Wu Yuan, harboring loyalty, had his corpse set adrift; pitiful! This is why Bai Qi, holding righteousness, cut his own throat. This is what chills the heart of clear discernment and confounds men like Carpenter Shi."

“又欲推短才以釐雷同，仗獨是以彈眾非。然不睹金雖克木，而錐鑽不可以伐鄧林；水雖勝火，而升合不足以救焚山。寸膠不能治黃河之濁，尺水不能卻蕭丘之熱。是以身名並全者甚稀，而先笑後號者多有也。畏亢悔而貪榮之慾不滅，忌毀辱而爭肆之情不遣，亦猶惡溼而泳深淵，憎影而不就陰，穿舟而息漏，猛爨而止沸者也。

(Master Cherishing-Ice continued:) "They would moreover take short and shallow talent to rectify a conforming crowd, and lean on the rightness of one man to impeach the wrongness of the many. Yet they do not see that though metal conquers wood, an awl or drill cannot fell the Deng forest; though water overcomes fire, a sheng or a ge of water cannot save a burning mountain. An inch of glue cannot clear the Yellow River's turbidity; a chi of water cannot cool the heat of Xiaoqiu. So those who keep body and name together whole are few, while those who laugh first and wail after are many. They fear the overreaching dragon's regret, yet the craving for glory will not die; they dread disgrace, yet the will to compete in license cannot be dismissed — it is like hating dampness yet swimming in the deep pool, loathing one's shadow yet not seeking the shade, boring through the boat yet trying to stop the leak, stoking the fire fiercely yet trying to stop the boiling."

“夫七尺之骸，稟之以所生，不可受全而歸殘也；方寸之心，制之在我，不可放之於流遁也。躬耕以食之，穿井以飲之，短褐以蔽之，蓬廬以覆之，彈詠以娛之，呼吸以延之，逍遙竹素，寄情玄毫，守常待終，斯亦足矣。且夫道存則尊，德勝則貴，隋珠彈雀，知者不為。何必須權而顯，俟祿而飽哉！

(Master Cherishing-Ice continued:) "The frame of seven chi was endowed by what begot us; one must not receive it whole and return it maimed. The inch-square heart — its governing is mine; one must not let it loose into flight and wandering. To plow for oneself and eat, bore a well and drink, be screened by coarse short cloth, covered by a thatched hut, amused by strumming and chanting, lengthened in years by breath, roaming free among bamboo and silk, lodging one's feelings on the dark brush-tip, keeping to the constant Way while awaiting the end — this is enough. Moreover, where the Dao (the word Laozi borrows for the origin and working of all things, itself beyond naming) is present there is honor; where the de (the capacity the Dao shows when lodged in a particular thing, not virtue in the moral sense) prevails there is esteem; to take the Marquis of Sui's pearl to shoot at sparrows — the wise do not do that. Why must one wait for power to be distinguished, wait for a salary to be fed!"

“且夫安貧者以無財為富，甘卑者以不仕為榮。故幼安浮海而澄神，鬍子甘心於退耕。逢比有令德之罪，信布陷功大之刑。一枝足以戢鸞羽，何煩乎豐林潢洿足以泛龍鱗，豈事乎滄海藜藿嘉於八珍，寒泉旨於醽醁；躡履美於赤舄，縕袍麗於袞服；把橦安於杖鉞，鳴條樂乎絲竹；茅茨豔於丹楹，辨椽珍於刻桷；登高峰為臺榭，疵巖溜為華屋；積篇章為敖庾，寶玄談為金玉；棄細人之近戀，捐庸隸之所欲；遊九皋以含歡，遣智慧以絕俗。同屈尺蠖，藏光守樸；表拙示訥，知止常足。然後咀嚼芝芳，風飛雲浮；晞景九陽，附翼高遊；仰棲梧桐，俯集玄洲。孰與銜轡而伏櫪，同被繡於犧牛哉！”

(Master Cherishing-Ice continued:) "Moreover, one at peace in poverty counts having no wealth as riches; one content in low station counts not serving as glory. So Guan Ning floated out to sea to settle his spirit, and Hu Zhao was glad to withdraw and plow. Guan Longfeng and Bigan possessed fine virtue yet met with punishment; Han Xin and Ying Bu, because their merit was great, fell into the executioner's net. A single branch suffices to furl the luan's feathers — why trouble the luxuriant grove? A puddle suffices to float the dragon's scales — what need of the gray sea? Goosefoot and pulse taste better than the eight delicacies; cold spring water is sweeter than linglu wine; plain sandals are finer than vermilion slippers; a wadded gown is lovelier than a dragon robe; gripping a staff is steadier than bearing scepter and axe; wind in the branches makes better music than strings and pipes; a thatch roof outshines vermilion pillars; uncarved rafters are rarer than chiseled beams. Take the high peaks for towers and terraces; count the dripping of the cliffs the flaw of a grand house; pile up written chapters like the granaries of Ao; treasure dark discourse (discourse on the deep and unfathomable) as gold and jade; cast off the petty man's cravings before his eyes; abandon what the common drudge desires; roam the ninefold marsh-banks harboring joy, dismiss cleverness and cut off the drifting vulgar. Curl like the inchworm, hide one's light, and keep to the uncarved block (unworked timber, the image of the true state untouched by human fashioning); show clumsiness, display slowness of tongue, know when to stop, and be ever content. Then chew the fragrance of the zhi-plants, fly like the wind, float like the clouds; bask in the sun's shadow upon the ninefold yang, fasten wings and roam on high; alight above on the wutong tree, gather below upon the dark isle. How does this compare with holding the bit in one's teeth and crouching in the stable, like the sacrificial ox draped in embroidered cloth?"

赴勢公子曰：“夫入而不出者，謂之耽寵忘退；往而不反者，謂之不任無義。故達者以身非我有，任乎所值。隱顯默語，無所必固。時止則止，時行則行。束帛之集，庭燎之舉，則君子道長，在天利見。若運涉陽九讒勝之時，則不出戶庭，括囊勿用。龍起鳳戢，隨時之宜。古人所以或避危亂而不肯入，或色斯而不終日者，慮巫山之失火，恐芝艾之並焚耳。

The power-seeking young lord said: "To enter and not come out is called dallying in favor and forgetting to withdraw; to go away and not return is called abandoning responsibility and lacking righteousness. So the man who understands holds that the body is not one's own possession, and leaves it to whatever comes. Hiding or showing, silence or speech — none of it must be clung to. When the time calls for halting, halt; when the time calls for going, go. When the rolls of silk are gathered and the courtyard torches raised, that is when the way of the gentleman stretches and it profits to see the great man in the heavens. If the cycle falls upon yang-nine and slander prevails, then do not come out of doors and courts, and like the tied sack remain unused. The dragon rouses, the phoenix folds — each according to what the time makes fitting. Among the ancients some fled danger and disorder and would not enter, and some at a single change of countenance left before the day was out — they only feared that when Mount Wu catches fire, the zhi and the ai are burned together."

方今聖皇御運，世夷道泰，仁及蒼生，惠風遐邁，威肅鬼方，澤沾九裔；儀坤德以厚載，擬乾穹以高蓋；神化則雲行雨施，玄澤則煙熅汪濊；四門穆穆以博延，主思英逸以俾乂。此乃千載所希值，剖判之一會。而先生慕嘉遁之偏枯，不覺狷華之患害也；務乎單豹之養內，未睹暴虎之犯外也。是聞涉水之或溺，則謂乘舟者皆敗；以商臣之凶逆，則謂繼體無類也。”

(The power-seeking young lord continued:) Now the sage emperor drives the cycles of fortune; the way of the age is level and the great Way is secure; benevolence reaches the green-haired people, a wind of favor spreads afar; his majesty has put Guifang in stern order, his grace waters the ninefold marches; he takes the virtue of Earth for pattern in bearing richly, and matches the vault of Heaven in covering high; his spirit-like transformation moves like the clouds and pours like rain; his dark bounty is like steaming vapor, deep and wide; at his four gates, solemn, he invites men in broadly, and the lord longs for outstanding talents to aid his rule. This is a meeting that comes once in a thousand years, once since heaven and earth were parted. Yet you, sir, admire the half-withered side of noble withdrawal and do not feel the calamity of men like Juanjie and Huashi; you mind only Shanbao's nourishing of the inner and do not see the wild tiger attacking from without. This is hearing that a man drowned in fording a stream and declaring that all who take boats will founder; it is, because of a villainous rebel like Shangchen, declaring that no heir who succeeds can be good."

懷冰先生曰：“聖化之盛，誠如高論。出處之事，人各有懷。故堯舜在上，而箕潁有巢棲之客；夏後御世，而窮藪有握耒之賢。豈有慮於此險哉蓋各附於所安也。是以高尚其志，不仕王侯，存夫爻象，匹夫所執，延州守節，聖人許焉。”

Master Cherishing-Ice said: "The loftiness of sage-like transformation is indeed as you say. But as for serving or hiding, each man has his own embrace. Thus while Yao and Shun were above, between Mount Ji and the Ying River there were still guests nesting; while the Xia lord governed the world, in the poorest and remotest marshes there were still worthy men gripping their plows. What is there to fear in those perils? Each simply cleaves to what gives him rest. Thus 'ennobling one's resolve and not serving kings and lords' is preserved in the line-images, and a common man may hold fast to it; Yanzhou (Ji Zha) kept his integrity, and the sage permitted it."

“僕所以逍遙於丘園，斂跡乎草澤者，誠以才非政事，器乏治民，而多士雲起，髦彥鱗萃，文武盈朝，庶事既康，故不欲復舉熠耀以廁日月之間，拊甂瓴於洪鍾之側，貢輕扇於堅冰之節，炫裘爐乎隆暑之月，必見捐於無用，速非時之巨嗤。若擁經著述，可以全真成名，有補末化；若強所不堪，則將顛沛惟咎，同悔小狐。故居其所長，以全其所短耳。雖無立朝之勳，即戎之勞；然切磋後生，弘道養正，殊塗一致，非損之民也。劣者全其一介，何及於許由，聖世恕而容之，同曠於有唐，不亦可乎！”

(Master Huaibing continued:) "The reason I roam at ease in mounds and gardens and draw in my tracks among marshes and wilds is truly that my talent is unsuited to affairs of government and my capacity lacks what ruling the people requires; fine gentlemen rise like clouds and choice worthies gather like scales, civil and martial officers crowd the court, and all matters are already at peace. So I have no wish to lift a firefly to take a place between sun and moon, to beat a clay pot beside a great bell, to offer a light fan in the season of hard ice, or to flaunt furs and brazier in the hottest month—surely to be cast aside as useless and draw untimely laughter. If I hold fast to the classics and compose works, I can preserve the genuine and achieve a name, and still benefit the teaching of a declining age; but if I strain to bear what I cannot carry, I will stumble to ruin with nothing but fault, regretting like the little fox. So I dwell in what I am good at, to keep safe what I am not. Though I have no merit in standing at court nor toil in following the army, yet to polish those who come after, magnify the Way and nourish the right—by a different road to the same end—is no loss to the people. The inferior man keeps his single self whole; how could he compare with Xu You? That the sage age forgives and harbors him, as magnanimous as the house of Tang—is that not acceptable?"

赴勢公子勃然自失，肅爾改容，曰：“先生立言助教，文討奸違，摽退靜以抑躁競之俗，興儒教以救微言之絕，非有出者，誰敘彝倫非有隱者，誰誨童蒙普天率土，莫匪臣民。亦何必垂纓執笏者為是，而樂飢衡門者可非乎！夫群迷乎雲夢者，必須指南以知道；並乎滄海者，必仰辰極以得反。今聞嘉訓，乃覺其蔽。請負衣冠，策駑希驥，泛愛與進，不嫌擇焉。”

The power-seeking gentleman, suddenly at a loss, respectfully changed countenance and said: "You establish words to aid instruction and use letters to punish the treacherous and perverse; you raise retiring stillness to curb the customs of restless striving, and revive Confucian teaching to rescue the subtle words from dying out. But if no one took office, who would set the constant relations in order? If no one lived in hiding, who would teach the young and ignorant? Over all under heaven, to the shores of all the land, there is no one who is not a subject. Why must only those with dangling cap-strings and held tablets be right, while those content to hunger beneath a crossbar gate may be faulted? Men lost in Yunmeng must have the south-pointer to know direction; men adrift on the great sea must look up to the north star to come home. Now, hearing your fine instruction, I have come to see my own blindness. Let me bind up my cap and gown, whip my sorry nag to gaze after the qiji steed, embrace all and advance together, not scorning any choice."

抱朴子曰：餘昔遊乎雲臺之山，而造逸民，遇仕人在焉。仕人之言曰：“明明在上，總御八紘，華夷同歸，要荒服事；而先生遊柏成之遐武，混群伍於鳥獸。然時移俗異，世務不拘，故木食山棲，外物遺累者，古之清高，今之逋逃也。君子思危於未形，絕禍於方來，無乃去張毅之內熱，就單豹之外害，畏盈抗慮，忘亂群之近憂，避牛跡之淺嶮，而墮百仞之不測，違濡足之泥涇，投爐冶而不覺乎”

Baopuzi said: Once, while roaming on Yuntai Mountain, I went to visit the recluse and met a man of office there. The man of office said: "An enlightened ruler is on high, grasping the reins of the eight bounds; Chinese and alien alike submit, and the border zones of the controlled and the wild all come to serve. Yet you follow the far-off footprints of Baicheng Zigao and mingle yourself with the herds of birds and beasts. But times shift and customs change, and the affairs of the day are not bound to one pattern: so a man who eats the fruit of trees, lodges on the mountain, and casts off external things with all their entanglements was pure and lofty in antiquity, but today he is a fugitive. The superior man thinks of danger before calamity has taken shape and cuts it off before it arrives; I fear that you leave the inward fever of a Zhang Yi only to meet the outward harm of a Shan Bao; dreading fullness, you take up worry and forget the near peril of disturbing the herd; you avoid a danger shallow as an ox's hoofprint only to fall into a fathomless pit a hundred fathoms deep; you flee mud that would only wet your feet only to cast yourself into the furnace without even noticing?"

逸民答曰：“夫銳志於雛鼠者，不識騶虞之用心；盛務於庭粒者，安知鴛鸞之遠指猶焦螟之笑雲鵬，朝菌之怪大椿，坎蛙之疑海鱉，井蛇之嗤應龍也。子誠喜懼於勸沮，焉識玄曠之高韻哉！吾幸生於堯舜之世，何憂不得此人之志乎！”

The recluse answered: "He who sharpens his ambition upon a baby rat does not know the zouyu's mind; he who lavishes his effort on millet grains in the courtyard—how could he know where the yuan and the luan are bound? So the gnat laughs at the cloud-roofing roc, the morning fungus marvels at the great chun, the frog of the broken well doubts the sea-turtle, and the snake in the well sneers at the winged yinglong. You truly delight and tremble only between urging on and holding back—how could you recognize the high music of the mysterious and vast? By good fortune I live in the age of Yao and Shun—why need I worry that the resolve of such men cannot be had?"

仕人曰：“昔狂狷華士義不事上，隱於海隅，而太公誅之。吾子沈遁，不亦危乎”

The man of office said: "In old days the wild and unbending Huashi kept faith by refusing to serve his lord and dwelt in hiding by the sea's corner—yet Taigong put him to death. You have fled into deep hiding; is that not dangerous?"

逸民曰：“呂尚長於用兵，短於為國，不能儀玄黃以覆載，擬海嶽以博納，褒賢貴德，樂育人才；而甘於刑殺，不修仁義，故其劫殺之禍，萌於始封，周公聞之，知其無國也。夫攻守異容，道貴知變，而呂尚無烹鮮之術，出致遠之御，推戰陳之法，害高尚之士，可謂賴甲冑以完刃，又兼之浮泳，以射走之儀，又望求之於準的者也。

The recluse said: "Lü Shang excelled at war and fell short in governing a state: he could not take heaven and earth as his model in covering and bearing all, nor measure himself by sea and mountain in taking all in, nor honor the worthy, esteem virtue, and delight in nurturing men; instead he was content with punishment and slaughter and did not cultivate benevolence and right. So the calamity of his cutthroat rule sprouted from the very day he was enfeoffed, and when the Duke of Zhou heard of it, he knew the state could not be kept. Attack and defense wear different faces; the Way is precious in knowing change. But Lü Shang had not the art of simmering a small fish, yet applied the far-ranging harness, pushing the law of battle formations onto lofty gentlemen to harm them—this may be called trusting to armor to keep the blade whole while also trying to swim afloat, or taking a stance for shooting beasts while hoping to hit the bull's-eye.

夫傾庶鳥之巢，則靈鳳不集；漉魚鱉之池，則神虯遐逝；刳凡獸之胎，則麒麟不止寺其郊；害一介之士，則英傑不踐其境。呂尚創業垂統，以示後人，而張苛酷之端，開殘賊之軌，適足以驅俊民以資他國，逐賢能以遺讎敵也。去彼市馬骨以致駿足，軾陋巷以退秦兵者，不亦遠乎！子謂呂尚何如周公乎”仕人曰：“不能審也。”

(The recluse continued:) "Overturn the nests of common birds and the numinous phoenix will not gather; drain the pool of fish and turtles and the spirit-dragon will go far away; slit the womb of ordinary beasts and the unicorn will not come to that countryside (the base text's word is probably a corruption for 'come'); injure a single gentleman and the heroes will not set foot in that land. Lü Shang founded an enterprise and handed down a line for later men to see, yet opened a precedent of harsh cruelty and laid a track for maiming and slaughter—just enough to drive the finest men to other states as gifts to rivals and chase the able away to be left to enemies. Compared with buying a dead horse's bones to summon swift feet, or bowing on the carriage bar in a mean lane until the Qin army withdrew, is he not far behind! Tell me, how does Lü Shang compare with the Duke of Zhou?" The man of office said: "I cannot judge them clearly."

逸民曰：“夫周公大聖，以貴下賤，吐哺握髮，懼於失人，從白屋之士七十人，布衣之徒親執贄所師見者十人，所友者十有二人，皆不逼以在朝也。設令呂尚居周公之地，則此等皆成市朝之暴屍，而溝澗之腐此肉矣。

The recluse said: "The Duke of Zhou was a great sage who honored the lowly from his own eminence; he would spit out his meal and wring out his hair for fear of losing a man. The gentlemen of the white-walled houses who followed him numbered seventy; the plain-clothed men to whom he went in person with a gift, to treat as teacher and pay respects, were ten; those he kept as friends were twelve—and he forced none of them to remain at court. Had Lü Shang stood in the Duke of Zhou's place, all these men would have become corpses exposed in market and court, rotting flesh in the ditches and ravines.

唐堯非不能致許由巢父也，虞舜非不能脅善鄭石戶也，夏禹非不能逼柏成子高也，成湯非不能錄卞隨務光也，魏文非不能屈幹木也，晉平非不能吏亥唐也，然服而師之，貴而重之，豈六君之小弱也誠以百行殊尚，默默難齊，慕尊賢之美稱，恥賊善之醜跡，取之不足以增威，放之未憂於官曠，從其志則可以闡弘風化，熙隆退讓，厲苟進之貪夫，感輕薄之冒昧；雖器不益於旦夕之用，才不周於立朝之俊，不亦愈於脅肩低眉，諂媚權右，提贄懷貨，宵征同塵，爭津競濟，市買名品，棄德行學問之本，赴雷同比周之末也彼六君尚不肯苦言以侵隱士，寧肯加之鋒刃乎！聖賢誠可師者，呂尚居然謬矣。

(The recluse continued:) "It was not that Tang Yao could not summon Xu You and Chaofu; not that Yu Shun could not coerce Shanjuan and the farmer of Shihu; not that Xia Yu could not compel Baicheng Zigao; not that Cheng Tang could not employ Bian Sui and Wuguang; not that Marquis Wen of Wei could not bend down Duangan Mu; not that Duke Ping of Jin could not make Haitang take office. Rather, they admired them and served them as teachers, prized them and held them in honor—were those six rulers the weaker for it? Truly, the hundred walks of life each have their own esteem, silent and hard to make one. They envied the fair name of honoring the worthy and were ashamed of the ugly deed of harming good men; employing such men could not add to their majesty, and leaving them free brought no worry of vacant offices. By yielding to their bent they could magnify the work of suasion, make deference flourish, prod greedy men who scramble for gain, and stir the shallow and presumptuous. Even if such men's abilities serve no need of dawn and dusk, and their talents cannot round out the brilliant company at court, is that not better than men who hunch their shoulders and lower their brows to flatter the powerful, carry gifts and clutch goods, hurry by night to mingle with the dust, fight for the ford and scramble across the river, buy a celebrated name with money, cast off the root of virtue and learning, and rush toward the last reaches of echo and cabal? Those six rulers would not even trouble the recluses with harsh words—would they have laid blade to them? Sages and worthies are truly fit to be taken as models; Lü Shang was plainly wrong.

“漢高帝雖細行多闕，不涉典藝，然其弘曠恢廓，善恕多容，不繫近累，蓋豁如也。雖飢渴四皓，而不逼也。及太子卑辭致之，以為羽翼，便敬德矯情，惜其大者，發《黃鵠》之悲歌，杜宛妾之覬覦，其珍賢貴隱，如此之至也。宜其以布衣而君四海，其度量蓋有過人者矣。

(The recluse continued:) "Though Emperor Gao of Han had many faults in small conduct and never steeped himself in the classics, he was broad and generous, good at pardoning and containing much, not tethered by the entanglements before his eyes—in a word, open-hearted. Even though he wanted the Four Hoaryheads as a starving man wants food, he did not press them. Then, when the heir-apparent abased himself and brought them as his wings, the emperor honored virtue and bridled his feelings, cherished the greater side, sang the sad song of the Yellow Swan, and dammed Lady Qi's ambition—his treasuring of the worthy and prizing of recluses went so far. That a man of common cloth became lord of the four seas was fitting; his measure plainly exceeded other men's.

且夫呂尚之殺狷華者，在於恐其沮眾也。然俗之所患者，病乎躁於進趨，不務行業耳。不苦於安貧樂賤者之太多也。假令隱士往往屬目，至於情掛勢利，志無止足者，終莫能割此常欲，而慕彼退靜者也。開闢已降，非少人也，而忘富遺貴之士，猶不能居萬分之一。仲尼親受業於老子，而不能修其無為；子貢與原憲同門，而不能模其清苦。四凶與巢由同時，王莽與二龔共世，而不能效也。凡民雖復笞督之，危辱之，使追狷華，猶必不肯，乃反憂其壞俗邪呂尚思不及此，以軍法治平世，枉害賢人，酷誤已甚矣！賴其功大，不便以至顛沛耳。

(The recluse continued:) "Moreover, Lü Shang killed the wild and unbending Huashi for fear he would corrupt the multitude. But the flaw the common run laments is haste to advance and indifference to conduct—not a surplus of men content in poverty and low station. Even if recluses stood everywhere under men's eyes, those whose hearts cling to power and gain, whose ambitions know no bound, could never in the end cut off that common craving to envy the retiring and still. Since heaven and earth opened, men have been many, yet gentlemen who forgot wealth and abandoned rank have not come to one in ten thousand. Confucius himself studied under Laozi yet could not practice his nonaction; Zigong shared a school with Yuanxian yet could not imitate his austerity. The Four Fiends lived alongside Chaofu and Xu You; Wang Mang lived in the same world as Gong Sheng and Gong She—none could emulate them. Even if you whipped and harried the common folk and faced them with peril and disgrace to make them tread in the footsteps of the wild Huashi, they would never consent—so why worry that such men will corrupt the customs? Lü Shang never thought this through: he governed a settled age with military law and unjustly slaughtered a worthy—his cruelty and error went much too far. Only because his merit was great did he escape instant ruin.

且呂尚之未遇文王也，亦曾隱於窮賤，凡人易之，老婦逐之，賣庸不售，屠釣無獲，曾無一人慕之。其避世也，何獨慮狷華之沮眾邪設令殷紂以尚逃遁，收而斂之，尚臨死，豈能自謂罪所應邪魏武帝亦弄法嚴峻，果於殺戮，乃心欲用乎孔明，孔明自稱不樂出身。武帝謝遣之曰：‘義不使高世之士，辱於汙君之朝也。’其鞭撻九有，草創皇基，亦不妄矣。

(The recluse continued:) "Moreover, before Lü Shang met King Wen, he too lay hidden in poverty and low estate: common men slighted him, an old woman drove him off, no one would hire his labor, and his butchery and fishing took nothing—not one man envied him. While he himself was shunning the world, why worry only that the wild Huashi would corrupt the crowd? If Zhou of Yin, because Lü Shang had fled, had seized and imprisoned him, could Lü Shang on the point of death have declared his punishment deserved? Emperor Wu of Wei too played with statutes and was harsh, ready to kill, yet in his heart wished to employ Kongming; Kongming declared himself unwilling to take office. The emperor politely declined and sent him back, saying: 'In right I cannot let a gentleman loftier than the world suffer disgrace at the court of a murky ruler.' He whipped the nine provinces and first raised the imperial enterprise—his was not rank folly either.

“紛擾日久，求競成俗，或推貨賄以龍躍，或階黨援以鳳起，風成化習，大道漸蕪，後生昧然，儒訓遂堙。將為立身，非財莫可。苟有卓然不群之士，不出戶庭，潛志味道，誠宜優訪，以興謙退也。夫使孫吳荷戈，一人之力耳；用其計術，則賢於萬夫。今令大儒為吏，不必切事。肆之山林，則能陶冶童蒙，闡弘禮敬。何必服巨象使捕鼠韛鸞(有脫文)也。”(脫“仕人曰”數語)“若乃零淪藪澤，空生徒死，亦安足貴乎”

(The recluse continued:) "Confusion and disorder lasted long; scrambling to advance became the custom. Some leap up like dragons on the strength of pushed goods and bribes; some fly up like phoenixes on the steps of faction and pull. Wind becomes usage and usage becomes habit; the great Way falls slowly to weed, the young grow up dim and unknowing, and the instruction of the Confucians sinks out of sight. To establish oneself without wealth cannot be done. If there is a gentleman outstanding above the crowd who never leaves his own door and court, immersing his will in tasting the Way, then truly he should be sought out with generous courtesy, to raise the practice of yielding. Give Sun and Wu a spear and they are one man's strength; use their arts and they are worth ten thousand men. Likewise, make great Confucians minor clerks and they need not match the business; set them in the mountain forests and they can mold the young and ignorant and magnify propriety and reverence. Why make a great elephant catch rats, or set the bellows-luan to its task (the base text seems to lose words here)!" (The base text drops the words 'the man of office said' here.) "If he withers and sinks away in the marshes, living in vain and then dying, what is there to prize in that?"

逸民答曰：“子可謂守培螻，玩狐丘，未登閬風而臨雲霓；玩瀅汀，遊潢洿，未浮南溟而涉天漢。凡所謂志人者，不必在乎祿位，不必須乎勳伐也。太上無己，其次無名，能振翼以絕群，騁跡以絕軌，為常人所不能為，割近才所不能割，少多不為凡俗所量，恬粹不為名位所染，淳風足以濯百代之穢，高操足以激將來之濁。何必紆朱曳紫，服冕乘軺，被犧牛之文繡，吞詹何之香餌，朝為張天之炎熱，夕成冰冷之季灰！

The recluse answered: "You may be said to keep to the anthill and play upon the foxes' mound, never having climbed Mount Langfeng to look down on cloud and rainbow; you play in the shallows and swim the stagnant pools, never having floated the Southern Deep to ford the River of Heaven. As for the men called resolute: they need not depend on salary and place, need not wait on merit and record. The highest has no self; the next has no name. To beat one's wings and leave the flock, to gallop one's track beyond the ruts, to do what ordinary men cannot do, to renounce what petty talents cannot renounce, unfathomed by the common measure, tranquil purity unstained by fame and place—such pure air suffices to wash away a hundred ages' filth; such high conduct suffices to stir the coming generations' turbid flow. What need is there to knot the vermilion and trail the purple, wear the cap and ride the light carriage, don the embroidered robe of the sacrificial ox, swallow Zhan He's baited hook—at dawn a blazing canopy of heat, by nightfall cold as dead ashes!

“夫斥鴳不以蓬榛易雲霄之表，王鮪不以幽岫貿滄海之曠，虎豹入廣廈而懷悲，鴻鵾登嵩巒而含戚。物各有心，安其所長。莫不泰於得意，而慘於失所也。經世之士，悠悠皆是，一日無君，惶惶如也。譬猶藍田之積玉，鄧林之多材，良工大匠，肆意所用。亦何必棲魚而沈鳥哉！嘉遁高蹈，先聖所許；或出或處，各從攸好。

(The recluse continued:) "The marsh-quail would not trade its brambles for the regions beyond the clouds; the royal sturgeon would not trade its deep ravine for the vastness of the gray sea; tiger and leopard entering a broad hall carry grief; the great hong-bird mounting the ridges of Song holds sorrow. Each creature has its own heart and rests in what suits it; none is not content in its element and wretched out of it. Gentlemen who order the world, anxious and toiling, are all like this: a single day without a lord and they go restless. But like the piled jade of Lantian and the massed timber of Deng Forest, the good workman and master carpenter may take as they please. Why make fish roost in trees and birds sink below the waves! Noble withdrawal and high stepping were sanctioned by the former sages; to go forth or stay, each follows his own bent.

“蓋士之所貴，立德立言。若夫孝友仁義，操業清高，可謂立德矣。窮覽《墳》《索》，著述粲然，可謂立言矣。夫善鄭無治民之功，未可謂減於俗吏；仲尼無攻伐之勳，不可以為不及於韓白矣。身名並全，謂之為上。隱居求志，先民嘉焉。夷齊一介，不合變通，古人嗟嘆，謂不降辱。夫言不降者，明隱逸之為高也；不辱者，知羈縶之為洿也。聖人之清者，孟軻所美，亦云天爵貴於印綬。志修遺榮，孫卿所尚，道義既備，可輕王公。而世人所畏唯勢，所重唯利。盛德身滯，便謂庸人；器小任大，便謂高士。或有乘危冒嶮，投死忘生，棄遺體於萬仞之下，邀榮華乎一朝之間，比夫輕四海愛脛毛之士，何其緬然邪！”

(The recluse continued:) "What a gentleman prizes is establishing virtue and establishing words. As for filial piety, brotherly love, benevolence and right, keeping one's conduct and deeds clear and high—this may be called establishing virtue. Reading to the last the Three Fen and Eight Suo and composing works splendid to behold—this may be called establishing words. That Shanjuan had no merit in ruling men does not make him worse than a common clerk; that Zhongni had no labor in attack and conquest does not make him inferior to Han Xin and Bai Qi. When person and name are both kept whole, we call it the highest. To live hidden and seek one's own resolve—the men of old commended. Boyi and Shuqi were but single men, not given to compromise; the ancients sighed over them, saying they would not be lowered nor shamed. 'Not lowered' marks withdrawal as high; 'not shamed' knows bridle and bond as foul. The pure kind among sages is what Meng Ke praised, and he also held heaven's rank more precious than seals and ribbons. A will well ordered and glory forsaken is what Sun Qing esteemed: when the Way and right are complete, one may think lightly of kings and dukes. But what the world fears is only power; what it prizes is only profit. When a man of great virtue lingers in obscurity they call him a mediocrity; when a small capacity fills a great post they call him a high gentleman. Some ride peril and brave danger, fling off death and forget life, cast the body their parents left them beneath a thousand-fathom cliff to win glory in a single morning—how far they are from the gentleman who thought the four seas light and grudged a hair on his own shank!"

仕人曰：“潛退之士，得意山澤，不荷世貴，蕩然縱肆，不為時用，嗅祿利(有脫文)，誠為天下無益之物，何如”

The man of office said: "A gentleman who withdraws and hides, pleased among the mountains and marshes, carrying no burden of the world's honor, drifting loose and free, unused by his age, sniffing at salary and profit (the base text seems to lose words here)—he is truly a useless thing under heaven. What say you?"

逸民答曰：“夫麟不吠守，鳳不司晨，騰黃不引犁，尸祝不治庖也。且夫揚大明乎無外，宜嫗煦之和風者，日也；耀華燈於暗夜，治金石以致用者，火也。天下不可以經時無日，不可以一旦無火，然其大小，不可同也。江海之外，彌綸二儀，升為雲雨，降成百川；而朝夕之用，不及累仞之井，灌田溉園，未若溝渠之沃。校其鉅細，孰為曠哉

The recluse answered: "The unicorn is not used to bark a watch; the phoenix is not used to crow the dawn; the flying yellow steed is not used to draw the plow; the invocator does not manage the kitchen. Moreover, what lifts a great brightness to regions without outside and is fit to warm all things with a mild wind is the sun; what lights the ornate lamp in the dark night and melts metal and stone for men's use is fire. The world cannot do without the sun for a single season, nor without fire for a single day—yet in size the two cannot be held equal. Beyond the rivers and seas, the waters enfold the two powers, rising to become cloud and rain, sinking to become the hundred streams; yet for the uses of morning and evening they are not worth a well a few fathoms deep, and for watering field and garden not as fertile as a ditch. Compare their great and small—which is the more far-reaching?

桀紂，帝王也；仲尼，陪臣也。今見比於桀紂，則莫不怒焉；見擬於仲尼，則莫不悅焉。爾則貴賤果不在位也。故孟子云，禹稷顏淵，易地皆然矣。宰予亦謂，孔子賢於堯舜遠矣。夫匹庶而鈞稱於王者，儒生高極乎唐虞者，德而已矣，何必官哉！

(The recluse continued:) "Jie and Zhou were sovereign kings; Zhongni was a subordinate officer. Yet today, show a man he is likened to Jie and Zhou and none fails to be angry; show him he is matched with Zhongni and none fails to be pleased. Seen thus, noble and low truly lie not in the office. So Mencius said: Yu, Ji, and Yan Yuan—change their places and each is the same. Zai Yu too said Confucius was far more worthy than Yao and Shun. A commoner praised equally with kings, a scholar lofty enough to be matched with Tang and Yu—it is only because of virtue. What need is there of office?

“且夫交靈升於造化，運天地於懷抱，恢恢然世故不棲於心術，茫茫然寵辱不汨其純白，流俗之所欲，不能染其神，近人之所惑，不能移其志。榮華，猶贅疣也；萬物，猶蜩翼也。若然者，豈肯詰屈其支體，俯仰其容儀，挹酌於其所不喜，修索於其所棄遺，怡顏以取進，曲躬以避退，恐俗人之不悅，戚我身之凌遲，屈龍淵為錐鑽之用，抑靈鼖為鼓兆鼙之音，推黃鉞以適釤鎌之持，撓華旗以入林杞之下乎

(The recluse continued:) "Moreover, one who soars in communion with the Creator, turning heaven and earth within his breast—vast, so that worldly affairs cannot roost in the heart's art; boundless, so that favor and disgrace cannot stir his pure white—what the common run desires cannot soil his spirit; what near men doubt cannot shift his will. Glory is a wart and tumor; the myriad things are a cicada's wing. Would such a man bend and contort his limbs, bow and raise his mien, weigh out what he dislikes, rummage in what he has abandoned, sweeten his face to seek advancement, crook his body to dodge retreat, fear that vulgar men might be displeased, fret over his own frame's decline, bend a Longyuan blade to serve as a drill, press the numinous war-drum into a rattle's note, push the yellow axe to fit a reaper's grip, and bow the flowered banner to slip beneath the trees?

古公杖策而捐之，越翳入穴以逃之，季札退耕以委之，老萊灌園以遠之，從其所好，莫與易也。故醇而不雜，斯則富矣；身不受役，其則貴矣。若夫剖符有土，所謂祿利耳，非富貴也。且夫官高者其責重，功大者人忌之，獨有貧賤，莫與我爭，可得長寶，而無憂焉。

(The recluse continued:) "Old Duke Dan leaned on his staff and gave up the kingship; Prince Yi of Yue crept into a cave to flee it; Jizha withdrew to plowing to refuse it; Laolaizi watered his garden to keep far from it—each followed his own bent, and nothing could be traded for it. So to be mellow and unmixed—this is wealth; to have the body free of corvée—this is rank. As for receiving a split tally and an enfeoffed fief, that is only what is called salary and profit, not wealth and honor. Moreover, he whose office is high bears heavy duty; he whose merit is great is envied by men. Only in poverty and low station does no one contend with me: it can be kept long, and without care.

“濯裘布被，拔葵去織，豚不掩豆，菜餚糲餐，又獲逼下邀偽之譏，樹塞反坫，三歸玉食，穰侯之富，安昌之泰，則有僭上洿濁之累。未若遊神典文，吐故納新，求飽乎耒梠之端，索縕乎杼軸之間，腹仰河而已滿，身集一枝而餘安，萬物芸芸，化為埃塵矣。食齧弱餬口，布褐縕袍，淡泊肆志，不憂不喜，斯尊樂，喻之無物也。

(The recluse continued:) "Wash the fur and take a cloth quilt, pull up the mallows and dismiss the weavers; pork that does not cover the dish, vegetable broth with coarse rice—and still you draw the sneer of cramping those below and fishing for hollow praise. Plant a screen-gate, build a goblet-stand, keep three households and eat jade viands, have the wealth of the Marquis of Rang or the ease of Anchang—and you bear the taint of usurping the ruler and sinking in mire. Better to let the spirit roam among the texts of the canon, breathe out the old and take in the new; seek one's fill at the tip of the plowshare, seek a padded robe among the loom's shuttle and axle; the belly is full once it has faced the river, the body at peace once it settles on a single bough—the myriad things in their swarm all turn to dust and dirt. Eating plain weak fare to fill the mouth, wearing hemp cloth and padded rags, calm and unbound in will, without sorrow and without joy—this is true honor and true delight, for which no outward thing can stand as likeness.

“夫仕也者，欲以為名邪則修毫可以洩憤懣，篇章可以寄姓字，何假乎良史，何煩乎鑱鼎哉！孟子不以矢石為功，揚雲不以治民益世，求仁而得，不亦可乎”

(The recluse continued:) "Is taking office meant to seek a name by it? Then a well-wielded brush can vent one's indignation, and a chapter can lodge one's surname and name—what need to lean on a good chronicler, what need to trouble the engraving on a tripod? Mencius did not take arrows and stones for merit; Yang Xiong did not count ruling the people a benefit to the age. To seek benevolence and obtain benevolence—is that not enough?"

仕人又曰：“隱遁之士，則為不臣，亦豈宜居君之地，食君谷乎”逸民曰：“何謂其然乎！昔顏回死，魯定公將躬吊焉，使人訪仲尼。仲尼曰：‘凡在邦內，皆臣也。’定公乃升自東階，行君禮焉。由此論之，‘率土之濱，莫匪王臣’可知也。在朝者陳力以秉庶事，山林者修德以厲貪濁，殊途同歸，俱人臣也。王者無外，天下為家，日月所照，雨露所及，皆其境也。安得懸虛空，餐咀流霞，而使之不居乎地，不食乎谷哉

The man of office said again: "A gentleman in hiding is, in effect, no subject—can it be right for him to dwell on the ruler's soil and eat the ruler's grain?" The recluse said: "How can you say so? In old days, when Yan Hui died, Duke Ding of Lu was about to mourn him in person and sent a man to ask Zhongni. Zhongni said: 'All who are within the state are subjects.' Duke Ding therefore mounted by the eastern steps and performed the rites of a ruler. From this it may be known that 'on the shores of all the land there is none who is not the king's subject.' Those at court contribute their strength to manage the affairs; those in mountain forests cultivate virtue to shame the greedy and foul—different roads to the same end, all servants of the throne. The king has no outside; the realm is his household; wherever sun and moon shine, wherever rain and dew reach, is his domain. Would you have them hang in empty air and chew the flowing mist, dwelling nowhere on the land and eating no grain?

“夫山之金玉，水之珠貝，雖不在府庫之中，不給朝夕之用，然皆君之財也。退士不居肉食之列，亦猶山水之物也，豈非國有乎許由不竄於四海之外，四皓不走於八荒之表也。故曰：萬邦黎獻，共惟帝臣。幹木不荷戈戍境，築壘疆場，而有蕃魏之功。今隱者潔行蓬蓽之內，以詠先王之道，使民知退讓，儒墨不替，此亦堯舜之所許也。昔夷齊不食周粟，鮑焦死於橋上，彼之硜硜，何足師表哉

(The recluse continued:) "The metal and jade in the mountains, the pearls and shells in the waters—though they are not in the treasury and supply no use of dawn and dusk—are all the ruler's wealth. Retired gentlemen do not stand in the ranks of the meat-eaters, yet like the things in mountain and water, are they not the state's own? Xu You never fled beyond the four seas; the Four Hoaryheads never ran to the edge of the eight wastes. Thus it is said: the black-haired worthies of the myriad states are all the emperor's servants. Duangan Mu never shouldered a spear to guard the border nor raised ramparts on the field, yet he had the merit of screening and guarding Wei. Now the recluse, within his door of brambles, makes his virtue clean and chants the way of the former kings, so that the hundred surnames learn to yield and the teachings of Confucian and Mohist are not cast aside—this too is what Yao and Shun approved. In old days Boyi and Shuqi would not eat the millet of Zhou, and Bao Jiao died clinging to the bridge—their petty obstinacy was never worth taking as a model.

“昔安帝以玄纁玉帛聘周彥祖。桓帝以玄纁玉帛聘韋休明，順帝以玄纁玉帛聘楊仲宣，就拜侍中，不到。魏文帝徵管幼安不至，又就拜光祿勳，竟不到；乃詔所在常八月致羊一口酒二斛。桓帝玄纁玉帛聘憑藉孺子，就拜太原太守及東海相，不到。順帝以玄纁玉帛聘樊季高，不到；乃詔所在常以八月致羊一口酒二斛，又賜几杖，待以師傅之禮。獻帝時，鄭康成州辟舉賢良方正茂才，公府十四闢，皆不就；公車徵左中郎博士趙相侍中大司農，皆不起。昭帝公車徵韓福，到；賜帛五十匹及羊酒。法高卿再舉孝廉，本州五辟，公府八辟，九舉賢良博士，三徵，皆不就。桓帝以玄纁玉帛安車軺輪聘韓伯休，不到。以玄纁玉帛安車軺輪聘妾伯雅，就拜太中大夫犍為太守，不起。然皆見優重，不加威闢也。若此諸帝褒隱逸之士不謬者，則呂尚之誅華士為兇酷過惡，斷可知矣。”

(The recluse continued:) "In former days Emperor An summoned Zhou Yanzu with gifts of dark-crimson silk and jade. Emperor Huan so summoned Wei Xiuming; Emperor Shun so summoned Yang Zhongxuan, appointing him Palace Attendant where he stood—he did not take the post. Emperor Wen of Wei summoned Guan You'an; he did not come, and was appointed Superintendent of the Household where he stood, yet never took the post—whereupon an edict ordered his district to send one sheep and two hu of wine every eighth month. Emperor Huan so summoned Xu Ruzi, appointing him Grand Administrator of Taiyuan and Chancellor of Donghai where he stood—he did not take the post. Emperor Shun so summoned Fan Jigao; he did not take the post—whereupon an edict ordered his district to send sheep and wine each eighth month and bestow an armrest and staff, treating him with the rites due a master. In Emperor Xian's time, Zheng Kangcheng was recommended by his province as worthy, upright, and flourishing talent; the ducal offices summoned him fourteen times and he did not go; the public carriage called him to be General of the Gentlemen of the Left, Erudite, Chancellor of Zhao, Palace Attendant, and Grand Minister of Agriculture—he rose for none. Emperor Zhao sent the public carriage for Han Fu; he came, and was granted fifty bolts of silk with sheep and wine. Fazhen (Fa Gaoqing) was twice recommended as filial and incorrupt, five times summoned by his own province, eight times by the ducal offices, nine times named worthy or erudite, and three times summoned—he went to none. Emperor Huan sent dark-crimson silk and jade, with an easy carriage and padded wheels, for Han Boxiu—he did not come; and for Jiang Boya, appointing him Grand Palace Grandee and Grand Administrator of Qianwei where he stood—he did not rise. Yet all were treated with generous courtesy and honor, and no force of majesty was used to summon them. If these emperors did no wrong in commending reclusive gentlemen, then Lü Shang's execution of Huashi was cruel excess—this can be known for certain."

仕人乃悵然自失，慨爾永嘆曰：“始悟超俗之理，非庸瑣所見矣。”

The man of office, now at a loss, sighed long with feeling and said: "Only now do I grasp that the truth which rises above the common stream is not something mediocre, petty sight can see."

抱朴子曰：夫學者所以清澄性理，簸揚埃穢，雕鍛礦璞，礱煉屯鈍，啟導聰明，飾染質素，察往知來，博涉勸戒，仰觀俯察，於是乎在，人事王道，於是乎備。進可以為國，退可以保己。是以聖賢罔莫孜孜而勤之，夙夜以勉之，命盡日中而釋，飢寒危困而不廢。豈以有求於當世哉誠樂之自然也。

Baopuzi said: Learning serves to clarify the pattern of the nature, to winnow away dust and filth, to carve and forge the ore and the unpolished jade, to whet the dull, to open and guide the keen of mind, to adorn and dye the plain silk, to discern the past and know the future, and to range broadly among admonitions. Looking up to observe and bending to examine—it lies in this; human affairs and the kingly way are here made whole. Advancing, one can use it to order the state; retiring, one can use it to keep oneself whole. So sages and worthies without exception study with tireless zeal, laboring from morning to night, not laying it down even when life has passed its noon, not abandoning it in hunger, cold, or peril. What had they to seek from the age? Truly they took it as joy—it was simply so of itself (self-so, not 'the natural world').

夫斫削刻畫之薄伎，射御騎乘之易事，猶須慣習，然後能善，況乎人理之曠，道德之遠，陰陽之變，鬼神之情，緬邈玄奧，誠難生知。雖雲色白，匪染弗麗；雖雲味甘，匪和弗美。故瑤華不琢，則耀夜之景不發；丹青不治，則純鉤之勁不就。火則不鑽不生，不扇不熾；水則不決不流，不積不深。故質雖在我，而成之由彼也。登閬風，捫晨極，然後知井谷之暗隘也；披七經，玩百氏，然後覺面牆之至困也。

Crafts as slight as whittling and carving, skills as easy as archery, charioteering, and riding, must still be practiced before they are done well—how much more the far reach of human pattern, the deep range of the Way and its power, the permutations of yin and yang, and the dispositions of ghosts and spirits: remote, mysterious, subtle—hard indeed to know from birth. Though the color is white, undyed it is not lovely; though the taste is sweet, unblended it is not fine. So gem-flowers unground and uncut cannot send out a night-lighting gleam; cinnabar and azurite unrefined cannot achieve Chungou-like temper. Fire unbored does not kindle, unfanned does not blaze; water unbreached does not flow, ungathered does not run deep. So though the substance is in me, what perfects it comes from elsewhere. Climb Mount Langfeng and touch the North Star, and only then do you know the well-gulf's darkness and narrowness; unroll the seven classics and savor the hundred schools, and only then do you feel how stifling it is to face a wall.

夫不學而求知，猶願魚而無網焉，心雖勤而無獲矣；廣博以窮理，猶須風而托焉，體不勞而致遠矣。粉黛至則西施以加麗，而宿瘤以藏醜；經術深則高才者洞達，鹵鈍者醒悟。文梓幹云，而不可名臺榭者，未加班輪之結構也；天然爽朗，而不可謂之君子者，不識大倫之臧否也。

To seek knowledge without study is like hoping for fish with no net—the heart toils but gains nothing. To range broadly and exhaust the pattern of things is like riding the wind and being borne—the body does not labor yet reaches far. Powder and mascara make Xishi still more beautiful and hide even Suliu's ugliness; when the classics' arts run deep, men of high talent penetrate through and even the dull are awakened. The towering catalpa pierces the clouds, yet cannot be called a terrace or kiosk, because Gongshu Ban's joinery has not yet been laid upon it; a nature may be clear and bright, yet cannot be called a gentleman, because it does not know good and ill within the great human bonds.

欲超千里於終朝，必假追影之足；欲凌洪波而遐濟，必因艘楫之器；欲見無外而不下堂，必由之乎載籍；欲測淵微而不役神，必得之乎明師。故朱綠所以改素絲，訓誨所以移矇蔽。披玄雲而揚大明，則萬物無所隱其狀矣；舒竹帛而考古今，則天地無所藏其情矣。況於鬼神乎而況於人事乎泥涅可令齊堅乎金玉，曲木可攻之以應繩墨，百獸可教之以戰陳，畜牲可習之以進退，沈鱗可動之以聲音，機石可感之以精誠，又況乎含五常而稟最靈者哉！

To pass a thousand leagues in a single morning you must borrow feet that overtake the light; to soar over mighty billows and cross far you must rely on boat and oar; to see the realm that has no outside without leaving the hall you must go by way of the records and books; to fathom the abyssal and subtle without harnessing your own spirit you must receive it from an enlightened teacher. So vermilion and green are for altering white silk; instruction and precept are for shifting the blinded. Draw back the dark clouds and raise the great brightness, and the myriad things can no longer hide their shapes; unroll the bamboo and silk to examine past and present, and heaven and earth can no longer hide their dispositions—how much less ghosts and spirits, and how much less human affairs! Clay can be tempered hard as metal or jade; bent wood can be trued to the marking-line; the hundred beasts can be taught the ranks of battle; dumb stock can be drilled to advance and halt; scaled creatures sunk in the water can be stirred by sound; crossbow and stone can be mastered by utmost sincerity—how much more man, who holds the five constants and receives the most numinous endowment!

低仰之駟，教之功也；鷙擊之禽，習之馴也。與彼凡馬野鷹，本實一類，此以飾貴，彼以質賤。運行潦而勿輟，必混流乎滄海矣；崇一簣而弗休，必鈞高乎峻極矣。大川滔漾，則虯螭群遊；日就月將，則德立道備。乃可以正。夢乎丘旦，何徒解桎乎困蒙哉！

A four-horse team that lowers and raises, advances and retreats, is the work of training; a raptor that stoops to strike is made tame by practice. They and common horses and wild falcons were truly one kind at first: the one is prized for its adornment, the other despised for its bare substance. Keep the gathered rainwater running without stop and it must mingle down into the gray sea; pile on one more basketful without pause and it must rise level with the towering peak. When the great stream swells and spreads, horned dragons gather and swim; when the days bring achievement and the months bring advance, virtue stands and the Way is complete. Only then can one be set upright. To see Confucius and the Duke of Zhou even in dreams—how much more than merely loosening the fetters of benighted confusion!

昔仲由冠雞帶豚，靃珥鳴蟬，杖劍而舞，盛稱南山之勁竹，欲任掘強之自然；尼父善誘，染以德教，遂成升堂之生，而登四科之哲。子張鄙人，而灼聚兇猾，漸漬道訓，成化名儒，乃抗禮於王公，豈直免於庸陋！

In former days Zhongyou wore a cap of cockscomb and a boar's-tusk girdle, flaunting ear-pendant and chirping cicada, whirling his sword in dance and loudly praising the tough bamboo of South Mountain, bent on giving his stubborn nature free rein. But Nifu knew how to draw him on and steeped him in the teaching of virtue, until he became a student who ascended the hall and a worthy mounted among the Four Classes. Zizhang was a man of low station; Zhuoju was a savage rogue—yet both were slowly steeped in the Way's instruction and transformed into famous Confucians, able in the end to face kings and dukes as equals—far more than merely escaping the common and the crude!

以是賢人悲寓世之倏忽，疾泯沒之無稱；感朝聞之弘訓，悟通微之無類；懼將落之明戒，覺罔念之作狂；不飽食以終日，不棄功於寸陰；鑑逝川之勉志，悼過隙之電速；割遊情之不急，損人間之末務；洗憂貧之心，遣廣願之穢，息畋獵博奕之遊戲，矯晝寢坐睡之懈怠；知徒思之無益，遂振策於聖途。學以聚之，問以辯之，進德修業，溫故知新。

Therefore the worthy man grieves at the briefness of this lodging in the world and burns at vanishing without a name; stirred by the grand maxim of hearing the Way at dawn, he awakes to the subtle, which no class confines; fearing the clear warning of coming decay, he knows that without reflection one runs wild. He does not merely eat his fill all day, nor cast off the merit of an inch of shadow; he watches the river that flows on to spur his will, and mourns the lightning that streaks past the crack; he cuts away the unurgent pleasures of roaming fancy and pares back the world's lesser tasks; he washes out the heart that frets at poverty and sends off the filth of sprawling wants; he puts a stop to the games of hunting and gambling and corrects the slackness of sleeping by day and dozing at the seat; knowing that empty thought brings no gain, he cracks his whip upon the sages' road. By study to gather, by questioning to dispute; to advance in virtue and perfect the work; to warm the old and know the new.

夫周公上聖，而日讀百篇。仲尼天縱，而韋編三絕。墨翟大賢，載文盈車。仲舒命世，不窺園門。倪寬帶經以芸鉏，路生截蒲以寫書，黃霸抱桎梏以受業，寧子勤夙夜以倍功，故能究覽道奧，窮測微言，觀萬古如同日，知八荒若廬庭，考七耀之盈虛，步三五之變化，審盛衰之方來，驗善否於既往，料玄黃於掌握，甄未兆以如成。故能盛德大業，冠於當世，清芒令問，播於罔極也。

The Duke of Zhou was a supreme sage, yet read a hundred pieces in a day. Zhongni was a sage heaven had let loose, yet thrice wore out the leather bindings of his books. Mozi was a great worthy, yet the books he carried filled a cart. Dong Zhongshu was a man to name his age, yet never once glanced toward his garden gate. Ni Kuan carried the classic while he weeded; Lu Wenshu cut rushes to write his book; Huang Ba received instruction wearing fetters; Ning Yue labored from dawn to night to double his gains. So they could read to the bottom the mysteries of the Way, fathom the subtle words to their end, look on ten thousand ages as one day, and know the eight wastes like their own courtyard; they examined the waxing and waning of the seven luminaries, measured the courses of the three luminaries and five planets, discerned rise and decline before it came, tested good and ill against what had gone before, held heaven and earth reckoned within the palm, and distinguished things not yet sprouted as if already done. Thus they achieved great virtue and great works, crowning their age, their clear light and fair fame spreading to bounds unknown.

且夫聞商羊而戒浩漾，訪鳥砮而洽東肅，諮萍實而言色味，訊土狗而識墳羊，披《靈寶》而知山隱，因折俎而說專車，瞻離畢而分陰陽之候，由冬螽而覺閏餘之錯，何神之有學而已矣。夫童謠猶助聖人之耳目，豈況《墳》《索》之弘博哉！

Moreover, hearing of the shangyang bird one can prepare for a mighty flood; asking after the arrow of fletched wood and stone barb one can square with Sushen in the east; asked of the duck-weed fruit one can tell its color and taste; questioned about the earthen dog one can recognize the tomb-sheep; reading the Lingbao one can know the mountain's hidden thing; drawing on the sundered joints one can explain the bone that filled a cart; watching the moon lodge by the Hyades one can tell the climes of yin and yang; from winter locusts one can detect the error of the intercalary excess. What magic is there in this? Learning, that is all. Even children's rhymes can aid a sage's ears and eyes—how much more the broad reach of the Three Fen and Eight Suo!

才性有優劣，思理有修短。或有夙知而早成，或有提耳而後喻。夫速悟時習者，驥騄之腳也；遲解晚覺者，鶉鵲之翼也。彼雖尋飛絕景，止而不行，則步武不過焉；此雖咫尺以進，往而不輟，則山澤可越焉。明暗之學，其猶茲乎蓋少則志一而難忘，長則神放而易失，故修學務早，及其精專，習與性成，不異自然也。若乃絕倫之器，盛年有故，雖失之於暘谷，而收之於虞淵。方知良田之晚播，愈於座歲之荒蕪也。日燭之喻，斯言當矣。

Natural gifts have their better and worse; reasoning has its long and short. Some know early and finish early; others must be led by the ear before they see. The quick of wit who also warms his lessons is the qiji's foot; the slow to grasp who wakes only late is the quail's wing. The latter, though it follows flight and overtakes the light, once it halts cannot cover the ground by foot; the former, though it creep a foot and an inch at a time, if it goes without stopping may cross mountains and marshes. The learning of the bright and the dim is roughly like this. The young have a single-minded will that forgets nothing; the grown have spirits that stray and lose easily—so the pursuit of learning must begin early; once essence is fixed and habit and nature are formed, they are one with the natural. As for a capacity beyond compare, even if accident strikes in the prime—though it be lost at Yanggu, the vale of sunrise—it may still be recovered at Yuyuan, the abyss of sunset. Then one learns that a fine field sown late is better than a whole year left fallow. The simile of the sun and the lamp is exactly apt.

世道多難，儒教淪喪，文武之軌，將遂凋墜。或沈溺於聲色之中，或驅馳於競逐之路。孤貧而精六藝者，以遊夏之資，而抑頓乎九泉之下；因風而附鳳翼者，以駑庸之質，猶辶回遑乎霞霄之表。捨本逐末者，謂之勤修庶幾；擁經求己者，謂之陸沈迂闊。於是莫不蒙塵觸雨，戴霜履冰，懷黃握白，提清挈肥，以赴邪徑之近易，規朝種而暮獲矣。

The age is full of troubles, Confucian teaching lies in ruin, and the tracks of civil and martial are about to fall. Some are sunk in music and women; some gallop on the road of rivalry. The orphaned and poor who master the six arts, though they have the substance of a Ziyou or Zixia, are pressed down and broken beneath the nine springs; while those who ride the wind to cling to a phoenix's wing, though of dull and common stock, still wheel at ease beyond the mists of dawn (the base text is damaged here). Men who cast off the root and chase the branch are called diligent cultivators, near enough; those who hold the classics and seek in themselves are called benighted and unworldly. So there is none who does not brave dust and beat through rain, wear frost and tread ice, cradle gold and clutch silver, carry clear wine and bear fat meat, hurrying to the near and easy profit of the crooked path, planning to plant in the morning and harvest by night.