Bao Pu Zi Wai Pian (抱朴子外篇) · Volume 10
抱朴子曰：四瀆辯源，五河分流，赴卑注海，殊途同歸。色不均而皆豔，音不同而鹹悲，香非一而並芳，味不等而悉美。
Baopuzi said: The four channels part their sources, the five rivers split their streams; running to the low they pour into the sea—different roads, one return. Colors unlike are all fair; notes unlike are all moving; fragrances of more than one kind are fragrant together; flavors unequal are all fine.
抱朴子曰：物貴濟事而飾其末，化俗以德而言非其本，故綿布可以禦寒，不必貂狐；淳素可以匠物，不在文辯。抱朴子曰：沖飈謐氣則轉蓬山峙，修綱既舒則萬目齊理。故未有上好謙而下慢，主賤寶而俗貧。
Baopuzi said: What is prized in a thing is serving the work, ornament being the tip of it; what transforms custom is virtue, words not being the root of it. So cotton cloth can fend off the cold—no need for sable and fox; plain simplicity can craft things—it does not lie in patterned argument. Baopuzi said: When the whirlwind stills, the tumbleweed stands like a mountain; when the great cord is stretched, the ten thousand meshes all fall in order. So there has never been one above loving humility while those below are insolent, never a lord slighting treasure while the folk are poor.
抱朴子曰：事有緣微而成著，物有治近而致遠。故修步武之池，而引沈鱗於江海；豐朝陽之林，而延靈禽於丹穴；設象於盤盂，而翠虯降於玄霄；委灰於尺水，而望舒變於太極。是以晉文回輪於勇蟲，而壯士雲赴；句踐曲躬於怒蛙，而戎卒輕死。九九顯而扣角之俊至，枯骨掩而叄分之仁洽。
Baopuzi said: There are affairs that begin from a trifling thread and grow into the conspicuous, and things governed near that reach afar. So they dredged a pool no bigger than a stride, and drew sunken scales from river and sea; they enriched the grove facing the morning sun, and summoned the numinous bird from the Cinnabar Cave; they set an image on the basin and platter, and the green dragon descended from the dark sky; they laid ash in a foot of water, and Wangshu altered in the grand pole. So Duke Wen of Jin turned his wheels for the brave insect, and stout men came to him like clouds; Goujian bent his body to the angry frog, and his soldiers made light of death. When the art of nine-times-nine was made known, the talent who knocked on the horn arrived; when the dry bones were covered over, a benevolence over a third of the realm spread abroad.
抱朴子曰：膏壤在草亥，而枯葉含榮；率俗以身，則不言而化。故有唐以鹿裘臻太平；齊桓以捐紫止奢競。章華構而豐屋之過成，露臺輟而玄默之風行。
Baopuzi said: Enrich the soil at the root (the base text miswrites the character), and the withered leaf holds its bloom; lead the age by one's own person, and it is transformed without a word. So You Tang wore deerskin and brought the realm to great peace; Duke Huan of Qi gave up purple and halted the strife in luxury. When the Zhanghua terrace was raised once, the fault of towering houses was complete; when the open terrace was left unbuilt, the manner of dark stillness spread abroad.
抱朴子曰：聰者，料興亡於遺音之絕響；明者，覿機理於玄微之未形。故越人見齊桓不振之徵於未覺之疾；箕子識殷人鹿臺之禍於象箸之初。
Baopuzi said: The keen of ear reckon rise and fall from a dying echo of lost sound; the clear of eye see the working of the pivot before the dark and minute has taken shape. So the Yue man saw in a sickness still unfelt the signs that Huan of Qi would not rise; Jizi knew from the first ivory chopsticks the calamity of Yin's Deer Terrace.
抱朴子曰：二儀不能廢春秋以成歲，明主不能捨刑德以致治。故誅貴所以立威，賞賤所以勸善。罰上達，則奸萌破而非懦弱所能用也；惠下逮，則遠人懷而非儉吝所能辦也。
Baopuzi said: The Two Powers cannot set aside spring and autumn to make a year; the enlightened ruler cannot set aside punishment and grace to bring about order. So executing the noble is how awe is established, and rewarding the humble is how goodness is urged. When punishment can reach upward, shoots of evil are broken—not something the timid could wield; when bounty can reach downward, distant men are won—not something the niggardly could manage.
抱朴子曰：浮海滄者，必精占於風氣，故保利涉之福。善蒞政者，必戰戰於得失，故享惟永之慶。故暗君之所輕，蓋明主之所重也。亡國之所棄，則治世之所行也。
Baopuzi said: He who would float the gray sea is sure to watch the wind and air with care; therefore he keeps the blessing of crossing in profit. He who is skilled at overseeing government is sure to tremble over gain and loss; therefore he enjoys lasting felicity. So what the benighted lord makes light of is likely what the enlightened ruler holds weighty; what a doomed state throws away is what an ordered age puts in practice.
抱朴子曰：毫釐蹉於機，則尋常達於的；與奪失於此，則善否亂於彼。邪正混侔，則彝倫攸斁；功過不料，則庶績以崩。故明君賞猶春雨而無霖淫之失，罰擬秋霜而無詭時之嚴。
Baopuzi said: If a hair's breadth slips at the trigger, then yards go astray at the mark; if giving and taking err here, then good and bad are thrown into confusion there. When the crooked and the straight are mixed as equals, the constant bonds are ruined; when merit and fault go unweighed, the many works collapse thereby. So the enlightened ruler rewards like spring rain without the fault of drowning, and punishes like autumn frost without the rigor of mistiming.
抱朴子曰：明銓衡者，所重不可得誣也；仗法度者，所愛不可得私也。故得人者，先得之於己者也；失人者，先失之於己者也。未有得己而失人，失己而得人者也。
Baopuzi said: He who is clear in the scales: the man he values cannot be slandered; he who leans on the rule: the man he loves cannot be favored. So he who gains men gained them first in himself; he who loses men lost them first in himself. There is no gaining oneself yet losing men, nor losing oneself yet gaining men.
抱朴子曰：明主躬操威恩，不假人以利器；暗主倒執干戈，雖名尊而勢去。故制慶賞而得眾者，田常所以奪齊也；擅威福而專朝者，王莽所以篡漢也。
Baopuzi said: The enlightened ruler holds the power of awe and grace in his own hands and does not lend the sharp weapon to another; the benighted ruler grasps the dagger-axe by its wrong end, and though honored in name the momentum is already gone. So that Tian Chang could rule reward and win the crowd—that is why he seized Qi; that Wang Mang could wield awe and fortune and rule the court alone—that is why he usurped Han.
抱朴子曰：常制不可以待變化，一途不可以應無方，刻船不可以索遺劍，膠柱不可以諧清音。故翠蓋不設於晴朗，朱輪不施於涉川，味淡則加之以鹽，沸溢則增水而減火。
Baopuzi said: Constant rule cannot meet change; a single path cannot answer the directionless; carving the boat cannot retrieve the lost sword; gluing the bridge cannot harmonize the clear tone. So the kingfisher canopy is not raised against the clear sky, the red wheel is not used for crossing a stream; when the flavor is flat salt is added, when it boils over water is added and the fire lessened.
抱朴子曰：丹書鐵券，刺牲歃血，不能救違約之弊，則難以結繩檢矣。五刑九伐，赤族之威，不足以止覬覦之奸，則不可以舞幹化矣。是以《書》有世重之文，《易》有隨時之宜。
Baopuzi said: When cinnabar writs and iron pledges, the slaughtered beast and the smeared blood, cannot remedy the failing of broken vows, they are harder to keep in check than knotting cords. When the five punishments and nine campaigns, the terror of exterminated clans, cannot halt the evil of covetousness, they cannot be transformed by brandishing shields. Therefore the Documents has the teaching that each age holds weighty, and the Changes has the fitness that follows the times.
抱朴子曰：人有識真之明者，不可欺以偽也，有揣深之智者，不可誑以淺也。不然，以虺蛇為應龍，狐鴟為麟鳳矣。
Baopuzi said: A man who has the sight to know the true cannot be deceived by falsehood; a man who has the wit to fathom the deep cannot be tricked by shallowness. Otherwise, one takes a viper for a responding dragon, and a fox or owl for a unicorn or phoenix.
抱朴子曰：世有雷同之譽而未必賢也；俗有讙譁之毀而未必惡也。是以迎而許之者，未若鑑其事而試其用；逆而距之者，未若聽其言而課其實。則佞媚不以虛談進，良能不以孤弱退，駑蹇輟望於大輅，戎虯揚鑣而電騁。則功胡大而不可建，道胡遠而不可到
Baopuzi said: The world may echo a man's praise and he is not necessarily worthy; the crowd may clamor a man's ruin and he is not necessarily evil. So rather than welcome him and grant at once, better to examine his deeds and test his use; rather than refuse him at rebuff, better to hear his words and assess his substance. Then flattery is not advanced on empty talk, nor good ability dismissed for standing alone; the worn nag halts its gaze at the great carriage, and the war-dragon shakes its bit and gallops like lightning. Then what work so great that it cannot be built, what Way so far that it cannot be reached?
抱朴子曰：潛朽之木，不能當傾山之風，含隙之崖，難以值滔天之濤。故七百之祚，三十之世，非徒牧野之功；倒戈之敗，鹿臺之敗，不始甲子之朝。其強久矣，其亡尚矣。
Baopuzi said: Rotten timber cannot face a wind that topples mountains; a cliff full of cracks can hardly meet waves that flood to the sky. So the seven-hundred-year mandate and thirty reigns did not come from Muye's work alone; the defeat of turning spear and the fall of Deer Terrace did not begin on the morning of jiazi. Its strength had grown long; its ruin had begun long before.
抱朴子曰：貴遠而賤近者，常人之用情也；信耳而疑目者，古今之所患也。是以秦王嘆息於韓非之書而想其為人，漢武慷慨於相如之文而情不同世；及既得之，終不能拔。或納讒而誅之，或放之乎冗散，此蓋葉公之好偽形，見真龍而失色也。
Baopuzi said: To prize the far and slight the near is the habit of common feeling; to trust the ear and doubt the eye is the malady of past and present. So the King of Qin sighed over Han Fei's writings and longed for the man; Emperor Wu of Han thrilled to Xiangru's works and grieved he was not of the same age. Yet once they had them, in the end they could not raise them to use—one took slander and put the man to death, the other set him in an idle sinecure. This is Lord Ye loving the painted form, then losing countenance at the real dragon.
抱朴子曰：摩尼不宵朗，則無別於磧礫；化鯤不凌霄，則靡殊於桃蟲。綿駒吞聲，則與喑人為群；逸才沈抑，則與凡庸為伍。故（魚旦）鰍褻絳虯於淵洿，駑蹇黷駿騄於垧野者，不識彼物靜與之同，動與之異。
Baopuzi said: If the mani gem does not gleam by night, it is no different from pebbles; if the transformed Kun does not mount the sky, it is no different from the wren. If Mian Ju swallowed his voice, he would flock with the mute; if surpassing talent sinks in repression, it keeps company with the commonplace. So the loach makes free with the scarlet dragon in the deep pool (the base text leaves a stray radical), and the lame nag soils the noble steed in the open field—for not knowing that at rest they are alike, in motion they differ.
抱朴子曰：棄金璧於途路，則行人止足；委錦紈於泥濘，則見者驚咄。若夫放高世之士於庸滷之伍，捐經國之器於困滯之地，而談者不訟其屈，達者不拯其窮，或貴其文而忽其身，或用其策而忘其功。斯之為病，由來久矣。
Baopuzi said: Cast gold and jade on the road, and travelers halt their steps; throw brocade in the mud, and onlookers cry out in shock. As for placing men who tower over the age in the ranks of the mediocre and foul, casting the vessel that can order a state into the straits of blockage—those who discourse do not plead his wrong, those who have risen do not rescue his want; some prize his writing and neglect his person, some use his counsel and forget his merit. This sickness has been long in coming.
抱朴子曰：開源不億仞，則無懷山之流；崇峻不凌霄，則無彌天之雲。財不豐，則其惠也不博；才不遠，則其辭也不贍。故睹盈丈之牙，則知其不出徑寸之口；則百尋之枝，則知其不附毫末之木。
Baopuzi said: If the opened source does not go a hundred million ren deep, there is no mountain-embracing current; if the reared height does not mount the sky, there is no heaven-filling cloud. If wealth is not rich, his bounty is not broad either; if talent does not reach far, his words are not ample either. So seeing a tusk filling ten feet, one knows it did not come from an inch-wide mouth; seeing a bough of a hundred fathoms, one knows it did not grow on a downy stalk.
抱朴子曰：靈鳳所以晨起丹穴，夕萃軒丘，日未移晷，周章九陔，凌風蹈云，不掇不閡者，以其六翮之輕勁也。夫才大器，亦有國之六翮也。
Baopuzi said: The reason the numinous phoenix rises at dawn from the Cinnabar Cave and alights at dusk on Xuanyuan's hill, circling the nine bounds before the shadow has moved, riding wind and treading cloud, unhindered and unblocked, is the lightness and strength of its six quills. The vessel of great talent is likewise a state's six quills.
抱朴子曰：淇衛忘歸，不能無弦而遠激；振塵之音，不能無器而興哀。超俗拔萃之德，不能立功於未至之時。
Baopuzi said: Qiwei and Wanggui arrows cannot leap far without a bowstring; the voice that shakes the dust cannot raise its lament without an instrument. A virtue that transcends the age and tops the crowd cannot establish merit before its hour has come.
抱朴子曰：朱綠之藻，不秀於枯柯；傾山之流，不發乎涸源。熠耀之宵焰，不能使萬品呈形；志盡勢利，不能使芳風邈世。
Baopuzi said: The red-and-green bloom does not flower on a withered bough; the mountain-toppling torrent does not issue from a dried source. A glow-worm's flame by night cannot make the ten thousand kinds take shape; a purpose spent on power and profit cannot make a fair fame reach far ages.
抱朴子曰：重淵不洞地，則不能含螭龍，吐吞舟；峻山不極天，則不能韜琳琅，播雲雨；立德不絕俗，則不能收美聲，著厚實；執志不絕群，則不能臻成功，銘弘勳。而凡夫朝為蜩翼之善，夕望丘陵之益，猶立植黍稷，坐索於豐收也。
Baopuzi said: If the deep abyss does not pierce the earth, it cannot hold dragons and swallow boats; if the steep mountain does not touch the sky, it cannot hoard gems and scatter cloud and rain; if standing in virtue does not pass the common, it cannot gather fair fame and show solid substance; if holding one's resolve does not pass the herd, it cannot attain achievement and engrave great merit. Yet the common man does good slight as a cicada's wing in the morning and by evening looks for profit heavy as a hill—like standing to sow millet and sitting to demand the harvest.
抱朴子曰：行無邈俗之標，而索高世之稱；體無道藝之本，而營朋黨之末。欲以收清貴於當世，播德音於將來，猶褰裳以越滄海，企佇而躍九玄。
Baopuzi said: To seek the fame that tops the age while one's conduct has no mark that passes the common; to work at the tip of faction while one's person lacks the root of the Way and its arts—wishing thereby to gather clear honor in the present and broadcast a virtuous name to the future is like lifting one's robe to cross the gray sea, or standing on tiptoe to leap to the ninth heaven.
抱朴子曰：泥龍雖藻繪炳蔚，而不堪慶雲之招；撩禽雖雕琢玄黃，而不任凌風之舉；芻狗雖飾以金翠，而不能躡景以頓逸；近才雖豐其寵祿，而不能令天清而地平。
Baopuzi said: A clay dragon, though painted in bright patterns, cannot answer the summons of felicitous clouds; a carved wooden bird, though worked in dark and yellow, cannot bear the wind-riding ascent; a straw dog, though decked in gold and kingfisher, cannot tread the light and halt its flight; a near talent, though his favor and emolument are made rich, cannot make the heavens clear and the earth level.
抱朴子曰：毒弱既陳，則旁有爛腸之鼠；明燎宵舉，則下有聚死之蟲。芻豢之豐，則鼎俎承之；才小任大，則泣血漣如。桑霍為戒厚矣，範疏之鑑明矣。
Baopuzi said: Once the poisoned bolts are set out, there are burst-gutted rats beside them; once the bright torches are raised by night, there are flocks of dead insects beneath. When sacrificial meats are rich, tripod and platter follow on; when talent is small and charge is great, weeping blood flows without cease. The warnings of Sang and Huo are heavy enough; the mirror of Fan and Shu is plain enough.
抱朴子曰：滄海揚萬里之濤，不能斂山峰之塵；驚風摧千仞之木，不能拔弱草之草亥。豸區虎武虎闞，不能威蚊虻；冠世之才，不能合流俗。
Baopuzi said: The gray sea raises its ten-thousand-li waves, yet cannot gather the dust from a mountain peak; the whirlwind snaps the thousand-ren tree, yet cannot pull the tender grass's root (the base text miswrites the character). The roaring tiger bellows in rage (the base text is corrupt; read as 'roaring tiger'), yet cannot frighten gnats and midges; the talent that tops the age cannot join the common stream.
抱朴子曰：堅志者，功名之主也；不惰者，眾善之師也。登山不以艱險而止，則必臻乎峻嶺矣；積善不以窮否而怨，則必永其令問矣。
Baopuzi said: Firm purpose is the master of achievement and fame; unflagging is the teacher of all good. Climbing a mountain and not halting for its steep peril, one is sure to reach the high ridge; piling up good and not murmuring for failure, one is sure to keep one's fair name long.
抱朴子曰：和鵲雖不長生，而針石不可謂非濟命之器也；儒者雖多貧賤，而墳典不可謂非進德之具也。播種有不收者矣，而稼穡不可廢；仁義有遇禍者矣，而行業不可惰。
Baopuzi said: Though Yi He and Bian Que could not live forever, needle and stone cannot be said not to be the vessels that give life; though Confucians are often poor and low, the classics and canons cannot be said not to be the tools of advancing virtue. There are plantings that reap nothing, yet husbandry cannot be cast aside; benevolence and righteousness have met calamity, yet one's work cannot grow slack.
抱朴子曰：重載不止，所以沈我舟也；昧進忘退，所以危我身也。聚蠍攻本，雖權安然，必傾之徵也。
Baopuzi said: A heavy load that does not stop—that is why my boat sinks; pressing on blindly and forgetting to withdraw—that is why my person is imperiled. When gathered borers attack the root, though it stands in peace for the moment, it is the sign of certain fall.
抱朴子曰：玄雲為龍興，非虺蜓所能招也；飈風為虎發，非狐貉之能致也。是以大人受命，則逸倫之士集；玉帛幽求，則丘園之俊起。
Baopuzi said: The dark cloud rises for the dragon—no viper or lizard can summon it; the whirlwind looses for the tiger—no fox or wildcat can bring it. So when the great man receives the mandate, men beyond compare gather; when jade and silk seek in the dark, the eminent of hill and garden arise.
抱朴子曰：金以剛折，水以柔全，山以高陊，谷以卑安。是以執雌節者無爭雄之禍，多尚人者有召怨之患。
Baopuzi said: Metal is broken for being hard; water is kept whole for being soft; the mountain falls for being high; the valley is safe for being low. So he who holds the female measure suffers no calamity of striving for mastery; he who often sets himself above others invites the malady of resentment.
抱朴子曰：淮陰隱勇於跨下，不損其龍躍而虎視；應侯韜奇於溺簣，不妨其鸞翔而鳳起也。或南面稱孤，或宰總檯鼎。故一抑一揚者，輕鴻所以凌虛也；乍屈乍伸者，良才所以俟時也。
Baopuzi said: Huaiyin hid his valor between a man's legs, yet it did not lessen his dragon-leap and tiger-glare; the Marquis of Ying sheathed his marvel in a privy basket, yet it did not hinder his simurgh-soar and phoenix-rise—one faced south and called himself lord, the other marshaled the tripods of state. So the one fall, one rise—that is how the light swan mounts the void; the sudden bend, sudden stretch—that is how the good talent awaits its hour.
抱朴子曰：焦螟之卑棲，不肯為銜鼠之唳天；玄蟬之潔飢，不願為蜣螂之穢飽。是以禦寇不納鄭陽之惠，曾叄不美晉楚之寶。
Baopuzi said: The lowly-roosting midge will not do the deed of hawking a mouse and crying to heaven; the pure-fasting dark cicada will not do the deed of the dung-beetle gorged on filth. So Yukou would not take Ziyang's bounty, and Zengzi did not prize the treasure of Jin and Chu (the base text miswrites 'Zeng').
抱朴子曰：微飆不能揚大海之波；毫芒不能動萬鈞之鍾。是以漆園思惠，有捐斤之嘆；伯氏哀期，有剿弦之憤。短唱不足以致弘麗之和，勢力不足以移淡泊之心。
Baopuzi said: A faint gust cannot raise the great sea's waves; a hair's tip cannot stir a bell of ten thousand jun. So the keeper of the lacquer garden, missing Hui, had his sigh over the laid-down axe; Bo, grieving for Zhong Qi, had his rage that broke the strings. A thin song cannot summon a grand and lovely harmony; power and position cannot shift a heart set on the plain and still.
抱朴子曰：熊羆不校捷於狐狸，金鶚不兢擊於小鷂。是以張耳掩壯於抱關，朱亥竄勇於鼓刀。
Baopuzi said: Bear and grizzly do not contest nimbleness with foxes; the golden eagle does not vie in striking with a small falcon. So Zhang Er hid his vigor as a gate-keeper, and Zhu Hai stored his courage wielding the butcher's knife.
抱朴子曰：懸魚惑於芳餌，檻虎死於籠狐。不可以釣緡致者，必虯螭也；不可以機阱誘者，必麟虞也。
Baopuzi said: The suspended fish is taken by the sweet bait; the penned tiger is killed by the fox in the trap. What cannot be summoned by line and bait is sure to be a dragon or kraken; what cannot be drawn by spring and pit is sure to be a unicorn or zouyu.
抱朴子曰：夫雲翔者，不知泥居之洿；處貴者，鮮恕群下之勞。然根朽者，尋木不能保其千日之茂也；民怨者，堯舜不能恃其長世之慶也。
Baopuzi said: Those who soar amid the clouds do not know the filth of dwelling in mud; those who dwell in honor rarely weigh the toil of the crowd below. Yet when the root is rotten, the tall tree cannot keep a thousand days' luxuriance; when the people grudge, even Yao and Shun cannot rely on a lasting felicity.
抱朴子曰：凡木結根於靈山，而匠石為之寢斤斧；小鮮寓身於龍池，而漁父為之息綱罟。蚊集鷹首，則鳸鵦不敢啄；鼠住虎側，則狸犬不敢睨。
Baopuzi said: A common tree that knots its root on the numinous mountain makes the carpenter forgo his axe; a small fish that lodges its body in the dragon's pool makes the fisherman still his nets. When gnats swarm on the eagle's head, the birds dare not peck; when a rat dwells beside the tiger, wildcat and hound dare not glare.
抱朴子曰：靈蔡默然，而吉凶昭晰於無形；春蛙長譁，而醜音見患於聒耳。故聲希者響必巨，辭寡者信必著。
Baopuzi said: The numinous tortoise is silent, yet fortune and doom are made plain in the formless; the spring frogs clamor long, yet their ugly voice is loathed for deafening the ear. So he whose sound is rare is sure to have a great resonance; he whose words are few is sure to have a shining trust.
抱朴子曰：箕踞之俗，惡盤旋之容；被髮之域，憎章甫之飾。故忠正者排於讒勝之世，雅人不容乎惡直之俗。
Baopuzi said: The custom that sits sprawled hates the wheeling bearing; the realm with unbound hair loathes the ornament of the Zhangfu cap. So the loyal and upright are cast out in an age where slander prevails, and the refined are not endured in a crowd that hates the straight.
抱朴子曰：升水不能救藪之燔草熱，撮壤不能遏砥柱之騰沸，寸刃不能刊長洲之林，獨是不能止朋黨之非。
Baopuzi said: A sheng of water cannot relieve the burning of a great marsh (the base text has a stray character); a pinch of soil cannot dam the surging of Dizhu; an inch-long blade cannot fell the forest of Changzhou; one man alone in the right cannot halt the wrong of a faction.
抱朴子曰：千羊不能捍獨虎，萬雀不能抵一鷹。庭燎攢舉，不及羲和之末景；百鼓並伐，未若震霆之餘聲。是以庸夫盈明，不能使彝倫攸敘；英俊孤任，足以令庶事根長。
Baopuzi said: A thousand sheep cannot withstand one lone tiger; ten thousand sparrows cannot stand off one hawk. Courtyard torches heaped together cannot match the last rays of Xihe; a hundred drums beaten in unison are not like the lingering sound of thunder. So a court full of commonplace men cannot order the constant bonds; one eminent man bearing the charge alone suffices to make all affairs take root and grow.
抱朴子曰：非分之達，猶林卉之冬華也；守道之窮，猶竹柏之履霜也。故識否泰於獨見者，雖劫以鋒銳，猶不失正而改途焉，安肯諂笑以偶俗乎體方貞以居直者，雖誘以封國，猶不違情以趨時焉，安肯躐徑以取容乎
Baopuzi said: A rise beyond one's lot is like winter blooms on forest plants; a poverty that keeps the Way is like bamboo and cypress treading frost. So he who discerns fortune and ruin in his own lone sight, even threatened by a sharpened point, still does not lose the right and change his course—how would he curry favor with a smile to join the crowd? He who embodies square steadfastness and dwells in the straight, even lured with a fief, still does not betray his heart to run with the times—how would he tread a shortcut to win acceptance?
抱朴子曰：震雷車訇車盍，而不能致音乎聾聵之耳，重光麗天，而不能曲景於幽岫之中；凝冰慘慄，而不能凋款冬之華；朱飆鑠石，而不能靡蕭丘之木。故至德有所不能移也。
Baopuzi said: The thunder crashes and booms (the base text should be read as 'crashes'), yet cannot send its sound into the deaf ear; the doubled light adorns the sky, yet cannot bend its shadow into the hidden ravine; the hard ice chills and kills, yet cannot wither the coltsfoot's bloom; the scarlet blast melts stone, yet cannot destroy the trees of Xiaoqiu. So the utmost virtue there are things it cannot move.
抱朴子曰：弓廣弩危機，嚴鏃銜弦，至可忌也，而勇雉觸之而不猜；暗政亂邦，惡直妒能，甚難測也，而貪人競而不避。故飛鋒暴集而不覺，禍敗奄及而不振。是以愚夫之所悅，乃達者之所悲也；凡才之所趨，乃大智之所去也。
Baopuzi said: The drawn crossbow and its hair trigger (the base text miswrites 'drawn'), the grim barb held at the string—these are most perilous, yet the bold pheasant goes to touch them without a thought; benighted rule in a disordered state, hating the straight and envying the able—these are hard to fathom, yet the greedy jostle toward them without shunning. So the flying points swarm down unperceived, and calamity and ruin arrive in a flash, unarrested. Therefore what the fool delights in is what the man of insight grieves; what the common talent runs toward is what the great wisdom leaves.
抱朴子曰：風不輟則扇不用，日不入則燭不明，華不墮則實不結，岸不虧則谷不盈。九有乂安，則韓白之功不著；長君繼軌，則伊霍之勳不成。故病困乃重良醫，世亂而貴忠貞。
Baopuzi said: If the wind does not stop the fan is not used; if the sun does not set the candle does not shine; if the flower does not fall the fruit does not set; if the bank is not cut away the valley is not filled. If the nine regions are settled, the merit of Han and Bai is not shown; if good rulers follow the track, the work of Yi and Huo is not achieved. So only in sickness and want is the good physician prized; only in an age of turmoil is loyal steadfastness treasured.
抱朴子曰：好榮故樂譽之慾多，畏辱則憎毀之情急。若夫通精元一，命契造化，混盈虛以同條，齊得失於一指者，愛惡未始有所繫，窮通不足以滑和。
Baopuzi said: Loving honor makes the wish for praise run strong; fearing shame makes the hatred of blame run urgent. As for him whose penetration joins the dark One, whose fate accords with creation, who merges fullness and emptiness into one thread and levels gain and loss under a single finger—love and hate have never bound him, and failure and success cannot roil his harmony.
抱朴子曰：與奪不汨其神者，至粹者也；利害不染其和者，極醇者也。浩浩乎非瓢觶所校矣，茫茫乎非跬步所尋矣。聲希所以為大音，和寡所以崇我貴，玄黃遼邈而不與□其曠，死生大矣，而不以改其守，常分細碎，將胡恤焉
Baopuzi said: He whom giving and taking cannot roil in spirit is the utterly pure; he whom profit and harm cannot stain in harmony is the utmost mellow. Vast—not to be measured by ladle and cup; boundless—not to be tracked by a half-step. Rare sound makes the great tone; few in accord exalt my worth. Dark and yellow stretch far, yet cannot match his breadth (a character is missing in the base text); life and death are great, yet for them he does not alter his keeping—what need to fret over the common lot, fine and small?
抱朴子曰：林繁則匠入矣，珠美則蟲奉裂矣。石含金者焚鑠，草任藥者剪掘，刃利則先缺，弦哀則速絕。用以適己，真人之寶也；才合世求，有伎之災也。
Baopuzi said: When the forest is thick the carpenters come in; when the pearl is fair the mussel is split open (the base text miswrites 'mussel'). The stone holding metal is burned and smelted; the herb fit for medicine is cut and dug; the keen edge is first to notch; the plaintive string is quick to snap. What suits the self is the true man's treasure; talent matched to the world's demand is the skilled man's calamity.
抱朴子曰：準的陳則流鏑赴焉；美名起則謗讀言攻焉。瑰貨多藏則不招怨而怨至矣，器盈志驕則不召禍而禍來矣。
Baopuzi said: Once the target is set out the flying shafts run to it; once a fair name is raised the slanders attack it (the base text miswrites 'slanders'). Hoard rare goods deep, and without summoning resentment the resentment arrives; let the vessel brim and the purpose grow proud, and without calling calamity the calamity comes.
抱朴子曰：連城之寶，非貧寒所能市也；高世之器，非淺俗所能識也。然盈尺之珍，不以莫知而暗其質；逸倫之士，不以否塞而薄其節。樂天任命，何怨何尤！
Baopuzi said: The treasure worth linked cities is not what the poor can buy; the vessel that tops the age is not what the shallow crowd can know. Yet the foot-wide jewel does not dim its substance because none knows it; the man beyond compare does not make light of his rule because he is blocked. At peace with heaven and content in fate—what resentment is there, what blame!
抱朴子曰：大鵬無戒旦之用，巨象無馳逐之才。故蔣琬敗績於百里，而為三臺之標；陳平困瘁於治家，而懷六奇之略。
Baopuzi said: The great Peng has no use for warning of dawn; the giant elephant has no talent for the chase. So Jiang Wan failed in a hundred-li post yet became the pillar of the three ministries; Chen Ping was worn out ordering his household yet carried the plan of the six stratagems.
抱朴子曰：明暗者，才也，自然而不可飾焉；窮達者，時也，有會而不可力焉。呂尚非早蔽而晚智，然振素而僅遇；韓信非初怯而末勇，然危困而後達。
Baopuzi said: Darkness and light are matters of talent—natural and not to be feigned; failure and success are matters of the hour—met in season and not to be forced. Lü Shang was not blinded early and wise late—yet only at white hair did he barely meet; Han Xin was not timid first and brave after—yet only after peril and want did he rise.
抱朴子曰：奔驥不能及既住之失，千金不能救斯言之玷。故博其施者，未若防其微；勤其求者，不如寡其辭。
Baopuzi said: A galloping steed cannot overtake a fault already past; a thousand in gold cannot mend where the word is already stained. So rather than making giving broad, better to guard against the minute; rather than piling effort on seeking, better to make one's words few.
抱朴子曰：烈士之愛國也如家，奉君也如親，則不忠之事，不為其罪矣。仁人之視人也如己，待疏也猶密，則不恕之怨，不為其責矣。
Baopuzi said: If the ardent man loves the state like his family and serves his lord like his kin, then the deed of disloyalty does not become his crime; if the benevolent man sees others like himself and treats the distant still like the close, then the blame for being unforgiving does not become his charge.
抱朴子曰：玄冰未結，白雪不積，則青松之茂不顯；俗化不弊，風教不頹，則皎潔之操不別。在危國而沈賤，故莊萊抗遺榮之高；居亂邦而飢寒，故曾列播忘富之稱。
Baopuzi said: Until dark ice binds and white snow lies deep, the green pine's luxuriance is not shown; until the transforming custom fails and moral teaching decays, the pure bright rule is not marked off. Sunken and low in a perilous state—that is why Zhuang and Lao Lai stood up in the height of forsaking glory; hungry and cold in a disordered state—that is why Zeng and Lie broadcast the name of forgetting wealth.
抱朴子曰：天居高而鑑卑，故其網雖疏而不漏；神聰明而正直，故其道賞真而伐偽。是以惠和暢於九區，則七耀得於玄昊；殘害著於品物，則二氣謬於四八。
Baopuzi said: Heaven dwells on high yet sees the low; therefore its net, though wide-meshed, does not leak; the spirits are keen-hearing and upright; therefore their way rewards the true and smites the false. So when kindness and harmony flow through the nine regions, the seven gleams are well-pleased in the dark sky; when cruelty and harm show themselves among the kinds, the two qi go awry in the four seasons and eight terms.
抱朴子曰：天秩有罔極之尊，人爵無違德之貴。故仲尼雖匹夫而饗祀於百代，辛癸為帝王而僕豎不願以見比，商老身愈賤而名愈貴，幽厲位彌重而罪彌著。故齊王之生，不及柳惠之墓；秦王之宮，未若康成之閭。
Baopuzi said: Heaven's ranks have honors without end; men's ranks have no honor that outlasts virtue. So Confucius, though a commoner, is sacrificed to for a hundred generations; Xin and Gui were emperors and kings, yet stable-boys would not deign to match them; the four elders of Mount Shang sank lower in station and grew dearer in name; You and Li grew weightier in throne and plainer in guilt. So the King of Qi's life is not the equal of Liu Xiahui's grave; the King of Qin's palace is not the equal of Kangcheng's lane.
抱朴子曰：影響不能無形聲以著，餘慶不可以無德而招。故唐堯為政七十餘載，然後景星摛耀；羊公積行，黃髮不倦，而乃墜金雨集。途遠者其至必遲，施後者其報常晚。
Baopuzi said: Shadow and echo cannot show without form and sound; lingering fortune cannot be summoned without virtue. So Yao of Tang ruled for over seventy years, and only then did the halcyon star spread its light; Lord Yang heaped up deeds, unwearying to white hair, and only then did fallen gold rain down like drops. He whose road is long is sure to arrive late; he whose giving comes late is often repaid late.