Bao Pu Zi Wai Pian (抱朴子外篇) · Volume 6

夫風經府藏，使人惚怳，及其劇者，自傷自虞。或遇斯疾，莫不憂懼，吞苦忍痛，欲其速愈。至於醉之病性，何異於茲。而獨居密以逃風，不能割情以節酒。若畏酒如畏風，憎醉如憎病，則荒沈之咎塞，而流連之失止矣。夫風之為疾，猶展攻治，酒之為變，在乎呼吸。及其悶亂，若存若亡，視泰山如彈丸，見滄海如盤盂，仰嚾天墮，俯呼地陷，臥待虎狼，投井赴火，而不謂惡也。夫用身之如此，亦安能惜敬恭之禮，護喜怒之失哉！

(Baopuzi continues:) When wind strikes the body's storehouse it makes a man dazed and faint; when it grows violent he hurts himself and frets in vain. Meeting this illness, no one fails to dread it — swallowing bitterness and enduring pain in hopes of a quick cure. In what does drunkenness, damaging the nature, differ from this? Yet men only shut themselves in to escape the wind, and cannot cut their fondness to restrain the wine. If they feared wine as they fear wind and hated drunkenness as they hate sickness, the fault of drowning in it would be dammed and the error of lingering over it ended. Wind as an illness still invites assault and cure; wine as a derangement lies within a breath. Once the stupor comes, it is as though one were and were not: Mount Tai looks like a pellet, the grey sea like a platter; looking up one cries that the sky will fall, looking down that the earth will cave in; one lies down to wait for tigers and wolves, casts oneself into wells and into fire — and calls none of it evil. With the body thus employed, how can the rites of love and reverence be cherished, or the excesses of joy and anger be guarded?

昔儀狄既疏，大禹以興。糟丘酒池，辛癸以亡。豐侯得罪，以戴尊銜懷。景升荒壞，以三雅之爵。劉松爛腸，以逃暑之飲。郭珍發狂，以無日不醉。信陵之兇短，襄子之亂政，趙武之失眾，子反之誅戮，漢惠之伐命，灌夫之滅族，陳遵之遇害，季布之疏斥，子建之免退，徐邈之禁言，皆是物也。世人好之樂之者甚多，而戒之畏之者至少，彼眾我寡，良箴安施且願君節之而已。

(Baopuzi continues:) Of old Yi Di was distanced, and Yu the Great thereby rose; the mound of lees and the lake of wine ruined Xin and Gui. The Marquis of Feng came to grief through the wine-zun he bore and the cup he held to his lips; Liu Biao ran wild with the three Ya vessels; Liu Song rotted his bowels with drink to escape the heat; Guo Zhen went mad, for not a day passed sober. The doom and shortening of Lord Xinling, the disordered rule of Xiangzi, the loss of followers by Zhao Wu, the execution of Zifan, the shortening of Emperor Hui of Han's life, the extermination of the Guan clan, the murder of Chen Zun, the dismissing of Ji Bu, the removal of Zijian, the silencing of Xu Miao — all were the work of this thing. In the world those who love it and take their joy in it are many, while those who warn against it and fear it are few; with their many against our few, how can a good admonition be carried out? I only beg you to moderate it.

曩既年荒谷貴，人有醉者相殺，牧伯因此輒有酒禁，嚴令重申，官司搜索，收執榜徇者相辱，制鞭而死者太半。防之彌峻，犯者至多。至乃穴地而釀，油囊懷酒。民之好此，可謂篤矣。餘以匹夫之賤，托此空言之書，未如之何矣。

(Baopuzi continues:) In former times, when harvests failed and grain was dear and there were men who slew each other in drunkenness, the governors for this reason often laid a ban on wine; strict orders were issued afresh, the officers searched and seized, those taken were flogged and paraded and shamed one another, and more than half of those convicted died under the whip. The stricter the guard grew, the more men transgressed — until they dug pits in the earth to brew and carried wine hidden in skins of oilcloth. The people's love of it may be called deep indeed. I, a common man of no worth, entrust this to a book of empty words, having no other means against it.

又臨民者雖設其法，而不能自斷斯物，緩己急人，雖令不從，弗躬弗親，庶民弗信。以此而教，教安得行；以此而禁，禁安得止哉沽賣之家，廢業則困，遂修飾賂遺，依憑權右，所屬吏不敢問。無力者獨止，而有勢者擅市。張爐專利，乃更倍售，從其酤買，公行靡憚，法輕利重，安能免乎哉

(Baopuzi continues:) Moreover, those who govern the people, though they set up the law, cannot abstain from the thing themselves; lenient with themselves and urgent with others, their orders go unheeded — for when they do not practise it themselves, the common folk do not believe. Use this to teach and the teaching cannot take hold; use this to forbid and the ban cannot stand. Families that sell wine fall into want when their trade is stopped, so they dress up bribes and gifts and lean upon the powerful, whom the subordinate clerks dare not question. Those without strength alone are stopped; those with influence alone hold the market. They spread the vat and engross the profit, selling at double the price; those who follow them to buy go openly and unabashed. When the law is light and the profit heavy, how can it be escaped?

或人難曰：“夫夏桀殷紂之亡，信陵漢惠之殘，聲色之過，豈唯酒乎！以其生患於古，而斷之於今，所謂以褒姒喪周，而欲人君廢六宮，以阿房之危秦，而使王者結草菴也。蓋聞昊天表酒旗之宿，坤靈挺空桑之化，燎祡員丘，瘞薶圻澤，祼鬯儀彝，置降神祇，酒為禮也。

Someone objected: 'The ruin of Jie of Xia and Zhou of Yin, the wreck of Lord Xinling and Emperor Hui of Han — faults of music and beauty all — where is wine alone to blame? To cut it off today because it bred calamity in antiquity is what is called abolishing the six palaces because Baosi destroyed Zhou, or making kings dwell in thatched huts because the Epang Palace harmed Qin. I have heard that Vast Heaven raises the constellation of the Wine Banner, and the Spirit of Earth put forth the growth of Kongsang for it; faggots are burned on the Round Mound and offerings buried by the marsh altar, and the vessel of black-millet libation is set out to bring down the spirits — wine is a rite.'

千鍾百觚，堯舜之飲也。唯酒無量，仲尼之能也。姬旦酒餚不撤，故能制禮作樂。漢高婆娑巨醉，故能斬蛇鞠旅。於公引滿一斛，而斷獄益明。管輅傾仰三鬥，而清辯綺粲。揚雲酒不離口，而《太玄》乃就。子圉醉無所識，而霸功以舉。一瓶之醪傾，而三軍之眾悅。解毒之觴行，而盜馬之屬感。消憂成禮，策勳飲至，降神合人，非此莫以也。內速諸父，外將嘉賓，如淮如澠，《春秋》所貴。由斯言之，安可誡乎”

(The objector continued:) 'A thousand zhong and a hundred gu — such was the drinking of Yao and Shun. To have no set limit only in wine was Confucius's capacity. Ji Dan did not have wine and viands removed, and so could make the rites and the music. Emperor Gao of Han reeled in great drunkenness, and so could cut the serpent and swear in his host. Lord Yu, filled to a hu, judged cases all the clearer. Guan Lu tilted three dou, and his clear discourse shone in splendour. Yang Xiong never let the wine leave his lips, and the Taixuan was finished. Ziyu, drunk past all awareness, raised the work of hegemony. Pour out one bottle of mash and the whole host of the three armies rejoiced; pass round the cup that dispelled the harm, and even the horse-thieves were won over. To melt care and perfect the rites, to merit the roll and drink the homecoming, to bring down the spirits and join men — without this there is no way. Within, it summons the uncles; without, it escorts the honoured guest — like the Huai, like the Mian, as prized in the Spring and Autumn. On this showing, how can it be admonished?'

抱朴子答曰：“酒旗之宿，則有之矣。譬猶懸象著明，莫大乎日月；水火之原，於是在焉。然節而宣之，則以養生立功；用之失適，則焚溺而死。豈可恃懸象之在天，而謂水火不殺人哉宜生之具，莫先於食；食之過多，實結症瘕。況於酒醴之毒物乎！

Baopuzi answered: 'The constellation of the Wine Banner does exist. It is as with the suspended images — none shines brighter than the sun and moon — and the sources of water and fire are there. Yet when these are tempered and vented they nurture life and accomplish work; used beyond measure they burn and drown to death. Can one, resting on the suspended images being in heaven, say that water and fire do not kill men? Of the instruments of nourishing life none comes before food; eaten in excess it truly congeals into masses and clogs. How much more so wine, that thing of poison!'

夫使彼夏桀殷紂信陵漢惠荒流於亡國之淫聲，沈溺於傾城之亂色，皆由乎酒燻其性，醉成其勢，所以致極情之失，忘修飾之術者也。我論其本，子識其末，謂非酒禍，禍其安出是獨知猛雨之沾衣，而不知雲氣之所作；唯患飛埃之糝目，而不覺飈風之所為也。

(Baopuzi continues:) 'That a Jie of Xia or a Zhou of Yin, a Lord Xinling or an Emperor Hui of Han ran wild amid kingdom-ending sounds and drowned amid city-toppling looks — all came of wine smoking out their nature and drunkenness ripening that bent; hence the fault of driving passion to its utmost and forgetting the means of adornment. I discuss the root while you recognise the branch; say wine is not the disaster — whence then does the disaster come? This is to know only that the fierce rain wets the clothes without knowing the cloud-vapour that made it; to suffer the flying grit that grains the eye without feeling the gale that did it.'

“千鍾百斛，不經之言，不然之事，明者不信矣。夫聖人之異自才智，至於形骸非能兼人，有七尺三丈之長，萬倍之大也。一日之飲，安能至是仲尼則畏性之變，不敢及亂。周公則終日百拜，餚乾酒澄。上聖戰戰，猶且若斯，況乎庸人，能無悔乎

(Baopuzi continues:) 'That "a thousand zhong and a hundred hu" is a wild saying — no such thing; clear-sighted men do not believe it. Sages differ in native wit, but in bodily frame they cannot be doubly other men's, with a stature of seven feet or three zhang, a bulk ten-thousandfold. How could a day's drinking reach such a pitch? Confucius feared the changing of his nature and did not dare reach disorder; the Duke of Zhou bowed a hundred times all day till the viands dried and the wine cleared. If the highest sage trembled in caution even so, how shall the common man escape regret?

漢高應天，承運革命，向雖不醉，猶當斬蛇。於公聰達，明於聽斷，小大以情，不失枉直。是以刑不濫加，世無怨民。但其健飲，不即廢事。若論大醉，亦俱無知。決疑之才，何賴於酒未聞皋繇甫侯子產釋之，醉乃折獄也。

(Baopuzi continues:) 'Emperor Gao of Han answered heaven and received the mandate to change the dynasty; even had he not been drunk before, he was still to cut the serpent. Lord Yu was keen and clear in hearing and judgment, tried small and great by fact and missed neither wronged nor wrong — so punishment was not wildly laid and the world had no aggrieved. It is only that he drank stoutly without at once neglecting affairs; once truly drunk, he too knew nothing. What need had the talent of settling doubts for wine? I have not heard that Gaoyao, the Marquis of Fu, Zichan or Zhang Shizhi judged cases only when drunk.'

管輅年少，希當劇談，故假酒勢以助膽氣。若過其量，亦必迷錯。及其刺毫釐於爻卦，索鬼神之變化，占氣色以決盛衰，聆鳴鳥以知方來，候風雲而克吉凶，觀碑柏而識禍福，豈復須酒，然後審之

(Baopuzi continues:) 'Guan Lu was young and seldom bore up under weighty talk, so he borrowed the force of wine to help his gall; beyond his measure he too would have strayed in confusion. But when he probed a hair's breadth into lines and hexagrams, searched out the shifts of ghosts and spirits, read the glow of qi to fix flourish and decline, heard the calling bird to know what was coming, watched wind and cloud to settle good and ill, viewed stele and cypress to read blessing and bane — what need had he of wine before he could examine?'

揚雲通人，才高思遠，英瞻之富，稟之自天，豈藉外物，以助著述及其數飲，由於偶好；亦或有疾，以宜藥勢耳。子圉肆志，蓋已素定。雖復不醉，亦於終果。瓶醪悅眾，寓言之喻。誠能賞罰允當，威恩得所，長算縱橫，應機無方，則士思果毅，人樂奮命。其不然也，雖流酒淵，何補勝負繆公飲盜，造次之權，舍法長惡，何足多稱哉！豈如慎之邪

(Baopuzi continues:) 'Yang Xiong was a comprehensive man, his talent high and thought far — his wealth of vision came endowed from heaven; what had he to borrow from an outer thing to aid his writing? That he drank often came of a chance fondness, or perhaps of illness, where its potency served as a drug. Ziyu let his bent run free, as had been settled in him long before; even without being drunk again he would have proved true at the end. That a bottle of mash gladdens the host is a parable's figure. If reward and punishment are truly just, awe and kindness find their place, and long planning answers the moment without fixed rule, then the officers think on courage and men delight to stake their lives; otherwise, though wine ran in a deep pool, what aid is it to victory or defeat? Duke Mu's giving wine to the bandits was a makeshift in haste — to cast away the law and feed evil is hardly worth much praise. Where does it stand beside prudence?'

抱朴子曰：世故繼有，禮教漸頹。敬讓莫崇，傲慢成俗。儔類飲會，或蹲或踞。暑夏之月，露首袒體。盛務唯在摴草捕彈棋，所論極於聲色之間，舉足不離綺繻紈袴之側，遊步不去勢利酒客之門。不聞清談講道之言，專以醜辭嘲弄為先。以如此者為高遠，以不爾者為呆野。

Baopuzi said: As the world's vicissitudes came one upon another, the teaching of rites slowly decayed. None upheld reverent yielding, and insolence became the custom. Men of a kind drinking together squat and sprawl; in the summer months they bare their heads and bodies. Their great business is only chupu dice and pellet-chess (the base text reads wrongly; it should be 'chupu'); their talk goes no farther than music and beauty; their feet never stir from beside the lads in silks; their steps never leave the gates of the powerful and the wine-crons. No word of pure discourse on the Way is heard; instead foul speech and mockery come first. They hold one who is like this to be lofty and far-reaching, and one who is not to be dull and rustic.

於是馳逐之庸民，偶俗之近人，慕之者猶宵蟲之赴明燭，學之者猶輕毛之應飈風。嘲戲之談，或上及祖考，或下逮婦女。往者務其必深焉，報者恐其不重焉。倡之者不慮見答之後患，和之者恥於言輕之不塞。周禾之芟，溫麥之刈，實由報恨，不能已也。利口者扶強而黨勢，辯給者借鍒以刺瞂。以不應者為拙劣，以先止者為負敗。如此，交惡之辭，焉能默哉！

So the racing rabble and the timeserving companions of the age — those who admire them come like night-insects to a bright candle, those who imitate them answer like light down to a gale. In banter and jest, some rise to fathers and grandfathers, some descend to wives and daughters. He who opens must seek to strike deep; he who answers fears his reply is not heavy. The initiator does not weigh the ills that follow the retort; the responder is ashamed his words are too light to fill the gap. The standing grain is reaped, the warm wheat cut — truly, from paying back spite, it cannot stop. The quick-tongued prop the strong and make factions of the powerful; the glib use their edge to prick the other's shield. They count not answering as clumsiness and stopping first as defeat. Given this, how can the words of mutual hate stay silent?

其有才思者之為之也，猶善於依因機會，準擬體例，引古喻今，言微理舉，雅而可笑，中而不傷，不棖人之所諱，不犯人之所惜。若夫拙者之為之也，則枉曲直湊，使人愕愕然，妍之與媸，其於宜絕，豈唯無益而已哉！

When men of wit and thought do this, they are still good at seizing the turn, matching the rule, quoting the old to parable the new — the phrase subtle while the reason rises, refined yet laughable, on the mark yet unwounding, never touching what a man taboos nor trespassing what he loves. But when the clumsy do it they come crooked and crude, leaving men dumbstruck; fair or foul, such as these should be cut off — it is far more than merely useless!

乃有使酒之客，及於難侵之性，不能堪之，拂衣拔棘，而手足相及，醜言相加於所尊，歡心變而成讎，絕交壞身，構隙致禍，以杯螺相擲者有矣，以陰私相訐者有矣。昔陳靈之被矢，灌氏之泯族，匪降自天，口實為之。樞機之發，榮辱之主，二緘之戒，豈欺我哉！

There are even guests made quarrelsome by wine, and natures hard to cross; unable to bear it, they shake out their sleeves and pull the thorn, until hands and feet reach one another. They lay foul words upon those they should honour; delight turns to enmity, friendships are severed and the body ruined; rifts are made and calamity invited. There have been those who hurled cup and conch at one another, and those who attacked each other with hidden scandals. Of old Duke Ling of Chen took the arrow and the Guan clan was wiped out — these did not fall from heaven; the mouth in truth made them. Once the hinge moves it is master of glory and disgrace — the warning of the double-sealed mouth, how could it deceive me?

激雷不能追既往之失辭，班輪不能磨斯言之既玷。雖不能三思而吐清談，猶可息謔調以防禍萌也。尊其辭令，敬其威儀，使言無口過，體無倨容，可法可觀，可畏可愛，蓋遠辱之良術，全交之要道也。

A clap of thunder cannot run down a word once misspoken; Gongshu Ban cannot polish away where a saying has already stained. Even if one cannot think thrice before uttering pure discourse, one can still cease from jesting to block calamity's sprout. Treasure the turns of phrase, honour the bearing; let there be no fault of the mouth and no haughty look of the body — fit to model and fit to behold, to be feared and to be loved. This is, I think, the good way to keep far from shame and the sure road to preserve one's friends.

且夫慢人者，不愛其親者也；輕鬥者，不重遺體者也。皆陷不孝，可不詳乎！然而迷謬者無自見之明；觸情者諱逆耳之規。疾美而無直亮之針艾，群惑而無指南以自反。諂媚小人，歡笑以贊善；面從之徒，拊節以稱功。益使惑者不覺其非，自謂有端晏之捷過人之辯，而不悟斯乃招患之旌召害之符傳非之驛傾身之車也。豈徒減其方策之令聞，虧其沒世之德音而已哉！

Moreover, one who slights others is one who does not love his kin; one who quarrels lightly is one who does not prize the body left him by his father and mother. Both sink into unfiliality — can one not be careful? Yet the deluded have not the sight to see themselves; those touched in their feelings resent the advice that jars the ear. They loathe the fair yet have no straight needle or moxa; wandering in a herd, they have no south-pointer to turn them back. The flattering petty men praise them with laughter; the face-agreeing sort beat the rhythm and call it merit. All this keeps the deluded from seeing their own wrong; they fancy they have the nimbleness of a Duanmu Ci or a Yan Ying, a tongue surpassing other men's — never realising it is the banner that summons calamity, the tally that calls down harm, the post-horse that carries error, the carriage that overturns the body. It is far more than merely thinning his fair fame on the tablets and dimming the good report he leaves at death!

蓋雖有偕老之慎，不能救一朝之過，雖有陶朱之富，不能贖片言之謬。故毫釐之失，有千里之差；傷人之語，有劍戟之痛。積微致著，累淺成深，鴻羽所以沈龍舟，群輕所以折勁軸，寸飈所以燔百尋之室，蠹蠍所以僕連抱之木也。古賢何獨口止局口止脊恂恂之如彼，今人何其憒慢傲放之如此乎！

Even a lifetime's care cannot redeem one morning's fault; even the wealth of Lord Zhu of Tao cannot ransom a single slip of speech. So an error of a hair becomes a straying of a thousand li; a wounding word bears the pain of sword and halberd. The piled atom becomes manifest, the shallow heaped becomes deep — which is why goose-feathers sink the dragon-boat, a flock of light things breaks the strong axle, an inch-long gust burns down a hundred-ren hall, and wood-boring scorpions fell a tree two arms cannot clasp. Why did the worthies of old cower so cautious and meek (the base text's graphs are corrupt; read 'cowering'), while men today are so dazed, remiss, haughty and wild?

是以高世之士，望塵而旋跡；輕薄之徒，響赴而影集。謀事無智者之助，居危無切磋之益。良史懸筆，無可書之善；談者含音，無足傳之美。令聞不著，醜聲宣流，沒有餘敗，貽譏將來，始無可法，終無可紀，斯亦志士之恥也。

So the scholar who rises above the age turns his steps at sight of the dust, while the flighty and facile come at him like echoes and gather like shadows. In plans he has no wise man's aid; in peril no benefit of grinding and polishing. The good historian holds his brush suspended, with no good to write; the talker holds his tone, with no excellence to transmit. Fair fame does not shine while ill report spreads abroad; after death a remnant of ruin remains, and mockery is left for the future. At the start nothing to model, at the end nothing to record — this too is a shame to the resolute man.

安忍為之！過而不改，斯誠委夷路而陷叢棘，舍嘉旨而咽鉤吻者也，豈所謂以小善為無益而不為，以小惡為無損而不止，以至惡積而不可掩，罪大而不可解者邪！餘願世人改其無檢之行，除其驕吝之失，遣其誇矜尚人之疾，絕息嘲刑不典之言，則趙勝之門無去客，黃祖之棓無所用矣。

How can men bear to do these things so cruelly? To have faults and not mend them is truly to abandon the level road and plunge among the thorns, to cast aside good counsel and gulp down gelsemium. Is this not what is meant by thinking a small good not worth doing and a small evil not worth stopping — until evil piles past concealing and guilt swells past undoing? I wish the men of the world would mend their unbridled ways, cast off the faults of pride and miserliness, dismiss the sickness of self-display and surpassing others, and cut off mocking, uncanon talk — then Zhao Sheng's gate would have no departing guests and Huang Zu's cudgel would find no use.

抱朴子曰：或有不治清德以取敬，而仗氣力以求畏。其入眾也，則亭立不坐，爭處端上，作色諧聲，逐人自安，其不得意，恚懟不退。其行出也，則逼狹之地，恥於作途，振策長驅，推人於險，有不即避，更加攄頓。鳴呼，非哉！此雲古之卑而不可逾，推蔭讓路，勞謙下士，無競於物，立若不勝衣，行若不容身者，何其緬然之不肖哉！

Baopuzi said: There are men who do not cultivate pure virtue to win respect, but rely on brawn to make men fear them. Coming into a crowd they stand planted and will not sit, vying to take the chief place, pulling faces and cracking jokes, hunting others to settle themselves; when crossed they seethe and will not withdraw. On the road, at narrow places, they are ashamed to yield; they crack the whip and drive straight on, shoving men toward the drop, and thrust harder still at any who fail to get aside at once. Ah, wrong! How far removed and how unlike those ancients who were lowly yet could not be passed, who yielded shade and yielded road, who toiled in humility before the lowly and quarrelled with no thing, standing as though their clothes could not bear them and walking as though their bodies could not be held!

夫德盛操清，則雖深自挹降，而人猶貴之。若履蹈不高，則雖行凌暴，而人猶不敬。假令外服人體，內失人心，所謂見憎惡，非為見尊重也。昔莊生未食，趙王側立；騶衍入疆，燕君擁彗；康成之裡，逆虜望拜；林宗之庭，莫不卑肅。非力之所服也。

When virtue is full and conduct pure, then though a man lowers himself ever so deeply, others still honour him. If his treading is not high, then though his ways are violent, men still do not revere him. To make men's bodies submit without while losing their hearts within is what is called being seen with loathing, not being seen with respect. Of old, before Zhuangzi had even eaten, the king of Zhao stood to the side; when Zou Yan crossed the border, the lord of Yan held the broom; at Kangcheng's lane even the rebel soldiers bowed as they looked toward it; in Linzong's court there was none who was not grave and low. These were not subdued by force.

夫以抄盜致財，雖鉅富不足嘉，凶德脅人，雖見憚不足榮也，然而庸民為之不惡。故聞其言者，猶鴟梟之來鳴也；睹其面者，若鬼魅之見形也。其所至詣，則如妖怪之集也；其在道途，則甚逢虎之群也。愚夫行之，自矜為豪；小人徵之，以為橫階。亂靡有定，實此之由也。

Wealth got by robbery is not worth praising though it be vast; dread held over men by fierce vice is no honour though men quake at it — yet common folk do such things without shame. Those who hear their words feel an owl has hooted; those who see their faces see a goblin take shape. Where they go it is as though bogeys gather; upon the road it is worse than meeting a pack of tigers. The fool practises it and counts himself grand; the petty man cites it as a ladder to rise unrightly. That disorder knows no peace is truly from this.

然敢為此者，非必篤頑也。率多冠蓋之後，勢援之門，素頗力行善事，以竊虛名，名既粗立，本情便放。或假財色以交權豪，或因時運以佻榮位，或以婚姻而連貴戚，或弄譭譽以合威柄。器盈志溢，態發病出，黨成交廣，道通步高。清論所不能複製，繩墨所不能復彈，遂成鷹頭之繩，廟垣之鼠。

Yet those who dare do this are not always the stubbornly dull. Mostly they are the heirs of cap-and-canopy, houses of influence and pull, who once made a show of good works to filch an empty name; once the name is roughly established, the true bent runs loose. Some borrow wealth and sex to court the powerful, some ride the times to snatch a glorious post, some knit themselves by marriage to the honoured kin, some toy with praise and blame to suit the wielders of might. The vessel brimmed, the will swells; the bent breaks out, the disease issues; the faction forms, connections widen, roads open, steps climb high. Pure judgment can no longer bind them, the plumb-line can no longer impeach — and so they become hawks with cords on their heads, rats within the temple walls.

所未及者，則低眉埽地以奉望之。居其下者，作威作福以控御之。故勝己者則不得聞，聞亦陽不知也；減己者則不敢言，言亦不能禁也。夫災蟲害谷，至降霜則殄矣。佞雄亂群，值嚴時則敗矣。獨善其身者，唯可以不肯事之，不行效之而已耳。有斧無柯，其如之何哉！

Toward those not yet beneath his reach he lowers his brow and sweeps the ground in attendance; over those beneath him he makes might and fortune to control them. So to those who surpass him a thing cannot be made known — and if heard, he feigns not to know; to those beneath him a thing cannot be spoken — and if spoken, it cannot be stopped. Bane-insects that blight the grain are wiped out when frost descends; the gilded bully who troubles the herd is ruined when a strict age comes. The man who keeps his own good can only refuse to serve him and not take him as model — an axe without a handle, what is to be done with it?

抱朴子曰：《詩》美睢鳩，貴其有別。在禮，男女無行媒，不相見，不雜坐，不通問，不同衣物，不得親授，姊妹出適而反，兄弟不共席而坐，外言不入，內言不出，婦人送迎不出門，行必擁蔽其面，道路男由左，女由右，此聖人重別杜漸之明制也。

Baopuzi said: The Odes praise the jujiu osprey for prizing separation. In the rites, a man and a woman do not see each other without a go-between between them, do not sit mingled, do not exchange inquiries, do not share clothes or vessels, may not give or take hand to hand; when a married sister returns, her brothers do not sit on the same mat with her; outer words do not come in and inner words do not go out; a woman seeing off or welcoming does not pass the doorway; walking, she must keep her face covered; on the road the man keeps to the left and the woman to the right. This is the enlightened rule by which the sages prized separation and dammed the first seepings.

且夫婦之間，可謂暱矣，而猶男子非疾病不晝居於內，將終不死婦人之手，況於他乎！昔魯女不幽居深處，以致他扈犖之變；孔妻不密潛戶庭，以起華督之禍；史激無防，有汗種之悔；王孫不嚴，有杜門之辱。而今俗婦女，休其蠶織之業，廢其玄紞之務，不績其麻，市也婆娑。舍中饋之事，修周施之好。更相從詣之適親戚，承星舉火，不已於行，多將侍從，瑋曄盈路，婢使吏卒，錯雜如市，尋道褻謔，可憎可惡。

Moreover, between husband and wife — close as can be — yet the man still does not stay in the inner room by day unless ill, and at his end does not die in a woman's hands; how much more with others! Of old the lady of Lu did not dwell deep in seclusion and so called down the calamity of the groom Luo; the wife of Kong did not keep hid within her doors and so gave rise to the disaster of Hua Du; the house of Shi kept no barrier and tasted the regret of a stained line; the Wangsun house was not strict and suffered the shame of the shut gate. But the women of the world today leave off the work of silkworm and loom, abandon the duties of the dark-and-yellow offering, do not spin their hemp, and go flaunting in the market. Casting aside the care of the inner kitchen, they cultivate instead a traffic of visits and gifts. They follow one another to call on kin, setting out under the stars and bearing torches, never halting on the road; a train of attendants trails them, a glitter fills the way, maids and runners and lictors mixed like a market — flippant and jesting all along, hateful and loathsome.

或宿於他門，或冒夜而反，遊戲佛寺，觀視漁畋，登高臨水，出境慶弔，開車褰幃，周章城邑。杯觴路酌，絃歌行奏，轉相高尚，習非成俗。生致因緣，無所不肯。誨淫之源，不急之甚，刑於寡妻，家邦乃正。願諸君子，少可禁絕。婦無外事，所以防微矣。

Some lodge overnight in other people's houses, or return home under cover of night; they amuse themselves in Buddhist temples, watch fishing and hunting, climb heights and approach the water, cross the borders to attend celebrations and condolences, and ride in carriages with the curtains lifted, wandering all around the town. They pour cups of wine along the road and play strings and sing as they walk. They vie in exalting these ways, until what is wrong has become custom. Out of thin air they conjure up pretexts and connections, and there is nothing they will not do. This is the very source of licentiousness, and a pursuit of no urgency pushed to the extreme. 'He set an example for his wife, and so the family and the state were put right.' I hope that you gentlemen will put some restraint on all this. Women have no business outside the home, and that is precisely to guard against trouble at its first slight beginnings.

抱朴子曰：輕薄之人，跡廁高深，交成財贍，名位粗會，便背禮判教，托雲率任，才不逸倫，強為放達，以傲兀無檢者為大度，以惜護節操者為澀少。於是臘鼓垂無賴之子，白醉耳熱之後，結黨合群，遊不擇類，奇士碩儒，或隔籬而不授，妄行所在，雖遠而必至，攜手連袂，以遨以集，入他堂室，觀人婦女，指玷修短，評論美醜，不解此等何為者哉

Baopuzi said: Frivolous men who have lodged themselves among the lofty and profound, once their friendships are made, their wealth is ample, and their rank and name roughly match, turn their backs on ritual and rebel against teaching. They falsely claim to follow their natural bent. Their talent in fact does not rise above that of their peers, yet they force themselves to act unrestrained. They take the arrogant and unruly for magnanimous, and those who cherish and guard their integrity for stingy and dull. Then, once the winter festival drums are sounding, these ne'er-do-wells, drunk and flushed to the ears, form cliques and gangs, choosing their company without discrimination. Remarkable scholars and great Confucians they will not so much as receive across a hedge. Wherever their reckless fancy leads, however far, they are sure to arrive, hand in hand and sleeve to sleeve, to roam about and gather. They enter other people's halls and rooms, stare at the household's women, point out their flaws, judge whether they are tall or short, and discuss who is beautiful and who is plain. I do not understand what such people think they are doing!

或有不通主人，便共突前，嚴飾未辦，不復窺聽，犯門折關，逾垝穿隙，有似抄劫之至也。其或妾媵藏避不及，至搜索隱僻，就而引曳，亦怪事也。夫君子之居室，猶不掩家人之不備，故入門則揚聲，升堂則下視，而唐突他家，將何理乎

Sometimes they do not even announce themselves to the master, but all rush forward together. Before the household has finished dressing up, they no longer listen at the door, but break the gate and snap the bolt, climb over walls and squeeze through gaps, as if a raid had come. Among the household, concubines and maids who have no time to hide may even be hunted down in their out-of-the-way corners and dragged about, which is truly outrageous. A gentleman at home does not catch others unprepared. So when he enters a gate he raises his voice, and when he goes up into the hall he lowers his eyes. Yet these men barge into other people's homes. What principle could there be in that?

然落拓之子，無骨鯁而好隨俗者，以通此者為親密，距此者為不恭，誠為當世不可以不爾。於是要呼憒雜，入室視妻，促膝之狹坐，交杯觴於咫尺，絃歌淫冶之音曲，以言兆文君之動心，載號載呶，謔戲醜褻，窮鄙極黷，爾乃笑亂男女之大節，蹈《相鼠》之無儀。

Yet these dissolute fellows, spineless and fond of following the crowd, take those who allow this as intimate and those who refuse it as discourteous, and sincerely believe that in this age one has to do so. So they call and shout in a raucous crowd, enter rooms to look at other men's wives, sit knee to knee on cramped seats, and clink cups at arm's length. They sing wanton, seductive tunes, and with words they tempt a heart like Zhuo Wenjun's (the original text reads 'yan zhao', where 'zhao' is an error for 'tiao'). They bawl and bluster, jest and play in filthy ways, exhausting all that is vulgar and drenching themselves in all that is foul. Only then do they laugh, having thrown into confusion the great proper boundary between men and women, and trodden the lack of decorum condemned in the poem 'Look at the Rat'.

夫桀傾紂覆，周滅陳亡，鹹由無禮，況匹庶乎！蓋信不由中，則屢盟無益，意得神至，則形器可忘。君子之交也，以道義合，以志契親，故淡而成焉。小人之接也，以勢利結，以狎慢密，故甘而敗焉。何必房集內宴，爾乃款誠，著妻妾飲會，然後分好暱哉！

Jie fell and Zhou was overturned, Zhou was destroyed and Chen perished, all through lack of ritual. How much more so for ordinary commoners! If good faith does not come from within, even repeated oaths are of no use. When intent is attained and the spirit arrives, even forms and vessels can be forgotten. The friendship of a gentleman is joined by the Way and rightness and bound by shared aspirations, so it is plain as water yet succeeds. The dealings of petty men are tied by power and profit and made closer by familiarity and disrespect, so they are sweet yet fail. Why must there be gatherings in the inner chambers and private banquets before one counts as sincere? Must wives and concubines be made up and made to drink with the guests before affection is shown?

古人鑑淫敗之曲防，杜傾邪之端漸，可謂至矣。修之者為君子，背之者為罪人。然禁疏則上宮有穿窬之男，網漏則桑中有奔隨之女。縱而肆之，其猶烈猛火於雲夢，開積水乎萬仞，其可撲以帚彗，過以撮壤哉！然而俗習行慣，皆曰：此乃京城上國，公子王孫貴人所共為也。

The ancients, warning against the ruin that comes of debauchery, built their defenses with great care, stopping the first signs of depravity, and one may say they went to the utmost. Those who cultivate this are gentlemen, and those who violate it are criminals. Yet when the prohibition is lax, there are men who climb walls and burrow through in the upper palace; when the net has holes, there are women who run off to follow lovers among the mulberries. To let oneself go and indulge without restraint is like setting a fierce fire in the Yunmeng marsh, or releasing pooled waters from ten thousand fathoms up. Can one put it out with a broom, or dam it with a handful of earth? Yet custom is by now so ingrained that people all say: this is what the capital and the great central states do, what young lords, noble heirs and the eminent all practice together.

餘每折之曰：夫中州，禮之所自出也。禮豈然乎！蓋衰亂之所興，非治世之舊風也。夫老聃，清虛之至者也，猶不敢見乎所欲，以防心亂，若使柳下惠潔(疑脫一字)高行，屢接褻宴，將不能不使情生於中，而色形於表，況乎情淡者萬未一，而抑情者難多得。如斯之事，何足長乎

I have always rebuked them, saying: The Central Plain is where ritual came from. Is ritual really like this? This arose, surely, from decline and disorder; it is not the old custom of well-ordered times. Lao Dan was one of utmost purity and emptiness, yet he did not dare to look at what he desired, in order to guard against disturbance of the mind. Suppose even Liuxia Hui, pure and of lofty conduct (the original text seems to have a lacuna here), were repeatedly to join in such familiar feasts. He could not fail to have feeling arise within him and desire show in his expression. How much more so for those whose feelings are cool, who are fewer than one in ten thousand, while those able to restrain their feelings are hard to find in numbers. How could such a practice deserve to be encouraged?

窮士雖知此風俗不足引進，而名勢並乏，何以整之！每以為慨，故常獲憎於斯黨，而見謂為野樸之人，不能隨時之宜，餘期於信己而已，亦安以我之不可，從人之可乎！可嘆非一，率如此也。已矣夫，吾未如之何也！彼之染入邪俗，淪胥以敗者，曷肯納逆耳之讜言，而反其東走之遠跡哉！

A poor scholar, though he knows such customs are not worth introducing, lacks both name and standing. With what can he reform them? I have often sighed over this, and so I am constantly hated by this crowd, who say I am a rustic and simple fellow who cannot adapt to the times. I only hope to trust in myself, and how could I give up what I hold to be wrong in order to follow what others hold to be right! There is more than one thing to lament, and most are like this. Enough, I can do nothing about it! Those steeped in evil customs, dragged along together until they come to ruin, how could they be willing to accept blunt words that grate on the ear, and turn back from their far journey eastward!

抱朴子曰：俗間有戲婦之法，於稠眾之中，親屬之前，問以醜言，責以慢對，其為鄙黷，不可忍論。或蹙以楚撻，或系腳倒懸。酒客酗醟，不知限齊，至使有傷於流血，口止委折支體者，可嘆者也。古人感離別而不滅燭，悲代親而不舉樂禮，論禮，娶者羞而不賀。今既不能動蹈舊典，至於德為鄉閭之所敬，言為人士之所信，誠宜正色矯而呵之，何謂同其波流，長此弊俗哉！然民間行之日久，莫覺其非，或清談所不能禁，非峻刑不能止也。遂詘周而疵孔，謂傲放為邈世矣。

Baopuzi said: Among the common people there is a way of teasing the new bride. In a dense crowd, before her relatives, they ask her filthy questions and rebuke her with insolent replies, with a vulgarity too foul to discuss. Some press and beat her with sticks, or tie her feet and hang her upside down. The drinkers rave in their cups and know no limit, so that some even suffer wounds and bleeding, or have their limbs bent and broken (the original reads 'kou zhi wei zhe zhi ti', where 'kou zhi' is a leftover radical fragment). How lamentable! The ancients, moved by parting, did not put out the candles, and, sad at one generation replacing another, did not hold music. By the rites, the family marrying a son was ashamed and received no congratulations. Now that we can no longer follow the old canons, those whose virtue is respected in the village and whose words are trusted by scholars ought rightly to correct this with stern looks and reprove it. How can they go along with its current and so encourage this bad custom! Yet the people have practiced it so long that none feels it is wrong, and perhaps polite talk cannot stop it, and only harsh punishment could. So they twist the Zhou rites and pick at Confucius, and call arrogance and wildness a lofty disdain for the world.

或因變故，佻竊榮貴，或賴高援，翻飛拔萃，於是便驕矜誇驁，氣凌雲物，步高視遠，眇然自足，顧瞻否滯失群之士，雖實英異，忽焉若草。或傾枕而延賓，或稱疾以距客，欲令人士立門以成林，軍騎填噎於閭巷，呼謂尊貴，不可不爾。

Some, by chance events, have lightly snatched honor and rank, or have relied on powerful backing and soared above the rest. Then they become haughty and boastful, their spirit overbearing the clouds. They walk with head high and look far, serenely self-satisfied, and as they glance at scholars who are stuck and have lost their following, even if these are truly gifted, they at once see them as grass. Some receive guests lying on their pillows, or plead illness to turn visitors away. They want gentlemen standing at their door like a forest and cavalry packing the lanes, and they call this being eminent, saying it cannot be otherwise.

夫以勢位言之，則周公勤於吐握；以聞望校之，則仲尼恂恂善誘。鹹以勞謙為務，不以驕慢為高。漢之末世，則異於茲。蓬髮亂鬢，橫挾不帶。或褻衣以接，或裸袒而箕踞。朋友之集，類味之遊，莫切切進德，門言門言修業，攻過弼違，講道精義。

In terms of power and position, the Duke of Zhou was diligent, spitting out his food and wringing out his hair to receive guests. In terms of reputation, Confucius was gentle and good at guiding people. Both made humility and toil their business, and did not count arrogance as high. The late Han was different from this. With tousled hair and untidy temples, they went about carelessly dressed, without belts. Some received guests in their underclothes, or sat sprawled with bare shoulders and legs spread. At gatherings of friends and meetings of like-minded men, there was no earnest advancing of virtue, no frank and cordial cultivation of studies (the original reads 'men yan men yan xiu ye', where 'men yan' is an error for 'yin'), no attacking faults and correcting errors, and no discussing the Way and its subtle meanings.

其相見也，不復敘離闊，問安否。賓則入門而呼奴，主則望客而喚狗。其或不爾，不成親至，而棄之不與為黨，及好會，則狐蹲牛飲，爭食競割。掣撥淼折，無復廉恥，以同此者為泰，以不爾者為劣。終日無及義之言，徹夜無箴規之益。誣引老莊，貴於率任，大行不顧細禮，至人不拘檢括，嘯傲縱逸，謂之體道。嗚呼，惜乎，豈不哀哉！

When they meet, they no longer talk about long separations or ask after each other's health. As soon as a guest enters the door he calls for the slaves, and as soon as the host sees the visitor he whistles for the dog. If any among them are not like this, they are not counted as intimate, and are cast aside and not joined in their cliques. When it comes to a fine party, they squat like foxes and drink like oxen, fighting over the food and competing at carving. They snatch, pull, twist and break, with no more sense of shame, and treat those who do as they do as grand and those who do not as inferior. All day long not a word reaches righteousness, and all night there is no benefit of admonition. They falsely cite Laozi and Zhuangzi, prizing a free and easy manner, and say that great conduct does not mind small courtesies and that the perfect man is not bound by restraints. Whistling, haughty and unbridled, they call that embodying the Way. Alas, what a pity, is it not sad!

於是嘲族以敘歡交，極黷以結情款。以傾倚申腳者為妖妍標秀，以風格端嚴者為田舍樸馬矣；以蚩鎮抗指者為巢力令鮮倚，以出言有章者為折答猝突。凡彼輕薄之徒，雖便辟偶俗，廣結伴流，更相推揚，取達速易，然率皆皮膚狡澤，而懷空抱虛。有似蜀人瓠壺之喻，胸中無一紙之誦，所識不過酒炙之事。所謂傲很明德，即聾從昧，冒於貨財，貪於飲食，左生所載，不才之子也。

Then they use mockery of one another's clans to express their delight in friendship, and use extreme vulgarity to bind their affections. They regard those who lean sideways and stretch out their legs as striking and elegant, and those of dignified bearing as country bumpkins (the original reads 'pu ma yi', where 'pu ma' is an error for 'yan'). They regard those who are coarse, brash and pointing at others as [the original here is corrupted and cannot be uniquely determined], and those whose speech is orderly as clumsy and abrupt. All these frivolous types, though they are ingratiating and conform to the vulgar, make wide circles of companions, and praise one another, so that they rise quickly and easily. Yet for the most part they have only glossy, cunning skins and hold emptiness and vacancy within. Like the Shu man's parable of the gourd, they have not a single page of reading in their chests, and what they know goes no further than wine and roasted meat. They are what is called those who disdain bright virtue, follow the deaf into darkness, plunge for wealth, and are greedy for food and drink, the worthless sons recorded by Zuo Qiuming.

若問以《墳》《索》之微言，鬼神之情狀，萬物之變化，殊方之奇怪，朝廷宗廟之大禮，郊祀禘祫之儀品，三正四始之原本，陰陽律歷之道度，軍國社稷之殿式，古今因革之異同，則怳悸自失，喑鳴俯仰，濛濛焉，莫莫焉。雖心覺面牆之困，而外護其短乏之病，不肯謐己，強張大談，曰：雜碎故事，蓋是窮巷諸生章句之士，吟詠而向枯簡，匍匐以守黃卷者所宜識，不足以問吾徒也。

But if you ask them about the subtle words of the Three Mounds and the Eight Indices, the conditions of ghosts and spirits, the changes of the myriad things, the strange things of distant lands, the great rites of court and ancestral temple, the grades of the suburban sacrifices and the grand ancestral offerings, the origins of the three calendar beginnings and four starts, the measures of yin and yang, pitch-pipes and the calendar, the statutes of the state, the army and the altars of soil and grain, and the differences between ancient and modern reforms, they are dazed and lose their wits, mumble and bow up and down, utterly blank and dim. Even if inwardly they feel the distress of standing facing a wall, outwardly they shield their shortcomings. Unwilling to keep quiet, they force themselves into grand talk, saying: These scattered old matters are what poor-alley students and scholars of chapters and verses, men who chant facing dry bamboo slips and crawl about guarding yellow scrolls, ought to know. They are not worth asking people of our kind.

誠知不學之弊，碩儒之貴，所祖習之非，所輕易之謬，然終於迷而不返者，由乎放誕者無損於進趨故也。若高人以格言彈而呵之，有不畏大人而長惡不悛者，下其名品，則宜必懼然冰泮而革面，旋而東走之跡矣。

They truly know the harm of not studying, the value of great Confucians, the error of what they take as their ancestors' practice, and the mistake of what they treat lightly. Yet the reason they finally stay lost and do not return is that unrestrained behavior does no harm to their advancement. If a lofty man were to rebuke them with exemplary words, then for those who do not fear great men and persist in evil without repenting, he would lower their ranking in the registers of reputation. They would surely be alarmed, melt like ice, change their faces, and turn back from their journey eastward.

抱朴子曰：澄濁剖判，庶物化生，習族或能應對焉，毛宗或有知言焉。於玃識往，歸終知來，玄禽解陰陽，蟲也蟲豈遠泉流，蓍龜無以過焉，甘石不能勝焉。夫唯無禮，不廁貴性，厥初邃古，民無階級，上帝悼混然之甚陋，憫巢穴之可鄙，故構棟宇以去鳥獸之群，制禮數以異等威之品。教以盤旋，訓以揖讓，立則磬折，拱則抱鼓，趨步升降之節，瞻視接對之容，至於三千。蓋檢溢之堤防，人理之所急也。故儼若冠於曲禮，望貌首於五事，出門有見賓之肅，閒居有敬獨之戒，顏生整儀於宵浴，仲由臨命而結纓，恭容暫廢，惰慢已及，安上治民，非此莫以。

Baopuzi said: When the clear and the turbid were separated and the many things came to be, among the feathered kinds some could answer in speech (the original reads 'xi zu', where 'xi' is an error for 'yu'), and among the furred kinds some understood words. The Jue ape knew the past and Guizhong knew the future, and the dark bird understood yin and yang. [The original here is corrupted: 'chong ye chong qi yuan quan liu'. It probably refers to insects or birds that can sense distant springs, but the exact characters cannot be uniquely determined.] Milfoil and tortoise shell could do no better than these, and the astronomers Gan and Shi could not surpass them. It was only for lack of ritual that they were not counted among the noble natures. In the primal, remote age the people had no ranks. The High God took pity on their utter crudeness and had compassion for their wretched nests and caves. So he had them build houses and eaves to separate themselves from the herds of birds and beasts, and fixed the degrees of ritual to distinguish grades of dignity. He taught them to turn about, trained them in bowing and yielding, to stand bent like a chime-stone and to fold the hands as if embracing a drum, and the measures of hurrying, ascending and descending, the bearing of glances and replies, came to three thousand rules. These are dikes to restrain overflow, and what human order most urgently requires. So the opening of the 'Record of Rites' says 'Be reverent', the first of the Five Matters in the 'Great Plan' is demeanor, one has the gravity of meeting a guest when going out the door, and the caution of being reverent when alone in private. Yan Hui set his dress in order even when bathing at night, and Zhong You tied his cap strap even as he faced death. Once respectful bearing is dropped for a moment, laziness and slackness arrive. To secure the ruler and govern the people there is no way but this.

蓋人之有禮，猶魚之有水矣。魚之失水，雖暫假息，然枯糜可必待也。人之棄禮，雖猶面見然，而禍敗之階也。魯秉周禮，暴兵不加，魏式幹木，銳冠旋旆。大楚帶甲百萬，而有振槁之月色；強秦餚函襲嶮，而無折柳之固。豈非棄三本而喪根柢之攸召哉！矧乎安逸觸情，喪亂日久，風禿頁教沮，抑斷之儀廢，簡脫之俗成，近人值政化之蚩役，庸民遭道網之絕紊，猶網魚之去水罟，圍獸之出陸羅也。

People have ritual as fish have water. When a fish loses water, though it may hold on for a time, withering and rot surely await it. When people abandon ritual, though outwardly they may still pass, it is a stairway to disaster and ruin. Lu held to the rites of Zhou, and violent troops did not attack it. Lord Wen of Wei showed respect to Duangan Mu, and elite soldiers turned their banners aside. Great Chu had a million armored men, yet was overthrown as easily as shaking withered leaves (the original reads 'yue se', where 'yue se' is an error for 'yi ye'). Mighty Qin held the strong defile of Xiaohan, yet had no strength like that of a snapped willow. Was this not brought about by abandoning the three roots and losing the foundation! How much more so when ease stirs the passions and disorder has long prevailed, customs decay and teaching is blocked (the original reads 'feng tu ye jiao ju', where 'tu ye' is an error for 'tui'), the rites of restraint are abandoned, and a habit of laxity has formed. Recent people meet the follies of government and teaching, and ordinary folk fall into the cutting off and tangling of the net of the Way, like fish in a net leaving the water, or beasts in an enclosure escaping the snares of dry land.

喪亂以來，事物屢變，冠履衣服，袖袂財制，日月改易，無復一定。乍長乍短，一廣一狹，忽高忽卑，或粗或細，所飾無常，以同為快。其好事者，朝夕放效，所謂“京輦貴大眉，遠方皆半額”也。

Since the disorder and mourning began, things have changed again and again. Caps, shoes, clothes, the cut of sleeves, change by the day and month, and no longer have any fixed form. Now long, now short, now wide, now narrow, now high, now low, now thick, now thin, there is no constant rule to the decoration, and delight lies in being the same as others. Those who love novelties imitate them morning and evening, which is what is called: 'In the capital they prize broad eyebrows, and far away they paint half the forehead.'

餘實凡夫，拙於隨俗，其服物變不勝，故不變，無所損者，餘未曾易也。雖見指笑，餘亦不理也。豈苟欲違眾哉，誠以為不急耳。上國眾事，所以勝江表者多，然亦有可否者，君子行禮，不求變俗，謂違本邦之他國，不改其桑梓之法也。況其在於父母之鄉，亦何為當事棄舊而強更學乎！吳之善書，則有皇象劉纂岑伯然朱季平，皆一代之絕手，如中州有鍾元常胡孔明張芝索靖，各一邦之妙，並用古體，俱足周事。

I am truly an ordinary man, clumsy at following the fashions. Dress and objects change so that people cannot keep up, so I do not change; where nothing is harmed, I have never altered anything. Even if people point and laugh at me, I pay no heed. How could I be perversely going against the crowd for its own sake? I simply find it not urgent. The central states are in many matters better than the lands south of the river, yet some things are acceptable and some are not. When a gentleman practices ritual, he does not seek to change the local custom. That is to say, when he leaves his home state for another, he does not alter the standards of his native place. How much more so when still in the land of one's parents, why on every occasion cast off the old and force oneself to learn anew! Among those in Wu who wrote well, Huang Xiang, Liu Zuan, Cen Boran and Zhu Jiping were all peerless in their age, just as in the central states there were Zhong Yuanchang, Hu Kongming, Zhang Zhi and Suo Jing, each a marvel of his own region. All used the ancient forms, and all were sufficient for any use.

餘謂廢已習之法，更勤苦以學中國之書，尚可不須也，況於乃有轉易其聲音，以效北語，既不能便良，似可恥可笑，所謂不得邯鄲之步，而有匍匐之嗤者。此猶其小者耳，乃有遭喪者，而學中國哭者，令忽然無復念之情。昔鍾儀莊舄，不忘本聲，古人韙之。

I say that to give up methods one has already mastered and labor hard at learning the writing of the central states is even unnecessary. How much more so when some change their own voice to imitate northern speech. They cannot learn it well, and the result is shameful and laughable, like the one who failed to learn the Handan walk and was ridiculed for crawling home. And that is still a small matter. Some, when bereaved, learn the central states' way of wailing, so that suddenly they no longer have any feeling of grief. In the past Zhong Yi and Zhuang Xi did not forget their native accents, and the ancients thought them right.

孔子云：喪親者，若嬰兒之失母。其號豈常聲之有！寧令哀有餘而禮不足，哭以洩哀，妍拙何在而乃治飾其音，非痛切之謂也。又聞貴人在大哀，或有疾病，服石散以數食宣藥勢，以飲酒為性命，疾患危篤，不堪風冷，幃帳茵褥，任其所安，於是凡瑣小人之有財力者，了不復居於喪位，常在別房，高床重褥，美食大飲，或與密客，引滿投空，至於沈醉。曰：‘此京洛之法也。”不亦惜哉！

Confucius said: One who has lost a parent is like an infant who has lost its mother. How could his wailing have its ordinary voice! It is better that grief be in excess and ritual fall short. Wailing is how grief is released, so why care whether it is graceful or clumsy? To trim and polish one's voice is not what is meant by deep anguish. I have also heard that among the eminent, during great mourning, some are ill, take mineral powders, and rely on eating many times to spread the drug's force. They treat wine as life itself. Their illness is grave and they cannot bear wind and cold, so curtains, bedding and mats are as they please. Then all the petty men with money and strength no longer stay in the mourning place at all but are always in another room, on a high bed with thick mattresses, with fine food and deep drinking, or with close guests drain cups and toss them aside until they are deeply drunk. They say: 'This is the way of the capital cities, Jing and Luo.' Is that not a pity!

餘之鄉里，先德君子，其居重難，或並在衰老，於禮唯應衰麻在身，不成喪致毀者，皆過哀啜粥，口不經甘。時人雖不肖者，莫不企及自勉，而今人乃自取如此，何其相去之遼緬乎！又凡人不解，呼謂中國之人居喪者多皆奢溢，殊不然也。吾聞晉之宣景文武四帝，居親喪皆毀瘠逾制，又不用王氏二十五月之禮，皆行七月服，於時天下之在重哀者，鹹以四帝為法，世人何獨不聞此，而虛誣高人，不亦惑乎！

In my home district, the worthies and gentlemen of earlier generations who kept deep mourning, even when they were old and weak, and by the rites needed only wear the coarse mourning cloth and need not waste away, all grieved beyond measure, sipped only gruel, and let no sweet taste cross their lips. Even the unworthy in those days all strove to reach and urge themselves on. Yet people today bring this upon themselves, and how far apart they are! Moreover, some people who do not understand say that the people of the central states mostly overspend and exceed in mourning. This is not so at all. I have heard that the four emperors of Jin, Xuan, Jing, Wen and Wu, in mourning for their parents all wasted away beyond the rule, and did not use Wang's twenty-five-month rite, but all wore mourning for seven months. At that time all in the realm in deep mourning took the four emperors as their model. Why do the people of this age alone not hear of this, but falsely slander the lofty! Is that not delusion?

抱朴子曰：生乎世貴之門，居乎熱烈之勢，率多不與驕期而驕自來矣。非夫超群之器，不辯於免盈溢之過也。蓋勞謙虛己，則附之者眾；驕慢倨傲，則去之者多；附之者眾，則安之徽也；去之者多，則危之診也。

Baopuzi said: Those born into prominent houses and placed in blazing positions of power mostly do not contract with arrogance, yet arrogance comes of itself. Without extraordinary capacity, one cannot avoid the fault of overflowing. Be diligent and humble and keep yourself empty, and those who follow and attach themselves will be many. Be arrogant, haughty and proud, and those who leave will be many. Many followers are a sign of security, and many who leave are the diagnosis of danger.

存亡之機，於是乎在。輕而為之，不亦蔽哉！亦有出自卑碎，由微而著，徒以翕肩斂跡，偓伊側立，低眉屈膝，奉附權豪，因緣運會，超越不次，毛成翼長，蟬蛻泉壤，便自軒昂，目不步足，器滿意得，視人猶芥。或曲晏密集，管絃嘈雜，後賓填門，不復接引。或於同造之中，偏有所見，復未必全得也。直以求之，差勤以數接其情，苞苴繼到，壺榼不曠者耳。

The pivot of survival and ruin lies here. To do it lightly, is that not blindness! There are also those who came from lowly and petty origins and rose from obscurity to prominence, solely by hunching their shoulders and drawing in their traces, standing sideways in a cringing manner, lowering their brows and bending their knees to serve the powerful and wealthy. Relying on the turn of fortune, they leapt over the proper order; their feathers grew and wings lengthened, and they cast off their shell from the underworld like cicadas, then immediately became lofty and haughty, their eyes not looking at their own feet. With their vessels full and wills satisfied, they look on others as straw. Sometimes at private banquets and close gatherings, with wind and strings in uproar, the guests who arrive later crowd the gate and are no longer received. Or among those who came together, there is partiality in what they see, and what they see is not necessarily right. It comes to nothing more than seeking those who are comparatively diligent in visiting, who by frequent attendance bring their affection, whose gifts of wrapped presents arrive one after another and whose wine jars are never empty.

孟軻所謂愛而不敬，豕畜之也。而多有行諸，雲是自尊重之道。自尊重之道，乃在乎以貴下賤，卑以自牧，非此之謂也。乃衰薄之弊俗，膏肓之廢疾，安共為之，可悲者也。若夫偉人巨器，量逸韻遠，高蹈獨往，蕭然自得，身寄波流之間，神躋九玄之表，道足於內，遺物於外，冠摧履決，藍縷帶索，何肯與俗人競幹佐之便僻，修佞幸之媚容，效上林喋喋之嗇夫，為春蜩夏繩之聒耳！

What Mencius called loving without respecting is to keep a person like rearing a pig. Yet many practice this, and say it is the Way of self-esteem. The Way of self-esteem lies in the noble placing himself below the humble and cultivating himself with lowliness; it does not mean this. This is the bad custom of decline and thinness, an incurable disease in the vitals, and how can they all practice it together? It is sad. As for the great man of vast capacity, with lofty ease of capacity and distant elegance, who walks the high path alone and is serenely content, whose body is lodged among the flowing waves while his spirit ascends beyond the ninefold heavens, whose Way is full within and who casts away things outside, with cap broken, shoes torn, ragged clothes tied with a cord, how could he be willing to compete with the vulgar for the cunning of seeking patronage, cultivate the flattering looks of the favorites, imitate the chattering stewards of the Shanglin park, and make the deafening noise of spring cicadas and summer flies (the original reads 'xia sheng', where 'sheng' is an error for 'ying')!

求之以貌，責之以妍，俗人徒睹其外形之粗簡，不能察其精神之淵邈，務在皮膚，不料心志，雖懷英抱異，絕倫邁世，事動可以悟舉世之術，言發足以解古今之惑，含章括囊，非法不談，而茅蓬不能動萬鈞之鏗鏘，侏儒不能看重仞之弘麗，因而蚩之，謂為凡憒。夫非漢濱之人，不能料明珠於泥淪之蟲奉；非泣血之民，不能識夜光於重崖之裡。蟲焦螟之屯蚊眉之中，而笑彌天之大鵬；寸鮒遊牛跡之水，不貴橫海之巨鱗。故道業不足以相涉，聰明不足以相逮。理自不合，無所多怪。所以疾之而不能默者，願夫在位君子，無以貌取人，勉勖謙損，以永天秩耳。

They seek by appearance and judge by prettiness. Common people see only the plainness of the outward form and cannot discern the depth of the spirit. They devote themselves to skin and do not gauge the heart's aim. Suppose a man holds brilliance and harbors the extraordinary, surpassing his peers and exceeding his age. His deeds, when moved, can awaken the whole world, and his words, once spoken, can resolve doubts of past and present. He holds his refinement in reserve, tight as a sealed sack, and speaks nothing that is not the law. Yet thatch and reeds cannot be moved by the ring of ten thousand-weight bells, and dwarfs cannot see the grandeur of a tower of many fathoms, so they laugh at him and say he is common and muddled. One who is not from the Han riverbank cannot discern a bright pearl in the mud (the original reads 'ni lun zhi chong feng', which is corrupted); one who is not of the weeping-blood people cannot recognize night-shining jade in the deep cliffs. The jiaoming mites nesting in a mosquito's eyebrow laugh at the great peng that fills the sky, and the inch-long carp swimming in an ox's hoofprint puddle do not value the giant fish that crosses the sea. So their studies of the Way cannot reach one another, and their intelligence cannot catch up with each other. Since the principles do not fit, there is nothing strange in it. The reason I hate this and cannot stay silent is that I hope gentlemen in office will not judge men by appearance, and will strive for humility and self-reduction, so as to keep long the rank Heaven has ordained.

抱朴子曰：世人聞戴叔鸞阮嗣宗傲俗自放，見謂大度，而不量其材力非傲生之匹，而慕學之。或亂項科頭，或裸袒蹲夷，或濯腳於稠眾，或溲便於人前，或停客而獨食，或行酒而止所親，此蓋左衽之所為，非諸夏之快事也。夫以戴阮之才學，猶以耽踔自病，得失財不相補，向使二生敬蹈檢括，恂恂以接物，競競以御用，其至到何適但爾哉！況不及之遠者，而遵修其業，其速禍危身，將不移陰，何徒不以清德見待而已乎！

Baopuzi said: People of the age, hearing that Dai Shuluan and Ruan Sizong were proud of custom and let themselves go, and were praised as magnanimous, do not measure that their own talents are no match for those who scorned the world, and envy and imitate them. Some leave their hair in disorder and go bareheaded, or go bare-shouldered and squat like barbarians, or wash their feet among a thick crowd, or relieve themselves in front of others, or stop their guests and eat alone, or when pouring wine give it only to their favorites. This is what those with left-fastened robes do, and it is not a delight of the Chinese states. Even with Dai's and Ruan's talent and learning, they harmed themselves through self-indulgence, and their gains and losses did not offset each other. Suppose these two had reverently kept to restraint, and had received others gently and conducted themselves with caution (the original reads 'jing jing', where 'jing' is an error for 'jing'), their attainment would have been far more than just this. How much more so for those who fall far short of them but follow their ways: they hasten disaster and endanger themselves, and it will not take the time of a meal. How could it be only a matter of not being treated as pure in virtue!

昔者西施痛而臥於道側，姿顏妖麗，蘭麝芬馥，見者鹹美其容而念其疾，莫不躊躇焉。於是鄰女慕之，因偽疾伏於路間，形狀既醜，加之酷臭，行人皆憎其貌而惡其氣，莫不睨面掩鼻，疾趨而過焉。今世人無戴阮之自然，而效其倨慢，亦是醜女暗於自量之類也。帝者猶執子弟之禮於三老五更者，率人以敬也。人而無禮，其刺深矣。夫慢人必不敬其親也，

Of old Xi Shi lay in pain by the roadside, her looks bewitching and fair, orchid and musk breathing fragrance; all who saw her admired her beauty and grieved her sickness, and none but lingered. Thereupon the neighbor girl, envying her, feigned sickness and crouched in the road; her form being ugly and her smell being rank, the passersby all loathed her looks and hated her odor, and none but glanced aside, covered the nose, and hurried past. The men of today, lacking the natural ease of Dai and Ruan, yet imitate their proud slovenliness—they too belong to the kind of the ugly woman who cannot measure herself. When the thearch still renders the rites of son and disciple to the three elders and five experienced, it is to lead men in reverence. A man without the rites—the satire of him cuts deep. He who is slovenly to others is sure not to revere his own kin.

蓋欲人之敬之，必見自敬焉。不修善事，則為惡人，無事於大，則為小人。紂為無道，見稱獨夫；仲尼陪臣，謂為素王。則君子不在乎富貴矣。今為犯禮之行，而不喜聞遄死之譏，是負豕而憎說其臭，投泥而諱人言其汙也。

Presumably, for a man to have others revere him, he must first show reverence for himself. Whoever does not cultivate good works is a bad man; whoever does no work in what is great is a petty man. Zhou for his waylessness was called the Lone Man; Confucius, a mere subordinate minister, was called the Uncrowned King. So gentlemanhood lies not in wealth and honor. Now, to do deeds that offend the rites yet dislike hearing the satire that one deserves swift death is like carrying a pig on the back yet hating to be called rank, or wading into the mud yet resenting being called foul.