Bao Pu Zi Wai Pian (抱朴子外篇) · Volume 7

昔辛有見被髮而祭者，知戎之將熾。餘觀懷憫之世，俗尚驕褻，夷虜自遇，其後羌胡猾夏，侵掠上京，及悟斯事，乃先著之妖怪也。今天下向平，中興有徵，何可不共改既往之失，修濟濟之美乎！夫入虎狼之群，後知賁育之壯勇；處禮廢之俗，乃知雅人之不渝。道化凌遲，流遁遂往，賢士儒者，所宜共惜，法當扣心同慨，矯而正之。若力之不能，未如之何，且當竹柏其行，使歲寒而無改也。何有便當崩騰競逐其醟茸之徒，以取容於若曹邪！去道彌遠，可謂為痛嘆者也。

Of old Xin You saw a man sacrificing with hair unbound and knew the Rong would flourish. I see that in the age of Emperors Huai and Min, custom honored arrogant license and men set themselves by the barbarians, and afterwards the Qiang and Hu troubled Xia and ravaged the capital—when they woke to it, it was a prodigy already displayed long before. Now that all under heaven is gradually settling and the signs of a mid-course rise appear, how can we not together correct the former faults and cultivate the beauty of good order! It is entering a pack of tigers and wolves that one learns the fierce valor of Ben and Yu; it is dwelling in an age where the rites are lost that one knows the refined man does not change. As the Way and its teaching decline and drift runs its course, the worthy and the learned, who should cherish it together, ought by rule to strike their breasts in common grief and straighten and set it right. If their strength cannot, and they can do nothing, they should at least make their virtue like bamboo and cypress, unaltered though the year grow cold. How could it be right to plunge and vie among those ale-besotted, mean, and petty men, courting favor with that crew! To leave the Way ever farther—this may be called lamentable.

其或峨然守正，確爾不移，不蓬轉以隨眾，不改雅以入鄭者，人莫能憎而知其善，而斯以不同於己者，便共仇讎而不數之。嗟乎，衰弊乃可爾邪，君子能使以亢亮方楞，無黨於俗，揚清波以激濁流，執勁矢以厲群枉，不過當不見容與，不得富貴耳。天爵苟存於吾體者，以此獨立不達，亦何苦何恨乎而便當伐本瓦合，食甫糟握泥，剸足適履，毀方入圓，不亦劇乎！

Among them there may be some who loftily keep the right, firm and unmoved, who do not whirl like tumbleweed after the crowd nor change the correct music to enter the airs of Zheng—men whom none can hate yet whose goodness is known; but this faction, because they differ from themselves, together becomes their foe and leaves them unattended. Alas, that decay can reach this! The gentleman can hold high, bright, and square, form no party with the vulgar, lift the clear waves to lash the muddy current, and grasp the straight arrow to chastise the many crooked—at worst he should fail of acceptance and miss wealth and honor. If heaven's rank still rests upon me, though I stand alone and unadvanced, what bitterness is there, what regret—that I should thereupon cut my root to match the tiles, eat dregs and grasp mud (the base text has a character probably superfluous), pare my feet to fit the shoes, and pare the square to enter the round—is that not going too far!

夫節士不能使人敬之而志不可奪也，不能使人不憎之而道不可屈也，不能令人不辱之而榮猶在我也，不能令人不擯之而操不可改也。故分定計決，勸沮不能幹，樂天知命，憂懼不能入，困瘁而益堅，窮否而不悔，誠能用心如此者，亦安肯草靡薄浮，以索鑿枘，效乎禮之所棄者之所為哉！

The man of principle cannot make men revere him, yet his will cannot be taken; cannot make men not hate him, yet his way cannot be bent; cannot make men not shame him, yet the honor remains his; cannot make men not cast him out, yet his conduct cannot be changed. So with his portion fixed and resolve settled, urging and discouragement cannot sway him; delighting in heaven and knowing his fate, care and fear cannot enter; straitened and worn he is yet firmer; in the depths of failure he does not repent. Truly to set the heart thus—how could one bend like the grass, fickle and floating, pressing a round socket over a square peg, imitating the deeds of those whom the rites cast out!

抱朴子曰：聞之漢末諸無行，自相品藻次第，群驕慢傲，不入道檢者，為都魁雄伯，四通八達，皆背叛禮教而從肆邪僻，訕毀真正，中傷非黨，口習醜言，身行弊事，凡所云為，使人不忍論也。夫古人所謂通達者，謂通於道德，達於仁義耳。豈謂通乎褻黷而達於淫邪哉！

Baopuzi said: I have heard that at the end of Han the unprincipled men appraised and ranked one another, and a flock of proud, slovenly men who would not enter the checks of the Way became chiefs and leaders, 'penetrating in all directions', all betraying the ritual teaching and running loose in wicked ways, slandering the true and upright, wounding those not of their party, mouths practiced in ugly words, bodies doing rotten deeds—all that they did, men could not bear to relate. What the ancients called penetration meant reaching through in the Way and its power and arriving at benevolence and rightness—how could it mean reaching through in license and arriving at wantonness and wickedness!

有似盜跖，自謂有聖人之道五者也。此俗之傷破人倫，劇於寇賊之來，不能經久，豈所損壞一服而已！若夫貴門子孫，及在位之士，不惜典刑，而皆科頭袒體，踞見賓客，既辱天官，又移染庸民，後生晚出，見彼或已經清資，或佻竊虛名，而躬自為之，則凡夫便謂立身當世，莫此之為美也。夫守禮防者苦且難，而其人多窮賤焉；恣驕放者樂且易，而為者皆速達焉。於是俗人莫不委此而就彼矣。

Like Robber Zhi, who claimed to have the sage's way in five points. Such customs wound and break the bonds of men more fiercely than the coming of bandits, and they cannot last—how much more than spoiling a garment! Down to the sons and grandsons of honored houses and the gentlemen in office, who did not spare the model laws but went bareheaded and bare-bodied, crouching to receive guests—they disgraced the heavenly offices and passed the taint on to the common folk. The late-born and late-come, seeing some of them already possessed of honorable rank and others filching empty fame, and doing so themselves, then the common sort thought that to stand in the world there was nothing better than this. Keeping the rites and guards is bitter and hard, and such men are mostly poor and low; license and swagger are pleasant and easy, and those who do it swiftly rise. Thereupon the men of the world all without exception cast off the one and ran to the other.

世間或有少無清白之操業，長以買官而富貴，或亦其所知足以自飾也，其黨與足以相引也，而無行之子，便指以為證，曰：彼縱情恣欲而不妨其赫奕矣，此敕身履道而不免於貧賤矣。而不知榮顯者有幸，而頓淪者不遇，皆不由其行也。然所謂四通八達者，愛助附己為之，履不及納，帶不暇結，攜手升堂，連袂入室，出則接膝，請會則直致，所惠則得多，屬託則常聽，所欲則必副，言論則見饒，有患則見救，所論薦則蹇驢蒙龍駿之價，所中傷則孝己受商臣之談。故小人之赴也，若決積水於萬仞之高堤，而放烈火乎雲夢之枯草焉。慾望蕭雍濟濟，後生有式，是猶炙冰使燥，積灰令熾矣。

In the world there are those who in youth had no pure conduct or calling, and grown, became rich and honored by buying office; or again, what they know suffices to gloss themselves, and their partisans suffice to draw one another up—and the unprincipled son then points to them as proof: that man gave rein to lust and greed yet it was no hindrance to his splendor; this man disciplined himself and walked the Way yet could not escape poverty and meanness. They do not know that the honored and glorious had luck, while the fallen and drowned missed their day—neither came of their conduct. Yet these so-called penetrating men love and help those who attach themselves: the shoe is put on before tied, the sash worn before knotted, hand in hand they mount the hall, sleeve to sleeve they enter the chamber, outside the door they sit knee to knee; those they summon come straight at call; favors they grant are many; recommendations they make are always heard; what they wish is sure to be met; their words are borne with; their troubles are rescued; the men they praise—the lame donkey gains the price of a dragon-steed; the men they wound—Xiaoji takes on an evil name like Shangchen's. So the petty men run to them as pent waters burst a ten-thousand-ren dike, as a fierce fire is loosed on the dry grass of Yunmeng. To hope then for harmony and order, that the young should have a rule and a model, is like roasting ice to dry it or piling ashes to make them blaze.

抱朴子曰：三臺九列，坐而論道；州牧郡守，操綱舉領。其官益大，其事愈優，煩劇所鍾，其唯百里。眾役於是乎出，誅求之所叢赴，牧守雖賢而令長不堪，則國事不舉，萬機有闕，其損敗豈徒止乎一境而已哉！

Baopuzi said: The three terraces and nine ranks sit and discourse on the Way; the provincial governors and commandery administrators hold the rope and raise the collar. The greater the office the more leisure the work; where the troubles and burdens gather is only in the hundred-li county. From there all the levies go forth; thither the exactions swarm and run. Though the governor and administrator be worthy, if the magistrate cannot bear his charge, the affairs of state are not raised, the myriad matters come short, and the harm and loss reach beyond one district alone!

令長尤宜得才，乃急於臺省之官也。用之不得其人，其故無他也，在乎至公之情不行，而任私之意不違也。或父兄貴重，而子弟以聞望見選；或高人屬託，而凡品以無能見敘；或是所宿念，或親戚匪他，知其不可而能用此等。亦時有快者，不為盡無所中也。要於不精者率多矣。其能自效立，勉修清約，夙夜在公，以求眾譽，懼風績之不美，恥知己之謬舉，鮮矣！庸猥之徒，器小志近，冒於貨賄，唯富是圖，肆情恣欲，無止無足。在所司官，知其有足，賴主人舉劾彈糾，終於當解，慮其結怨，反見中傷，不敢犯觸，而恣其貪殘矣。如此，黎庶亦安得不困毒而離判！離判者眾，則不得屯聚而為群盜矣。

Magistrates above all need to be the right men, even more urgently than the officers of the bureaus. That the wrong men get used has no other cause than this: that the feeling of utmost fairness cannot prevail, while the wish to favor one's own cannot be resisted. Some, whose fathers and brothers are honored and weighty, are chosen on the strength of name; some, for whom great men put in a word, are given rank though without ability; some are old favorites, some are kin and no outsiders—knowing they will not do, they still employ such men. Occasionally a pleasing choice is made—it is not that none is fit—but on the whole the unsound are the more. Those who by their own effort stand up, strive to keep pure and frugal, are at public business dawn and dusk, seeking the good name of all, fearing an ill report, ashamed that their patron chose amiss—how few they are! The mediocre and vulgar sort, small in capacity and short in aim, reckless for goods and bribes, seeking only riches, give their lusts free rein and are never sated. The officers over them, knowing they have a prop, wait for the chief to impeach and correct them; fearing in the end to make an enemy and be slandered in return, they dare not offend and let him prey on and savage the people. In such a case how can the common folk not be stung to misery and break away! When the breakers-away are many they gather in bands and become robbers (the base text reads 'cannot'; for the sense it should be 'about to' or 'cannot but', and cannot be settled).

夫百尋之室，焚於分寸之飈；千丈之陂，潰於一蟻之穴。何可不深防乎！何可不改張乎！而秉斤兩者，或舍銓衡而任情；掌柯斧者，或曲繩墨於附己。選之者既不為官擇人，而求之者又不自謂不任，於是蒞政而政荒，牧民而民散，或有穢濁驕奢而困百姓者矣，或有苛虐酷烈而多怨判者矣，或有暗塞退憒而庶事亂者矣，或有潦倒疏緩而致馳壞者矣，或有好興不急而疲人力者矣，或有藏養逋逃而行凌暴者矣，或有不曉法令而受欺弄者矣，或有以音聲酒色而致荒湎者矣，或有圍棋樗蒲而廢政務者矣，或有田獵遊飲而忘庶事者矣，或有不省辭訟而刑獄亂者矣。百姓不堪，起為寇賊，釁咎發聞，置於叢棘，虧君上之明，益刑書之煩，而民之荼毒，亦已深矣！

A house of a hundred xun burns in a foot-long gust; a dike of a thousand zhang breaks in one ant's hole. How can one not guard against it deeply! How can one not refit the strings! Yet some who hold the weights cast aside the scales and follow whim; some who wield the helve bend the inked line to suit themselves. Since the chooser does not choose men for the office, and the seeker does not think himself unfit, thereupon one presides over government and government runs wild, shepherds the people and the people scatter—some foul, proud, and wasteful, crushing the hundred surnames; some harsh, cruel, and bitter, with many grievances and revolts; some dim, blocked, and confused, with all affairs in disorder; some slack and lax, letting all run down; some fond of launching unneeded works, wearing out men's strength; some harboring fugitives and working oppression; some not understanding the statutes and being played false; some given over to music, women, wine, and wallowing; some playing weiqi and dice and letting business lapse; some hunting and feasting and forgetting the many affairs; some not hearing the plaints, with punishments and prisons in confusion. When the people cannot bear it they rise as bandits and robbers; when the fault comes to light they are thrown among the thorns—dimming the ruler's discernment, adding to the burden of the books of punishment, while the people's poisoning has already run deep!

夫用非其人，譬猶被木馬以繁纓，何由騁跡於追風以壤龍當雲雨，安能耀景於天衢哉若秉國之鈞，出納王命者，審良藥之顧眄，不令跛蹇廁騏騄，冒昧苟得，暗於自量者，慮中道之顛躓，不以駑薾服鸞衡，則何患庶績之不康，何憂四凶之不退，三皇豈足四，五帝難六哉！

To use the wrong man is like dressing a wooden horse in tasseled trappings—how can it race the wind? Or setting up a clay dragon to answer for clouds and rain (the base text reads 'earth dragon')—how can it blaze on heaven's highway? If those who hold the state's balance and handle the king's commands would examine the backward glances like a good physician and not let the lame crowd in among the thoroughbreds, and if the presumptuous gain-seekers, blind in self-measure, would fear stumbling midway and not hitch nag-blood to the simurgh's shaft—then what fear that the many tasks will not prosper, what worry that the Four Malefactors will not withdraw? The Three Augusts need hardly count a fourth among them, nor the Five Thearchs a sixth!

抱朴子曰：以英逸而遭大明，則桑蔭未移，而金蘭之協已固矣；以長才而遇深識，則不待歷試，而相知之情已審矣。飄乎猶起鴻之乘勁風，翩乎若勝鱗之躡驚雲也。若以沈抑而可忽乎，則姜公不用於周矣；若以疏賤而可距乎，則毛生不貴乎趙矣；若積素行乃托政，則甯戚不顯於齊矣；若貴宿名而委任，則陳韓不錄於漢矣。明者舉大略細，不忮不求，故能取威定功，成天平地，豈肯稱薪而爨，數粒乃炊，並瑕棄譬，披毛索厭黑哉！

Baopuzi said: When surpassing talent meets a great brightness, the shade of the mulberry has not yet moved before the bond of metal and orchid is firm; when long talent meets deep discernment, before the trials are run the knowledge of one another is already sure. Airily like a rising swan on a strong wind, lightly like surpassing scales treading the startled clouds. Could he be ignored for being sunk and pressed?—then Lord Jiang would never have been used by Zhou. Could he be refused for being distant and mean?—then Master Mao would never have been honored in Zhao. Must his past deeds be weighed before entrusting government?—then Ning Qi would never have been famed in Qi. Must an old name be prized before appointment?—then Chen and Han would never have been enrolled by Han. The discerning man raises the great and lets the small go; he does not carp and does not grasp, and so he can win majesty and fix merit, make heaven complete and earth level. How would he consent to weigh firewood before cooking, count grains before boiling rice, throw away the fine jade for its flaw, or part the fur hunting for a dark scar (the base text reads 'loathe black', probably should be 'scar')!

或曰：“古之著書者，才大思深，故其文隱而難曉；今人意淺力近，故露而易見。以此易見，比彼難曉，猶溝澮之方江河，蟲豈垤之並嵩岱矣。故水不發山崑山，則不能揚洪流以東漸；書不出英俊，則不能備致遠之弘韻焉。”

Someone said: "The men of antiquity who wrote books had great talent and deep thought, so their writing is hidden and hard to know; the men of today have shallow minds and near powers, so theirs is plain and easy to see. Set this easy-to-see against that hard-to-know, and it is like a ditch against the Yangzi and the Yellow River, an ant-hill beside Mounts Song and Tai (the base text has a miswritten character for 'ant'). So water that does not issue from the Kun mountains cannot raise a great flood and flow east; a book that does not come from a fine talent cannot furnish the ample music that reaches far."

抱朴子答曰：“夫論管穴者，不可問以九陔之無外；習拘閡者，不可督以拔萃之獨見。蓋往古之士，匪鬼匪神，其形器雖冶鑠於疇曩，然其精神，布在乎方策。情見乎辭，指歸可得。且古書之多隱，未必昔人故欲難曉，或世異語變，或方言不同，經荒歷亂，埋藏積久，簡編朽絕，亡失者多，或雜續殘缺，或脫去章句，是以難知，似若至深耳。且夫《尚書》者，政事之集也，然未若近代之優文詔策軍書奏議之清富贍麗也；《毛詩》者，華彩之辭也，然不及《上林》《羽獵》《二京》《三都》之汪濊博富也。然則古之子書，能勝今之作者，何也然守株之徒，嘍嘍所玩，有耳無目，何肯謂爾。其於古人所作為神，今世所著為淺，貴遠賤近，有自來矣。

Baopuzi answered: "To him who argues from tube and hole, one cannot speak of the nine-fold heavens' boundlessness; to him who is used to being cramped and shut in, one cannot demand the lone sight of the eminent. The scholars of former ages were neither ghosts nor gods; though their bodily frames were long since melted in the past, yet their spirit is spread upon the slips and tablets. The feeling shows in the words; the purport can be had. Besides, that old books are much hidden need not mean the ancients wanted them hard to know: the world changed and speech changed with it; the dialects differed; they passed through waste and disorder, lay buried long, the slips rotted and the bindings broke, and much was lost; or they were continued and patched in fragments, or whole chapters and sentences dropped out—hence the hardness, which looks like depth. Moreover, the Book of Documents is a gathering of government affairs, yet it is no match for the clear richness of later imperial writings, edicts, dispatches, military orders, and memorials; the Mao Odes are the height of ornamented verse, yet they do not reach the vast fullness of the Shanglin, Yulie, Two Capitals, and Three Capitals rhapsodies. So why should it be that the ancient masters' books must surpass today's writers? Yet the stump-watchers, chirping over what they are used to, with ears and no eyes—how would they consent to admit this? They take what the ancients made for god and what the present makes for shallow: prizing the far and cheapening the near has been so since long ago.

“故新劍以詐刻加價，弊方以偽題見寶也。是以古書雖質樸，而俗儒謂之墮於天也；今文雖金玉，而常人同之於瓦礫也。古書者雖多，未必盡美，要當以為學者之山淵，使屬筆者，得辨伐漁獵其中。然而譬如東甌之木，長洲之林，梓豫雖多，而未可謂之為大廈之壯觀，華屋之弘麗也；雲夢之澤，孟諸之藪，魚肉之(有脫文)雖饒，而未可謂之為煎火*敖之盛膳，渝狄之嘉味也。今詩與古詩，俱有義理，而盈於差美。

(Baopuzi continued:) "So the new sword gains a price by a false inscription, and the worn-out prescription is taken for treasure by a forged title. Therefore old books, though plain, the vulgar Confucians say dropped from the sky; present writing, though gold and jade, common men rank with tile shards. Old books are many, yet not all are fine; taken together they should serve the scholar as mountain and deep, letting the writer go among them to cut and fish and hunt. Yet like the timber of Dong'ou and the groves of Long Isle, though the catalpa and camphor are many, one cannot say that is the grandeur of a great hall or the breadth of a splendid house; and like the marshes of Yunmeng and Mengzhu, though fish and flesh are plentiful (the base text lacks characters here), one cannot say that is the richness of a stewed banquet or the fine flavors of a Yu or a Di. The poems of today and the poems of old both have their rightness, but the beauty in them is full in one and wanting in the other.

方之於士，並有德行，而一人偏長藝文，不可謂一例也；比之於女，俱體國色，而一人獨閒百伎，不可混為無異也。若夫俱論宮室，而奚斯路寢之頌，何如王生之賦靈光乎同說遊獵，而叔畋盧鈴之詩，何如相如之言上林乎並美祭祀，而清廟雲漢之辭，何臺郭氏南郊之豔乎等稱征伐，而出車六月之作，何如陳琳武軍之壯乎則舉條可以覺焉。近者夏侯湛潘安仁並作補亡詩，白華由庚南陔華黍之屬，諸碩儒高才之賞文者，鹹以古詩三百，未有足以偶二賢之所作也。

(Baopuzi continued:) Take gentlemen for comparison: all have virtue, yet one is especially good in the arts and letters—it cannot be called one class. Take women for comparison: all possess the looks of a kingdom, yet one alone is skilled in the hundred arts—they cannot be lumped as indifferent. Or take the singing of palaces: how does Xisi's hymn of the resting hall compare with Wang's rhapsody on the Lingguang? Or take hunting: how do the Shu-tian and Lu-ling poems compare with Xiangru's telling of Shanglin? Or take the praise of sacrifice: how do the words of Pure Temple and Milky Way compare with the splendor of Guo's Southern Suburb (the base text miswrites 'how does')? Or take the singing of campaigns: how do the Chariots Go Out and Sixth Month pieces compare with the might of Chen Lin's Martial Host? Set out the items and one can see. Of late, Xiahou Zhan and Pan Anren together wrote restorations of the lost poems—the kind of White Bloom, Yougeng, Nan'gai, and Flowering Millet—and all the great Confucians and lofty talents who judge letters hold that among the three hundred ancient poems there is none fit to match the work of these two worthies.

“且夫古者事事醇素，今則莫不雕飾，時移世改，理自然也。至於罽錦麗而且堅，未可謂之減於蓑衣；輜車並妍而又牢，未可謂之不及椎車也。書猶言也，若入談語，故為知有(音)，胡越之接，終不相解，以此教戒，人豈知之哉！若言以易曉為辨，則書何故以難知為好哉若舟車之代步涉，文墨之改結繩，諸後作而善於前事，其功業相次千萬者，不可復縷舉也。世人皆知之，快於曩矣，何以獨文章不及古邪

(Baopuzi continued:) "Moreover, in antiquity all things were plain and simple, while now nothing is uncarved; times shift and the world changes—the pattern is natural. As for woolen brocade being both handsome and strong, one cannot say it falls short of the straw raincoat; or the covered carriage being both fine and sound, one cannot say it does not reach the plain wooden cart. Writing is like speech: if a man talked and deliberately made it 'knowing sounds' (the base text has a miswritten character noted for the sound), then a Hu meeting a Yue would to the end understand nothing—teaching and warning by this, how could anyone know! If speech counts as clear for being easy to explain, why should writing count as good for being hard to know? It is like boats and carriages replacing foot travel and fording, or brush and ink replacing knotted cords: the many things later made that better the former ones, surpassing them in merit by thousands and tens of thousands, cannot be recounted one by one. The world's men all know these are quicker than those of old; why should letters alone not reach the ancients?"

抱撲子曰：安上治民，莫善於禮，彌綸人理，誠為曲備。然冠婚飲射，何煩碎之甚邪！人倫雖以有禮為貴，但當令足以敘等威而表情敬，何在乎升降揖讓之繁重，拜起俯伏之無已邪！往者天下乂安，四方無事，好古官長，時或修之，至乃講試累月，督以楚撻，晝夜修習，廢寢與食。經時學之，一日試之，執卷從事，案文舉動，黜謫之罰，又在其間，猶有過誤，不得其意。而欲以為以此為生民之常事，至難行也。此墨子所謂累世不能盡其學，當年不能究其事者也。

Baopuzi said (the base text miswrites the name): For giving the ruler peace and ordering the people, nothing is better than the rites; to bind human order together, they are truly complete. Yet the capping, marriage, drinking, and archery rites—how fussy they are to the last degree! Though human bonds prize having the rites, they need only suffice to mark out rank and express reverence—where is the use in the heaviness of ascending and descending, bowing and yielding, the endless prostrating and rising! In days past when all under heaven was at peace and the four quarters quiet, antiquity-loving officials would sometimes practice these matters, up to the point of testing them over whole months, driving pupils with the thorn rod, drilling day and night, forgetting sleep and food. They studied them a whole year and were tested in a single day, scroll in hand as they went through the motions by the written rules, with demotion and penalty in between—and still they made mistakes and missed the sense. To want to make this the common business of the living people would be the utmost hardship. This is what Mozi meant by: whole generations cannot finish the learning, a whole age cannot exhaust its work.

古人詢於草芻蕘，博辨童謠，狂夫之言，猶在擇焉。至於墨子之論，不能非也。但其張刑網，開途徑，浹人事，備王道，不能曲述耳。至於譏葬厚，刺禮煩，未可棄也。

The ancients asked advice of woodcutters, gathered children's rhymes broadly, and even a madman's words were in the range of choice. As for Mozi's arguments, they cannot be gainsaid. It is only that he could not lay out the net of the laws, open the roads, spread the affairs of men, and furnish the kingly way in every winding detail. But his criticism of lavish burials and his satire on overgrown rites—these must not be thrown away.

自建安之後，魏之武文，送終之制，務在儉薄，此則墨子之道，有可行矣。餘以為喪亂既平，朝野無為，王者所制，自君作古。可命精學洽聞之士，才任損益，免於拘愚者，使刪定三禮，割棄不要，次其源流，總合其事，類集以相從。其煩重遊說，辭異而義同者存之，不可常行除之。無所傷損，卒可斷約而舉之，勿令沈隱，復有凝滯。其吉凶器用之物，俎豆觚觶之屬，衣冠車服之制，旗章辨色之美，宮室尊卑之品，朝饗賓主之儀，祭奠殯葬之變，郊祀禘祫之法，社稷山川之禮，皆可減省，務令約儉。夫約則易從，儉則用少；易從則不煩，用少則費薄；不煩則蒞事者無過矣，費薄則調求者無苛矣。拜休揖讓之節，升降盤旋之容，使足敘事，無令小碎。條牒各別，令易案用。

Since the Jian'an era, in the funeral rules made by Emperors Wu and Wen of Wei, the aim was frugality and thinness—this is the way of Mozi, and it can be practiced. I hold that once the ruin and disorder are settled and court and field are at rest, what the king institutes should make a new beginning with the sovereign. He may command scholars of exact learning and broad hearing, whose talent can take away and add and is free of cramped folly, to revise and fix the Three Rites: cutting away what does not press, ordering the streams to their sources, drawing the matters together, and sorting them by kind. The fussy repetitions where the words differ but the sense is the same should be kept; what cannot be constantly performed should be dropped. Nothing would be lost by it; in the end, bound into a brief and brought forth, it would not be left to sink into obscurity and clog again. The vessels for ill and good fortune—the sacrificial stands, goblets and cups; the rules of cap, robe, carriage, and dress; the beauty of banners and badges and distinguishing colors; the grades of honored and mean in houses and halls; the ceremonies of court and feast, host and guest; the changes of offering, coffining, and burial; the rules of the suburban and the di and xia sacrifices; the rites of soil and grain, mountains and rivers—all can be cut down, making conciseness and thrift the aim. Concise is easy to follow; thrifty spends little. Easy to follow means no fuss; little spent means thin cost. No fuss means those who officiate make no errors; thin cost means those who levy do not press. The forms of bowing, yielding, and saluting, the bearing of mounting, descending, and wheeling—let them suffice to mark the business, without the fine shattering. Let each rule be set down separately, easy for men to consult and use.

今五禮混撓，雜飾紛錯，枝分葉散，重出互見，更相貫涉。舊儒尋案，猶多所滯，駁難漸廣異同無已，殊理兼說，歲增月長，自非至精，莫不惑悶。躊躇岐路之衢，悉勞群疑之藪，煎神瀝思，考校判例，嘗有窮年，竟不豁了。治之勤苦，決嫌無地，呻吟尋析，憔悴決角，修之華首不立，妨費日月，廢棄他業，悉困後生，真未央矣。長致章句，多於本書。今若契合雜俗，次比種稷，刪削不急，抗其綱，校其令，炳若日月之著明，灼若五色之有定，息學者萬倍之役，弭諸儒爭訟之煩，將來達者觀之，當美於今之視周矣。此亦改燒石去血食之比，無所憚難，而恨恨於惜懷，推車遲於去巢居也。

Now the five rites are tangled together, their mixed ornaments in confusion, branching and scattering, repeating and cross-showing, threading one through another. Even when the old Confucians search and examine, many snags remain; disputes grow ever wider, agreements and differences have no end, rival doctrines speak side by side, and they pile up year on year and month on month—short of utmost devotion there is none who is not lost and dulled. They stand hesitating at the fork in the road, labor in the marsh of the many doubts, seethe their spirits and drain their thought, examine and weigh the precedents, spend a whole year, and in the end cannot open through into clarity. Toiling at it bitterly, they find no place to settle the doubts; groaning, they search and parse and waste away deciding a single corner; they work till their heads are white and still cannot stand—spending the days and months, abandoning other callings, straitening the young who come after: truly it has no end. The chapters and sentences of commentary outnumber the book itself. If now we matched it to the common ways, set it in order like the kinds of grain, cut away what is not pressing, raised the guiding cord, and fixed the statutes so that they shone like the sun and moon in clearness and stood distinct like the five colors fixed, we would still the ten-thousandfold labor of students and melt the endless bickering of the Confucians; and the understanding men of the future, looking on it, would find it as beautiful as we find the Zhou today. This too is like the parable of stopping the burning of stones and giving up bloody food—nothing fearsome or hard about it—yet they cling regretfully to the old embrace, like the cart-dweller slow to leave his nest in the tree.

然守常之徒，而卒聞此義，必將愕然創見，謂之狂生矣。夫三王不相沿樂，五帝不相襲禮，而其移風易俗，安上治民一也。或革或因，損益懷善，何必當乘船以登山，策馬以涉川，被甲以升廟堂，重裘以當隆暑乎！若謂古事終不可變，則棺槨不當代薪埋，衣裳不宜改裸袒矣。

Yet the keepers of the constant, hearing this doctrine suddenly, are sure to stare astonished as at a first sight and call me a mad scholar. The Three Kings did not inherit one another's music; the Five Thearchs did not follow one another's rites—yet in shifting the winds and changing the ways, giving the ruler peace and ordering the people, they were one. Some changed and some continued, taking away and adding as was good—why must one be bound to sail a boat up the mountain, drive a horse across the river, mount the ancestral hall in armor, or wear double furs in the height of summer! If one says ancient ways can never be changed, then the double coffin should not have replaced burial in brushwood, and clothes should not have replaced nakedness.

抱朴子曰：正經為道義之淵海，子書為增深之川流。仰而比之，則景星之佐三辰也；俯而方之，則林薄之裨嵩嶽也。雖津途殊闢，而進德同歸；雖離於舉趾，而合於興化。故通人總原本以括流末，操綱領而得一致焉。古人嘆息於才難，故謂百世為隨踵，不以璞非崑山而棄耀夜之寶，不以書不出聖而廢助教之言。是以閭陌之拙詩，軍旅之鞫誓，或詞鄙喻陋，簡不盈十，猶見撰錄，亞次典誥，百家之言，與善一揆。譬操水者，器雖異而救火同焉；猶針炙者，術雖殊而攻疾均焉。

Baopuzi said: The true classics are the deep sea of the Way and rightness; the masters' books are the rivers that deepen it. Compare them upward, and they are like the bright star aiding the three luminaries; match them downward, and they are like the thickets adding to Mount Song. Though the fords and roads open differently, advancing in virtue they come to one end; though the feet lift apart, they join in raising the teaching. So the understanding man gathers the root and source to bind the streams and tips, holds the cord and leash and reaches the unity. The ancients sighed that talent is hard, saying that only once in a hundred ages does it follow on another's heels; they did not cast away the night-shining pearl because the rough jade was not from the Kun mountains, nor cast off words that aid teaching because the book was not by a sage. Thus the clumsy songs of the lanes and the oaths of the army, though their words are mean and their images plain and the slips fill not ten, have still been gathered and recorded next after the canons and pronouncements—because the sayings of the hundred schools agree with the good in one principle. It is like those who fetch water: the vessels differ yet the fire-fighting is the same; like those who needle and moxa: the arts differ yet the attacking of disease is equal.

漢魏以來，群言彌繁，雖義深於玄淵，辭贍於波濤，施之可以臻徵祥於天上，發嘉瑞於后土，召環雉於大荒之外，安圜堵於函夏之內，近弭禍亂之階，遠垂長世之祉。然時無聖人，目其口藻，故不得騁驊騄之跡於千里之途，編近世之道於三墳之末也。拘繫之徒，桎梏淺隘之中，挈瓶訓詁之間，輕奇賤異，謂為不急。或雲小道不足觀，或雲廣博亂人思，而不識合錙銖可齊重於山陵，聚百十可以致數於億兆，群色會而袞藻麗，眾音雜而韶濩和也。或貴愛詩乘淺近之細文，忽薄深美富博之子書，以磋切之至言為呆拙，以虛華之小辯為妍巧，真偽顛倒，玉石混淆，同廣樂於桑間，鈞龍章於卉服。悠悠皆然，可嘆可慨也！

Since Han and Wei the many words have grown still more numerous. Though their rightness be deeper than the dark abyss and their words richer than the billows, practiced they could bring down auspicious signs from heaven above and call up sweet omens in the earth below, summon ringed pheasants from beyond the great wilderness, and give peace to the poorest hut within the realm of Xia—dissolving near at hand the steps of calamity and hanging far off the blessings of lasting ages. Yet there was no sage in that age to grade and name these fine speeches, so the trail-blazing steed could not stretch its stride over the thousand-li road, and the ways of these latter days could not be written at the tail of the Three Tomes. Men bound and tied, fettered in shallowness and narrowness, who draw their little pitcher among the glosses, slight the rare and cheapen the strange and call it not pressing. Some say small ways are not worth viewing; some say broad learning disorders the thoughts—and they do not know that joining grains can match a mountain's weight, that heaping tens can reach the count of millions, that the many colors joined make the dragon-robe's splendor, and the many notes mingled make the Shao and Hu's harmony. They prize and love the shallow trifles of verse and rhyme, neglect the deep, fine, rich, broad books of the masters, take the polished utmost words for dull and clumsy, take the empty, florid little arguments for pretty and clever—true and false turned upside down, jade and stone mixed as one—ranking the great music with the songs of Sangjian and the dragon patterns with grass cloaks. Thus they drift, all of them, worthy of sighs and groans!

或曰：“著述雖繁，適可以騁辭耀藻，無補救於得失，未若德行不言之訓。故顏閔為上而遊夏乃次。四科之格，學本而行末，然則綴文固為餘事，而吾子不褒崇其源，而獨貴其流，可乎”抱朴子答曰：“德行為有事，優劣易見。文章微妙，其體難識。夫易見者粗也，難識者精也。夫唯粗也，故銓衡有定焉；夫唯精也，故品藻難一焉。吾故舍易見之粗，而論難識之精，不亦可乎！”

Someone said: "Writings may be many, yet they can only drive words and display ornament, and remedy nothing of gain and loss—not equal to virtue's wordless lesson. So Yan and Min rank above, and You and Xia come next in talent. By the measure of the four categories, learning is the root and conduct the tip; so stringing words is surely a leftover task, and for you not to exalt its source but prize its stream alone—is that fitting?" Baopuzi answered: "Virtue has its works; its worth is easy to see. Letters are subtle; their body is hard to know. What is easy to see is the coarse; what is hard to know is the fine. Because it is coarse, the scales have a fixed mark; because it is fine, appraising it can hardly be of one rule. For me to leave the easy-seen coarse and discuss the hard-known fine—is that not fitting?"

或曰：“德行者本也，文章者末也。故四科之序，文不居上。然則著紙者，糟粕之餘事；可傳者，祭畢之芻狗。卑高之格，是可識矣。文之體略，可得聞乎”

Someone said: "Virtue is the root, letters are the tip. So in the order of the four categories, letters do not stand above. Then what is set down on paper is the leftover task of the dregs; what may be handed on is a straw dog after the offering. The measure of high and low may be known by this. May I hear a sketch of the body of letters?"

抱朴子曰：“荃可以棄而魚未獲，則不得無荃；文可以廢而道未行，則不得無文。若夫翰跡韻略之宏促，屬辭比事之疏密，源流至到之修短，蘊藉汲引之深淺。其懸絕也，雖天外毫內，不足以喻其遼邈；其相傾也，雖三光熠耀，不足以方其鉅細。龍淵鉛鋌，未足譬其銳鈍；鴻羽積金，未足比其輕重。清濁叄差，所稟有主，朗昧不同科，強弱各殊氣，而俗士唯見能染毫畫紙者，便概之一例。斯伯牙所以永思鍾子，郢人所以格斤不運也。蓋刻削者比肩，而班狄擅絕手之稱；援琴者至眾，而夔襄專知音之難。廄馬千駟，而騏驥有邈群之價；美人萬計，而威施有超世之容。蓋有遠過眾者也。

Baopuzi said: "The trap may be cast off only when the fish is caught—till then there is no doing without the trap; letters may be cast off only when the Way prevails—till then there is no doing without letters. As for the wide or narrow sweep of brushwork and cadence, the loose or tight weave of linking words and matching things, the long or short course of source and stream, the deep or shallow store of allusion and draw—the distance between them, even outer heaven against a hair's breadth cannot image it; the imbalance between them, even the three luminaries against a firefly cannot figure it. Dragon Abyss against lead ingots cannot picture their keen and blunt; a swan's feather against heaped gold cannot match their light and heavy. Clear and turbid are mixed in ranks, each endowed from its source; bright and dim are not of one kind, strong and weak each bear a different qi—and the vulgar scholar, seeing only that both can dip a brush and mark paper, lumps them as one class. This is why Boya thought forever of Zhong Zi, and why the man of Ying hung up his axe and swung no more. Carvers stand shoulder to shoulder, yet Ban and Di alone bear the name of unsurpassable hands; lute-players are many, yet Kui and Xiang alone own the hardness of knowing tones. There are a thousand teams in the stable, yet the thoroughbred commands a price far above the herd; beauties are numbered in the tens of thousands, yet Wei and Shi possess looks that pass the age. Presumably there is that which far exceeds the crowd.

“且夫文章之與德行，猶十尺之與一丈，謂之餘事，未之前聞。夫上天之所以垂象，唐虞之所以為稱，大人虎炳，君子豹蔚，昌旦定聖諡於一字，仲尼從周之鬱，莫非文也。八卦生鷹隼之所被，六甲出靈龜之所負，文之所在，雖賤猶貴，犬羊之鞟，未得比焉。且夫本不必皆珍，末不必悉薄。譬若錦繡之因素地，珠玉之居蚌石，雲雨生於膚寸，江河始於咫尺爾。則文章雖為德行之弟，未可呼為餘事也。”

(Baopuzi continued:) "Moreover, letters and virtue are like ten chi and one zhang; that they should be called a leftover task was never heard before. The reason heaven hangs down its images, the reason Tang and Yu are praised, the great man's tiger-blaze and the gentleman's leopard-pattern, Chang and Dan fixing a sage posthumous name by a single word, Confucius following the luxuriance of Zhou—none of it is without pattern. The eight trigrams were born of the markings on the falcon's wings; the six jia came out of the pattern the spirit turtle bore on its back. Where pattern is, though the thing be low it is prized—dog and sheepskin cannot compare with it. Besides, the root need not be all precious, nor the tip all cheap: brocade and embroidery take plain ground for their cause, pearls and jade lodge within mussel and stone, cloud and rain rise from a handspan, and the Yangzi and Yellow River begin at a foot. So though letters are the younger brother of virtue, they cannot be called a leftover task."

或曰：“今世所為，多不及古，文章著述，又亦如之。豈氣運衰殺，自然之理乎”

Someone said: "What is made in the present age mostly does not reach the ancients, and writings are so too. Could it be that the fortunes of qi decline and dwindle by the natural order?"

抱朴子答曰：“百家之言，雖有步起，皆出碩儒之思，成才士之手，方之古人，不必悉減也。或有汪濊玄曠，合契作者，內闢不測之深源，外播不匱之遠流，其所祖宗也高，其所紬繹也妙，變化不繫滯於規矩之方圓，旁通不凝閡於一途之逼促，是以偏嗜酸鹹者，莫能知其味，用思有限者，不能得其神也。夫應龍徐舉，顧眄凌云，汗血緩步，呼吸千里，而螻蟲豈怪其無階而高致，駑蹇患其過己之不漸也。若夫馳驟於詩論之中，周旋於傳記之間，而以常情覽巨異，以褊量測無涯，以至粗求至精，以甚淺揣甚深，雖始自髫齔，訖於振素，猶不得也。

Baopuzi answered: "The sayings of the hundred schools, though they halt and rise, all came from the thought of great Confucians and were finished by the hands of talented men; set beside the ancients they need not all pale. Some are vast, deep, and broad, agreeing with the writers, opening within unfathomable springs and spreading without inexhaustible far streams; what they take as ancestor is high, what they unravel is subtle; their changes are not tied within the compass's round and square, their side-passages not cramped on a single narrow road. So those with a private taste for sour or salt cannot know their flavor, and those whose thought has limits cannot obtain their spirit. The winged dragon lifts slowly and a glance takes it past the clouds; the blood-sweating horse steps gently and a breath carries it a thousand li—yet the ants marvel that it gains height without a stair (the base text has a miswritten character for 'ant'), and the nag is aggrieved that it outruns him by no gradual course. As for those who gallop within the bounds of verse and wheel among the records, judging the great marvel by common feeling, measuring the boundless by a small gauge, seeking the utmost fine by the utter coarse, sounding the very deep by the very shallow—even should they begin at childhood and work till the hair shakes white, they would still not get it.

夫賞快者必譽之以好，而不得曉者，必毀之以惡，自然之理也。於是以其所不解者為虛誕，慺誠以為爾，未必違情以傷物也。又世俗率神貴古昔而黷賤同時：雖有追風之駿，猶謂之不及造父之所御也；雖有連城之珍，猶謂之不及楚人之所泣也；雖有疑斷之劍，猶謂之不及歐冶之所鑄也；雖有起死之藥，猶謂之不及和鵲之所合也；雖有超群之人，猶謂之不及竹帛之所載也；雖有益世之書，猶謂之不及前代之遺文也。是以仲尼不見重於當時，大玄見蚩薄於比肩也。俗士多云，今山不及古山之高，今海不及古海之廣，今日不及古日之熱，今月不及古月之朗，何肯許今之才士，不減古之枯骨！重所聞，輕所見，非一世之所患矣。昔之破琴剿弦者，諒有以而然乎！

(Baopuzi continued:) He who delights in a thing is sure to praise it as good, and he who cannot fathom it is sure to slander it as bad—this is the natural order. Thereupon they take what they do not understand for empty lies, honestly thinking it is so, not necessarily meaning to falsify and wound things. Again, the world largely makes a god of the ancient and past while cheapening its own contemporaries: though there be a wind-chasing steed, they still say it cannot match what Zaofu drove; though there be a city-chain jewel, they still say it cannot match what the man of Chu wept over; though there be a sword that cuts at the touch, they still say it cannot match what Ou Yezi cast; though there be a drug that raises the dead, they still say it cannot match what He and Que compounded; though there be a man beyond the crowd, they still say he cannot match those written on bamboo and silk; though there be a book that profits the age, they still say it cannot match the writings left by earlier times. So Confucius was not prized in his own day, and the Taixuan was jeered and slighted by his contemporaries. The vulgar scholars mostly say: today's mountains are not so high as the ancient mountains, today's seas are not so broad as the ancient seas, today's sun is not so hot as the ancient sun, today's moon is not so bright as the ancient moon—how would they consent to grant that today's talented men are no less than the dried bones of old! To weight what is heard and slight what is seen is not one age's trouble. That the man broke his lute and cut its strings was, in truth, for a reason!

抱朴子曰：歷覽前載，逮乎近代，道微俗弊，莫劇漢末也。當途端右閹官之徒，操弄神器，秉國之鈞，廢正興邪，殘仁害義，蹲踏背憎，即聾從昧，同惡成群，汲引奸黨。吞財多藏，不知紀極，而不能散錙銖之薄物，施振清廉之窮儉焉。進官則非多財者不達也，獄訟則非厚貨者不直也，官高勢重，力足拔才，而不能發毫釐之片言，進益時之翹俊也。其所用也，不越於妻妾之戚屬；其惠澤也，不出乎近習之庸瑣。莫戒臧文竊位之譏，靡追解狐忘私之義，分祿以擬王林，致事以由方回。故列子比屋，而門無鄭陽之恤；高概成群，而不遭暴生之薦。抑挫獨立，推進附己，此樊姬所以掩口，馮唐所以永慨也。

Baopuzi said: Reading through the records of former ages and coming down to recent times, the Way at its weakest and customs at their worst were never fiercer than at the end of Han. The powers that filled the road, the eunuch crew, played with the spirit vessel and held the state's balance, cast down the right and raised the wicked, maimed benevolence and injured rightness, crouched and trampled, betrayed and hated, made themselves deaf and followed the dark, banded in evil as a host and drew in their treacherous party. They swallowed wealth and hoarded it, knowing no limit, yet could not loose a pennyweight of poor stuff to relieve the pure and needy. In appointment none but the moneyed could advance; in lawsuits none but the richly bribed were judged straight. High in office and heavy in power, their strength sufficed to raise talent, yet they could not utter a hairbreadth of a word to advance the eminent who would profit the age. Those they used went no farther than the kin of wives and concubines; the favor they rained went no farther than the vulgar trifles of the familiar circle. They did not heed Zang Wenzhong's satire of usurping the seat, nor follow Jie Hu's rightness of forgetting self; they portioned out stipends to match Wang Lin and gave offices along Fang Hui's road. So the Liezi-lodgers dwelt roof by roof, yet at their gates there was no Zheng Yang's charity; the high-spirited stood in flocks yet met no Bao Sheng's recommendation. They pressed down the independent and pushed forward the attached—this is why Lady Fan covered her mouth and Feng Tang sighed forever.

干時率皆素餐俞容，掩德蔽賢，忌有功而危之，疾清白而排之，諱忠讜而陷之，惡特立而擯之，柔媚者受崇飾之佑，方稜者蒙訕棄之患。養豺狼而殲驎虞，殖枳棘而翦椒桂。於是傲兀不檢丸轉萍流者謂之弘偉大量；苛碎峭嶮懷螫挾毒者，謂之公方正直；令色警慧有貌無心者，謂之機神朗徹；利口小辯希指巧言者，謂之標領清妍；猝突萍鷽驕矜輕侻者，謂之巍峨瑰傑；嗜酒好色闒茸無疑者，謂之率任不矯；求取不廉好奪無足者，謂之淹曠遠節；蓬髮褻服遊集非類者，謂之通美泛愛；反經詭聖順非而博者，謂之莊老之客；嘲弄嗤妍凌尚侮慢者，謂之蕭豁雅韻；毀方投圓面從響應者，謂之絕倫之秀；憑倚權豪推貨履徑者，謂之知變炎奇；懶看文書望空下名者，謂之業大志高；仰賴強親位過其才者，謂之四豪之匹；輸貨勢門以市名爵者，謂之輕財貴義；結黨合譽行與口違者，謂之以文會友；左道邪術假託鬼怪者，謂之通靈神人；卜占小數誑飾禍福者，謂之知來之妙，（般馬）弄槊一夫之勇者，謂之上將之元；合離道聽偶俗而言者，謂之英才碩儒。

In that age they were nearly all idle diners stealing a place, covering virtue and screening the worthy, jealous of merit and injuring it, hating the pure and white and driving it out, shunning honest counsel and framing it, loathing the singular and casting it off. The soft and fawning enjoyed the favor of exaltation; the square and angular met the misfortune of scorn. So the man swaggering unchecked, whirling and drifting like a gourd on the stream, was called grand and great in measure; the harsh, petty, sheer, and cruel, hiding a sting and carrying poison, was called impartial and upright; the man of winning looks and quick show, all face and no heart, was called keen of spirit and clear through; the glib tongue and small cleverness, the sly hint and artful word, was called a leading light of pure grace; the sudden, brash, frivolous, proud, and loose, was called towering, rare eminence; the wine-loving, lust-ridden, mean and unrestrained, was called frank and unbent; the grasping, unscrupulous, ever-unsated taker, was called deep-broad and far-reaching in restraint; the unkempt-haired, slatternly dresser consorting with the unfit, was called catholic in beauty and broad in love; the traitor to the classics, forger of the sages, learned in error, was called a guest of Zhuang and Lao; the mocker and scorner of the good, lording it in insolence, was called lofty ease and a refined tone; the breaker of the square to fit the round, the face-agreeing echoer, was called the flower beyond compare; the leaner on the powerful, the briber taking the byroad, was called one who knows the turns and warms to the rare; the man too lazy to read the documents who signs blank paper, was called broad in work and high in aim; the man leaning on strong kin, holding rank beyond his talent, was called a peer of the Four Lords; the man pouring goods at power's gate to buy name and rank, was called one who slights wealth and prizes right; the clique-builder and praise-peddler whose deeds belie his mouth, was called meeting friends through letters; the adept of crooked ways and wicked arts pretending to ghosts and prodigies, was called a spirit-man communing with the unseen; the petty diviner who dresses up false fortunes, was called the marvel of knowing what is to come; the man who wheels his horse and flourishes a lance, brave as a single common soldier (the base text has corrupt characters), was called the first of great generals; the man who cobbles hearsay and trims his speech to the age, was called the eminent scholar and great Confucian.

若夫體亮行高，神清量遠，不諂笑以取悅，不曲言以負心，含霜履雪，義不苟合，據道推方，嶷然不群，風雖疾而枝不撓，身雖困而操不改，進則切辭正論，攻過箴闕，退則端誠杜私，知無不為者，謂之門音呆徒苦。夙興夜寐，退食自公，憂勞損益，畢力為政者，謂之小器俗吏。於是明哲色斯而幽遁，高俊括囊而佯愚，疏賤者奮飛以擇木，縶制者曲從而朝隱，知者不肯吐其秘算，勇者不為致其果毅，忠謇離退，姦凶得志，邪流溢而不可遏也，偽途闢而不可杜也。以臻乎凌上替下，盜賊多有，宦者奪人主之威，三九死庸豎之手。忠賢望士，謂之黨人，囚捕誅鋤，天下嗟嗷，無罪無辜，閉門遇禍。微煙起於蕭牆，而飈焚遍於宇宙；淺隙發於膚寸，而波濤漂乎四極。金城屠於庶寇，湯池航於一葦，勁銳望塵而冰泮，徵人倒戈而奔北，飛鋒薦於戶衣闥，左衽掠於禁省，禾黍生於廟堂，榛莠秀乎玉階，雲觀變為狐兔之藪，象魏化為虎豹之蹊，東序煙燼於委灰，生民火焦淪於淵火，兇家害國，得罪竹帛，良史無褒言，金石無德音。夫何哉夫人故也。

As for those of firm brightness and lofty conduct, pure in spirit and far in measure, who do not smirk to please nor bend words against the heart, who hold frost and tread snow, not joining wrongly for gain, resting on the Way and keeping the square, towering and apart from the herd—the wind however fierce does not bend the branch, the man however straitened does not change his rule, who advancing cuts faults with sharp words and mends lacks with remonstrance, and retiring holds true and shuts out the private, doing all he knows—such men were called (the base text here is corrupt and cannot be settled). Those who rise at dawn and sleep at night, withdraw to eat straight from the public task, labor and fret over gain and loss, spending all their strength on government—such men were called petty clerks and vulgar functionaries. Thereupon the clear-eyed, seeing the signs were not good, withdrew into hiding; the high and eminent tied their sacks and feigned folly; the distant and lowly took wing to choose their tree; the bound and held bent with the tide and hid at court; the knowing would not bring out their secret plans; the brave would not lend their steadfastness. The loyal and upright left and withdrew; the treacherous and violent had their will; the flood of wickedness overflowed beyond checking and the roads of falsehood opened beyond closing. It came to the point where those above were insulted and those below displaced, robbers and brigands were many, the eunuchs usurped the ruler's majesty, and the three excellencies and nine ministers died at the hands of common slaves. The loyal, worthy, and esteemed were called 'the partisans', imprisoned, seized, executed, and weeded; all under heaven groaned and cried; the guiltless and unoffending met calamity behind closed doors. A thread of smoke rose within the screen wall and the whirlwind burned the whole world; a hairline crack opened in a handspan and the billows drifted to the four ends. Metal walls were butchered by common brigands; moats of boiling water were crossed on a single reed; the keen and strong watched the dust and melted like ice; the levied men turned their spears and fled; flying blades rained upon the palace doors (the base text has a corrupt character); the left-lapelled plundered within the forbidden precincts; grain grew in the ancestral hall; thistles flowered on the jade steps; the cloud terraces became warrens of fox and hare; the twin towers became trails of tiger and leopard; the eastern hall smoldered into piled ash; the living people, charred and burned, sank into the abyss of fire. Houses ruined and states harmed, they offended against the bamboo and silk: the good historian had no word of praise, and metal and stone held no virtuous sound. Why was this? It was the doing of men.

抱朴子曰：吳之杪季，殊代同疾，知前疾之失於彼，不能改弦於此。鑑亂亡之未遠，而躡傾車之前軌，睹枳首之爭草母，而忘同身之禍，笑蟣蝨之宴安，不覺事異而患等。見競濟之舟沈，而不知殊途而溺均也。餘生於晉世所不見，餘師鄭君，具所親悉，每誨之云：吳之晚世，尤劇之病，賢者不用，滓穢棄序，紀綱馳紊，吞舟多漏。貢舉以厚貨者在前，官人以黨強者為右，匪富匪勢，窮年無冀。德清行高者，懷英逸而抑淪；有才有力者，躡雲物以官躋。主昏於上，臣欺於下，不黨不得，不競不進，背公之俗彌劇，正直之道遂壞。於是斥鴳因驚風以凌霄，朽舟托迅波而電邁，鴛鳳卷六翮於叢棘，鷁首滯潢汙而不擢矣。秉維之佐，牧民之吏，非母后之親，則阿諂之人也。進無補過拾遺之忠，退無聽訟之幹，虛談則口吐冰霜，行己則濁於泥潦。莫愧尸祿之刺，莫畏致戎之禍，以譭譽為蠶織，以威福代稼穡。車服則光可以鑑，豐屋則群鳥爰止。叱吒疾於雷霆，禍福速於鬼神，勢利傾於邦君，儲積富乎公室。出飾翟黃之衛從，入遊玉根之藻梲。僮僕成軍，閉門為市，牛羊掩原隰，田池布千里。有魚滄濯裘之儉，以竊趙宣平仲之名。內崇陶侃文信之訾，實有安昌董鄧之汙。雖造賓不沐嘉旨之俟，飢士不蒙升合之救，而金玉滿堂，妓妾溢房，商販千艘，腐谷萬庾，園囿擬上林，館第僭太極，梁肉餘於犬馬，積珍陷於帑藏。

Baopuzi said: The last age of Wu, though a different generation, had the same disease: knowing the former age's fault lay over there, they could not retune the strings here. The warning of ruin and loss was not far, yet they trod the ruts of the overturned carriage; seeing the two-headed snake fight in the weeds (the base text miswrites 'weeds'), they forgot that the same body's calamity, laughing at the lice at ease in their nest, not seeing that though the matter differs the mischief is the same. They saw the ferries sink as men fought to cross, yet did not know that drowning by different roads is the same drowning. I was born after the time the world of Jin had not seen, but my teacher Master Zheng knew it all at first hand and often taught me, saying: In Wu's late age the disease was fiercer still; the worthy were not used; the dregs and filth threw order away; the cords and rules slackened and tangled; the great fish slipped many a net. In sending up men they set the richly bribed in front; in staffing offices they put the strongly partied first; without wealth or pull, a whole lifetime held no hope. The pure in virtue and high in conduct, harboring surpassing talent, were pressed down and drowned; the men of means and pull walked up on clouds and vapor into office. The lord above was dim; the ministers below deceived; without forming a clique one could not get in; without competing one could not advance; the custom of betraying the public grew ever fiercer and the way of the upright thereupon broke. So the marsh quail borrowed the startled wind to mount the sky, and the rotten boat rode the swift wave at lightning speed; the simurgh and phoenix folded their six plumes among the thorny brush; the osprey-headed prow lay stranded in the standing water and could not be drawn out. The helpers who held the cords, the officers who shepherded the people, were all kin of the queen-mother or fawning men. Advancing, they had no loyal mending of faults and filling of gaps; retiring, they had no talent for hearing plaints. In empty talk their mouths breathed frost and ice; in their own conduct they were fouler than mire. They were not ashamed of the satire on idle salary, nor feared the calamity of bringing war; they wove slander and praise like silk, and sowed majesty and favor like grain. Their carriages and robes could outshine a man's gaze; in their great houses the birds flocked to roost. Their shouts were swifter than thunder; their fortunes and misfortunes quicker than ghosts and gods; their pull more toppling than a lord of state; their stores richer than the ducal house. Going out they were flanked by guards like Di Huang's; within they roamed beneath carved beams upon jade roots. Their servants made an army; behind closed doors they kept a market; their cattle and sheep hid the plains; their fields and ponds covered a thousand li. They had the thrift of fish for supper and washed furs, to steal the name of Zhao Xuan and Pingzhong; within they piled wealth like Tao Kan and Wenxin, while in truth they had the filth of Anchang, Dong, and Deng. Though a visiting guest got no kind word and a starving scholar no spoonful of relief, their halls were full of gold and jade, their chambers overflowing with singing girls and concubines; a thousand merchant barges, ten thousand rotting granaries; parks rivaling Shanglin, mansions topping the Supreme Pole; meat from the grain fed the dogs and horses, and heaped treasure sank in the vaults.

其接士也，無葭莩之薄；其自奉也，有盡理之厚。或有不開律令之篇卷，而竊大理之位；不識几案之所置，而處機要之職；不知五經之名目，而饗儒官之祿；不閒尺紙之寒暑，而坐著作之地。筆不狂簡，而受駁議之榮；低眉垂翼，而充奏劾之選；不辯人物之精粗，而委以品藻之政；不知三才之軍勢，而軒昂節蓋之下；屢為奔北之辱將，而不失前鋒之顯號；不別菠麥之同異，而忝叨顧問之近任。夫魚質龍文，似是而非，遭水而喜，見獺即悲，雖臨之以斧鋮之威，誘之以傾城之寶，猶不能奪鉛鋒於犀兕，聘駑蹇以追風，非不忌重誅也，非不悅美賞也，體不可力，無自奈何，而欲與之輯熙百揆，弘濟大務，猶托萬鈞於尺舟之上，求千鍾於升合之中，紲芻狗而責盧鵲之效，構雞駑而崇鷹揚之功，其不可用，亦較然矣！

In receiving gentlemen they had no feeling thin as a reed membrane; in keeping themselves they had thickness to the full extent of the possible. Some had never unrolled the scrolls of the statutes, yet stole the seat of chief justice; some could not tell where to set a desk, yet held the pivotal posts; some did not know the names of the Five Classics, yet enjoyed the stipends of the learned offices; some had never handled a foot of paper through cold and heat, yet sat in the place of composition. Their brushes never ran wild yet they basked in the glory of counter-opinions; drooping-browed and droop-winged they filled the roll of impeachment; unable to tell the fine from the coarse in men, they were entrusted with the work of grading; ignorant of the three powers of army formation, they strutted beneath the standards of command; repeatedly routed generals, they still kept the shining title of vanguard; unable to tell beans from wheat (the base text miswrites 'beans'), they usurped the near offices of counsel. Fish substance in dragon pattern, seeming yet not so: glad at the sight of water, grieving at the sight of the otter. Bring down on them the awe of the axe, tempt them with the treasure of a fallen city—still you cannot make a leaden point into rhinoceros steel, nor make a nag chase the wind. It is not that they do not dread heavy execution, nor that they do not delight in fine reward—it is that the frame cannot be changed by force; they have no help for it. To wish then to set them to harmonize the hundred offices and carry through the great work is like loading ten thousand jun on a foot-long boat, seeking a thousand zhong within a peck, tethering a straw dog and demanding the work of Lu and Que, rearing chickens and nags and exalting the merit of the soaring eagle—that they cannot be used is plain enough to see!

吳主不此之思，不加夕惕，佞諂凡庸，委以重任，危機急於弓廣弩，亡徵著於日月，而自謂安於峙嶽，唐虞可仰也。目力疲於綺粲，而不以覽庶事之得失；耳聰盡於淫音，而不以證獻言之邪正；谷帛靡於不爭，而不以賑戰士之凍餒；心神悅於愛媚，而不以念存亡之弘理。蓋輕乎崇替之源，而忽乎宗廟之重者也。

The lord of Wu gave no thought to these things and kept no evening vigilance; he charged the fawning and mediocre with weighty tasks, though the peril was as urgent as a drawn crossbow (the base text miswrites the character) and the signs of ruin stood out like the sun and moon—yet he fancied himself as firm as a towering peak, with Tang and Yu within sight. His eyes were worn out on brocade splendors, yet not used to read the gains and losses of the many affairs; his ears were spent on wanton music, yet not used to test the crooked and straight of counsel offered; grain and silk were lavished on what did not press (the base text miswrites the word), yet not used to relieve the soldiers' hunger and cold; his heart rejoiced in favorites and charmers, yet was not used to ponder the great principles of survival and ruin. This was to make light of the source of rise and fall and neglect the weight of the ancestral temples.

鄭君又稱，其師左先生隱居天柱，出不營祿利，不友諸侯，然心願太平，竊憂桑梓，乃慨然永嘆於蓬屋之下，告其門生曰：“漢必被耀，黃精載起，纘樞紐於太微，回紫蓋於鶉首。聯天理物，光宅東夏，惠風被於區外，玄澤洽乎宇內。重譯接武，貢楛盈庭，蕩蕩巍巍，格於上下，承平守文，因循甚易，而五絃謐響，南風不詠，上不獲恭己之逸，下不聞康哉之歌。飛龍翔而不集，淵虯蟠而不躍，騶虞翳於冥昧，朱華牙而未秀，陰陽相沴，寒燠繆節，七政告兇，陵谷易所，殷雷車訇磕。於龍潛之月，凝霜肅殺乎朱明之運。玉燭不照，沈醴不湧，郊聲多壘，嘉生不遂夫豈他哉誠由四凶不去，元凱不舉，用者不賢，賢者不用也。

Master Zheng also told how his own teacher, Master Zuo, lived in retirement on Mount Tianzhu; he came down from the mountain never seeking place or profit and made no friends among the lords, yet his heart longed for great peace and he grieved in secret for his homeland. So in his thatched hut he sighed long and told his disciples: "Han is sure to have its brightness eclipsed; the yellow essence is about to rise, taking up the pivot in the Grand Tenuity, and then turning the purple canopy round upon eastern Wu. Joining heaven's order and managing things, its light will dwell over eastern Xia; its kind winds will reach beyond the borders and its dark bounty soak all within. Envoys through double interpreters will tread on one another's heels, and ku arrows will fill the court in tribute; vast and towering, it will reach above and below. But to hold a level peace and keep to the letters, continuing what is easiest—yet the five strings will hush and the south wind go unsung; above, he will not gain the ease of reverent self; below, the song of health will not be heard. The flying dragon soars yet does not alight; the dragon of the deep coils yet does not leap; the zouyu is veiled in darkness; the vermilion flower sprouts yet does not bloom. Yin and yang war upon each other; cold and heat confuse their seasons; the seven governors foretell ill; hills and valleys change places; the rumbling thunder crashes and rolls. In the month when the dragon hides, congealing frost lays its killing on the course of the vermilion brightness. The jade candle does not shine; the sweet spring does not well; the fields are full of ramparts (the base text miswrites 'fields'); the good growth does not thrive. Is this for any other cause? It is truly because the Four Malefactors are not removed and the Yuan and Kai not raised; the men used are not the worthy, and the worthy are not used."

“然高概遠量，被褐懷玉，守靜潔志，無慾於物，藏路淵洿，得意遺世，非禮不動，非時不見，困而無悶，窮而不悔，樂天任命，混一榮辱，進無悅色，退無戚容者，固有伏死乎雍瓦牖，安肯沽炫以進趨，揭其不貲之寶，以競燕石之售哉！孔墨之道，昔曾不行，孟軻揚雄，亦居困否，有德無時，有自來耳。世無離朱，皂白混焉。時乏管青，騏蹇糅焉。礫積於金匱，瑾瑤委乎溝洫，匠石緬而遐淪，梓豫忽而莫識，已矣，悲夫！我生不辰，弗先弗後，將見吳土之化為晉哉，南民之變成北隸也。”言猶在耳，而孫氏輿櫬。

(Master Zuo went on:) 'Yet those of high bearing and far reach, wearing coarse wool and holding jade within, keeping stillness and a pure will, having no desires toward things, hiding their tracks in the deep pools, contented and leaving the world behind, never moving except by the rites, never appearing except in season, in straits without gloom, in want without regret, rejoicing in heaven and accepting fate, blending honor and disgrace into one, advancing without a pleased look, retiring without a grieved face—such men may indeed die hidden in a hut with a jar for a window (the base text reads "yong wa you," "yong wa" being an error for "weng"); how could they hawk and display themselves to press forward, bringing out that priceless treasure to compete in selling it as Yen stones! The way of Confucius and Mozi once did not prevail; Meng Ke and Yang Xiong also sat in straits. To have virtue without the time has been so from of old. When the world has no Lizhu, black and white run confused; when the age lacks a Guan Qing, the qiji and the worn nag are mingled. Gravel is heaped in the golden coffer; jasper and jade are cast into the ditches; the stone-mason has sunk far away; the catalpa and the yu go suddenly unrecognized—enough, how sad! I was born out of season, neither early nor late; I shall see the soil of Wu turned into Jin, the southern folk become northern slaves.' His words were still in my ears when the house of Sun had already brought out its coffin.

抱朴子聞之曰：二君之言，可為來戒。故錄於篇，欲後代知有吳失國，匪降自天也。若苟諱國惡，纖芥不貶，則董狐無貴於直筆，賈誼將受譏於過秦乎！

Baopuzi, hearing these things, said: The two lords' words may serve as a warning to later times. Therefore I have recorded them in this chapter, wishing posterity to know that Wu's loss of the state did not descend from heaven. If one carelessly conceals the state's evils and does not censure so much as a hair, then Donghu's straight brush has nothing left to be prized, and Jia Yi would be scorned for his Faulting of Qin!

抱朴子曰：餘友人有潛居先生者，慕寢丘之莫爭，簡塉土以葺宇，銳精藝文，意忽學稼，屢失有年，飢色在顏。或人難曰：“天知禮在廩實，施博由乎貨豐，高出於有餘，儉生乎不足。故十千美於詩人，食貨首乎八政。躬稼基克配之業，耦耕有不改之樂。奇士之居也，進則侶鴻鸞以振翮，退則叄陶白之理生，仕必霸王，居必千金，是以昔人必科膏壤以分利，勤四體以稼穡，播原菽之與與，茂嘉蔬之翼翼，收麰秬之千倉，積我庾之惟億，出連騎以遊畋，入侯服而玉食。而先王之宅此也，亢陽則出谷颺塵，重陰則滔天凌丘，陸無含秀之苗，水無吐穗之株，稗糲曠於圌廩，薪爨廢於庖廚。怡爾執待兔之志，坦然無去就之謨。吾恐首陽之事，必見於今；丹山之困，可立而須。人為子寒心，子何晏然而弗憂也夫睹機而不作，不可以言明，安土而不移，眾庶之常事，豈玩鮑者忘蘭，而大迷者易性乎！何先生未寤之久也鄙人惑焉，不識所謂。夫兗冕非御鋒鏑之服，典誥非救飢寒之具也。胡不視沃衍於四郊，躬田畯之良業，舍六藝之迂闊，收萬箱以賑乏乎”

Baopuzi said: Among my friends is Master Qianju, who admired that at Qinqiu no one contended, and chose poor soil on which to build his house. He is keen at letters and arts; his mind neglects the study of farming. Year after year he has missed his crop, and the look of hunger is on his face. Someone chided him, saying: 'You must know the rites depend on full granaries; wide giving comes of rich goods; the high grows out of surplus, frugality is born of want. So the beauty of ten thousand sheaves was seen by the poet, and food and goods head the eight tasks. Ploughing in person is the root of a work matching heaven; ploughing side by side holds a joy that does not alter. Where a remarkable man dwells: advancing, he companions the swan and the simurgh and beats his wings; retiring, he joins the husbandry-of-life of Tao Zhu and Bai Gui; in office he surely aids the work of hegemon and king; at home he surely holds a thousand gold. Thus the men of old always chose rich soil to share the profit, toiled their four limbs at sowing and reaping, sowed the thick-standing beans of the plain, grew the close-ranked fine greens, reaped a thousand stores of barley and dark millet, stacked my granaries by the hundred million; going out they rode in file to hunt, coming in they wore a marquis's garb and ate on jade. But you, sir, dwell here (the base text reads "xian wang," "wang" being an error for "sheng"): in blazing sun the valleys spew up dust, in long rain the floods top the hills; on land no seedling bears a flower, on water no stem puts forth an ear; tares and husks empty your granaries, firewood and cooking cease in your kitchen. Cheerful, you cling to the stump-watcher's resolve; easy, you have no plan of staying or going. I fear the affair of Shouyang is sure to be seen today, and the straits of Danshan can be stood and awaited. Men shiver for you—why are you so calm and unworried? To see the moment and not act cannot be called clear; to rest in the soil and not move is the way of the common crowd—have those who play with abalone forgotten the orchid, have the greatly deluded changed their nature! Why have you been so long unawakened, sir? I am perplexed and do not know what to make of it. A ceremonial cap is no garb to fend off blade and arrow; canon and code are no tool to cure hunger and cold. Why not look at the rich fields beyond the walls, do the field-officer's good work yourself, set aside the far-ranging Six Arts, and gather ten thousand bins to relieve your want?'

潛居先生曰：“夫聵者不可督之以分雅鄭，瞽者不可責之以別丹漆，井蛙不可語以滄海，庸俗不可說以經術。吾子苟知老農之小功，未喻面牆之巨拙，何異拾瑣沙而捐隋和，向炯燭而背白日也。夫好尚不可以一概杚，趨舍不可以彼我易也。夫欲隮閬風陟嵩華者，必不留行於丘垤；意在乎遊南溟，泛滄滄海者，豈暇逍遙於潢洿。是以注清聽於九韶者，巴人之聲不能悅其耳；烹大牢饗方丈者，荼蓼之味不能甘其口。鵾鵬戾赤霄以高翔，鶺鴒傲蓬林以鼓翼，洿隆殊途，亦飛之極。晦朔甚促，朝菌不識。蜉蝣忽忽於寸陰，野馬六月而後息，鰷鮒氾濫以暴鱗，靈虯勿用乎不測，行業乖舛，意何可得。餘雖草梨餐之不充，而足於鼎食矣。

Master Qianju said: 'A deaf man cannot be charged with telling Ya from Zheng; a blind man cannot be asked to tell cinnabar from lacquer; a frog in a well cannot be told of the gray sea; the vulgar cannot be spoken to of the arts of the classics. You know only the small merit of the old farmer, and have not grasped the great clumsiness of facing the wall—how does it differ from picking up pebbles and dropping the Marquis of Sui's pearl and Bian He's jade, from facing a bright candle with your back to the white sun? Taste cannot be scraped level to a single mark; coming and going cannot be traded between you and me. One who would climb the Langfeng and mount Song and Hua surely does not linger his steps on a molehill; one whose aim is to roam the southern deeps and float the gray sea—where would he find leisure to idle in a ditch-pool? Thus one who pours his clear hearing into the Nine Shao—the songs of the Ba folk cannot please his ear; one who feasts on tailao and tables of ten spans—the taste of bitter herbs cannot be sweet to his mouth. The kun and the peng rise to the red sky and soar on high; the wagtail flaps its wings in smugness in the bramble wood; the hollow and the height are different roads, yet each is the utmost of flight. Dawn and dark come close together—the morning fungus does not know them. The mayfly flits through an inch of light; the wild steed rests only after six months; the minnow sprawls its scales in the shallows; the numinous dragon finds no use in the unfathomable; trades and callings conflict—how can their intents be had? Though my fare of goosefoot does not fill me (the base text reads "cao li can," "cao li" being an error for "li"), toward the tripod-feast I am already full.'

故列子不以其乏，而貪鄭陽之祿，曾叄不以其貧，而易晉楚之富。“夫收微言於將墜者，周孔之遐武也，情孳孳以為利者，孟叟之罪人也。造遠者莫能兼通於岐路，有為者莫能並舉於耕學，體瘁而神豫，亦何病於居約且又處塉則勞，勞則不學清而清至矣。居沃則逸，逸則不學奢而奢來矣。清者，福之所集也；奢者，禍之所赴也。福集，則雖微可著，雖衰可興焉；禍赴，則雖強可弱，雖存可亡焉。此不期而必會，不招而自來者也。故君子欲正其末，必端其本；欲輟其流，則遏其源。故道德之功建，而侈靡之門閉矣。姜望至德而佃不復種，重華大聖而漁不償網，然後玉璜表營丘之祚，大功有二十之高，何必譏之以惰懶，而察才以相士乎！夫二人分財，取少為廉，餘今讓天下之豐沃，處茲邦之偏埆，舍安昌之膏腴，取北郭之無慾，誠萬物之可細，亦何往而不足哉！北辰以不改為眾星之尊，五嶽以不遷為群望之宗。蟋蟀屢移而不貴，禽魚饜深則逢患。方將墾九典之蕪草歲，播六德之嘉穀，厥田邈於上士之科，其收盈乎天地之間。何必耕耘為務哉！昔被衣以棄財止盜，庚氏以推譬厲貪，琉廣散金以除子孫之禍，叔敖取塉以弭可欲之憂，牛缺以載珍致寇，陶谷以多藏召殃。得失較然，可無鑑乎！”

(Master Qianju went on:) 'Thus Liezi did not, for his want, covet the emolument of Zhengyang; Zengshen did not, for his poverty (the base text reads "Zengsan," "san" being an error for "shen"), trade for the wealth of Jin and Chu. To gather the subtle words of what is about to fall—that is the far track of Zhou and Confucius; a heart busy for profit—that is the criminal of old Meng. One bound far cannot ride both forks of the road; a man of doing cannot join ploughing and learning. The body may be worn yet the spirit at ease—what ill is there in dwelling poor? Moreover, dwelling on poor soil one toils, and toiling, without learning purity, purity arrives of itself; dwelling on rich soil one idles, and idling, without learning luxury, luxury comes of itself. Purity is where blessing gathers; luxury is where calamity heads. When blessing gathers, even the slight may show, even the fading may rise; when calamity heads, even the strong may weaken, even the standing may fall. This comes without summons and meets without appointment. So the noble man, wishing to set his branches right, must set his root straight; wishing to stop the stream, dams its source. Thus the work of the Way and virtue is established and the gate of waste and luxury is shut. Jiang Wang had utmost virtue and tilled a field he did not replant; Chonghua had great holiness and fished where the net was not repaid—and then the jade huang showed the fief of Yingqiu and the great merit stood twenty high—why fault him as idle, or spy out talent in a physiognomist! When two men divide goods, he who takes the less is clean; now I yield the rich and fertile of the whole world and dwell in the far corner of this land, leave the fertile fields of Anchang and take the desireless of the northern wall—truly I feel the myriad things can all be seen as small; whither would I go and not have enough? The northern pole, by not changing, is honored of the many stars; the five peaks, by not moving, are heads of all the peaks. The cricket moves often and is not prized; fowl and fish, sated in the deep, meet with harm. Now I must clear the weeds from the Nine Canons and sow the fine grain of the Six Virtues—that field is farther than the upper officer's allotment, and its harvest fills the space between heaven and earth—why should I busy myself with ploughing and weeding! Of old, Bei Yi stopped robbery by casting off wealth; Master Geng curbed greed by giving away the jade (the base text reads "tui pi," "pi" being an error for "bi"); Shu Guang scattered his gold to avert his sons' and grandsons' calamity (the base text reads "Liu Guang," "liu" being an error for "shu"); Shu'ao took the poor plot to melt the worry of the desirable; Niu Que drew robbers by carrying treasure; Tao Zhu called down calamity by hoarding much (the base text reads "Tao Gu," likely "Tao Zhu"). The reckoning of gain and loss stands plain—can one not take warning!'

於是問者抑然，良久口張而不能嗑，首俯而不能仰。慨而嗟乎，始悟立不朽之言者，不以產業汨和，追下帷之績者，不以窺園涓目。子以臭雛之甘呼鴛鳳，擗蟹之計要猛虎，豈不陋乎！鄙哉，子之不夙知也！

Then the questioner shrank; for a long while his mouth hung open and would not close, his head bent and would not rise. Sighing deeply, he first awoke: a man who sets down words that do not rot does not muddy his concord with property; a man who pursues the work behind the lowered curtain does not thin his eyes by peeping at gardens. You would call the simurgh with the sweetness of a stinking chick, and bargain with a fierce tiger by the reckoning of splitting crabs—is that not mean! Crude man—you did not know it sooner!

抱朴子曰：昔漢火寢耀，龍戰虎爭，九有幅裂，三家鼎據。有樂天先生者，避地蓬轉，播流岷益，始處暱於文休，末見知於孔明。而言高行方，獨立不群，時人憚焉，莫之或與。時二公之力，不能違眾，遂令斯生沈抑衡蓽，齒漸桑榆，而韋布不改。而時主思賢，不聞不知；當途之士，莫舉莫貢。潛側武之陋巷，竄繩樞之蓬屋，進廢經世之務，退忘治生之車，草梨餐屢空，朝不謀夕。

Baopuzi said: In former days, when the fire of Han slept its blaze and dragons warred and tigers strove, the nine provinces split like cloth and three houses stood as a tripod. There was Master Letian, who fled the land like a tumbleweed's turn and drifted to Min and Yi; at first he was close with Wenxiu, at last he was known and used by Kongming. Yet his speech was lofty and his conduct square; standing alone, companionless, the men of the time feared him and none kept company with him. Then the two lords' strength could not go against the crowd, so this gentleman was pressed down beneath a beam-gate and a wicker door; as the years drew toward sunset he did not change his plain cloth. Though the lord of the time thought on worthies, he neither heard nor knew of him; the officers on the road neither raised nor presented him. Hidden in a mean lane like Yan's and Yuan's, crouched in a thatch hut with a cord for a hinge, advancing he left off the work of ordering the age, retiring he forgot the cart of husbanding life; his fare of goosefoot was often empty (the base text reads "cao li," an error for "li"), and in the morning he did not plan for the evening.

於是偶俗公子造而詰之，曰：’蓋聞有伊呂之才者，不久滯於窮賤；懷猗頓之術者，不長處於飢寒。達者貴其知變，智士驗乎不匱。故範生出則滅吳霸越，為命世之佐；入則貨殖營生，累萬金之貲。天貧在六極，富在五福，《詩》美加可矣，

Then a worldly-minded young lord came to his gate and challenged him, saying: 'I have heard that one who has the gifts of an Yi or a Lü does not long stagnate in poor and lowly estate, and that one who holds the art of Yidun does not long stay in hunger and cold. The accomplished prize a man for knowing change; the wise officer is proved by not running short. So Master Fan, going out, destroyed Wu and made Yue lord, becoming the aid of an age-making work; coming in, he dealt in goods and ran his living, amassing a fortune of ten thousand gold. Heaven places poverty among the six extremities and wealth among the five blessings; the Odes praise added meals,'

《易》貴聚人，垂餌香則鱔鮪來，懸賞厚則果毅奮，長卿所以解犢鼻而擁朱旄，曲逆所以下席扉而享茅土，不韋所以食十萬之邑，張侯所以拔囹圄之困也。故下鄉儉而獲悔咎之辰，漂嫗豐而蒙千金之報。先生無少伯之奇略，專銳思乎六經，忽絕米長之實禍，慕不朽之虛名，恥詭遇以干祿，羞炫沽以要榮，冀西伯之畋，俟黃河之將清。甘列子之菜色，邈全神而遺形，何異圖畫騏驥，以代徒行之勞；遙指海水，以解口焦之渴；張魚網於峻極之巔；施鈞緡於修木之末；雖自以為得所，猶未免乎迂闊也。事無身後之功，物無違時之盛。今海內瓜分，英雄力競，象恭滔天，猾夏放命，駑蹇星馳以兼路，豺狼奮口而交爭。當途投袂以訟屈，素士蒙塵以履徑，純儒釋皇道而治五霸之術，碩生棄四科而恤月旦之評。筐篚實者，進於草萊；乏資地者，退於朝廷；握黃白者，排金門而陟玉堂，誦方策者，結世讎而委泥濘；贄幣濃者，瓦石成珪璋；請託薄者，龍駿棄林垧；黨援多者，偕驚飈以凌雲；交結狹者，侶踴鱉以沈泳。

(the young lord went on:) 'the Changes prizes gathering men. When the trailing bait is fragrant, the eel and the sturgeon come; when the offered reward is rich, the bold and resolute rise. This is why Changqing cast off the calf-nose apron and embraced the vermilion feathers; why Quni left the rush-mat hut and enjoyed fiefed earth; why Büwei ate a city of a hundred thousand; why the marquis Zhang was pulled out of the straits of the gaol. So the village's thrift won the hour of regret, and the washerwoman's plenty received a thousand gold in return. You, sir, lack Shaobo's rare designs; you whet your thoughts solely on the Six Classics, ignoring the real calamity of having no grain, coveting the empty name of not rotting, ashamed to meet by crooked ways to seek a salary, blushing to hawk for honor; you hope for Xibo's hunt, waiting for the Yellow River to clear. Content with Liezi's hungry hue, aloof, keeping the spirit whole and leaving the form behind—how does it differ from drawing a qiji to spare the labor of walking, pointing afar at sea-water to ease a parched thirst, stretching a fish-net at the sheer summit, or laying a fishing-line at a tall tree's tip? Though you may think yourself well placed, it is still nothing but far-fetched. No deed has merit behind one's back; no thing flourishes against the time. Now all within the seas is carved apart; heroes vie in strength; mask-like reverence floods the sky; the crafty trouble the Xia lands and fling orders about; the worn nags speed like stars along the roads; jackals and wolves bare their fangs and fight across one another. Those in office fling up their sleeves to plead the wronged; plain scholars trail in dust to run the back-lanes; pure Ru set aside the august way to ply the five hegemons' arts; great scholars cast off the four disciplines to fret over the month's appraisals. He whose baskets are full is advanced out of the weeds; he who lacks means and standing is dismissed from the court; he who grasps gold and silver pushes through the golden gate to mount the jade hall; he who recites the slips and tablets gathers lifelong enmity and is cast in the mud; he whose gift-silks are thick—tile and stone turn to jade and scepter; he whose pleading is thin—the dragon-steed is cast off in the waste; he whose partisans are many mounts the gale to ride the clouds; he whose friendships are narrow companions the leaping turtle to sink and swim.'

夫丸泥已不能遏彭蠡之沸騰，獨賢亦焉能反流遁之失正今先生入無儋石之儲，出無束脩之調。徒含章如龍鳳，被文如虎豹，吐之如波濤，陳之如錦繡，而凍餓於環堵，何計疏之可吊奚不泛輕舟以托迅，御飛帆以遠之。交瑰貨於朔南，收金碧於九疑。迪崔烈之遐武，縻好爵於清時徒疲勞於述作，豈蟬蛻之有期也獨苦身以為名，乃黃老之所蚩也！”

(the young lord went on:) 'A ball of mud can no longer dam Pengli's boiling; how can one lone worthy turn back the drift and loss of right? Now you, sir, at home have not a bushel's store, abroad not a bundle-of-dried-meat's fee. You hold a pattern within like dragon and phoenix, wear a sheen like tiger and leopard, breathe out like billows, lay out like brocade—yet freeze and starve within your ring of walls; how far your plans fall short—worthy of tears! Why not float a light boat to ride the swift current, drive a flying sail to go far, trade rare goods in south and north, gather gold and jade at Jiuyi? Follow the far tracks of Cui Lie; tether a fine title in a clear age. To toil only at composing—the cicada's shedding has no fixed date. Alone you torment your body for a name—this is what Huang-Lao laughs at!'

樂天先生答曰：“六藝備研，八索必該。斯則富矣，振翰摛藻，德音無窮，斯則貴矣。求仁仁至，舍旃焉如。夫棲重淵以頤靈，外萬物而自得，遺紛埃於險途，澄精神於玄默。不窺牖以遐覽，判微言而靡惑。雖復設之以臺鼎，猶確爾而弗革也。曷肯憂貧而與賈豎爭利，戚窮而與凡瑣競達哉！吾子苟知商販可以崇寶，耕也可以免飢，不識逐麋者不顧兔，道遠者其到遲也。且夫尚父之鼓刀，素首乃吐奇也；萬鈞之為重，沖飈不能移；簫韶未九成，靈鳥紆儀也。是以俟扶搖而登蒼霄者，不棄詘於蓬蒿之杪；騁蘭筋以陟六萬者，不爭途乎蹇驢之群。大孝必畏辱親之險，故子春戰悸於下堂；上智不貴難得之財，故唐虞捐金而抵譬。明哲消禍於未來，知士聞利則慮害，而吾子言凡僕以泛舟，孳孳於潤屋，勸隋珠之彈雀，控虎口以奪肉，輕遺體於不測，觸重險以遠至，忘髮膚之明戒，尋乾沒於難冀。若夫焚輸傾巖，木拔石飛，陽侯山峙，洪濤山罪巍，輕艘塵漂，力與心違，從嗟泣而罔逮，乃悟達者之見微也。

Master Letian answered: 'The Six Arts prepared and studied, the Eight Suos surely complete—this is wealth; to spread the quill and scatter the ornament, the sound of virtue without end—this is honor. Seek humaneness and humaneness comes—leave this and whither would one go? To lodge in the deep abyss and nourish the numen, to set the myriad things outside and be content in oneself, to cast off the turmoil upon the steep road, to settle the spirit in the dark silence; without peeping through the window, to see far; to discern subtle words unconfused. Though they set me up again with the tripod-thrones, I would stay firm and unchanging. How could I grieve at poverty and wrangle over profit with petty traders, sorrow at want and contest advancement with the common and mean! You know only that trading can exalt treasure and ploughing can spare hunger; you do not know that one chasing an elk does not mind a hare, and one whose road is long arrives late. Moreover, the Lord-on-high drummed the knife and only in white-haired age uttered the rare; a weight of ten thousand jun—the gale cannot move it; the xiao and shao not yet in nine parts, and the numinous bird turned back to grace it. So one who waits for the whirlwind to mount the blue sky does not cast himself off for the bent tip of a weed; one who gallops on orchid-sinews to mount the six directions does not wrangle for the road with a herd of lame donkeys. Great filiality must fear the risk of shaming the parent—so Zichun trembled on leaving the hall; highest wisdom does not prize hard-won goods—so Tang-Yu threw away the gold and cast aside the jade (the base text reads "di pi," "pi" being an error for "bi"). The clear and wise extinguish calamity before it forms; the knowing officer hears profit and thinks of harm—yet you teach me to float a boat and busy myself at fattening a house, urge me to take a Sui pearl to shoot at sparrows, reach into a tiger's mouth to snatch its meat, fling the body my father and mother left me into the unfathomable, brave the deep perils to arrive afar, forget the bright warning of hair and skin, and chase luck in what can hardly be hoped. As for the whirlwind toppling cliffs, trees torn up and stones flying, the earl of the waves standing mountain-high, the towering flood-waves (the base text's graphs are corrupt here)—the light skiff drifts like dust, strength and will at odds, and then the sighs and tears come too late—only then does one awake to see that the far-seeing man knows the first sign.'

“昔回憲以清苦稱高，陳平以無金免危，廣漢以好利喪身，牛缺以載寶灰糜。匹夫枉死於懷璧，豐狐召災於美皮。今吾子督餘以誨盜之業，敦餘以召賊之策，進鴆酒以獻酬，慧養壽之忠益。夫士以三墳為金玉，五典為琴箏，講肄為鍾鼓，百家為笙簧，使味道者以辭飽，酣德者以義醒，超流俗以高蹈，軼億代以揚聲，方長驅以獨往，何貨賄之穢情。夫藏多者亡厚，好謙者忌盈，含夜光者速剖，循覆車者必傾，過載者沈其舟，欲勝者殺其生。蓋下士所用心，上德所未營也。”於是問者蕩然自失，請備門生之末編，永寶長生之良方焉。

(Master Letian went on:) 'Of old Yan Hui and Yuan Xian were called lofty for their clear hardship; Chen Ping escaped danger for having no gold; Guanghan lost his body for loving gain; Niu Que was ground to dust for carrying treasure. The common man dies wrongly for holding the jade; the rich-coated fox draws calamity for its fine hide. Now you press me to ply the trade of teaching robbery, urge me to use the ploy of summoning thieves, proffer the wine of the zhen as a toast—yet think it the loyal benefit of nourishing my years (the base text reads "hui," an error for "hui"). The officer holds the Three Mounds for gold and jade, the Five Canons for lute and zither, discoursing and practicing for bells and drums, the hundred schools for reed and flute; he lets those who taste the Way grow full on phrases, and those who drink deep of virtue wake upon rightness; he strides beyond the common current on high, outruns a hundred million ages to lift his voice; now he must drive on far and alone—what are the foul feelings of goods and bribes to him! Who stores much loses thick; who loves humility dreads the full; who holds the night-gleam is quickly cut open; who follows the overturned cart must overturn; who overloads sinks his boat; who lets desire win kills his life. This is roughly the heart the low officer uses, and what the highest virtue never worked at.' Then the questioner, shaken and lost, begged to be listed last among the disciples and to treasure forever this good recipe for long life.

抱朴子曰：門人共論仁明之先後，各據所見，乃以諮餘。餘告之曰：“三光華象者乾也，厚載無窮者坤也，乾有仁而兼明，坤有仁而無明。卑高之數，不以邈乎！夫唯聖人，與天合德。故唐堯以欽明冠典，仲尼以明義首篇。明明在上，元首之尊稱也。明哲保身，大雅之絕蹤也。蟲口月飛蠕動，亦能有仁。故其意愛弘於長育，哀傷著於啁噍。然赴坑阱而無猜，入罻羅而不覺。有仁無明，故並趨禍而攸失熾，潛景以易咀生，結棟宇以免巢穴，選禾稼以代毒烈，製衣裳以改裸飾。後舟楫以濟不通，服牛馬以息負步，序等威以鎮禍亂，造器械以戒不虞，創書契以治百官，制禮律以肅風教，皆大明之所為，非偏人之所能辯也。

Baopuzi said: My disciples once debated together whether humaneness or discernment comes first, each holding to what he saw, and so they came to ask me. I told them: 'What displays the three lights is Qian; what bears thick without end is Kun. Qian has humaneness and discernment together; Kun has humaneness and no discernment. The measure of low and high—is it not very far! Only the sage joins in virtue with heaven. Thus Tang Yao headed the canon with reverent discernment, and Zhongni made the discerning of rightness his first chapter. Bright on high is the honored title of the head; discerning to keep oneself whole is the lost track of the Greater Odes. Even crawling, wriggling things (the base text's graphs are corrupt; read as "ruan") can have humaneness. So their care is broad in rearing, and their grief shows in their cries; yet they rush to the pitfall without doubt and enter the net-works unaware. Having humaneness without discernment, they run to ruin together. [A passage in the base text is corrupt and lost; it is recorded here awaiting collation.] They built roof-beams to leave the nest and cave behind, chose the grains to replace the venomous, made clothes to put off nakedness. Later they made boats to cross the impassable, yoked oxen and horses to ease burdens on foot, ordered ranks of awe to quell calamity and disorder, fashioned tools to guard against the unforeseen, created written tallies to order the hundred offices, and made rites and laws to solemnize custom and teaching—all this is the work of great discernment, not anything a one-sided man could manage.'