Bao Pu Zi Wai Pian (抱朴子外篇) · Volume 9

抱朴子曰：志合者不以山海為遠，道乖者不以咫尺為近。故有跋涉而遊集，亦或密邇而不接。

Baopuzi said: Men whose wills join do not count mountains and seas far; men whose ways part do not count a foot near. Thus there are those who come across the wilds to gather, and there are those close at hand who never meet.

抱朴子曰：華袞粲爛，非只色之功；嵩岱之峻，非一簣之積。故九子任而康凝之績熙，四七授而佐命之勳著。

Baopuzi said: The dragon robe's blaze is not the work of a single color; the steepness of Song and Dai is not the heap of a single basket. Thus the nine sons taking office made the work of welfare bright, and the forty-seven giving their lives made the merit of aid manifest.

抱朴子曰：翠虯無翅而天飛；螣蛇無足而電鶩，鱉無耳而關頭善聞，蚓無口而揚聲。故皋繇喑而與辯者同功，晉野瞽而與離朱齊明。

Baopuzi said: The green dragon has no wings yet flies the sky; the teng snake has no feet yet races the lightning; the turtle has no ears yet hears well; the earthworm has no mouth yet lifts its voice. Thus Gaoyao, dumb of mouth, did the same work as the eloquent; Jin Ye, blind of eye, matched Lizhu in sight.

抱朴子曰：官達者才未必當其位，譽美者實未必副其名。故鋸齒不能咀嚼，箕舌不能別味，壺耳不能理音，屍彳喬鼻不能識氣，釜目不能扌盧望舒之景，床足不能有尋常之逝。

Baopuzi said: The man risen in office does not always have talent equal to his place; the man fair in fame does not always have substance matching his name. So saw-teeth cannot chew, a winnowing-basket's tongue cannot tell flavors, a pot's ears cannot order music, a (the base text here is corrupt) cannot scent the air, a cauldron's eyes cannot behold the moon's light, and a bed's feet cannot walk an ordinary pace.

抱朴子曰：路人不能挽勁命中而識養由之射，顏子不能控轡振策而知東野之敗。故有不能下棋而經目識勝負，不能徽弦而過耳解鄭雅者。

Baopuzi said: A passerby cannot bend the strong bow and hit the mark, yet can recognize Yang Youji's shooting; Yanzi cannot hold reins and ply the whip, yet knew Dongye's failure at driving. So there are those who cannot play chess yet at a glance know victory and defeat, and those who cannot tune a string yet in one hearing can tell the airs of Zheng from the correct music.

抱朴子曰：垂蔭萬畝者，必出峻極之嶺；滔天襄陵者，必發板桐之源。邈世之勳，必由絕倫之器；定傾之算，必吐冠俗之懷。是以蟲焦螟之巢，無乘風之羽；溝澮之中，無宵朗之琦。

Baopuzi said: What casts shade over ten thousand mu is sure to come out of a sky-high ridge; what floods to the sky and mounts the hills is sure to spring from Bantong's source. Merit that transcends the age is sure to come from capacity beyond compare; plans that settle the toppling are sure to be uttered by a breast above the crowd. Therefore the midge's nest (the base text has a stray radical remnant) holds no wind-riding plumes, and within ditches and channels there is no night-shining jade.

抱朴子曰：沖飈焚輪，原火所以增熾也，而螢燭值之而反滅；甘雨膏澤，嘉生所以繁榮也，而枯木得之以速朽；朱輪華轂，俊民之大寶也，而負乘竊之而召禍；鼎食萬鍾，宣力之弘報也，而近才授之以覆食束。

Baopuzi said: The whirlwind and burning wheel are what make the wildfire blaze, yet the firefly's spark meeting it is extinguished instead; the sweet rain and rich moisture are what make the good growth flourish, yet the dead tree getting it rots the sooner; the red wheel and painted hub are the grand treasure of eminent men, yet those who ride above their station steal them and summon ruin; tripod feasts of ten thousand zhong are the great reward for spending strength, yet the near-talented receiving them spill the stew (the base text miswrites 'stew').

抱朴子曰：屠犀為甲，給乎專征之服，裂翠為華，集乎后妃之首，雖出幽谷，遷於喬木，然為二物之計，未若棲竄於林薄，攝生乎榛藪也。故靈龜寧曳尾於塗中，而不願巾笥之寶；澤雉樂十步之啄，以違雞鶩之禍。

Baopuzi said: Butchered for armor, the rhinoceros furnishes the vestments of sole command; rent for ornaments, the kingfisher is gathered on the empress's brow: though they came out of the hidden valley and moved to the tall trees, yet for these two creatures' own sakes it would be better to lurk and burrow in the thickets and keep life in the brambly marsh. So the spirit tortoise would rather drag its tail in the mud than be a treasure in a cloth box, and the marsh pheasant is glad to peck once in ten paces to escape the calamity of barnyard fowl.

抱朴子曰：偏才不足以經周用，只長不足以濟眾短。是以雞知將旦，不能究陰陽之歷數；鵠識夜半，不能極晷景之道度；山鳩知晴雨於將來，不能明天文；蛇蟲豈知潛泉之所居，不能達地理。

Baopuzi said: A partial talent cannot compass all uses; a single strong point cannot supply the many lacks. So the cock knows the coming dawn yet cannot fathom the count of yin and yang; the swan knows midnight yet cannot carry the measure of the sundial; the mountain dove knows the rain and shine to come yet cannot make out the patterns of heaven; snakes and ants know where the hidden springs lie (the base text miswrites 'ants'), yet cannot reach the order of the earth.

抱朴子曰：禁令不明，而嚴刑以靜亂；廟算不精，而窮兵以侵鄰。猶釤禾以討蝗蟲，伐木以殺蠹蠍，食毒以中蚤蝨，徹舍以逐雀鼠也。

Baopuzi said: To still disorder with stern punishments while the prohibitions are unclear, and to press troops to invade neighbors while the temple reckoning is imprecise, is like mowing the grain to rout locusts, felling the tree to kill borers, swallowing poison to poison fleas, and pulling down the house to drive out sparrows and rats.

抱朴子曰：銳鋒產乎鈍石，明火熾乎暗木，貴珠出乎賤蚌，美玉出乎醜璞。是以不可以父母限重華，不可以祖禰量衛霍也。

Baopuzi said: The keen edge is born from a blunt stone; the bright flame blazes from dark wood; the precious pearl comes out of a lowly mussel; the fine jade issues from an ugly rough. So one cannot bound Chonghua by his forebears, nor measure Wei and Huo by their ancestors.

抱朴子曰：志得則顏怡，意失則容戚。本朽則末枯，源淺則流促。有諸中者必形乎表，發乎邇者必著乎遠。

Baopuzi said: When the will is gained the face is glad; when the intent fails the countenance is grieved. When the root rots the tip withers; when the source is shallow the stream is short. What is held within is sure to take shape without; what issues from near is sure to show far.

抱朴子曰：妍姿媚貌，形色不齊，而悅情可均；絲竹金石，五聲詭韻，而快耳不異；繳飛鉤沈，罾舉罝抑，而有獲同功；樹勳立言，出處殊途，而所貴一致。

Baopuzi said: Lovely figures and charming faces differ in form and hue, yet can please the heart alike; strings and pipes, metal and stone have unlike cadences, yet gladden the ear without difference. Shooting up and hooking down, lifting the net and setting the snare, they take the catch in equal work; planting merit and setting down words, by office or retirement on different roads, what they prize comes to one.

抱朴子曰：利豐者害厚，質美者召災。是以南禽殲於藻羽，穴豹死於文皮，鱣鯉積而玄淵涸，麋鹿聚而繁林焚，金玉崇而寇盜至，名位高而憂責集。

Baopuzi said: Where the profit is rich the harm is thick; where the substance is fine disaster is summoned. So the southern bird is slain for its bright plumes, the burrowed leopard dies for its patterned skin; when sturgeon heap the dark deep dries up, when elk gather the rich forest burns; when gold and jade mount high the robbers arrive, when name and rank rise cares and charges gather.

抱朴子曰：商風宵肅則絺扇廢，登危陟峻則輕舟棄，干戈雲擾則文儒退，喪亂既平則武夫黜。

Baopuzi said: When the autumn wind kills by night the fine fans are put away; when one mounts the steep the light boat is abandoned; when shield and spear swarm like clouds the civil scholar withdraws; when ruin and disorder are past the man of war is dismissed.

抱朴子曰：價直萬金者，不待見其物而好惡可別矣；條枝連抱者，不俟圍其木而鉅細可論矣。故望洪濤之滔天，則知其不起乎潢汙之中矣；觀翰草之汪濊，則知其不出乎章句之徒矣。

Baopuzi said: For what is worth ten thousand gold, one need not see the thing itself to tell good from bad; for a bough filling two arms' span, one need not measure the tree to speak of great and small. So seeing the great billows flood to heaven, one knows they did not rise from standing pools; reading brushwork vast and deep, one knows it did not come from a man of mere chapter-and-verse.

抱朴子曰：丹華綠草，不拘於曲瘁之株；紫芝芳秀，不限於斥鹵之壤。是以受玄珪以告成者，生於四罪之門；承歷數於文祖者，出於頑囂之家。

Baopuzi said: Cinnabar blooms and green grass are not bound by twisted, withered stalks; the purple mushroom flowers fair and is not fenced in by salt-licked soil. So the man who received the dark scepter and announced completion was born in the house of one of the four criminals; the man who received the succession at the ancestral shrine came of an obstinate and unruly house.

抱朴子曰：善言居室，則靡遠不應；枉直不中，則無近不離。是以宋野有退舍之熒惑；殷朝有外奔之暱屬。四環至自少廣之表，鹿馬變於蕭牆之裡。

Baopuzi said: When good words issue from within the chamber, there is none so far it does not answer; when bent and straight do not hit the mark, there is none so near it does not depart. So for Song there was the planet Mars that fell back from its station; for Yin there were the favorites who fled abroad. The four rings came from beyond Shaoguang; the deer became a horse within the screen wall.

抱朴子曰：荊卿朱亥，不示勇於怯弱之間；孟賁馮婦，不奮戈戟於俚俠之群。英儒碩生，不飾細辯於淺近之徒；達人偉士，不變日交察於流俗之中。

Baopuzi said: Jing Ke and Zhu Hai did not show their courage among the faint and weak; Meng Ben and Feng Fu did not flourish halberds amid vulgar bravos. Eminent Confucians and great scholars do not dress up petty quibbles before shallow men; the accomplished and the great do not alter their daily bearing amid the common herd.

抱朴子曰：盤旋揖讓，非禦寇之容；摜甲纓胄，非廟堂之飾。垂紳振佩，不可以揮刃爭鋒；規行矩步，不可以救火拯溺。

Baopuzi said: Wheeling bows and yielding ceremony are not the bearing for facing a foe; donning armor and corded helmet is not the ornament for the ancestral hall. Dangling sash and sounding pendants cannot wield the blade and fight for the point; rule-walking and square-stepping cannot run to a fire or rescue the drowning.

抱朴子曰：乾坤陶育，而庶物不識其惠者，由乎其益無方也；大人神化，而群細不覺其施者，由乎治之於未有也。故可知者小也，易料者少也。

Baopuzi said: Heaven and earth mold and nurture, yet the many things do not know their kindness, because their benefit has no fixed quarter; the great man works his spirit-transformation, yet the mass of the small do not feel his giving, because the governing was done before there was anything to govern. So what can be known is small; what can be reckoned is little.

抱朴子曰：娥英任姒，不以蠶織為首稱，湯武漢高，不以細行招近譽。故澄視於三辰者，不遑紆鑑於井谷；清聽於韶濩者，豈暇垂耳於桑間。

Baopuzi said: Ehuang, Nüying, Tairen, and Taisi were not first praised for sericulture and weaving; Tang, Wu, and the High Ancestor did not draw near praise by petty conduct. So he who gazes clearly at the three luminaries has no leisure to bend his mirror down to wells and valleys; he who listens purely to the Shao and Hu has no idle moment to bend an ear to the songs of Sangjian.

抱朴子曰：膚表或不可以論中，望貌或不可以核能。仲尼似喪家之狗，公旦類樸斫之材，咎繇面如蒙倛，伊尹形若槁骸，及龍陽宋朝，猶土偶之冠夜光，藉孺董鄧，猶錦紈之裹塵埃也。

Baopuzi said: The outer skin sometimes cannot judge the inside; the look of a face sometimes cannot test the talent. Confucius looked like a dog from a house of mourning; the Duke of Zhou looked like rough-hewn timber; Gao Yao's face looked like an exorcist's mask; Yi Yin's frame looked like dried bones. Longyang and Song Chao, by contrast, were clay dolls wearing night-gleaming pearls; Jiru, Dong Xian, and Deng Tong were brocade wrapping dust.

抱朴子曰：勳華不能化下愚，故教不行於子弟；辛癸不能改上智，故惡不染於三仁。

Baopuzi said: Xun and Hua could not transform the lowest fools—so teaching cannot work upon sons and younger brothers; Xin and Gui could not alter the highest wisdom—so evil could not taint the three benevolent men.

抱朴子曰：至大有所不能變，極細有所不能奪。故冰霜肅殺，不能凋菽麥之茂；熾暑鬱陰，不能消雪山之凍；飈風蕩海，不能使潛泉揚波；春澤榮物，不能使枯卉發華。抱朴子曰：泣血之寶，仰石監石諸以摛景，沈閭孟勞，須楚砥以斂鋒，騮馬日待王孫而致遠，令質俟檃括而成德。

Baopuzi said: What is utmost great cannot be altered by anything; what is utmost small cannot be wrested by anything. So frost and ice in their killing cannot wither the flourishing of beans and wheat; blazing heat and close gloom cannot melt the frozen snow mountains; a whirlwind that convulses the sea cannot make hidden springs rise in waves; the spring moisture that makes things flower cannot open blooms on dead plants. Baopuzi said: The blood-wept gem needs the yuzhu stone to spread its light (the base text's characters should be read as yuzhu); the swords Shenlu and Mengla need the Chu whetstone to gather their edge; the thoroughbred waits for the prince's groom to reach far; the fine stuff waits for the straightening frame to come to virtue.

抱朴子曰：棲鸞戢鸑，雖飢渴而不願籠委於庖人之室；乘黃天鹿，雖幽飢而不樂草芻秣於濯龍之廄。是以掇蜩之叟，忘萬物於芳林，垂綸之生，忽執珪於南楚。

Baopuzi said: The roosting simurgh and the folded-wing phoenix, though hungry and thirsty, would not consent to be caged and consigned to the cook's room; the Chenghuang and the heavenly deer, though pinched and famished, take no joy in eating fodder in the Zhuolong stable. So the old man who caught cicadas forgot all things amid the fragrant grove, and the angler of southern Chu paid no heed to the jade tally of office.

抱朴子曰：方圓舛狀，逝止異歸。故渾象尊於行健，坤後貴於安貞。七政四氣，以周流成功；五嶽六柱，以峙靜作鎮。是以宋墨楚申，以載馳存國，幹木胡明，以無為折沖。

Baopuzi said: Square and round have unlike shapes; departing and resting have unlike ends. So the revolving image is honored for moving ever strongly, and the sovereign earth is prized for resting ever firm. The seven governors and four qi accomplish their work by ceaseless flow; the five peaks and six pillars serve as mainstays by standing still. So Mo Di of Song and Shen Baoxu of Chu preserved their states by racing to and fro, while Duan Ganmu and Hu Zhao broke the charge by doing nothing.

抱朴子曰：得意於丘園者，身否而神泰；役己以恤物者，形逸而心勞。故抱甕灌園者，歡於臺宰；嘔餐茹薇者，美乎鼎食；仗策去豳者，形如月居臘；夜以待旦者，勤憂損命。

Baopuzi said: He who finds contentment in hill and garden has a body in straits and a spirit at ease; he who drives himself to care for things has a frame at ease and a heart in labor. So the man hugging the jar to water the garden was gladder than the chief minister; the man who spat out the meal and ate ferns found it sweeter than tripod fare; the man who took up his staff and left Bin had a frame worn to (the base text here is corrupt); while he who watched the night through till dawn wore his life away with care.

抱朴子曰：仁忍有天淵之絕，善否猶有無之覺。騶虞側足以蹈虛，豺狼掩群以害生。虞卿捐相印以濟窮，華公讓三事以推賢。李斯疾勝己而殺韓非，龐涓患不如而刑孫臏。

Baopuzi said: Benevolence and cruelty are parted as heaven from the deep; good and bad are known apart like having and lacking. The zouyu steps askew to tread only emptiness; jackals and wolves pack together to kill the living. Yu Qing cast off his chancellor's seal to rescue a man in want; Lord Hua yielded the three offices to advance a worthy. Li Si hated the man who surpassed him and killed Han Fei; Pang Juan grieved that he was outmatched and maimed Sun Bin.

抱朴子曰：用得其長，則才無或棄；偏詰其短，則觸物無可。故輕羅霧縠，治服之麗也，而不可以御流鏑；沈閭巨闕，斷斬之良也，而不可以挑腳刺。

Baopuzi said: Use it where it is strong and no talent is thrown away; insist on probing where it is weak and nothing you touch can be taken. So light gauze and misty silk are the fairest for making robes, yet cannot fend off flying shafts; Shenlu and Juque are the best for hewing and cutting, yet cannot pick a thorn from the foot.

抱朴子曰：小疵不足以損大器，短疒火不足以累長才。日月挾蟲鳥之瑕，不妨麗天之景，黃河合泥滓之濁，不害凌山之流。樹塞不可以棄夷吾，奪田不可以薄蕭何，竊妻不可以廢相如，受金不可以斥陳平。

Baopuzi said: A small flaw cannot spoil a great vessel; a small ailment cannot burden great talent (the base text miswrites the character). Sun and moon carry the flaw of crow and toad yet are not hindered in their heaven-adorned light; the Yellow River carries the turbidity of mud yet does no harm to its mountain-towering flow. One cannot dismiss Guan Zhong for setting up a screen, cannot slight Xiao He for seizing fields, cannot cast out Xiangru for stealing a wife, cannot reject Chen Ping for taking gold.

抱朴子曰：虎豹不能搏噬於波濤之中，螣蛇不能登凌於不霧之日，摯雉兔則鸞鳳不及鷹鷂，引耕犁則龍麟不逮雙峙。故武夫勇士，無用乎晏如之世；碩生逸才，不貴乎力競之運。

Baopuzi said: Tigers and leopards cannot rend and bite amid the billows; the winged serpent cannot mount and soar on a mistless day. In catching pheasant and hare the simurgh and phoenix fall short of hawk and sparrowhawk; in pulling the plow the dragon-unicorn cannot match a yoke of oxen. So warriors and braves have no use in an age of peace, and great scholars of surpassing talent are not prized in a time of contending force.

抱朴子曰：兩絆而項領，則騏騄與蹇驢同矣；失林而居檻，則猿狖與獾貉等矣；韜鋒而不擊，則龍泉與鉛刀均矣；才遠任近，則英俊與庸王肖比矣。若乃求千里之跡於縶維之駿，責匠世之勳於劇碎之賢，謂之不惑，吾不信也。

Baopuzi said: Hobbled at both ends and held by the neck-strap, the thoroughbred is the same as a lame donkey; robbed of the forest and kept in a pen, the gibbon is level with the badger. Sheathe the point and do not strike, and Dragon Spring is the equal of a leaden knife; give a man of far-reaching talent a nearby task, and the eminent is measured against the mediocre (the base text miswrites 'mediocre'). To demand a thousand-li track from a hobbled steed, to require world-ordering work from a worthy ground to bits—say this is not delusion: I do not believe it.

抱朴子曰：捐荼茹蒿者，必無識甘之口；棄瓊拾礫者，必無甄珍之明。薄九成而悅北鄙者，吾知其不能格靈祇而儀翔鳳矣。舍英秀而杖常民者，吾知其不能敘彝倫而臻昇平矣。

Baopuzi said: He who casts off the bitter herb to eat wormwood is sure to lack a mouth that knows the sweet; he who throws down jade to pick up gravel is sure to lack eyes that weigh the precious. He who slights the ninefold music and loves the northern border airs—I know he cannot move the spirits and make the soaring phoenix come to dance. He who puts aside the eminent flowering to lean on common men—I know he cannot order the constant bonds and reach to rising peace.

抱朴子曰：達乎通塞之至理者，不悁悒於窮否；審乎自然之有命者，不逸豫於道行。故縈抑淵洿，則遺慍悶之心；振耀宸戶衣，而無得意之色。三仕三已，則其人也。

Baopuzi said: He who has fathomed the utmost principle of passage and blockage does not fret in the depths of failure; he who has discerned that nature and mandate are so does not idle in ease when the way is open. So pent and pressed in the deep pool, he forgets all grudging gloom; shining upon the palace screen (the base text miswrites 'screen'), he shows no color of triumph. Thrice employed and thrice dismissed—it was such a man.

抱朴子曰：否泰系乎運，窮達不足以論士；得失在乎適，營辱不可以量才。時命不可以力求，遭遇不可以智違。故尚父者，老婦之棄夫；韓信者，乞食之餓子；蕭公者，斗筲之吏；黥布者，刑黜之亡隸。當其行龍姿於虺蜥之中，卷鳳翅乎斥鴳之群，則彼龍後，謂為其倫。

Baopuzi said: Fortune and misfortune hang on the course of fate; failure and success cannot judge a gentleman; gain and loss lie with the moment; glory and shame cannot measure talent (the base text miswrites 'glory'). The decree of the hour cannot be won by force; the encounter cannot be avoided by wit. So Shangfu was the cast-off husband of an old wife; Han Xin was a hungry man begging his food; Lord Xiao was a peck-and-ladle clerk; Qing Bu was a branded fugitive slave. While they walked dragon-gait among vipers and furled phoenix-wings among the marsh quail, those dragon-blooded called them their own kind.

抱朴子曰：四靈翳逸，而為隆平之符；幽人嘉遁，而為有國之寶。何必司晨而銜鑣，羈紲於憂責哉有用人之用也，無用我之用也，徇身者不以名汨和，修生者不以物累己。

Baopuzi said: Though the four numina hide away, they are still the tokens of high peace; though the recluse makes his fair retreat, he is still the treasure of the state. Why must he herald the dawn with a bit in his teeth, bound in hobbles amid care and charge? To be of use is for other men; to be of no use is for myself. He who pursues the body does not let fame muddy his harmony; he who cultivates life does not let things burden himself.

抱朴子曰：量才而授者，不求功於器外；揆能而受者，不負責於力盡。故滅熒燭者不煩滄海，扛斤兩者不事烏獲。運薪輦鹽，不宜枉騏驥之腳；碎職琑任，安足屈獨行之俊矣

Baopuzi said: He who measures talent and gives charge does not seek work beyond the vessel; he who gauges ability and takes on does not bear the blame once strength is spent. So to quench a firefly one does not trouble the gray sea; to lift a few pounds one does not trouble Wu Huo. Hauling firewood and carting salt ought not to waste the thoroughbred's feet; petty posts and trifling charges—how could they suffice to bend the singular eminent!

抱朴子曰：田川澮之流，不能運大白之艘；升合之器，不能容千鍾之物。熠耀不能並表微之景，常才不能別逸倫之器。蓋造化所假，聰明有本根也。

Baopuzi said: The runnels of ditch and channel (the base text has a stray character) cannot float a great white ship; a peck-measure vessel cannot hold a thousand-zhong thing. The glow-worm cannot match the light that shows the minute; common talent cannot tell apart the vessel beyond compare. These, presumably, are lent by creation, and wit and sight have their roots.

抱朴子曰：郢人美下里之淫蛙，而薄六莖之和音；庸夫好悅耳之華譽，而惡利行之良規。故宋玉舍其延靈之精聲，智士招其獨見之遠謀。

Baopuzi said: The men of Ying delighted in the sounds of the low village and wanton frogs, and slighted the harmony of the Six Stems; the common sort love the florid praise that pleases the ear and hate the good counsel that profits conduct. So Song Yu put away his spirit-prolonging notes, and the man of wisdom drew in his far plan seen alone.

抱朴子曰：瓊珉山積，不能無挾瑕之器；鄧林千里，不能無偏枯之木。論珍則不可以細疵棄巨美；語大則不可以少累廢其多故。叛主者，良平也，而吐六奇以安上；群盜者彭越也，而建弘勳於佐命。

Baopuzi said: Jade heaped like a mountain cannot be without flawed pieces; the Deng forest stretching a thousand li cannot be without one-sided-withered trees. In weighing the precious, one cannot throw away a great beauty for a slight flaw; in speaking of the great, one cannot cast off its much for a small defect. So Zhang Liang and Chen Ping, though they had betrayed their lords, uttered the six stratagems to give the ruler peace; and Peng Yue, though he had been a bandit chief, built a great work as helper of the mandate.

抱朴子曰：五嶽巍峨，不以藏疾傷其極天之高；滄海滉漾，不以含垢累其無涯之廣。故九德尚寬以得眾，宣尼泛愛而與進。

Baopuzi said: The five peaks in their majesty are not lessened in sky-touching height for harboring sickness; the gray sea in its vastness is not lessened in boundless breadth for holding filth. So the nine virtues prized breadth to win the many, and Xuan Ni loved all and let each advance as he was.

抱朴子曰：立德踐言，行全操清，斯則富矣，何必玉帛之崇乎高尚其志，不降不辱，斯則貴矣，何必青紫之兼拖也俗民不能識其度量，庸夫不得揣其銓衡，是則高矣，何必凌雲而蹈霓乎問者莫或測其淵流，求者未有覺其短乏，是則深矣，何必洞河而淪海乎四海苟備，雖室有懸磬之窶，可以無羨乎鑄山而煮海矣。身處鳥獸之群，可以不渴乎朱輪而華轂矣。

Baopuzi said: To stand in virtue and walk one's word, to keep conduct whole and rule clean—this is riches; what need is there for mountains of jade and silk! To hold one's purpose high, neither lowering nor shaming oneself—this is honor; what need is there for trailing the green and purple! For common folk unable to know his measure and vulgar men unable to fathom his weighing—this is height; what need is there to mount the clouds and tread the rainbow! For the questioner unable to sound his depths and the seeker never finding him wanting—this is depth; what need is there to pierce the Yellow River and sink the sea! If the four seas are made ready, even a house poor as a hanging chime need not envy minting mountains and boiling seas. Dwelling amid the herds of beasts and birds, one need not thirst for red wheels and painted hubs.

抱朴子曰：潛靈俟慶雲以騰竦，棲鴻階勁風以凌虛，素鱗須姬發而躍，白雉待公旦而來，姜老值西伯而投石番溪之綸，韓英遭漢高乃騁撥亂之才。

Baopuzi said: The hidden numen waits for felicitous clouds to mount and rise; the perched swan borrows a strong wind to soar in the void; the white scales needed Ji Fa before they leapt; the white pheasant awaited Dan before it came; old Jiang, meeting the Earl of the West, cast his line at Panxi; Han and Ying, encountering the High Ancestor, stretched their talent to quell disorder.

抱朴子曰：澄精神於玄一者，則形器可忘；邈高節以外物者，則富貴可遺。故支離之□，偉造化而怡顏；北人箕叟，棲嵩岫而得意焉。

Baopuzi said: He who stills his spirit upon the dark One can forget his bodily frame; he who sets his high integrity beyond all things can cast off wealth and honor. So the misshapen (the base text lacks this character) counted creation grand and was glad of face; Beiren and the old man of Ji roosted in the Song peaks in contentment.

抱朴子曰：粗理不可浹全，能事不可舉兼。故懸象明而可蔽，山川滯而或移，金玉剛而可柔，堅冰密而可離。公旦不能與伯氏跟絓於馮雲之峻，仲尼不能與呂梁較伎於百仞之溪。

Baopuzi said: A rough principle cannot be spread whole into every detail; a capable work cannot be undertaken on every side. So the hung images, though bright, may be eclipsed; mountains and rivers, though fixed, may be moved; gold and jade, though hard, may be made soft; solid ice, though close, may be split apart. The Duke of Zhou could not match Bo's hanging on the misty height; Confucius could not match the Lüliang swimmer's skill in the hundred-ren stream.

抱朴子曰：震雷不能細其音，以協金石之和；日月不能私其耀，以變曲照之惠；大川不能促其涯，以適速濟之情；五嶽不能削其峻，以副陟者之慾。故廣車不能脅其轍以苟通於狹路，高士不能撙其節以同塵於隘俗。抱朴子曰：陰陽以廣陶濟物，三光以普照著明，嵩華以藏疾為曠，北溟以含垢稱大，碩儒以與進弘道，遠數以博愛容眾。

Baopuzi said: The thunderclap cannot thin its note to join the harmony of metal and stone; sun and moon cannot hide their shining away to alter their gift of lighting the lowly; the great stream cannot shorten its banks to suit the wish for a quick crossing; the five peaks cannot pare their steepness to answer the climbers' wants. So the broad-wheeled carriage cannot narrow its track just to pass a strait road, and the lofty gentleman cannot trim his rule to share dust with the cramped crowd. Baopuzi said: Yin and Yang sustain things by broad molding; the three luminaries show their light by shining on all; Song and Hua are broad for harboring sickness; the northern deep is called great for holding filth; the great Confucian magnifies the Way by advancing each as he is; the far-reckoning man holds the crowd by loving them broadly.

抱朴子曰：靈龜之甲，不必為戰施；麟角鳳爪，不必為鬥設。故雋生不釋劍於平世，擊柝不輟備於思危。

Baopuzi said: The spirit tortoise's shell is not borne for battle's sake; the unicorn's horn and the phoenix's claws are not made for fighting's sake. So the fine man does not lay aside his sword in an age of peace, and the watchman's rattle is not silenced because danger is thought absent.

抱朴子曰：南金不為處幽而自輕，瑾瑤不以居深而止潔。志道者不以否滯而改圖，守正者不以莫賞而苟合。

Baopuzi said: The southern gold does not make light of itself for dwelling in obscurity; jasper and jade do not cease being pure for dwelling deep. He whose purpose is in the Way does not change plans for being blocked; he who keeps the right does not join wrongly because none prizes him.

抱朴子曰：登玄圃者，悟丘阜之卑；浮溟海者，識池沼之褊。披九典乃覺牆面之篤蔽，聞至道乃知拘俗之多迷。

Baopuzi said: He who climbs the Hanging Gardens first learns the lowness of hills; he who floats the dark sea first knows the narrowness of ponds. He who opens and reads the nine canons first feels the deep blindness of facing the wall; he who hears the utmost Way first knows the many delusions of the bound vulgar.

抱朴子曰：渾沌之原，無皎澄之流；毫釐之根，無連抱之枝；分寸之燼，無炎遠之熱；隙穴

Baopuzi said: A turbid source has no clear, limpid stream; a hairline root has no two-arm bough; an inch-size ember has no far-reaching heat; within a crack

之中，無炳蔚之群；鉤曲之形，無繩直之影；叄差之上，無整齊之下。

(Baopuzi continued:) in the cave, there is no bright, patterned flock; a hooked and crooked shape casts no ink-straight shadow; upon an uneven top there is no level base.

抱朴子曰：不睹瓊琨之熠爍，則不覺瓦礫之可賤；不覿虎豹之彧蔚，則不知犬羊之質漫。聆白雪之九成，然後悟巴人之極鄙；識儒雅之汪濊，爾乃悲不學之固陋。

Baopuzi said: Not having seen jasper's sparkle, one does not feel tile and gravel are cheap; not having seen the tiger's and leopard's patterned glory, one does not know the flatness of dog and sheepskin. Hearing the ninefold strain of White Snow, one then wakes to the utter meanness of the Baren songs; knowing the vast depth of Confucian grace, one then grieves the stubborn narrowness of not learning.

抱朴子曰：無當之玉碗，不如全用之埏埴；寸裂之錦黻，未若堅完之韋布。故夏姬之無禮，不如孤逐之皎潔；富貴之多罪，不如貧賤之履道。

Baopuzi said: A bottomless jade bowl is not the equal of earthenware whole and usable; brocade torn inch by inch is not the equal of leather and plain cloth firm and sound. So Xia Ji's unseemliness was not the equal of the lone outcast's pure brightness; and a wealth of many sins is not the equal of walking the Way in poverty.

抱朴子曰：猛獸不奮搏於度外，鷹鷂不揮翮以妄擊。若廟算既內不揆德，進取又外不量力，猶輕羽之沒洪爐，飛雪之委沸鑊，朝菌之試干將，羔犢之犯武虎虎也。

Baopuzi said: The fierce beast does not leap and rend beyond its measure; the falcon does not beat its wings in a wild strike. If the temple reckoning within has not weighed the power, and the drive forward without has not weighed the strength, it is like a light feather vanishing into a great furnace, flying snow cast into a boiling cauldron, a morning mushroom put to test Ganjiang, a lamb or calf sent to brave a fierce tiger.

抱朴子曰：三辰蔽於天，則清景暗於地；根草亥蹶於此，則柯條瘁於彼；道失於近，則禍及於遠；政繆於上，而民困於下。

Baopuzi said: When the three luminaries in heaven are veiled, the clear light on earth grows dim; when the root founders here (the base text miswrites the character), the boughs wither there; when the Way is lost near at hand, calamity reaches afar; when government errs above, the people suffer below.

抱朴子曰：務於遠者或失於近，治其外者或患生乎內。覆頭者不必能令足不濡，蔽腹者不必能令背不傷。故秦始築城遏胡而禍發幃幄，漢武懸旌萬里而變起蕭牆。

Baopuzi said: He who attends to the far may lose at the near; he who orders the outside may find trouble born within. Covering the head cannot keep the feet from being wet; shielding the belly cannot keep the back unhurt. So the First Emperor of Qin built a wall to bar the Hu, and calamity issued from within the curtains; Emperor Wu of Han hung his banners ten thousand li away, and the rising came from within the screen wall.

抱朴子曰：人才無定珍，器用無常道，直趨者以適世為奇，役御者以合時為妙。故玄冰結則五明捐，隆暑熾則裘爐退，高鳥聚則良弓發，狡兔多則盧鵲走，干戈興則武夫奮，韶夏作則文儒起。

Baopuzi said: There is no fixed preciousness among men of talent, no constant way among vessels' uses: he who runs to the point counts fitness to the age his marvel; he who drives counts matching the hour his skill. So when dark ice binds, the five-brilliant fans are cast aside; when deep summer blazes, furs and braziers retire; when high birds gather the good bow is drawn; when wily hares are many the hounds Lu and Que run; when shield and spear arise the men of war bestir; when the Shao and Xia sound the civil scholars rise.

抱朴子曰：激修流揚朝宗者，不可以背五城而跨積石；舒翠葉吐丹葩者，不可以舍洪草亥而去繁柯。敗源失本，鮮不枯汔，叛聖違經，理不弘濟。

Baopuzi said: What swells the long streams and runs off to pay court cannot turn its back on the five walls to cross the piled stones; what spreads green leaves and breathes out cinnabar blooms cannot cast off the great root to leave the thick bough (the base text miswrites 'root'). To defeat the source and lose the root—few do not dry up; to betray the sages and forsake the classics—the principle cannot spread far.