廣弘明集 8.49

8.49

答老氏之旨。蓋虛無為本。柔弱為用。渾思天元恬高人世。浩氣養和得失無變。窮不謀通達不謀己。此學者之所以詢仰餘流其道若存者也。若乃練服金丹餐霞餌玉。靈升羽蛻屍解形化。斯皆尤乖老莊立言本理。其致流漸。非道之儔雖記奇者有之。而言道者莫取。昔漢武好方技。遂有欒大之妖。光武信讖書。致有桓譚之議。書為方技不入墳流。人為方士何關雅正。吾子曷為捨大而從小。背理而趣誕乎。

I reply: The purport of Laozi takes emptiness and non-being as its foundation, and softness and weakness as its application. Blending thoughts into the celestial origin, he rose tranquilly above the human world; with vast qi nourishing harmony, he remained unchanged in gain or loss. In poverty he did not plot for success, and in success he did not plot for himself. This is why scholars inquire into and admire his remaining tradition, whose Way seems to survive. As for refining and ingesting golden elixirs, feeding on vapors and ingesting jade, ascending spiritually with molted feathers, and undergoing corpse deliverance and bodily transformation—all these diverge especially from the fundamental principles established in the words of Laozi and Zhuangzi. Their declining into corrupt streams is not of the class of the Dao; though records of anomalies mention them, those who speak of the Dao do not adopt them. Long ago, Emperor Wu of the Han was fond of occult arts, and so arose the sorcery of Luan Da; Emperor Guangwu believed in apocryphal prophetic books, which led to the protest of Huan Tan. The books are categorized under occult arts and do not enter the stream of the ancient canons; the men are occult masters and have nothing to do with what is elegant and correct. Why, Sir, do you abandon the great to follow the small, turning your back on reason to rush toward absurdity?