A Parable on the Beauty of Women色喩
世有惑於色者。所謂色者。紅耶白耶。靑耶雘耶。日月星宿。煙霞雲務。草木鳥獸。皆有色也。玆能惑乎。曰。非也。曰。金玉之美者。衣裳之異者。宮室棟宇之泰侈者。錦繡羅縠之纖靡者。皆色之尤備者也。玆亦能惑乎。曰。幾乎猶未也。夫所謂色者。人之色也。鬢綠膚晳。飾以脂澤。心挑目逆。一笑傾國。見之者皆迷。遇之者皆惑。及其嬖愛。雖兄弟親戚莫若也。然其嬖之也乃斥。其愛之也乃戒。子不聞乎。眼之嬌者斯曰刃。眉之曲者謂之斧。頰之豐者毒藥也。肥之滑者隱蠹也。斧以伐之。刃以觸之。隱蠹以食之。毒藥以苦之。玆非害之酷者乎。害之作敵。其能克乎。故曰賊。遇賊而殂。能復親乎。故曰斥。外之害旣如玆。外之害又甚斯。聞色之美。則破家產而求之不疑。被色之誘。則犯虎狼而赴之勿辭。畜好色則人猜衆妬。著美色則功落名隳。大則君王。小焉卿士。覆邦喪家。靡不由此。周之褒娰。吳之西子。陳後主之麗華。唐玄宗之楊氏。皆迷君眩主。滋育禍胎。周以之蹶。吳以之頽。陳唐以之崩摧。小則綠珠之嬌態敗石崇。孫壽之妖粧惑梁冀。若此之類。又何勝記。嗚呼。吾將搖鞴扇炭。鑄嫫母，敢洽之貌千千萬萬。盡錮其姚娧之面。然後刀𥉑華父之目。而易以正直之矚。鐵作廣平之腸。而納之於淫奢者之腹。則雖有蘭澤脂粉之具。糞溷也泥土也。雖有毛嬙，西施之秀。敦洽，嫫母也。又何惑之有。
There are those in the world who are bewitched by the beauty of women. What is this so-called color (色) — is it red or white, blue or purple? The sun and moon and stars, mist and sunset glow and cloud and haze, grasses and trees and birds and beasts all have color. Can these bewitch a man? They cannot. The fineness of gold and jade, the singularity of clothing, the excessive luxury of palaces and pillars and eaves, the fine splendor of silks and gauzes — in all of these color is more fully present still. Can these too bewitch a man? Nearly so, and yet not yet.
Now what is called color is the color of a person. The hair at the temples blue-black, the skin white, adorned with oils; stirring the heart and casting glances, with one smile toppling a kingdom. All who look are deluded, and all who meet are bewitched. Once a man comes to love her, even brothers and kin are nothing beside her. Yet to love her is precisely to be driven off, and to cherish her is precisely a thing to beware of.
Have you not heard? The loveliness of the eyes is called a blade; the curve of the brows is called an axe; the plumpness of the cheeks is poison, and the smoothness of the flesh a hidden worm. Cut by the axe and stabbed by the blade, eaten by the hidden worm and tormented by the poison — is this not harm of the cruelest kind? And when harm becomes an enemy, can one win against it? Therefore it is called a thief. And if one meets a thief and dies by it, can one go near it again? Therefore we speak of being driven off.
The harm from without is already such as this, and the harm from without is worse than this besides. Hearing of a woman's beauty, a man does not hesitate to tear down his house and his property to get her; falling under a woman's enticement, he does not decline to go forward through tigers and wolves. Keep a fine beauty, and others envy and the crowd is jealous; display a lovely beauty, and merit falls away and reputation collapses. Greatly it is a king, and in a smaller way a minister or officer (卿士): the overturning of states and the ruin of houses is in no case not from this. Baosi (褒姒) of Zhou, Xi Shi of Wu, Lihua (麗華) of the Last Lord of Chen (陳後主), and the Lady Yang of Xuanzong of Tang all deluded their kings and bewitched their lords and bred the seeds of calamity. By this Zhou toppled, by this Wu fell, and by this Chen and Tang collapsed. In a smaller way, the lovely grace of Luzhu (綠珠) ruined Shi Chong (石崇), and the baleful ornament of Sun Shou (孫壽) bewitched Liang Ji (梁冀). How should one write out all of such a company?
Ah, I shall now work the bellows and fan the charcoal, and cast out ten million likenesses of Momu (嫫母) and Dunqia (敦洽), and so block up every one of those pretty and fair faces. Then I shall cut out the eyes of Huafu (華父) with a knife and change them for eyes upright and straight, and make the bowels of Guangping (廣平) out of iron and put them into the bellies of the lewd and extravagant. Then, though there be orchid oil and rouge and powder, they will be no more than dung and mud; and though there be the excellence of Mao Qiang (毛嬙) and Xi Shi, they will be no more than Dunqia and Momu — and what bewitching will there be then?