大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 5.13

5.13

Seventh, [the condition of] relying on the persons who listen. The text of the commentary has two parts: first, clarifying the overarching meaning; next, from 'namely the various assemblies below' downward, briefly pointing to the distinct classes. As for 'Ziqi was said to have passed away' in the commentary: the Liezi states, 'Boya was skilled at playing the zither, and Zhong Ziqi was skilled at listening. When Boya played the zither, with his mind set on lofty mountains, Ziqi said: "Splendid! Lofty and towering like Mount Tai!" When his mind thought of flowing water, Zhong Ziqi said: "Splendid! Vast and surging like the Yangzi and Han Rivers!" Whatever Boya contemplated, Zhong Ziqi unfailingly grasped it. When Boya wandered on Mount Tai, he encountered overcast skies and suddenly met a violent downpour; stopping beneath a cliff, feeling sorrow in his heart, he took up the zither and played it. First he made a melody of continuous rain, and then composed the sounds of collapsing mountains. Whenever a tune was played, Zhong Ziqi would exhaustively penetrate its intent. Boya then set aside the zither and sighed: "Splendid! How well you listen! What is conceived in your imagination is like my very mind; where could I hide my sounds?"' The Zhuangzi adds: 'When Zhong Ziqi died, Boya never played the zither again for the rest of his life.' The Wen Xuan states: 'A gentleman acts for the one who understands him; a woman adorns herself for the one who delights in her.' This clarifies that a person's arts and methods depend on meeting an understanding listener; the understanding listener is the one who listens.