肇論新疏 2.300

2.300

初四句但敘前書云，既已遂宿心等。嘉遁，即《周易》遁卦九五之辭。每一言集者，謂肇公與南來之人一言集會也。何嘗下，長讀至雅詠絕句。林下者，指廬山林下。雅詠者，即廬山社眾所作歌頌，如《念佛三昧詠》等。意云：論主凡遇南來，雖聊爾一言集會，彼人未曾不遠誦廬山諸公雅作歌詠以相曉示也。因聞雅詠，見諸公高趣悠然而遠。如下云「君與法師應數有文集，因來何少？」大底二晉文章句讀多難，請詳。清散下，可解。

The first four sentences merely recount what was in the earlier letter, stating that you have already fulfilled your longstanding intent, and so forth. "Auspicious retirement" (jiadun) is a phrase from the nine-in-the-fifth line of the Hexagram Dun in the Book of Changes. "At every gathering where words were exchanged" refers to whenever Sengzhao gathered to exchange words with people who had come from the south. From "when did you not" downward, read continuously until the end of the sentence at "elegant recitations." "Beneath the forest groves" refers to beneath the forest groves of Mount Lu. "Elegant recitations" refers to the poems and eulogies composed by the members of the Mount Lu assembly, such as the Eulogy on the Samādhi of Recollecting the Buddha and others. The meaning is: whenever the author of the treatise met someone who had come from the south, even if only in an offhand gathering to exchange words, that person never failed to recite from afar the elegant compositions, poems, and eulogies of the gentlemen of Mount Lu so as to make them understood. Through hearing their elegant recitations, he saw that the exalted aims of these gentlemen were detached and distant. As it says below: "You and the Master must frequently have collections of writings; why have so few arrived?" In general, the punctuation and reading of texts from the two Jin dynasties are mostly difficult; please examine them carefully. From "clear leisure" downward, it is easily understood.