歷代三寶紀 7.224

7.224

度答書曰。夫事君以治一國。未若弘道以濟萬邦。事親以成一家。未若弘道以濟三界。髮膚不毀俗中之近言耳。但吾德不及遠未能兼被。以此為愧。然積蕢成山。亦冀從微之著也。且被袈裟振錫杖。飲清流詠般若。雖公王之服。八珍之饍鏗鏘之聲。煒曄之色。不與易也。若能懸契則同期於泥洹矣。且人心各異有若面焉。卿之不樂道。猶我之不慕俗矣。楊氏長別離矣。萬世因緣於今絕矣。歲聿云暮。時不我與。學道者當以日損為志。處世者當以及時為務。卿年德並茂。宜速有所慕。莫以道士經心而坐失盛年也。又報詩五篇。其一首曰。

Du replied in a letter, saying: 'Serving a ruler to govern one state does not equal broadly spreading the Way to deliver myriad realms; serving parents to establish a single household does not equal broadly spreading the Way to deliver the three realms. Not damaging hair and skin is merely a shallow saying of the mundane world. It is only that my virtue does not reach far and I am not yet able to cover both, for which I feel ashamed. However, piling baskets of earth builds a mountain, and one also hopes that what starts small will become prominent. Moreover, wearing the kāṣāya and shaking the tin staff, drinking from clear streams and chanting prajñā—though it were the robes of dukes and kings, the delicacies of the eight treasures, the clang of ringing music, and the splendor of brilliant colors, I would not trade it for them. If one can secretly tally [with the truth], one may expect to meet in nirvāṇa. Furthermore, human minds are as different as faces: your lack of joy in the Way is like my lack of yearning for the secular world. Lady Yang, this is our long farewell; the causes and conditions of ten thousand lifetimes are severed from now on. The year is drawing to its close, and time does not wait for us. Those who study the Way should take daily diminishing as their aim, while those who dwell in the world should take acting in good time as their concern. Your youth and virtue are both in their prime; you should swiftly find someone to admire. Do not let a gentleman of the Way occupy your mind and sit by while losing your prime years.' He also replied with five poems, one of which read: