佛祖統紀 26.37

26.37

宗炳。字少文。南陽人。其母聰辯富於學識。教授諸子皆有成。炳妙善琴書尤精玄理。殷仲堪桓玄並以主簿辟。皆不就。劉裕領荊州。復辟為主簿。答曰。棲丘飲谷三十年矣。乃入廬山築室依遠公蓮社。久之兄臧為南平守。逼與俱還江陵。閒居絕俗。劉裕辟太尉掾不就。二兄卒累甚眾。頗營稼穡。武帝勅南郡長。時致餼賚。衡陽王義季。在荊州親至其室。炳角巾布衣引見不拜。王曰。處先生以重祿可乎。對曰。祿如秋草時過即腐。宋受禪徵為太子舍人。元嘉初徵為通直郎。太子建徵為中庶子。並不應。妻羅氏亦有高志。羅氏歿。炳哀之過甚。既而悲情頓釋。謂沙門慧堅曰。死生之分未易可達。三復至教方能遣哀。雅好山水往必忘歸。西陟荊巫南登衡岳。因結宇山中。懷尚平之志。以疾還江陵。歎曰。老病俱至。名山不可再登。唯澄懷觀道臥以遊之。凡所遊履悉圖之於室。謂人曰。撫琴動操。欲令眾山皆響。宋元嘉二十四年卒。春秋六十九。

Zong Bing, courtesy name Shaowen, was a native of Nanyang. His mother was intelligent, articulate, and rich in learning; she taught her sons, all of whom achieved success. Bing was exceptionally skilled in playing the zither and calligraphy, and particularly versed in dark learning (xuanxue). Yin Zhongkan and Huan Xuan both summoned him to serve as an editorial clerk, but he declined both. When Liu Yu took charge of Jingzhou, he again summoned him as an editorial clerk. Bing replied: "I have perched on hills and drunk from valleys for thirty years." He then entered Mount Lu, built a lodge, and relied upon Master Yuan's Lotus Society. After a long time, his elder brother Zang became administrator of Nanping and coerced him into returning together to Jiangling, where he lived in seclusion, cut off from worldly ways. Liu Yu summoned him as an aide to the grand defender, but he did not accept. When his two elder brothers died, the burdens of dependents became numerous, so he engaged considerably in farming. Emperor Wu decreed the head of Nanjun to periodically send him grain provisions. Prince Yiji of Hengyang, while in Jingzhou, personally visited his residence. Bing received him wearing a corners-folded cap and plain cloth robes without bowing. The prince asked: "May I bestow upon you, sir, a generous stipend?" Bing replied: "A stipend is like autumn grass; once its season passes, it immediately rots." When the Song dynasty accepted the abdication [from the Jin], he was summoned as a gentleman in attendance to the crown prince; in early Yuanjia, he was summoned as a gentleman attendant at the palace gate; and when the crown prince was established, he was summoned as a deputy director of the household. He did not accept any of these posts. His wife, née Luo, also had lofty aspirations. When Madame Luo died, Bing grieved for her excessively. Afterwards, his sorrowful emotions were suddenly dispelled. He said to the monk Huijian: "The division between life and death is not easily comprehended. Only by repeatedly reviewing the supreme teaching was I able to banish sorrow." He was fond of mountains and rivers by nature; whenever he went, he forgot to return. He climbed Mount Jing and Mount Wu in the west, and ascended Mount Heng in the south. Thereupon he built a shelter in the mountains, harboring the aspirations of Shang Ping. Due to illness, he returned to Jiangling and sighed: "Old age and sickness have arrived together; the celebrated mountains can no longer be climbed. I can only purify my mind to contemplate the Dao and wander among them while lying down." Wherever he had traveled, he painted it all upon the walls of his room. He said to people: "When I strum the zither and play a tune, I wish to make all the mountains echo." In the twenty-fourth year of Yuanjia of the Song dynasty, he passed away at the age of sixty-nine.