佛祖統紀 26.50

26.50

Tao Qian, courtesy name Yuanming (also courtesy name Yuanliang), was the great-grandson of Jin Grand Marshal Tao Kan. From youth he harbored lofty ideals, and wrote the "Biography of Master Five Willows" as an analogy of himself; contemporaries considered it a true record. Initially serving as adjutant to the general who establishes prestige, he said to his relatives and friends: "I merely wish to use playing the zither and singing to provide for my three paths [of retirement]." When the authorities heard this, they appointed him magistrate of Pengze. When the commandery sent a postal inspector to arrive, the county clerk reported that he should fasten his sash to meet him. Qian sighed and said: "How can I bow my waist for five bushels of rice and obsequiously serve a petty man of the villages?" Untying his seal of office, he left the county, and thereupon composed "Returning Home!" When the Song dynasty accepted the abdication [from the Jin], considering himself a descendant of a prime minister of the Jin dynasty, he felt ashamed to bend his person to another dynasty again. He resided in Chaisang of Xunyang; along with Zhou Xuzhi and Liu Yimin, he did not respond to imperial summons, so the world called them the Three Recluses of Xunyang. He once said: "In the summer months, resting leisurely beneath the north window with a cool breeze fluttering in, I consider myself a man from the era of Sovereign Fuxi." By nature he did not understand musical tones, yet he kept a plain zither without strings or tuning pegs; whenever friends gathered for wine, he would stroke it in harmony, saying: "As long as one understands the delight within the zither, why labor over the sounds upon the strings?" He once traveled back and forth to Mount Lu, having one disciple and two sons carry a wicker litter as he traveled. At that time, Master Yuan and the various worthies formed the Lotus Society and sent a letter inviting Yuanming. Yuanming said: "If you allow drinking, then I will come." Master Yuan permitted it, and so he arrived. Suddenly knitting his brows, he departed. In the fourth year of Yuanjia of the Song dynasty, he passed away; the world called him Master Jingjie.