佛祖歷代通載 13.63

13.63

（辛丑）　尚書左丞王維卒。維字摩詰。臨終無病。遺親故書數幅。停筆而化。工草隷善畫。名盛於開元天寶間。豪英貴人虛左以迎之。寧薛諸王待以師友畫思入神。至山水平遠雲勢石色。繪工以為天機所到非由學致也。客有以按樂圖示者。無題識。維曰。此霓裳第三疊最初拍也。客未然。引工按曲乃信。與弟縉皆篤志奉佛。食不葷血。衣不文綵。別墅在輞川地奇勝。有華子岡欹湖竹里館柳浪茱萸𭰂辛夷塢。與裴廸游其間賦詩相酧為樂。喪妻不娶。孤居三十年。母喪表請以輞川第施為佛祠。

(Xinchou [761 CE]) Wang Wei, Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs, passed away. Wei's style name was Mojie. At his end, he had no illness; he left several letters to his relatives and old friends, and ceased his brush and passed away. He was skilled in cursive and clerical script and excelled in painting; his fame flourished during the Kaiyuan and Tianbao eras. Heroic figures and noble elites would leave the seat of honor vacant to welcome him. The princes of Ning, Xue, and others treated him as a teacher and friend. His artistic inspiration reached the divine; as for the vast horizons of mountains and rivers, the forms of clouds, and the colors of rocks, painters considered them the work of natural genius, not something attained through study. A guest once showed him a painting of musical performance that had no inscription. Wei said, 'This is the very first beat of the third movement of the "Rainbow Skirt and Feathered Robes".' The guest did not believe him; but when musicians were brought in to perform the tune, he was convinced. He and his younger brother Jin were both deeply devoted to serving the Buddha; their food had neither meat nor blood, and their garments were plain without embroidery. He had a villa in Wangchuan, a place of extraordinary beauty, where there were Huazi Ridge, Qi Lake, the Bamboo Lodge, Willow Waves, Cornel Valley, and Magnolia Enclosure. He wandered among them with Pei Di, composing and exchanging poems for pleasure. When his wife died, he did not remarry, living alone for thirty years. Upon the death of his mother, he submitted a memorial requesting to donate his Wangchuan estate as a Buddhist sanctuary.