佛祖歷代通載 5.92

5.92

（二十一）　陳思王曹植者。字子建。武帝中子。十歲誦詩書十餘萬言。善屬文。太祖見而異之曰。汝倩人耶。植曰。言出成論下筆成章。顧面試。奈何倩人乎。及長於世間藝術無不精練。邯鄲淳見而駭嘆。稱為天人。植每讀佛經。留連嗟玩以為至道之宗極。轉讀七聲升降曲折之響。世皆諷而則之。游魚山聞有聲特異清颺哀婉。因倣其聲為梵囋。今法事中有魚山梵。即其遺奏也。始魏武欲立為嗣。植荒酒自穢。以故得免。文帝頗嫉其才。抑而不用。甞求自試。帝不允。既而十一年中。三徙其藩。植滋不得志而薨。年三十一。初植登魚山臨東阿。喟然有終焉志。遂營墓遺誡其子令薄葬。植在日不甚信黃老。著辨道論見意。今載藏經中弘明集。

(21) Cao Zhi, Prince Si of Chen, courtesy name Zijian, was the middle son of Emperor Wu. At the age of ten, he could recite over a hundred thousand words of the Odes and Documents, and was skilled in composing texts. Taizu [Cao Cao] saw this, marveled at it, and said: "Did you have someone write this for you?" Zhi said: "When I speak, it becomes discourse; when I put brush to paper, it becomes an essay. Please test me in person—why would I need to hire someone?" As he grew up, there was no worldly art in which he was not proficient. Handan Chun was astonished and sighing with admiration upon seeing him, calling him a heavenly person. Whenever Zhi read Buddhist scriptures, he lingered over them, sighing in admiration and appreciating them as the ultimate consummation of the Supreme Way. He chanted them in the seven tones, with their rising and falling, undulating cadences; people in the world all chanted and took them as a model. While traveling at Mount Yushan, he heard a voice that was exceptionally clear, soaring, and plaintive; he subsequently imitated that sound to compose Sanskrit chanting. The "Yushan Fan" used today in Buddhist rites is his surviving composition. Earlier, Emperor Wu of Wei wished to establish him as heir, but Zhi abandoned himself to drink and debased his conduct, thereby managing to escape it. Emperor Wen was quite jealous of his talent, suppressing and not employing him. Zhi once asked to prove himself, but the Emperor did not grant it. Later, within eleven years, his fief was moved three times. Zhi became increasingly despondent and passed away at the age of thirty-one. Earlier, when Zhi ascended Mount Yushan overlooking Dong'e, he sighed with the resolution to end his days there; he then prepared his tomb and left instructions for his son to give him a simple burial. During his lifetime, Zhi did not believe much in the teachings of the Yellow Emperor and Laozi, and composed the *Biandao lun* (Treatise on Discriminating the Dao) to express his views. It is now contained in the *Hongming ji* within the Buddhist Canon.