佛祖歷代通載 6.118

6.118

（二十四）　法師支遁字道林。與謝太傅安王右軍羲之厚善。安守吳興。以書抵遁。略曰。思君日積北辰尤甚。知欲還剡自治為之愴然。人生如寄耳。自頃風流得意事殆磨滅都盡。唯終日戚戚。遲君一來以晤言消遣之。一日千載也。及竺潛辭闕。有詔遁。繼講法於禁中。一時名士殷浩郄超孫綽柏彥表王敬仁和充王坦之袁彥伯。並與結方外交。天下想見其標致者劉系謁于白馬寺。談莊周以適性為逍遙。遁曰。不然。桀跖以殘虐為性。豈亦逍遙乎。於是注逍遙篇。學者宗之。王濛甞極精思作數百語。詣遁曰。與君別久。而君了不長何也。濛慚汗曰。絳鉢之王何也。郄超甞問謝太傅曰。遁談何如嵆中散。太傅曰。嵆努力裁得半耳。又曰。何如殷浩。太傅曰。亹亹論辨恐當抗衡。超拔淵源殷有慚德。超後與親舊書曰。林公神理所通玄拔獨悟。數百年來紹隆大法。令真理不絕一人而已。太和二年。廢帝海西公在位。遁抗表辭還山。有詔資給敦遣。諸公祖餞于征虜亭。蔡子叔者。先至近道林坐。適起而謝。萬亟趨其處。子叔還合褥舉萬投諸地。萬曰。幾損我面。子叔曰。吾初不為卿面計。其為當時所慕如此。晚居山陰講維摩。許詢為都講。遁通一義。眾意詢不能難。及詢設難。又意遁不能通。而賓主之難相尋無窮。聽者多言。自得遁旨。詰之輒失。著即色遊玄聖不辯知等論。有遺其馬者。畜之曰。吾愛其神駿耳。有遺其鶴者。縱之曰。冲天之物豈耳目玩哉。君子多其達。及卒戴逵過其塔歎曰。德音未遠而拱木已繁。計神理綿綿不與氣運俱盡也。

(24) The Dharma Master Zhi Dun, whose style name was Daolin, was on intimate and friendly terms with Grand Tutor Xie An and General of the Right Army Wang Xizhi. When Xie An governed Wuxing, he sent a letter to Dun, which said in brief: "My longing for you accumulates day by day, and facing the northern pole star it grows especially profound. Knowing that you wish to return to Shan to cultivate yourself in solitude makes me grieve. Human life is but a sojourn. Of late, the elegant and gratifying occasions have almost completely worn away, leaving only grief from morning till night. I await your coming so that we may dissipate it in conversation. A single day feels like a thousand years." When Zhu Qian took leave of the court, an imperial decree ordered Dun to continue lecturing on the Dharma within the imperial precincts. The celebrities of the time—Yin Hao, Xi Chao, Sun Chuo, Bai Yanbiao, Wang Jingren, He Chong, Wang Tanzhi, and Yuan Yanbo—all formed friendships beyond worldly concerns with him. Liu Xi, wishing to see his lofty bearing known throughout the realm, visited him at Baima Temple. They discussed Zhuang Zhou's concept of following one's nature as wandering at ease. Dun said, "It is not so. Jie and Tuo had cruelty and tyranny as their nature; could they also be wandering at ease?" Thereupon he wrote a commentary on the "Wandering at Ease" chapter, which scholars took as their standard. Wang Meng once devoted his utmost and subtle thoughts to compose several hundred words, went to Dun, and said: "It has been long since I parted from you, yet you have not grown at all—why is that?" Meng, sweating with shame, said: "Why should the king of the crimson alms bowl [grow]?" Xi Chao once asked Grand Tutor Xie: "How does Dun's discourse compare to that of Ji Kang, Palace Attendant of the Center?" The Grand Tutor said: "Ji could barely manage half of it even by striving hard." He further asked: "How does he compare to Yin Hao?" The Grand Tutor said: "In tireless and eloquent debate, they would probably be evenly matched, but in extraordinary loftiness and profound depth, Yin must feel shame." Chao later wrote in a letter to his relatives and old friends: "Master Lin's spiritual penetration of the mysteries is uniquely awakened and extraordinarily lofty. Over the past several hundred years, in carrying on and exalting the Great Dharma so that the true reality does not perish, he is the only person." In the second year of Taihe, while the Deposed Emperor, the Duke of Haixi, was on the throne, Dun submitted a memorial taking leave to return to the mountains. An imperial decree provided him with supplies and earnestly dispatched him. The various lords held a farewell banquet for him at Zhenglu Pavilion. Cai Zishu arrived first and sat close to Daolin. Just as he stood up to excuse himself, Xie Wan hurried to take his seat. When Zishu returned, he lifted Wan up together with the mattress and threw him to the ground. Wan said: "You almost ruined my face!" Zishu said: "I never took your face into account in the first place!" Such was the admiration he enjoyed in his day. In his later years he resided in Shanyin lecturing on the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa, with Xu Xun serving as the chief interlocutor (dujiang). When Dun explicated a meaning, the assembly thought Xun could not raise an objection; yet when Xun raised an objection, they again thought Dun could not resolve it. The objections and replies between host and guest succeeded one another without end. Many listeners claimed to grasp Dun's purport on their own, but whenever questioned they would invariably falter. He composed treatises such as "Matter As It Is," "Roaming into the Mysterious," and "The Sage Does Not Discriminate Knowledge." When someone gave him a horse, he kept it, saying: "I merely love its spirited grace." When someone gave him a crane, he released it, saying: "How could a creature that soars to the heavens be kept as a plaything for the eyes and ears?" Gentlemen praised his broad-mindedness. When he died, Dai Kui passed by his stūpa and sighed: "His virtuous voice is not yet distant, yet the trees over his tomb already require two arms to encircle. Surely the continuous flow of his spirit will not end together with his physical breath."