佛祖歷代通載 13.63

13.63

(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.