佛祖歷代通載 5.92

5.92

(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.