釋氏稽古略 2.32

2.32

Friendships Beyond the Worldly: Dharma Master Zhi Dun, styled Daolin, was accomplished and refined in the Prajñā teachings. At that time Xie An, the Grand Tutor, and Wang Xizhi, the General of the Right Army, were very close to him. While governing Wuxing, Xie An wrote daily letters to Dun, roughly saying: 'My longing for you has accumulated daily, and recently it has become even more acute. Learning that you wish to return to Shan to attend to your own practice leaves me deeply saddened. Human life is merely a transient sojourn. Lately, all elegant and joyful pursuits have practically worn away to nothing. I only pass the whole day sorrowfully waiting for you to come once, so that in conversation we may dispel our melancholy; a single day seems like a thousand years.' In the tenth month of the second year of the Xingning era under Emperor Ai of Eastern Jin, the śramaṇa Zhu Qian took leave of the court and returned to the Shan Mountains. An imperial edict ordered Dun to continue lecturing on the Dharma within the inner palace. Prominent gentlemen of the time, including Yin Hao, Xi Chao, Sun Chuo, Huan Yanbiao, Wang Jingren, He Chong, Wang Tanzhi, and Yuan Yanbo, all forged with him friendships beyond the worldly. Everyone under heaven longed to behold his refined deportment. In the second year of the Taihe era under the Deposed Emperor of Jin, Dun submitted a memorial taking leave of the palace to return to the mountains. By imperial decree he was granted provisions, and with earnest respect the dignitaries held a farewell banquet for him at Zhenglu Pavilion. He set foot again in the Shan Mountains of Yue and established a monastery at the Little Ridge of Mount Wozhou to practice the Way. The monastic assembly received instruction from him, and when there were any who grew indolent, Dun composed an inscription to exhort them, which ran: 'Be diligent, be diligent! The ultimate Way is not remote. Vast is the triple realm; boundless is its long bondage. Carefully observe the luminous precepts; raise your resolve toward the unconditioned,' and so forth. When someone presented him with a horse, he kept it, saying, 'I only appreciate its fleetness.' When someone gave him a crane, he released it, saying, 'A creature that soars to the skies—how could it be an amusement for the ears and eyes?' Noble men largely praised his open-minded transcendence. Later, he emerged in Shanyin to lecture on the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa Sūtra, with Xu Xun serving as the chief respondent. They debated the doctrinal meaning through several exchanges, and the audience was filled with admiration and deference. He entered extinction at the age of fifty-three. Dai Kui, passing by his stupa, sighed and said: 'His virtuous renown is not yet distant, yet the embraceable trees have already grown dense. Surely his spiritual principle is unbroken and enduring, not coming to an end along with the worldly fortunes' (His Biography).