釋鑑稽古略續集 1.72

1.72

Xie Dieshan: named Fangde. By natural endowment he was severe and dignified, quietly harboring an extraordinary spirit with a solitary and towering bearing. He took upon himself the cultivation of the worldly teachings and the establishment of moral standards for the people. His official post reached that of Pacification and Admonition Commissioner. When the Song fell, he concealed himself through divination. When summoned, he adamantly declined with an earnest letter, which said: "Under the Great Yuan's governance of the realm, the people and things are renewed. A solitary minister of the Song house lacks only one death. The reason I have not died is merely that my ninety-three-year-old mother is still living in the hall." When he arrived in Yan, he refused to eat. As he was about to set out, his friend Zhang Zihui presented a poem, saying: "It is good that you go this time; if you rely on a three-inch tongue to return again, you will not be worth half a copper coin." Fangde understood its intent and ultimately died at the post station. Throughout his life, there was no book he did not read. His prose was lofty, extraordinary, and peerless, forming a style of his own. Reading his words reveals his heart; so impassioned and vehement that he could make the stubborn upright and the cowardly resolve their wills. He authored the Patterns of Literary Composition (Wenzhang guifan).