高僧傳 4.28

4.28

至晉哀帝即位，頻遣兩使，徵請出都，止東安寺，講《道行波若》，白黑欽崇，朝野悅服。太原王濛，宿構精理，撰其才詞，往詣遁，作數百語，自謂遁莫能抗。遁乃徐曰：「貧道與君別來多年，君語了不長進。」濛慚而退焉，乃歎曰：「實緇鉢之王、何也。」郄超問謝安：「林公談何如嵆中散？」安曰：「嵆努力裁得去耳。」又問：「何如殷浩？」安曰：「亹亹論辯，恐殷制支，超拔直上淵源，浩實有慚德。」郄超後與親友書云：「林法師神理所通，玄拔獨悟。實數百年來，紹明大法，令真理不絕，一人而已。」

When Emperor Ai of Jin ascended the throne, he repeatedly sent two envoys to summon and invite him out to the capital. He stayed at Dong'an Temple and lectured on the Daoxing bore [Prajñāpāramitā]; monastics and laypeople alike revered him, and the court and countryside joyfully submitted. Wang Meng of Taiyuan, having long formulated subtle principles and crafted his rhetoric, went to visit Dun and spoke several hundred words, privately believing Dun would be unable to counter him. Dun slowly said: 'It has been many years since I parted from you, sir, yet your words have made no progress whatsoever.' Meng withdrew in shame and sighed: 'He is truly the king among the monastic robes and bowls, is he not?' Xi Chao asked Xie An: 'How does Master Lin's conversation compare to Ji Kang?' An said: 'Ji Kang could only barely manage to keep up with effort.' He asked again: 'How does he compare to Yin Hao?' An said: 'In tireless debating, I fear Yin would constrain Zhi; but in soaring directly upward to the deep source, Hao truly has reason to feel ashamed.' Xi Chao later wrote in a letter to relatives and friends: 'Master Lin's spiritual insight penetrates everywhere, and his mystical transcendence is his own awakening. Truly, in inheriting and illuminating the great Dharma for several centuries so that the true reality should not be severed, he is the only one.'