高僧傳 5.47

5.47

及帝崩汰死，壹乃還東，止虎丘山。學徒苦留不止，乃令丹陽尹移壹還都，壹答移曰：「蓋聞大道之行，嘉遁得肆其志。唐虞之盛，逸民不奪其性。弘方由於有外，致遠待而不踐。大晉光熙，德被無外，崇禮佛法，弘長彌大。是以殊域之人，不遠萬里，被褐振錫，洋溢天邑。皆割愛棄欲，洗心清玄。遐期曠世，故道深常隱；志存慈救，故遊不滯方，自東徂西，唯道是務。雖萬物惑其日計，而識者悟其歲功。今若責其屬籍，同役編戶，恐遊方之士，望崖於聖世，輕舉之徒，長往而不反，虧盛明之風，謬主相之旨。且荒服之賓，無關天臺；幽藪之人，不書王府。幸以時審翔，而後集也。」壹於是閑居幽阜，晦影窮谷。

When the emperor died and Tai passed away, Yi returned east to stay at Mount Huqiu. His students earnestly pleaded with him to stay without success; they then caused the Governor of Danyang to send an official letter summoning Yi back to the capital. Yi replied to the letter, saying: 'I have heard that when the Great Way prevails, noble hermits are allowed to realize their ambitions. In the prime of Yao and Shun, recluses were not deprived of their natures. Broad openness depends on what lies beyond, and reaching the distant requires waiting rather than hastening. The Great Jin’s illustrious brilliance extends its virtue boundlessly; it reveres and honors the Buddhadharma, fostering its ever-greater expansion. For this reason, people from foreign lands do not consider ten thousand li too far; clad in coarse robes and shaking their pewter staffs, they fill the imperial capital. All have severed love and abandoned desires, purifying their minds in serene transcendence. Setting their distant hopes beyond generations, their Way is deep and ever hidden; keeping their aims in compassionate rescue, their wanderings do not stall in any one place; traversing from east to west, the Way alone is their pursuit. Although the multitude of beings may be confused by their daily reckonings, the discerning perceive their yearly accomplishments. Now, if you demand their registration on rosters and compel their corvée alongside registered households, I fear that men who wander foreign quarters will look up at the cliffs of this sage era and despair, while those who act unencumbered will depart for good and never return, tarnishing the ethos of this flourishing brilliance and confounding the ruler’s and ministers’ intentions. Moreover, guests from the outer reaches are not subject to the imperial court; dwellers of remote thickets are not recorded in the prince’s registry. Fortunately, birds examine the time before soaring, and only then do they alight.' Yi then dwelt in leisure upon a remote hill, cloaking his shadow in the desolate valley.