高僧傳 6.16

6.16

The Minister over the Masses Wang Mi, the Army Protector Wang Mo, and others all admired his moral character and paid their respects to him as a master from afar. Mi wrote a letter saying: 'I am only forty years of age, yet my decay is already equal to sixty.' Huiyuan replied, saying: 'The ancients did not cherish a foot-wide disc of jade, but valued an inch of time; observing where their care lay, it seems it was not in longevity. Since the dānapati treads in accordance with nature and lets his spirit wander, riding the principles of the Buddha to rein in his mind, if one deduces from this, why envy a long lifespan? I imagine you have long possessed this principle; I write merely to reply to your incoming letter.'