高僧傳 6.26

6.26

Huiyuan replied in a letter, saying: "You wish for me to compose a preface to the *Dàzhì lùn* to express the author's intention. This poor monk has heard: what is vast cannot be contained in a small pouch; what is deep cannot be measured by a short rope. As I unroll and examine it, I feel ashamed before your exalted command. Furthermore, my body is frail and plagued by many ailments; I am hindered in all affairs and have not applied my mind to such things for a long time. Yet because your communication is so momentous, I have made bold to sketch roughly what I hold in mind. As for the beauty of profound study, we must look to the illustrious and virtuous." Such was the height and reach of his renown.