廬山記 3.40

3.40

曇詵廣陵人。幼而出家。為遠公弟子。頗通外學。別識山中鳥獸毛色俊鈍之性。洞曉草木枝幹善惡甘苦之味。尤能講說。風神超朗。氣岸凝遠。審於傳寫。持本不移。注維摩經。著窮通論蓮社錄。建寺後五十五年。以元嘉十七年庚辰最後終。春秋七十九。

Tanwen was a native of Guangling. He left home in his youth and became a disciple of Master Yuan. He was quite versed in secular learning, uniquely distinguishing the sharp or dull natures of mountain birds and beasts by their coat and feather colors, and thoroughly understanding the wholesome, unwholesome, sweet, and bitter tastes of the branches and trunks of plants and trees. He was especially skilled in giving lectures; his presence was transcendent and bright, his lofty demeanor serene and far-reaching. Careful in textual transmission and transcription, he kept to the original versions without alteration. He commented on the *Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa-sūtra*, and composed the *Qiongtong lun* (Treatise on Failure and Success) and the *Lianshe lu* (Record of the Lotus Society). Fifty-five years after the founding of the temple, in the seventeenth year of the Yuanjia reign-period, a gengchen year (440 CE), he was the last to die, at the age of seventy-nine.