南嶽總勝集 3.14

3.14

薜幽棲。蒲州寶鼎人也。性沈靜有敏識卓見。修舉業之暇。好問方外事。開元中。及進士第。年始弱冠。調官陵郡尉秩未滿。有林泉之興。遂拂衣去服冠褐。出入青城峨嵋。久之遊鶴鳴山。訪漢天師治所。修行僅一紀。而道炁愈充。天寶初復遊南岳。卜修真之地。乃晦其名氏。於五峯之下。游心於自得之場。曠然無所繫。而能和光混俗。毀方瓦合。其於三洞經誥靡不該覽。故幽人逸客嚮風稟受。日集于左右。而師辯論宏博。隨其性根。各有發明。進玄微論三卷。上明皇稱旨。賞其達悟。末幾尸解。注靈寶於世。今凌虛宮有天香臺。乃注經之所。曉夕雲煙起。如香繚繞。

Xue Youqi was a man from Baoding in Puzhou. He was quiet by nature and possessed sharp insight and outstanding discernment. In the leisure left over from preparing for the civil examinations, he was fond of inquiring into matters beyond the mundane realm. During the Kaiyuan era, he passed the *jinshi* examination at the young age of just twenty. He was appointed vice magistrate of Ling Commandery, but before his term of office was complete, he felt an inclination toward the woods and springs. He thereupon brushed off his robes, cast aside [official] dress for a daoist cap and coarse garments, and traveled to and from Qingcheng and Emei. After a long while, he visited Heming Mountain to pay respects to the administrative seat of the Han Celestial Master. He cultivated his practice for barely twelve years, and the pneumatic energy of the Dao grew ever more abundant. At the beginning of the Tianbao era, he traveled again to Nanyue to divine a place for cultivating the Realized State. Concealing his name and surname beneath the Five Peaks, he roamed his mind in the realm of self-realization, broad and unattached to anything, yet able to soften his light and merge with the dust of the world, rounding his corners to blend with ordinary clay. As for the scriptures and instructions of the Three Caverns, there were none he had not thoroughly surveyed. Thus, hermits and unfettered guests, drawn by his repute, gathered around him day after day, while the master's disputations were vast and extensive, illuminating each according to their natural faculties. He submitted the *Xuanwei lun* (Treatise on the Mysterious and Subtle) in three fascicles to Emperor Minghuang, which matched the imperial intention, and the emperor praised his penetrating awakening. Shortly thereafter, he achieved release by corpse. His commentary on the *Lingbao* [scriptures] was circulated in the world. Today, at Lingxu Palace, there is the Heavenly Incense Terrace; it is the place where he commented on the scriptures. Morning and evening, clouds and mists arise, curling like incense.