弘明集 4.52

4.52

釋曰。近此數條聊發戲端。亦猶越人問布。見採於前談肆業及之無想多怪。然二叔為問。欲以却編戶之疑。沒而不答誠有望焉。足下連國雲從宏論風行。吾幽生孤說每獲竊議。此之不侔事有固然。實由通才所共者理。欻忘其煩貪復悉心。

[Zheng Daozi] explains: These recent items were merely raised in jest, just like the man of Yue asking about cloth; they were adopted in our previous discussion and touched upon in passing, so you need not find them overly strange. However, the questions regarding the two uncles were intended to dispel the doubts of ordinary registered households; in sinking them without an answer, there is indeed something left to be desired. You are followed like clouds across neighboring states, and your grand discourses move like the wind; while I, an obscure scholar with isolated assertions, am constantly subjected to private criticism. That these are unequal is a matter of course. Yet it is truly because principle is what men of broad talent share in common that I suddenly forgot the tediousness and covetously applied my whole heart again.