廣弘明集 3.30

3.30

孝緒陳留人。宋中領軍歆之曾孫。祖慧真臨賀太守。父彥太尉從事中郎。孝緒年十三。略通五經大義。隨父為湘州行事。不書南紙以成父之清。年十六丁艱終喪。不服綿纊。雖蔬食有味即吐之。在鍾山聽講。母王氏忽有疾。孝緒於講座心驚而反。合藥須生人蔘。自採於鍾山高嶺。經日不值。忽有鹿在前行。心怪之至鹿息處。果有人蔘。母疾即愈。齊尚書令王晏通家權貴。來候之。傳呼甚寵。孝緒惡之。穿籬而遁。晏有所遺拒而不納。嘗食醬而美。問之乃王家所送。遂命覆醢。及晏被誅。以非黨獲免。常以鹿林為精舍。環以林池杜絕交好。少得見者。御史中丞任昉欲造之而不敢。進睨鹿林。謂其兄履曰。其室則邇。其人甚遠。太中大夫殷芸贈以詩。任昉止之曰。趣舍苟異何用相干。於是朝貴絕於造請。惟與裴貞子為交（貞子即子野之諡）天監十二年。祕書監傅昭薦焉並不到。天子以為苟立虛名以要顯譽。自是不復徵聘。故何胤孝緒並得遂其高志。南平元襄謂履曰。昔君大父舉不以來遊取累。賢弟獨執其志何也。孝緒曰。若麏䴥盡可驂馭。何以異夫騄驥哉。王作二闇及性情義。並以示之。請為潤色。世祖著忠臣傳。集釋氏碑銘。丹陽尹錄妍神記。並先簡居士。然後施行。鄱陽忠烈王孝緒姊夫也。王及諸子歲時致饋。一無所受。嘗自筮死期云。與劉著作同年。是秋劉杳卒。孝緒睨曰。吾其幾何。數旬果亡。年五十八。皇太子遣使弔祭。賵贈甚渥。子恕追述先志固辭不受。門人諡曰文貞處士。

[Ruan] Xiaoxu was a native of Chenliu, the great-grandson of Song Senior General of the Capital Army [Ruan] Xinzhi, grandson of Huizhen, the Grand Administrator of Linghe, and son of Yan, Attendant Officer of the Commander-in-Chief. At the age of thirteen, Xiaoxu roughly grasped the main principles of the Five Classics. Accompanying his father, who served as an administrative clerk in Xiangzhou, he would not write upon southern paper so as to uphold his father's incorruptibility. At the age of sixteen he was struck by mourning and completed the mourning period; he did not wear padded silk garments, and though he ate simple vegetarian food, whenever it was flavorful he immediately spat it out. While listening to lectures at Zhongshan, his mother, the lady Wang, suddenly fell ill; Xiaoxu felt an alarm in his heart at his lecture seat and returned home. Compounding the medicine required wild ginseng; he personally gathered it on the high peaks of Zhongshan, but for whole days he did not encounter any. Suddenly a deer walked in front of him; wondering at it in his heart, he reached the place where the deer rested, and indeed found ginseng there, whereupon his mother's illness was cured. Wang Yan, the Prefect of the Masters of Writing of the Qi, who had long-standing family ties and was an eminent noble of high power, came to call upon him, his heralds calling out with great honor; Xiaoxu abhorred it and fled through a hole in the hedge. When Yan sent gifts, he refused and would not accept them. Once he was eating bean paste and found it delicious; when he inquired about it, it was a gift from the Wang house, whereupon he ordered the condiments thrown out. When Yan was later executed, Xiaoxu was spared because he was not of his clique. He constantly made Deer Forest (Lulin) his retreat, surrounding it with groves and ponds, and cut off social interactions; few were those who ever got to see him. Ren Fang, the Palace Attendant and Imperial Censor, wished to visit him but did not dare; going forward to gaze upon Deer Forest, he said to Xiaoxu's elder brother Lü: 'His dwelling is near, yet the man is far.' Grand Master of the Palace Yin Yun presented him with a poem; Ren Fang restrained him, saying: 'If our paths of taking and leaving differ, why disturb each other?' Thereupon the court nobility ceased making calls or invitations, and he only kept company with Pei Zhenzi (Zhenzi was the posthumous title of Ziye). In the twelfth year of the Tianjian reign era, the Supervisor of the Palace Library Fu Zhao recommended him, but he never presented himself. The Son of Heaven considered that he was only establishing an empty reputation to seek fame and honor, and thereafter no longer summoned or engaged him. Thus He Yin and Xiaoxu were both able to fulfill their lofty aspirations. The Prince of Nanping, [Xiao] Weimou, said to Lü: 'In former times, your grandfather's actions did not incur blame through idle wandering; why is it that your worthy younger brother alone clings so stubbornly to his purpose?' Xiaoxu said: 'If the roe deer and the river deer could all be harnessed alongside horses, how would they differ from steeds of fine breed?' The Prince composed the 'Treatise on Two Kinds of Darkness' and the 'Discourse on Nature and Emotions', and showed them both to him, requesting that he polish them. When Gaozu composed the Biographies of Loyal Subjects, compiled the Inscriptions and Epitaphs of the Buddhist Sages, and the Governor of Danyang recorded the Record of the Gracious and Divine, all were first submitted to the Upāsaka for selection before being put into effect. The Prince Zhonglie of Poyang was Xiaoxu's brother-in-law; the Prince and his sons sent gifts throughout the seasons, but he did not accept a single thing. He once cast hexagrams for his own time of death, saying: 'It is the same year as Editorial Director Liu.' That autumn Liu Yao died; Xiaoxu glanced aside and said: 'How much time do I have left?' Several tens of days later he indeed passed away, at the age of fifty-eight. The Crown Prince sent an emissary to offer condolences and sacrifices, presenting very lavish mortuary gifts; his son Shu, reiterating his late father's intentions, firmly declined and did not accept them. His disciples conferred on him the posthumous title of Recluse Wenzhen.