集古今佛道論衡 3.7

3.7

太宗覽論。試以顯驗之刑。琳對以正理極言　上帝一無所問。移於益部僧寺。行至百牢關。因疾而卒。時年六十有九。凡所著論。集三十餘卷。然於釋李交論偏意敷弘。固使文據卓明終始包富。後賢引用不假傍求。斯即季代護法之開士也。當時同代相侮。逝後惜之。自餘玼瑣未足言議。其對晤重沓。如後廣之。此但敘其風素耳。

when Emperor Taizong reviewed the treatises, he tested him with the punishment of empirical proof. Falin responded with correct principles, speaking to the utmost, and the Sovereign asked no further questions. He was transferred to a Buddhist temple in Yizhou. When he reached Bailao Pass, he died of illness at the age of sixty-nine. In total, the treatises he authored were compiled into more than thirty fascicles. Because in the intersecting debates between Buddhism and Daoism his particular aim was broad propagation, he firmly ensured that the literary evidence was remarkably clear and comprehensive from beginning to end, so that later worthies who quoted them did not need to search elsewhere. He was indeed an enlightened being who protected the Dharma in the degenerate age! At the time, his contemporaries slighted each other, but after his death they lamented his loss. The rest of minor trivialities are not worth discussing. His repeated face-to-face debates will be expanded below; here we merely describe his character and background.