集古今佛道論衡 1.11

1.11

Prince Si of Chen, Cao Zhi, styled Zijian, was the fourth son of Emperor Wu of the Wei. He was initially enfeoffed as Prince of Dong'e Commandery, and after his death was given the posthumous title Prince Si of Chen. In his youth he held the beauty of jade; at the age of ten he could compose literature. As soon as his brush touched paper, it was accomplished, without any initial revision. Of the worldly arts and skills, there were none he had not mastered completely. When Handan Chun saw him, he was astonished into submission and called him a divine man. Whenever Zhi read Buddhist sūtras, he would linger over them, sighing in admiration and savoring them, regarding them as the ultimate culmination of the supreme Dao. He thereupon created the melodic rise and fall and intricate modulations of the seven tones for chanting, which the world's recitation took as a model. He once traveled to Mount Yu and suddenly heard the sounds of the Brahmā heaven in the sky, clear, uplifting, mournful, and delicate, its tones stirring the heart. He listened alone for a long time, while none of his attendants heard it. Zhi was deeply moved by the spiritual principle and became ever more enlightened to the response of the Dharma; he then emulated its rhythm and melody, writing it down as Buddhist chanting (fanbai), composing the texts and establishing the tones to be transmitted as a standard for later generations. The illustrious radiance of Brahmā sounds began from this. The hymns he transmitted numbered six sections in all; they are found in the Liang śramaṇa Sengyou's Fayuan ji. However, he broadly grasped the sources of the Dao and meticulously searched the records of immortals, [finding that] their treachery and falsity were mostly bizarre and ultimately amounted to embellished deception. Therefore, the detailed discerning exposition in the preceding treatise is certainly clear.