鐔津文集 9.11

9.11

On the [blank] day of the [blank] month, the śramaṇa [Qisong] respectfully gazes north and bows with hands clasped, offering this letter to the Chancellor of Zhaowen Pavilion, beneath his seat. In the past, through the good fortune of the imperial court, my Chan writings were bestowed into the secret canon to serve as the teaching of the Buddhadharma, shining brightly for ten thousand generations; its followers throughout the empire all rejoiced and celebrated. This was entirely shaped and brought to completion by your Excellency, who moreover praised its writing and spread it among worthy scholar-officials, so that today there is no one in the empire who does not know the depth to which I was favoured by your recognition, the abundance of the benefits I received from you, and how greatly you added lustre to the mountain forests! In ordinary days I wished to present a word to repay your Excellency's virtue, but could not do so; now, presenting my writings through your subordinates merely fulfills that longstanding aspiration. Your Excellency's meritorious achievements in assisting the ruler surpass those of all past and present, precisely because your Excellency skillfully employs the Way of Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, King Wen, King Wu, the Duke of Zhou, Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi. Now someone has written a book that is incisive, profound, and clear, explicating the Way of those ten sages and worthies to rectify order and disorder in the world; fathoming the depths and investigating the subtle, he considers himself not inferior to the writings of Jia Yi and Dong Zhongshu. This might assist your Excellency’s grand talent and far-reaching vision by one or two parts in ten thousand. I humbly reflect that I wander freely beyond the world, and my traces are different from the ordinary; whenever I wrote books, I feared that worldly people in their ignorance would become jealous and neglect them, and therefore I kept them secret, calling myself Qianzi, not daring to make my name known. Now your Excellency is supremely impartial and promotes goodness in the people of the empire, drawing no boundaries between the refined and the rustic, the prominent and the hidden, so that the empire submits to you. Therefore, not considering a thousand miles too far, I sent my book to present it to you. If there is something worthy of notice and its arguments are not false, should it by one chance in ten thousand truly provide assistance, then I would slightly repay your Excellency's fine virtue and be able to demonstrate my slight efficacy. Drifting along the rivers and lakes, reserved and upright, standing alone, I do not fit with the worldly; those who pity me and those who blame me are half and half. If your Excellency should bestow a single word to praise and promote it, this would further console what I have preserved throughout my life and be a great favour adding lustre to my solitary seclusion. Looking up, I sully your exalted command and presume upon your ministerial brilliance. My guilt has nowhere to hide. Not elaborating further, [Qisong] respectfully states.