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A Chinese Biographical Dictionary

contemporary with and antagonisiie to Ghnang Tsli. He was a lover of sophisms, arguing that fire is not hot, bnt that it is the man who feels hot; that there are feathers in an egg, becaase feathers come forth on the chicken, etc The foUowing account is given of him in one of the chapters of Ghnang Tsti's work, which is apparently a summary by .early editors: — "Hui Tztl was a man of many ideas. His works wonld fill five carts. Bat his doctrines are paradoxical, and his terms are used ambignonsly.*' His later years were spent over the question as to how far the qualities of matter (e^ g. hardness and whiteness) were separate existences, only to be grasped by the mind one at a time. For this idle devotion to externals, Chuang Tzti ridiculed him in the following doggerel:

God has made you a shapely sight,
Yet your only thought is the "hard and white."

882 Hui Yüan . A.D. 338-416. A Buddhist priest, surnamed Chia , of jfg P^ Yen-m6n in Shansi , the founder of the Lotas

School, which teaches the doctrine of a Paradise in the West, promised to the faithful worshippers of Amida Buddha. As a youth he was an ardent student of the Classics and of Taoism; bat on meeting Tao An he at ouce became his disciple. He is said to have used the philosophy of Chuang Tzti to elucidate difficult points in his preaching. lu 373 he established himself at ]£ A|^ La-f6ng in Hupeh, where he taught assiduously until his death.

883 Hun Chan . Died A.D. 789. Hereditary Superintendent of ^ ^ Eao-lan in Eansuh. He distinguished himself in frontier wars, and in 785 assisted Ma Sui and Li Shfing against la Hnai- kuang. It was the opinion of the Turfan chief that these three Generals saveil the T*ang dynasty from his assaults, and he plotted their ruin. With the aid of jealous rivals he alienated the Emperor's

affecUou from Ma Sui and Li Sh6ng; and in 787, at a meeting