Liang-dynasty critic who catalogued Buddhist scriptures under the monk Sengyou, wrote The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons, and became a monk in old age
Mural guide
A thatched pavilion open on three sides stands among tall bamboo; one person sits with their back turned at the veranda rail beside a zither and a stack of bamboo slips, while a stone path runs to a calm pond reflecting clouds and distant hills.
Liu Xie, courtesy name Yanhe, came from Ju in Dongguan; his grandfather was a younger brother of the Liu-Song minister Liu Xiuzhi. Orphaned and too poor to marry, he lived for more than ten years with the monk Sengyou, mastered the Buddhist canon and sorted the scriptures held at Dinglin Monastery. Early in the Tianjian era he entered Liang service as secretary to Xiao Hong, magistrate of Taimo, palace secretary to the crown prince and colonel of foot, and won approval for ending animal offerings at the suburban altars. His fifty-chapter The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons (Wenxin diaolong), was ignored until he waylaid Shen Yue's carriage with it; Shen judged that it grasped the principles of writing and kept it on his desk. Late in life, after editing scriptures at Dinglin by imperial order, he burned off his hair, took vows under the name Huidi and died within a year. The bibliography of the History of the Sui lists the work in ten scrolls.
The Patterning of the Dao in NatureNorthern and SouthernFamous line from Liu Xie's Literary Mind: the beauty of nature is the pattern of the Dao
Pattern Rests on SubstanceNorthern and SouthernLine from The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons: ornament depends on substance
Records
Wrote the Wenxin diaolong in fifty chapters
Liang, Southern Dynasties
The Book of Liang says Liu Xie, courtesy name Yanhe, of Ju in Dongguan, was poor and did not marry, and lived with the monk Sengyou for over ten years, becoming widely versed in the sutras and treatises; the scripture collection of Dinglin Temple was arranged by him. He wrote the Wenxin diaolong in fifty chapters on literary forms past and present and wished Shen Yue to approve it. Shen Yue had it brought, valued it highly, judged that it grasped the principles of writing, and kept it on his desk.
Northern and Southern
Literature · Criticism