Zhi Dun (Zhi Daolin, 314-366) played an important role in the Buddhist Xuanxue, both as an eminent Buddhist monk and a literatus of the Eastern Jin dynasty. This paper explores Zhi Dun's essays, "Jise [youxuan] lun" (Wandering in the Mystery of Matter as Such) and "Daxiaopin duibi yaochao xu" (Preface to the Transmitted Essentials of Comparison of the Greater and Lesser [Transcendental Wisdom Sutras]), comparing them with the Prajnaparamita-sutra (Transcendental Wisdom Sutras) and Seng Zhao's work, Zhao lun. The author discusses how the tenet of Zhi's "Jise lun"─"matter as such is empty, it is not matter until it has become extinct"─already has focused on the non-difference of matter and emptiness. The author also expounds on the concept of "se bu zi se" (matter is not really matter) and "zhi bu zi zhi" (knowing originates from nowhere), arguing that Zhi Dun's comprehension of Buddhism played a precursor role to Seng Zhao's Zhao lun. Through a comparison of the works of Zhi Dun and Seng Zhao, the author suggests that the relationship of the two is like that of the greater and lesser versions of the Prajnaparamita-sutra. With Zhi Dun, the ''lesser," being first, it is clear that Seng Zhao, the "greater," has futher developed Zhi Dun's ideas. Before Seng Zhao's analysis of emptiness in Zhao lun, Zhi Dun's interpretation of the Buddhist Xuanxue, through a methodology of geyi ("concept-matching"), is truly impressive.
