The Monk Zhidun Admiring a Horse, by Ren Yi (cropped)

Zhi Dun (; 314-366 CE) was a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

Buddhist monk and

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

. A Chinese author, scholar, and confidant of Chinese government officials in 350 CE, he claimed that all who followed

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

would, at the end of their life, enter

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

. In his book, ''

A Short History of Chinese Philosophy ''A Short History of Chinese Philosophy'' () is a book by Feng Youlan written in 1948. It is a short version of his classic 1934 book ''A History of Chinese Philosophy''. See also *Chinese philosophy Chinese philosophy origina ...

'', Feng Youlan recounts a story from the ''

Shishuo Xinyu ''A New Account of the Tales of the World'', also known as ''Shishuo Xinyu'' (), was compiled and edited by Liu Yiqing (Liu I-ching; 劉義慶; 403–444) during the Liu Song dynasty (420–479) of the Northern and Southern dynasties (420–589 ...

'' regarding Zhi Dun's fondness for cranes:

"Once a friend gave him two young
ranes Rane or Ranes may refer to: Geography *Råne River, Sweden *Rânes, a commune in the Orne department in northwestern France * Ráneš, a large island in Troms county, Norway People Indians *Rane (clan), an Indian Maratha clan ** Prachi Rane ...
When they grew up, Chih-tun was forced to clip their wings so that they would not fly away. When this was done, the cranes looked despondent, and Chih-tun too was depressed, and said: "Since they have wings that can reach the sky, how can they be content to be a pet of man?" Hence when their feathers had grown again, he let the cranes fly away."

References

314 births 366 deaths 4th-century Chinese philosophers Chinese scholars of Buddhism Jin dynasty (266–420) philosophers Jin dynasty (266–420) essayists Jin dynasty (266–420) Buddhist monks Philosophers from Henan Writers from Kaifeng {{China-philosopher-stub