Stories don't end, They go to sleep, And what sleeps May wake at any moment, or never wake at all. Confined to bed, his body began to fail and his breathing grew labored. When the list was complete, He asked that it be read aloud. There were 74 volumes in 1338 Scrolls. the many images the master had made were also recorded. He lit hundreds of thousands of lamps And redeemed countless beings. The memories are kept alive, If at all, only by a small number of monastics and scholars. Even now, nearly 1400 years after he lived, he is studied and venerated not only in China but also in Taiwan, Japan, Korea, India, Europe, and the United States. works by and about him are assigned in college classrooms, And an entire University in Taiwan was recently founded in his name. before delving into those narratives, I begin with a few brief words about the man behind the myths.