Abstract The concepts of Dao, sage, scripture and the apocrypha in Liu Xie’s vision of writing—in comparisons with the Buddha, Dharma, and Monk in Buddhism and the Dao, Scripture and Master in Daoism—attenuate the role of sages and literati in creating scriptures. They respond to the contemporary endeavors of scriptural creation. Inspired by the theoretical frame of “the mirror and the lamp,” one may suggest that Liu Xie sees the writer as the sage. Liu’s ideas rest on the assumption of communication, sympathy, and communion between writing and the mystical world. Language, as signs, reveals Dao and writers act as agents to bring the two systems together. In literary theories, the sages and literati are considered the creators of the classics and various writings. The Daoist scriptures elevate the concept of the masters’ communion with the invisible, the experiences of which are expressed in pictures and writings. Chinese Buddhism shows the magnificent powers of the sutras through the feelings of mutual sympathy. Liu’s model, which reveals how the inner feelings manifest themselves on the outside, can be compared to the working of translation. It can further be argued that the idea of translation is embedded in the attempts to create scriptures by the sages and literati of the Six Dynasties period.