met the mysterious Man of the Way of Chicken-foot
Mountain, who bestowed upon him the inner alchem-
ical practices of the Heart School of West India through
two scriptures. One of these concerns the methods of
salvation propounded by the three sages—Confucius,
Laozi, and S ́akyamuni—while the other was a DHARANI
text spoken by the Buddha. In addition, Min received
a Northern Dipper meditation text containing mantras
to be pronounced in imitation of Sanskrit.
In contemporary China, Taiwan, and other Chinese
communities, there are continued official attempts to
distinguish Daoism from Buddhism through the cre-
ation of governing organizations, the registration of
priests, and local oversight—all familiar in the history
of Chinese religion. Nonetheless, the most prominent
characteristic of Chinese religion as it is practiced and
imagined remains its eclectic, all-embracing character.
See also:Apocrypha; Confucianism and Buddhism;
Syncretic Sects: Three Teachings
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STEPHENR. BOKENKAMPDAOSHENGDaosheng (355–434) was an influential Chinese
scholar-monk. He was popular as a lecturer with the
educated classes and famous for advancing the theory
of a “sudden” experience of enlightenment. Ordained
at a young age, Daosheng gave his first Buddhist lec-
ture at fifteen. In 397 he traveled to Lushan where he
studied for seven years under HUIYUAN(334–416) and
San ̇ghadeva. Daosheng then journeyed to Chang’an
with three other disciples of Huiyuan to learn and as-
sist KUMARAJIVA(350–409/413), probably helping in
Kumarajva’s translations of the Vimalaklrti-sutraand
the LOTUSSUTRA(SADDHARMAPUNDARIKA-SUTRA). Of
his many monographs only his commentary on the
Lotus Sutrais extant; but Daosheng’s opinions are of-
ten quoted in other works, allowing scholars to re-
construct his core ideas.
Daosheng was severely criticized for his stubborn re-
fusal to accept the accuracy of the first translation of
the Mahayana NIRVANASUTRAbecause of its claim that
all sentient beings possess the buddha-nature except for
the evil ICCHANTIKA. After returning to Lushan in 430,
he was exonerated and praised for his insight when a
new, expanded translation of this sutra that had re-
moved the icchantikaexclusion was brought to him.
Daosheng was perhaps the first person in China to
see the marga (PATH) implications of the buddha-
nature doctrine famously extolled in the Nirvana Sutra.
This sutra preaches the positive aspects of NIRVANAas
pure, eternal, personal, and so on, and Daosheng
linked this with the buddha-nature concept to affirm
a pure, blissful “true self” that can only be realized
suddenly. If the buddha-nature is indivisible, he ar-
gued, then it is realized completely or not at all. HeDAOSHENG