Tao Sheng was in no way related to Tao An; they simply had the same initial Buddhist name. Chu Fa Tai, an eminent monk from Shandong Province in northern China, studied under Fotucheng with Tao An, and Tao Sheng was Chu Fa Tai's student. Tao Sheng later also studied with great monks like Hui Yuan and Kumarajiva. Such fortunate encounters with these great monks rewarded Tao Sheng with completely different insights into the essence of Buddhism. He even made several highly revolutionary and controversial proposals which, though accepted years later, shockingly led to his eventual expulsion from the Buddhist circle in Nanjing. What modern Chinese people remember the most about him is perhaps the phrase, "When Master Sheng spoke, even the rocks nodded in agreement," because it was believed that when Tao Sheng lectured about his new findings in Buddhism to the rocks before him, even they, the very rocks, nodded their heads in consent! A fairy tale? You decide.

The beginning

Tao Sheng was born in 355 in Jiangsu Province, on the east coast of China, into a professional family. His father was a county magistrate. When Tao Sheng was less than ten years old, he followed his parents to the capital, today's Nanjing, where his father went on official business. One afternoon, his father took his mother and him to visit the famous Wakuan Temple, which was originally a graveyard. Prime Minister Wang bought it because he wanted to build a pottery factory there, but he died soon after and the construction was stopped. A monk named Hui Li arrived at the city and decided to build a temple at the same site. He asked for help from the late prime minister's sons, who quickly agreed. Even the emperor sanctioned it and ordered his subordinates to help build what came to be a de facto state temple. After the temple was completed, many renowned monks came to live and preach there.

Tao Sheng and his parents encountered Chu Fa Tai, a distinguished monk from northern China. Chu Fa Tai had studied under Fotucheng for several years before Tao An, and he had brought him and several other monks south from northern China. Each set out in his own way to spread Buddhism. Chu Fa Tai led a few disciples to Nanjing and settling in Wakuan Temple.

Chu Fa Tai noticed little Tao Sheng's refined disposition and intelligence and wished to have this child as his disciple. The magistrate and his wife were very surprised to hear that. They were even more stunned when they heard their son express his desire to join the monastery. Even though the couple were devoted Buddhists, they did not expect their son to join the sangha (the order of monks and nuns). Anyway, they didn't agree to Chu Fa Tai's request on the spot. Before they bade good-bye to the venerable monk, Chu Fa Tai whispered to them, "You know how risky it can be to serve as an official nowadays, but it would be a blessing for your son if he could serve as a monk and devote the rest of his life to propagating the Buddha's teachings."

When they returned home, both the magistrate and his wife discussed the possibility of their son becoming a monk. Agreeing that the country was in chaos and uncertainty under the rule of ruthless warlords, they felt that Tao Sheng would be far better off as a monk under the tutelage of an eminent monk like Chu Fa Tai. Their bright son might one day become a promising pillar of Buddhism who might even be revered by emperors. But at the same time, they were reluctant to let their beloved son go because he was so charming.

After pondering the whole thing for many days, the magistrate and his wife finally decided to take Tao Sheng to Chu Fa Tai's temple. Yet as they left the temple, tears rolled ceaselessly down their cheeks.

His monastic life

Tao Sheng was first accepted as a novice because he was still a child. He could be officially ordained a monk when he turned twenty years old. Tao Sheng disliked blindly following other people's teachings; he preferred to raise questions and to reach his own conclusions after careful and attentive study. He was like a sponge, absorbing the knowledge from every sutra he could get. Except for meals and sleep, he always had his nose in books.

Realizing Tao Sheng's potential, Chu Fa Tai later arranged for Tao Sheng to accompany him throughout the day and to sleep in a room next to his--an unprecedented honor in the temple. So Tao Sheng had the chance to cultivate his Buddhist studies and, above all, to closely observe Chu Fa Tai's dealings with government officials and other important visitors.

One time, Chu Fa Tai held a series of lectures on the Illuminating Prajna Sutra. Hoping to learn more about this sutra, the emperor and his major officials also came to listen. At the end of the first day, Chu Fa Tai asked young Tao Sheng to repeat what he had said that day, and to his marvel, the fifteen-year-old boy had been able to memorize verbatim the lecture of the day. The young novice appeared to be much more intelligent than the master had expected.

On the second last day of the lecture, Chu Fa Tai adamantly instructed Tao Sheng to go onto the stage to give the lecture on his behalf, because he knew Tao Sheng was more well-versed in the sutra than those who had been ordained as monks. Besides, this would be Tao Sheng's best opportunity to make his debut in the presence of high-ranking officials and other eminent monks.

When it was announced that Tao Sheng would give the lecture because Chu Fa Tai did not feel well, the audience became upset. Those who knew Tao Sheng were delighted because they knew his speech would be just as fascinating as Chu Fa Tai's. Those who didn't know Tao Sheng were rather bewildered, because they considered Tao Sheng to be only a child, too young to shoulder such an important task. However, Tao Sheng's eloquence and wisdom earned him the audience's great respect.

In 385, Tao An died. Two years later, Chu Fa Tai also died. Tao Sheng and all the other monks worked hard to keep the temple functioning. Nine years later, Tao Sheng finally decided to leave the temple to visit Hui Yuan, who lived in Tung Lin Temple on Lu Mountain. Tao Sheng felt that the temple couldn't afford his in-depth studies of Buddhism anymore. Furthermore, he had heard that Samghadeva, a famous monk from Kashmir, was staying in Hsi Lin Temple, also in Lu Mountain. So Tao Sheng decided to visit both of them and to learn more from them.

Life on Lu Mountain

Samghadeva came to Lu Mountain in 391. He first joined Tao An and other monks to translate a sutra titled Madhyamagama. But Tao An died before the sutra was completely finished. A war forced Samghadeva and other monks to flee the place. Then he was invited by Hui Yuan to go to Lu Mountain and re-translate two famous commentaries, Tri-dharmikasastra and Abhidharmahrdaya-sastra.

Samghadeva lived in Hsi Lin Temple, which had been founded by Hui Yung, a disciple of Tao An and colleague of Hui Yuan. Tao Sheng and Hui Yuan went to learn the two commentaries, as well as others, from Samghadeva.

Samghadeva finally wanted to return home, but Hui Yuan and Tao Sheng felt that Buddhism was just starting to grow in China, and that the religion needed a great monk like Samghadeva who could inject new ways of thinking. So they persuaded Samghadeva to go to Nanjing and teach other monks about the commentaries. He consented.

After Samghadeva left, Tao Sheng started learning Ch'an meditation from Hui Yung. Hui Yung and Hui Yuan had learned meditation from Tao An. However, after they came to Lu Mountain, Hui Yuan spent most of his time on affairs around the temple and he had less time to practice meditation. Since Tao Sheng was staying at Hsi Lin Temple with Hui Yung, he asked that monk to teach him meditation.

Hui Yung took Tao Sheng to his meditation room, a straw hut located in a forest a few miles west of the temple. When they had walked for a while, they suddenly heard a very loud roar from a tiger. Tao Sheng was frightened when he heard it, but Hui Yung simply said to him, "Don't be afraid. He's my tiger and he reacts this way whenever he senses a stranger is approaching."

After a few more steps they saw a hut, and before it sat a tiger looking at them with an open mouth and sharp, shiny teeth. Hui Yung simply waved his hand at the tiger, which stood up, stretched his body and left. Both sat down in the room and Hui Yung started teaching Tao Sheng the steps to meditate. Tao Sheng spent six years studying meditation during his seven-year stay.

Life with Kumarajiva

Kumarajiva (see his story in our Fall 1999 issue) finally came to China in 401 after years of house arrest. Drawn by his fame, many monks in China, including Tao Sheng and three of Hui Yuan's disciples, also went to study with the famous monk.

After Kumarajiva arrived in today's Xian in central China in 402, Yao Hsing, king of Hou Chin, arranged for Kumarajiva to live in one of his palaces. The king also organized a Buddhist sutra translation council, headed by Kumarajiva, to translate sutras into Chinese. When the news spread, more than three thousand monks flocked to Xian in one month, hoping to join in this significant work. Only twenty monks were chosen to help with the translation.

When Tao Sheng and the three other monks arrived, Tao Sheng was given a test: a debate with one of Kumarajiva's top disciples. Kumarajiva was impressed with Tao Sheng's profound knowledge of Buddhism, and he allowed him and the three others to join the translation work.

To make excellent translations of the sutras, the work, financially sponsored by the royal court, was set up in the following way: First, Kumarajiva read the original text, sentence by sentence, and rendered it into Chinese. The translation was then written down and edited into proper Chinese. Then the semantic nuances of words were discussed so that Kumarajiva could compare the Chinese version with the original text to discover if any mistakes had been made. Afterwards, court officials with high literary achievement helped polish the translation and confirm the uses of words. Lastly, the translation was finalized and written down in books.

Five hundred monks also sat in the same translation hall. They were hand-picked by Kumarajiva for their knowledge of Buddhism. They interacted with the panel members, including Kumarajiva, by listening to discussions from the panels and then raising questions that could improve the accuracy of translation.

At first, Tao Sheng sat in the audience with these monks. He was gradually given translations to polish and edit. As time moved on, he was able to prove his value by shouldering more translation work. Slowly, Tao Sheng came to be seen as one of Kumarajiva's top four disciples.

Kumarajiva preferred sutras and commentaries on prajna, the supreme wisdom of the Buddha. Further, he pointed out the importance of the thought of the "Middle Observation." He noted that nothing has any existence in its own right, since everything rises and disappears in accordance with previous causes or simply as a chance meeting of certain elements and conditions--this is the concept of void and emptiness in Buddhism and is regarded as the True Essence of all dharma. As we come to understand this concept of void, we begin to realize the True Essence of everything. Since nothing ever endures, we should maintain an attitude of non-attachment--we should not cling to anything in the world. Furthermore, we should not always cling to the concept of void and "having not," which will, in turn, simply become another form of attachment. The best way for us is to become attached neither to having-not nor to having--a notion of the Middle Observation or the Golden Mean. This philosophy helped Tao Sheng to arrive at a deeper understanding of Buddhism and helped him to explain Buddhism in later periods.

Tao Sheng took a step further by saying that the True Essence exists in every person. Each person, like everything on earth, has no permanent nature and is subject to change at all times. However, the True Essence can be considered as the buddha-nature, and through it every person is able to attain buddhahood through spiritual cultivation. This proposal was a major breakthrough in Buddhist thought at that time, because before its introduction, people were wondering how they could cultivate themselves and become buddhas. None of the sutras talked about the buddha-nature inside people's minds. Now that everyone knew they had the same buddha-nature, they could activate it by carrying out their spiritual cultivation and eventually anyone could become a buddha. In Tao Sheng's time, the rich looked down upon the poor as worthless, so it caused quite a stir in society when the monk expounded his thoughts on this subject. However, the good aspect of this theory was that it gave hope to the poor, because they could also become buddhas if they resolutely carried out their spiritual cultivation.

Tao Sheng stayed with Kumarajiva for seven years. He felt that he had learned much and he needed to teach others about what he had learned, so he went back to Lu Mountain.

Back to Lu Mountain

When Tao Sheng returned to Lu Mountain, he showed Hui Yuan and the others the sutras and commentaries that Kumarajiva's team had translated. They discussed in length what Kumarajiva had proposed about the buddha-nature and other concepts. Hui Yuan focused on the Buddha's name and image that he could view in meditation, which he considered was the way to attain buddhahood. The practice would allow practitioners to arrive at the Buddha's Pure Land and attain enlightenment. However, following Kumarajiva's philosophy, Tao Sheng exposed the fallacy of this method: even if this buddha came from his Pure Land, it was still the work of one's mind. Since the mind was illusive, the buddha in one's meditation was also illusive and thus should not be treated as real. Nevertheless, Hui Yuan still felt that the buddha that emerged from one's thoughts should be eliminated, but the buddha that flew into one's meditation from the Pure Land should be accepted.

In short, Hui Yuan and his followers were believers of Amitabha Buddha and his Pure Land, while Tao Sheng wanted to eradicate anything that one's mind would cling to, including images of the Buddha and the Pure Land. His philosophy was very close to that which the Ch'an later advocated. Tao Sheng felt that the concept of the Buddha's Pure Land was merely an expedient created by Sakyamuni Buddha to entice people to walk on the path of spiritual cultivation which eventually would lead to enlightenment. Following the Middle Observation theory, even the Pure Land does not exist. It is thus conditional and impermanent, and it should not be treated as real either.

Despite such a huge gap in their views about the Buddha and the Pure Land, Hui Yuan and Tao Sheng were still good friends. Tao Sheng stayed in Lu Mountain for a year and returned to Nanjing.

Back to Nanjing

Back in Nanjing, Tao Sheng discovered many local people were also practicing meditation and chanting the name of Amitabha Buddha, because they wanted to go to Amitabha's Pure Land after death. However, they had no intention of understanding the meaning in the sutras, to say nothing of trying to do good deeds.

A friend asked Tao Sheng to write an article criticizing this fallacy, but the monk hesitated to do so, because he was worried that what he wrote might end up admonishing Hui Yuan and other Amitabha Pure Land sect practitioners with whom he was quite familiar. But he later felt that the Pure Land practice in Nanjing had diverged from the content of Hui Yuan's practice, and he should criticize those people for their mistake.

He also wrote many other articles, including "The Buddha's Dharma Existence Has No Form," "The Buddha Has No Pure Land," "The Buddha-nature Truly Exists," "The Buddha Does Not Reside in the Past, Present or Future." The last article was written following his theory that the Buddha's dharma existence has no fixed form. The Buddha's dharma existence, his true existence, is in a supra-temporal and spatial state; that is, it cuts across the boundaries of time and space and does not just reside in a certain period of time. It exists permanently at any place and at any time. So it does not just reside in the past, present, or future. Nor is there a buddha that belongs to the past, present or the future. This theory indicated that people seeking to become buddhas had to work from their minds. That is, instead of praying to the Buddha's statue in a temple, they should pray to the "buddha" that originally exists inside them. Once the "buddha" in their minds is completely purified, they will become enlightened. This idea had great influence on the Ch'an sect in the later period, as they advocated this concept constantly.

In 415, the great Chinese monk Fa Hsien (see our Winter 2001 issue) returned to China. Tao Sheng had heard of Fa Hsien many years before and was impressed by his courage to travel the incredibly long distance to India to bring back more Buddhist scriptures.

Fa Hsien needed help in translating those scriptures into Chinese. Therefore, with help from Tao Sheng and several of Kumarajiva's disciples, he started translating the sutras and commentaries.

Another controversial article Tao Sheng wrote while in Nanjing was "Complete, Instant Enlightenment." All the sutras Tao Sheng encountered at that time indicated that an entry-level bodhisattva had to go through ten gradual stages to become a buddha. Tao An and Chu Fa Tai indicated that bodhisattvas in the seventh stage had attained complete enlightenment, like that of the tenth stage. Tao Sheng first accepted this theory, but later he questioned its validity: If a seventh-stage bodhisattva had attained complete enlightenment, why were there still three more stages to go? He asked Kumarajiva and Hui Yuan the same question, but received no reply. Tao Sheng proposed a new theory: instant, complete enlightenment. In this theory, people instantly attain complete enlightenment when they hear something, see something or read certain texts; they don't receive some enlightenment today and some tomorrow. Tao Sheng felt such enlightenment was simply a realization of the words, not the essence of the sutra. Many reverend monks refused to accept this theory mostly because the sutras they had did not mention anything about complete enlightenment; they only talked about gradual, staged enlightenment. This new theory brought lots of arguments from both sides of the debate. Nevertheless, the theory had great influence on Ch'an Buddhism, the most famous case being the monk Hui Neng, the sixth Ch'an patriarch, who emphasized instant, complete enlightenment (see our Spring 2000 issue).

Expulsion

The issue that resulted in his exile was his proposal that even yi-chan-ti--the Chinese transliteration of the Sanskrit icchantika, an evil person who has cut off all his roots of goodness--still retained his buddha-nature. The Maha Parinirvana Sutra, which records words delivered by the Buddha before his death, had been brought back from India by Fa Hsien. The sutra states that all living beings have the buddha-nature. An evil person is also a living being and accordingly should have his buddha-nature. Yet the sutra also indicates that an icchantika has no buddha-nature. This inconsistency made Tao Sheng suspect that the sutra was not complete and that any evil person still maintained his buddha-nature. This idea caused a furor among the majority of monks in China, because it went against the sutra. What was worse was that Tao Sheng was slandering the Buddha's philosophy. Many senior monks gathered together and determined the punishment for this blasphemy: they expelled Tao Sheng from the Buddhist circle!

The penalty shocked the Buddhist circle and society as a whole, since Tao Sheng had been seen as one of the most reverend monks of all. Refusing to back down and apologize, Tao Sheng bravely claimed, "I don't think I said anything blasphemous. If I did, I beg the Buddha to immediately cover my whole body with abscesses; otherwise, I will be given the privilege of lecturing on a glorious podium when I die."

Even the rocks agreed with him

A friend invited Tao Sheng to a temple in Suzhou. Though away from the conservatives, the expulsion still made Tao Sheng despondent. Unable to sleep one night, he walked out of the temple onto a plain and sat down on a huge rock. The plain was full of such rocks. As he was sighing over the extreme conservatism he had faced in Nanjing, a funny idea came to him that maybe these rocks were smarter than those stubborn monks! So, he started lecturing on the Buddha's teachings. He went on for hours. Suddenly, the rocks started nodding to one another as if they had all agreed to what the master had just said. Several farmers who passed by witnessed the peculiar scene and hence came the famous phrase, "When Master Sheng spoke, even the rocks nodded in agreement."

Honor restored

In 430, Tao Sheng went again to Tung Lin Temple on Lu Mountain. One day he had a visitor. A monk came with the complete version of the Maha Parinirvara Sutra to see Tao Sheng. This edition, composed of thirteen chapters, was indeed complete and it mentioned that the icchantika also had the buddha-nature. What caused the confusion was that the previous edition, composed of only five chapters, was simply stating the fact: the icchantika was evil and had no conscience, so he had no buddha-nature. But the following chapters in the complete version explained further that if the icchantika could repent his mistakes, he wouldn't be an icchantika anymore. Then, he would have his buddha-nature like everyone else.

The new version exploded like a bombshell in Nanjing and the entire Buddhist circle in China. It was an equally great explosion for those monks who originally opposed Tao Sheng's theory. Tao Sheng received great admiration from the public for his realizing even before the complete version of the sutra had arrived that even the icchantika had the buddha-nature. Tao Sheng's honor was restored and he eventually returned to Nanjing. He immediately held a lecture on this sutra and drew large crowds. However, his fame thereafter drew too many visitors and too many affairs clamoring for his attention. In addition, he was more than seventy years old, too old for so much hubbub. So he implored the emperor for permission to return to Tung Lin Temple in Lu Mountain.

In the winter of 434, Tao Sheng gave a talk on this sutra in that temple. Just as he had foretold, he died on the podium in the temple at the age of seventy-nine.

Although most modern people know Tao Sheng from the famous phrase, "When Master Sheng spoke, even the rocks nodded in agreement." Tao Sheng contributed greatly to Buddhism with his new interpretations of Buddhism. For instance, his proposals "the Buddha and his Pure Land do not truly exist" and "instant, complete enlightenment" even became the foundation for the Ch'an sect, which constantly advocates these two concepts.

His last controversial idea that the icchantika still retained the buddha-nature resulted in his eviction from the Buddhist circle. But much later, the complete version of the same sutra arrived in China and helped to restore his honor. Tao Sheng was able to lecture on the sutra until he died on the podium as he had anticipated.

New ideas aren't always welcomed and many great truths often begin as blasphemies. But as time goes by, a person with a strong base will survive. Tao Sheng's story clearly exemplifies this case. He proposed many ideas that seemed outright daring and even evil in his time; nevertheless, their strong foundations proved themselves and later became part of the mainstream. Buddhism in China in the fifth century was in its infancy without all the scriptures available, so any idea not found in the sutras was seen as unacceptable. But thanks to Tao Sheng's courage to make his new findings known, Buddhism could move forward.