佛祖統紀 34.81

34.81

In the thirty-fifth year, the Tenth Patriarch, Puṇyayaśas, in Pāṭaliputra, entrusted the treasury of the Dharma to Aśvaghoṣa. Originally, Aśvaghoṣa had fixed a blade upon a staff and inscribed it: 'If there is a wise man in the world who can defeat me, I will cut off my head in apology.' At that time, Puṇyayaśas was sitting in a tranquil grove, expounding that all dharmas are empty, without self, and without person. He said to Aśvaghoṣa: 'If speaking conventionally, there is the provisional name "self"; but according to the ultimate truth, how can a self be found?' Aśvaghoṣa knew that his argument was defeated and was about to cut off his head in apology. Puṇyayaśas said: 'Our Dharma is benevolent and does not cut off your head. The Tathāgata foretold that you, after six hundred years, would transmit the treasury of the Dharma.' Thereupon, he ordained him as a monk.