佛祖歷代通載 7.97

7.97

(Twenty-six) Dharma Master Daosheng possessed heavenly-endowed, wondrous awakening. Earlier, before the later chapters of the *Nirvāṇa-sūtra* had arrived, Daosheng read it closely for a long time and said: “Icchantikas must naturally become Buddhas; it is only that this scripture's transmission is not yet complete.” Thereupon, literalist teachers attacked him in concert, falsely accusing it of being a heterodox teaching and claiming that according to the Vinaya he should be expelled. Daosheng made an open declaration before the assembly, taking an oath: “If what I have spoken does not accord with the scripture's meaning, may I witness evil retribution in this very body; but if it truly tallies with the Buddha's mind, may I ascend the lion seat when I cast off this life.” Thereupon, folding his hands in his sleeves, he traveled south and entered Huqiu Mountain. Erecting stones to serve as his audience, he expounded the *Nirvāṇa-sūtra*. When he came to the passage stating that icchantikas possess the Buddha-nature, he asked: “Does the meaning I have spoken tally with the Buddha's mind?” The stones all nodded their heads. Later, he traveled to Mount Lu and resided at Xiaojing Cliff. When he heard that Dharmakṣema's retranslation of the later chapters of the *Nirvāṇa-sūtra* had reached Nanjing, and that it indeed stated that all icchantikas possess the Buddha-nature, Daosheng was overjoyed beyond measure and vowed to uphold the Dharma until death.