名僧命運與佛教中國化：晉末宋初闡提佛性論爭發微=The fate of famous monks: An analysis on the controversy over “whether icchantika possess Buddha-nature” in the Jin-Song period
In the early fourteenth year of Yixi in the eastern Jin dynasty, Six Chapters of Mahāparinirvāṇa sūtra was translated by Buddha-bhadra and Fa-xian in Daochang temple of Jiankang. After that, there had the famous controversy on “whether icchantika possess Buddha- nature” in the history of ancient Chinese Buddhism, and Dao-sheng advocated new theories about icchantika having Buddha-nature, on the other side, Fa-xian sticked to the opinion of icchantika not having Buddha-nature according to Six Chapters of Mahāparinirvāṇa sūtra. They became the main representatives of both sides of the controversy, and consequently ushered in a turning point of fate in their later years: Fa-xian interrupted his career of translating confucian classics, left Jiankang and died in Jiangling; after Fa-xian’s death at least seven years later, in the sixth year of Yuanjia, Dao-sheng was banished from the capital. Fa-xian and Dao-sheng leaving Jiankang produced great influences on medieval Buddhism. The controversy between Dao- sheng and Fa-xian was not simply a dispute between right and wrong, but show such a truth that the study of classics and the innovation of philosophies not only depend on each other and promote each other, but also have inherent tension and some contradictions. In a word, whether Fa-xian left capital or Dao-sheng were rejected, it has something to do with the controversy over “whether icchantika possess Buddha-nature”; however, the key point is that in the course of the deepening of the communication between Chinese and Western Buddhism and the sinicization of Buddhism in the middle ages of China, under the background of the mutual influence between the Buddhist monks and the imperial power politics, the vicissitudes of the life fortunes of Fa-xian and Dao-sheng just reflected the complicated and tortuous evolution trend of southern Buddhism centered on Jiankang from the late Jin dynasty to the early Song dynasty.
