Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p59In the midst of continuing interest among clergy and nobility in Tao-sheng’s doctrine of sudden enlightenment, Tao-sheng’s thought was re-embodied in the lay scholar Liu-ch’iu (436-495). Although chronologically far removed from Tao-sheng, Liu-ch’iu’s works were remarkably similar in subject matter and methodology to Tao-sheng’s. He “expounded the meaning of [the premises] that good does not entail reward and that one achieves Buddhahood through sudden enlightenment, wrote commentaries to the Saddharmapuṇḍarika and others, and lectured on the Nirvāṇa, the large and small (Prajñāpāramitā) Sūtras, and so on,” all of which are now lost. He discussed the issue of enlightenment from the subitist perspective in his preface to the Wu-liang i Ching (“The Sūtra of Immeasurable Meaning”). The Sūtra itself is a peculiar product, believed to be a counterfeit made during the Liu Sung period (420-479), influenced by both the Lotus Sūtra and Tao-sheng’s theory of enlightenment. (The reason for its connection with the latter is that its theme is the fast attainment of Buddhahood). Here we see yet another mark of Tao-sheng’s impact throughout the fifth century. Tao-sheng’s influence may be detected not only in individual thinkers but also in several schools.