DAOSHENG (360?–434), also Zhu Daosheng; Chinese Buddhist monk, student of the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, and early proponent of a doctrine of sudden enlightenment. The precise age at which Daosheng entered the religious life is unknown. Accounts of his early career state only that he studied under Zhu Fatai (a disciple, with Dao'an, of Fotudeng) in Jiankang, the southern capital. In 397 he journeyed to Mount Lu and became the disciple of Dao'an's most famous student, Huiyuan. During his first year on Lushan, Daosheng took advantage of the presence of the Kashmiri monk Saṃghadeva to study the Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma literature. Around 406 he left Lushan for the northern capital of Chang'an, where he presumably attended Kumārajīva's translation seminars of the Vimalakīrti and Saddharma-puṇḍarīka Sūtras. Later, he wrote commentaries to both of these scriptures.

In 407 Daosheng abruptly left Chang'an and returned to...