卷二傳十九江陵三層寺道綜尼

道綜。未詳何許人也。住江陵三層寺。少不以出眾居心。長不以同物為污。賢愚之際從通而已。跡雖混成所度潛廣。

以宋大明七年三日十五日夜。自練油火。關顙既然。耳目就毀。誦詠不輟。道俗咨嗟魔正同駭。率土聞風皆發菩提心。宋徵士劉虯雅相宗敬。為製偈贊云

2.19 (Tsai no.32) Tao-tsung

The nun Tao-tsung (Summing up the Way) (d. 463) of Three-Story Convent in Chiang-ling

Tao-tsung, whose family origins are unknown, lived in Three-Story Convent in Chiang-ling [which was in west central China on the north bank of the Yangtze River]. As a child she had no intention of setting herself apart; as an adult she did not consider associating with others a defilement. She merely followed a course along the boundary between the wise and the foolish, and, although outwardly she seemed muddled, yet within she traversed hidden profundities.

On the full-moon night of the fifteenth day of the third month, in the seventh year of the ta-ming reign period (463) of the Sung dynasty, Tao-tsung, as an offering to the Buddha, purified herself in a fire fed by oil. Even though she was engulfed by flames up to her forehead, and her eyes and ears were nearly consumed, her chanting of the scriptures did not falter. Monastics and householders sighed in wonder; the demonic and upright were alike startled. When the country heard this news, everyone aspired to attain enlightenment. The appointed court scholar of Sung [sic], Liu Ch'iu (438-495), especially revered her and composed a Buddhist-style poetic verse to praise her.