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Huijin from Huozhou, Shanxi
1355-1436
Huijin and Palden Tashi, sharing the same school of thought, were friends
1403-1424 summoned by the Yongle Emperor to Nanjing to lecture the Suramgama Sutra,
conferred a purple robe and ordered to reside in Tianjiesi in Nanjing, where he teaches the elite
monks; ordered to accompany the Emperor to Beijing and be in charge of monks and nuns all
over the empire; made Supreme Supervisor of all literary Confucius scholars and eminent monks
in the empire; asks the Yongle Emperor to write 13 introductions to the Tripitaka teachings
1421 responsible for the famous Northern Tripitaka by imperial order
1425 becomes the only monk rewarded for excellence and given valuable gifts in the Hongxi reign
1426 named by the Xuande Emperor an Elder of the State, awarded a Five Buddha Pilu crown
and a gold twill ceremonial pilgrimage robe; summoned to the Hanlin Academy, where together
with many other o¬cials and a congregation of monks copy in gold characters the four great
scriptures: the Avatamsaka Sutra, the Prajnaparamita Sutra, the Ratnakuta Sutra (g. 1) and the
Parinirvana Sutra (g. 2),
1430 titled National Preceptor guanding jingjue (Consecrated Pure Enlightenment) when the
great Sutra project is completed
1436 dies at the age of 82 and is cremated in Hengshui, Hebei, putting an end to the service of
the 21st Patriarch of the Huayan in the Ming dynasty court for 30 years for four emperors; the
Zhengtong Emperor bestowed an imperial order that a fountain be installed at the Ten Thousand
Buddha Temple in special honour of Huijin (g. 8)
Bu xu gaoseng zhuan [Supplement to further biographies of eminent monks], edited by Ming-
dynasty monk Minghe, documents the life of the renowned Yongle- and Xuande-period Huayan
monk Huijin. The content originates from Qiyanfazhu dashi ta ming, an encomium by Minister of
Rites Hu Ying (1375-1463) and it records the production of the four great scriptures copied in gold
characters (for another version of his biography, see below).