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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).
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