Page 75 - Sothebys Sutra Auction Hong Kong

given a seat of his own, a Buddhist image of Shakyamuni, Ratnakuta Sutra and the Parinirvana Sutra, while cooked food
a kesi panel of Avalokiteshvara, crystal rosary beads, and and drinks were provided by the imperial kitchen.
instructions from the Emperor in the form of a gatha (poetic Once the task was ‰nished, he was awarded the title
verses) entitled Seven Past Buddhas, one couplet of which National Preceptor guanding jingjue (Consecrated Pure
reads “Model yourself on them to practice cultivation / For I Enlightenment) and composed a memorial to the Emperor
promote you to Explicator of Teachings of the Left”.
requesting that he with his immense goodness lecture on the
In total, Huijin was active for some seventy years. In the ‰rst Surangama Sutra, so that both the Buddhist clerics as well as
year of the Hongxi period (1425), when the Emperor purged laymen present could hear how to understand its more than a
Buddhist teaching positions, only Huijin was rewarded for myriad meanings. The older he became, the loftier his virtue,
excellence. The imperial edict regarding this states “Buddhists his ears and eyes were ever pure and bright, his countenance
teach in order to enable people to be humane and thus guide ever praiseworthy for its simplicity and unsophistication, and
the ignorant classes toward moral transformation, covertly his personal nature ever straightforward and prudent. His old
supplementing the transformative virtue of the Emperor, monastic friends include the Duke of Rongguo Gongjing Yao
which e¯ectively brings peace and stability to the multitudes. (Yao Guangxiao, 1335-1418).
This general teaching surely depends on getting the right Huijin died at the worldly age of 82 and the monastic age of
people to do it, for teaching should not be taken lightly. You, 62, on 2nd August 1436 in the Zhengtong period. After his
Explicator of Teachings of the Left, Huijin have thoroughly co¬n had been kept in the Abbot’s quarters for three days,
investigated all doctrines and with strict purity adhere to as thick clouds hung over the sky, the o¬cial announcement
moral discipline, which is why I have appointed you to this of his passing was made, and the Emperor had the Ministry
position. May you cultivate yourself as a Maitreya. I have given of Rites hold a ceremony for him. On 14th August 1436, his
you highly valued gifts to encourage you to strive forward with body was cremated in Fucheng (Hengshui, Hebei), and on
ever more diligence and invigorate the teachings of your sect, the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, 25th September 1436, a
which is entirely in accord with Our wishes. Respect this!”
stupa for the ashes of his spirit bones was erected west of the
At the beginning of the Xuande period (1426), the Emperor Grand Canal. The Emperor bestowed an imperial order that a
rewarded him by making him an Elder of the State, gave him a fountain be installed at the Ten Thousand Buddha Temple in
Five Buddha pilu crown and a gold-twill ceremonial pilgrimage special honour of him (g. 8).
robe. He also summoned Huijin to the Hanlin Academy where,
together with many other o¬cials and a congregation of Xianshou chuandeng lu [Record of transmission of the lamp in the Xianshou
monks, he copied in gold characters the four great scriptures, Tradition], vol. 1, pp. 314-317.
the Avatamsaka Sutra, the Prajnaparamita Sutra, the

THE LOST WISDOM SUTRA A TREASURE FROM THE GOLDEN AGE OF XUANDE 73