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The nun Shih Hui-hui (Radiance of Wisdom) (in the lineage of Shākyamuni) (442-514) of Joyful Peace Convent
Hui-hui's secular surname was Lo, and her family was from Ch'ing Province [some distance northeast of the capital]. When she was six years old, she wanted very much to delight in the religious life, but her parents would not hear of it. At age 11 [to conform to the monastic precepts], she stopped eating all strong-flavored vegetables such as garlic and onions. Clear and placid in mind and elegant in manner she recited the Great Nirvāna Scripture and chanted the Flower of the Law Scripture. When she was seventeen, she went with her father to the capital, where, resolute in her vigor, she accomplished in her practice of religion what others could not achieve. Her parents, filled with affection on account of her efforts, permitted her to fulfill her aspirations, and, when she was eighteen, she left secular life to take up residence in Joyful Peace Convent.
Hui-hui received instruction in the Discourse on the Completion of Reality, the Nirvāna, and other scriptures from the four masters of the law T'an-pin (407/411-473/477), T'an-chi, Seng-jou (431494), and Hui-tz'u (434-490), and in ten-some years her learning became as well established as a veritable forest, and all the nuns in the capital turned to her as their instructor. Thus religious activities were set up one after another, drawing together people from all directions like clouds. Hui-hui continuously carried on her lectures as well as her meditation and chanting of scriptures. Her mind a standard of upright thought, she went day and night forgetting to sleep. Royalty, nobility, and commoners all greatly respected her, coming from everywhere to bestow gifts in great number throughout the year. The wealth that she received she used for copying scriptures, making images, and distributing as alms wherever appropriate. At that time someone, whose name has not come to light, renovated Joyful Peace Convent, refurbishing everything so that it looked new.
Hui-hui died in the thirteenth year of the t'ien-chien reign period (514) at the age of seventy-three and was buried at Stone Top Hill [in the southwestern part of the capital].
At that time there was also the nun Hui-yin, whose particular vocation was engaging in the ritual of offering worship [to the Buddha] and in the chanting [of scriptures].
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 Published
by The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, © Copyright 2003
by Anne Kinney and the University of Virginia |
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