ZHIYAN (602–668), second patriarch of the Huayan school of Buddhism in China. Born in the town of Tianshui near Chang'an, the capital of the Tang dynasty, Zhiyan was the son of an official in Shenzhou province. When Zhiyan was twelve years old his family was visited by the first patriarch of the Huayan school, Dushun, who claimed that Zhiyan was his son and should be returned to him. This declaration was taken by Zhiyan's parents to mean that Zhiyan was to become a Buddhist monk, and they thus entrusted him to Dushun.

Ordained in 615, Zhiyan studied Buddhism, mainly the thought of the She dasheng lun (Mahāyānasaṃgraha) and, later, the thought of the Huayan jing (Mahāvaipulya-buddhagaṇḍavyūha Sūtra), under many famous Buddhists. During this period he also mastered Sanskrit. His reading of the Huayan jing shu (Commentary on the Huayan jing) by Huiguang, the...