ABSTRACT
The monk Yan Cong came from a family surnamed Li, from a region that now belongs to Hebei Province. He was exceptionally intelligent and showed early promise as a scholar. At the age of fourteen, he went to a county in what is now Shanxi Province and preached Buddhist sutras. He began to gain a reputation, even among Taoists and Ruists. At the start of the Sui Dynasty, he lectured in Chang'an, winning a very large and respectful following among both lay people and monks, and tens of thousands benefited from his sermons. Yan Cong was well versed in Sanskrit, calling himself 'the monk who knows Fan'. Later he went to the capital and became the abbot of Great Xingshan Monastery, where he took charge of the translation of sutras. He was involved in all the major Translation Assemblies in the Sui Dynasty, and contributed to the translation of twenty-three sutras, in over one hundred fas.
