ABSTRACT
A monk in the Tang Dynasty, Hui Li came from a family surnamed Zhao. He was given the name Hui Li by the Tang Emperor Gaozong. Because of his erudition and eloquence, the Emperor often summoned him to court to debate with the Taoist priests. Hui Li was also entrusted with the task of compiling the biography of the eminent monk Xuan Zang. Worried that his work was not perfect and that he might have left some of the virtues of the great master unsung, Hui Li hid his manuscript in a cellar and forbade access to it. Yan Cong, a Chinese monk of around the seventh century, was a Buddhist translator and writer. He came to Chang'an to study with Xuan Zang, and went on to finish Xuan Zang's biography after Hui Li's death. The present version of A Biography of the Tripitaka-master of the Great Ci'en Monastery of the Great Tang Dynasty was based on that draft.
