DUSHUN (557–640), also known as Fashun; first patriarch of the Huayan school in China. Dushun was born in the town of Wannien in Yongzhou Province, the birthplace of many important Buddhists. At the age of eighteen he was ordained by Senzhen of the Yinsheng Si, and studied Buddhist meditation under him. Some years later he went to Qingzhou Province and there recommended that people hold a Buddhist vegetarian feast. According to legend, he is said to have satisfied the hunger of a thousand people with food adequate for only five hundred. According to this same legend, he acquired such great supernatural power through meditation that he was able to effect miraculous cures. Indeed, it is principally for such charismatic powers, and not for his doctrinal contributions, that he is known to later church historians.

As a result of his growing reputation, Dushun was asked to preach at the court...