Dushun (557–640)
Often hailed as the very first patriarch of the Huayan lineage, Dushun’s stay at the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang marked the starting point of Huayan’s unfolding vision. His emphasis on the Flower Garland Sutra’s “all-in-one” principle planted the seeds for later elaborations on interpenetration.

Zhiyan (602–668)
Building on Dushun’s groundwork, Zhiyan dug deeper into the sutra’s multilayered cosmos, producing commentaries that read like finely carved jade. By mapping out the “Ten Mysterious Gates,” he showed how every phenomenon contains—and is contained by—everything else, much like jewels suspended in Indra’s net, each reflecting all the others.

Fazang (643–712)
Sometimes called the “forger of the golden sword,” Fazang took center stage as the third patriarch. His magnum opus, the Treatise on the Golden Lion, dramatizes interdependence with martial-panache: each lion’s stride embodies a thousand worlds in dynamic balance. Modern translations—Thomas Cleary’s in 2023 among them—have rekindled interest, even sparking a lively panel at last year’s International Buddhist Studies Conference in Seoul.

Chengguan (738–839)
A master synthesizer, Chengguan organized Fazang’s sprawling insights into systematic chapters. His Five Teachings Sequence and Ten Worlds schema remain indispensable, akin to a cartographer’s grid for navigating the boundless Huayan vision.

Guifeng Zongmi (780–841)
Bridging Huayan and Chan, Zongmi stuck to his guns about doctrinal rigor while embracing meditation’s spontaneity. His dual mastery helped break down sectarian walls, leaving a legacy that resonates in today’s interfaith dialogues—from the Berkeley Center for Buddhist Studies to recent symposia at Tsinghua University.

These figures stitched together the tapestry of Huayan thought, each one adding a unique color yet sharing a single thread: the relentless exploration of how every drop in Indra’s net shimmers with the reflection of the whole.