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63-488: The lives of all Buddhist monastics are governed by a set of rules called the prātimokṣa or pātimokkha . Their lifestyles are shaped to support their spiritual practice: to live a simple and meditative life and attain nirvana . A person under the age of 20 cannot be ordained as a bhikkhu or bhikkhuni but can be ordained as a śrāmaṇera or śrāmaṇērī . Bhikkhu literally means " beggar " or "one who lives by alms ". The historical Buddha, Prince Siddhartha , having abandoned

126-721: A division of the Vinaya Pitaka. Buddhist traditions in East Asia typically follow the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya lineage of the pratimokṣa, and this is standard for the following Buddhist traditions: Some traditions of Buddhism in Japan and Korea also carry out full monastic ordination, but most do not. Instead, these traditions have priests and monastics who take the Bodhisattva Precepts instead of

189-480: A fortnight at a meeting of the sangha during which confession would traditionally take place. A number of prātimokṣa codes are extant, including those contained in the Theravāda , Mahāsāṃghika , Mahīśāsaka , Dharmaguptaka , Sarvāstivāda and Mūlasarvāstivāda vinayas . Pratimokṣa texts may also circulate in separate pratimokṣa sūtras , which are extracts from their respective vinayas. The Pratimokṣa belongs to

252-539: A given geographical region. In Tibet and the Himalayan regions (Kashmir, Nepal and Bhutan), red is the preferred pigment used in the dyeing of robes. In Myanmar, reddish brown; In India, Sri Lanka and South-East Asia, various shades of yellow, ochre and orange prevail. In China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam, gray or black is common. Monks often make their own robes from cloth that is donated to them. The robes of Tibetan novices and monks differ in various aspects, especially in

315-661: A greater role. By the time Saichō had arrived in China, a number of Tiantai Buddhist centers provided esoteric training, and both Saichō and Gishin received initiation at a temple in Yue Prefecture . However, it's unclear what transmission or transmissions(s) they received. Some evidence suggests that Saichō did not receive the dual ( ryōbu ( 兩部 ) transmissions of the Diamond Realm and the Womb Realm . Instead, it

378-445: A life of pleasure and status, lived as an alms mendicant as part of his śramaṇa lifestyle. Those of his more serious students who renounced their lives as householders and came to study full-time under his supervision also adopted this lifestyle. These full-time student members of the sangha became the community of ordained monastics who wandered from town to city throughout the year, living off alms and stopping in one place only for

441-506: A more central place in the Tendai tradition than it had been given by most Chinese monks. Like Kūkai, Saichō emphasized the importance of striving for enlightenment as an immediate goal to be attained in this existence ( sokushin-jōbutsu ). Tendai and Esoteric practices, he felt, provided a direct path ( jikidō ) to enlightenment, whereas the teachings of the Nara schools required aeons to bring

504-525: A much longer set of rules known as the Pātimokkha (Theravada) or Prātimokṣa (Mahayana and Vajrayana ). In the Mahayana monasticism is part of the system of "vows of individual liberation". These vows are taken by monks and nuns from the ordinary sangha, in order to develop personal ethical discipline. In Mahayana and Vajrayana, the term "sangha" is, in principle, often understood to refer particularly to

567-639: A protest. Saichō composed the Kenkairon ( 顕戒論 , "A Clarification of the Precepts") , which stressed the significance of the Bodhisattva Precepts, but his request was still rejected until 7 days after his death at the age of 56. Saichō traveled to China along with a number of other young monks, one of whom was named Kūkai . Saichō befriended him during his trip to China who traveled with him going and coming. This turned out to be pivotal to

630-460: A samanera or samaneri "novice" (Skt. śrāmaṇera , śrāmaṇeri , Wylie : dge tshul, dge tshul ma ). The final step is to take all the vows of a bhikkhu or bhikkhuni "fully ordained monastic" (Sanskrit: bhikṣu, bhikṣuṇī , Wylie : dge long (ma) ). Monastics take their vows for life but can renounce them and return to non-monastic life and even take the vows again later. A person can take them up to three times or seven times in one life, depending on

693-523: A syncretistic tradition, particularly at the T'ien-t'ai Yu-ch'uan monastery. Chinese monks had been interested in Ch'an and Esoteric Buddhism as well as in the Ssu-fen la and Fan wang precepts. Saichō inherited this tradition, but developed certain aspects of it in innovative ways. For example, Saichō considered Esoteric Buddhism to be essentially the same as Tendai (enmitsu itchi) and thus awarded Esoteric Buddhism

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756-537: A total of eight months, his return was eagerly awaited by the court in Kyoto. On his return from China, Saichō worked hard to win recognition from the court and "in the first month of 806, Saichō's Tendai Lotus school ( Tendai-hokke-shū 天台法華宗) won official recognition when the court of the ailing emperor Kanmu issued another edict, this one permitting two annual ordinands ( nenbundosha ) for Saichō's new school on Mount Hiei. This edict states that, following Saichō's request,

819-607: A true monk. Whoever here (in the Dispensation) lives a holy life, transcending both merit and demerit, and walks with understanding in this world — he is truly called a monk. Buddha accepted female bhikkhunis after his step-mother Mahapajapati Gotami organized a women's march to Vesāli. and Buddha requested her to accept the Eight Garudhammas . So, Gotami agreed to accept the Eight Garudhammas and

882-522: Is thought he may have only received the Diamond Realm transmission, but the evidence is not conclusive one way or the other. Finally, on the tenth day of the fifth month of 805, Saichō and his party returned to Ningbo and after compiling further bibliographies, boarded the ship back for Japan and arrived in Tsushima on the fifth day of the sixth month. Although Saichō had only stayed in China for

945-631: The Brahmajala Sutra . He stipulated that monastics remain on Mount Hiei for twelve years of isolated training and follow the major themes of the 250 precepts: celibacy, non-harming, no intoxicants, vegetarian eating and reducing labor for gain. After twelve years, monastics would then use the Vinaya precepts as a provisional or supplemental, guideline to conduct themselves by when serving in non-monastic communities. Tendai monastics followed this practice. During Japan's Meiji Restoration during

1008-581: The Bhaiṣajyaguru and enshrined it. Additionally, he lit a lamp of oil before the Buddha and prayed that the lamp would never be extinguished. This lamp is now known as the Fumetsu no Hōtō ( 不滅の法灯 , "Inextinguishable Dharma Lamp") and has remained lit for 1200 years. The capital of Japan was moved from Nara to Nagaoka-kyō in 784, and then to Kyoto in 795. Because Mount Hiei was coincidentally located to

1071-468: The Bodhisattva Precepts of the Brahmajala Sutra to Japan in 736 and served as the "precept master" for ordination prior to the arrival of Jianzhen . By the age of 20, he undertook the full monastic precepts at the Tōdai-ji , thus becoming a fully ordained monk in the official temple system. A few months later he abruptly retreated to Mount Hiei for an intensive study and practice of Buddhism, though

1134-544: The Bodhisattva vows , samaya vows and others, which are also open to laypersons in most instances. The special dress of ordained people, referred to in English as robes , comes from the idea of wearing a simple durable form of protection for the body from weather and climate. In each tradition, there is uniformity in the color and style of dress. Color is often chosen due to the wider availability of certain pigments in

1197-683: The Ehyō tendaishū (DZ 1, pp. 343–366), which argues that the principal Buddhist masters of China and Korea all relied on T'ien-t'ai doctrine in composing their own works. By identifying numerous references to and quotes from T'ien-t'ai treatises in the works of Chi-tsang 吉蔵 of the San-lun 三論 school, Chih-chou of the Fa-hsiang 法相 school, Fa-tsang of the Huayen 華嚴 school, I-hsing of Mikkyō , and other prominent teachers, Saichō asserted that T'ien-t'ai formed

1260-482: The Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910 , when Japan annexed Korea, Korean Buddhism underwent many changes. Jōdo Shinshū and Nichiren schools began sending missionaries to Korea under Japanese rule and new sects formed there such as Won Buddhism . The Temple Ordinance of 1911 ( Korean :  사찰령 ; Hanja :  寺刹令 ) changed the traditional system whereby temples were run as a collective enterprise by

1323-539: The Jogye Order is fully celibate while the Taego Order has both celibate monastics and non-celibate Japanese-style priests. In Tibet , the upāsaka, pravrajyā and bhikṣu ordinations are usually taken at ages six, fourteen and twenty-one or older, respectively. Tibetan Vajrayana often calls ordained monks lama . In Mahayana traditions, a Bhikṣu may take additional vows not related to ordination, including

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1386-783: The Pāli Canon in the Vinaya Piṭaka . The Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya is preserved in both the Tibetan Buddhist canon in the Kangyur , in a Chinese edition, and in an incomplete Sanskrit manuscript. Some other complete Vinaya texts are preserved in the Chinese Buddhist canon (see: Taishō Tripiṭaka ), and these include: The Dharmaguptaka sect are known to have rejected the authority of the Sarvāstivāda pratimokṣa rules on

1449-616: The Vairocana school ( shanashu 遮那宗) and Tendai interfuse with one another. They also share the same commentary.... There should be no such thing as preferring one to the other. The Lotus and the Golden Light are those texts to which the previous emperor [ Kanmu ] devoted himself, and there exists no difference between the One Unifying Vehicle [of Tendai] and Shingon. Paul Groner states, Chinese T'ien-t'ai had been

1512-567: The Vassa , the rainy months of the monsoon season. In the Dhammapada commentary of Buddhaghoṣa , a bhikkhu is defined as "the person who sees danger (in samsara or cycle of rebirth)" (Pāli: Bhayaṃ ikkhatīti: bhikkhu ). Therefore, he seeks ordination to obtain release from the cycle of rebirth. The Dhammapada states: [266–267] He is not a monk just because he lives on others' alms. Not by adopting outward form does one become

1575-697: The Vinaya of the Buddhist doctrine and is seen as the very basis of Buddhism. On the basis of the Prātimokṣa there exist in Mahayana Buddhism two additional set of vows: The Bodhisattva vows and the Vajrayana vows . If these two sets of vows are not broken, they are regarded as carrying over to future lives. The Pratimokṣa is traditionally a section of the Vinaya. The Theravada Vinaya is preserved in

1638-511: The aryasangha ( Wylie : mchog kyi tshogs ), the "community of the noble ones who have reached the first bhūmi ". These, however, need not be monks and nuns. The vows of individual liberation are taken in four steps. A lay person may take the five upāsaka and upāsikā vows ( Wylie : dge snyan (ma) , "approaching virtue"). The next step is to enter the pabbajja or monastic way of life (Skt: pravrajyā , Wylie : rab byung ), which includes wearing monk's or nun's robes. After that, one can become

1701-585: The capuchin monkey is named after the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (who also are the origin of the word cappuccino ). Pratimok%E1%B9%A3a The Pratimokṣa ( Sanskrit : प्रातिमोक्ष , romanized :  prātimokṣa ) is a list of rules (contained within the vinaya ) governing the behaviour of Buddhist monastics (monks or bhikṣus and nuns or bhikṣuṇīs ). Prati means "towards" and mokṣa means "liberation" from cyclic existence ( saṃsāra ). It became customary to recite these rules once

1764-605: The provincial temple system, and at the age of 13, Saichō became a disciple of one Gyōhyō (722–797, 行表). He took tonsure as a novice monk at the age of 14 and was given the ordination name "Saichō". Gyōhyō in turn was a disciple of Dao-xuan (702–760, 道璿, Dōsen in Japanese), a prominent monk from China of the Tiantai school who had brought the East Mountain Teaching of Chan Buddhism , Huayan teachings and

1827-511: The 1870s, the government abolished celibacy and vegetarianism for Buddhist monastics in an effort to secularise them and promote the newly created State Shinto . Japanese Buddhists won the right to proselytize inside cities, ending a five-hundred year ban on clergy members entering cities. Currently, priests (lay religious leaders) in Japan choose to observe vows as appropriate to their family situation. Celibacy and other forms of abstaining are generally "at will" for varying periods of time. After

1890-459: The Buddhist monastic order. A group of four fully ordained monastics is seen as a sangha . The prātimokṣa tells also how to purify faults, how to solve conflicts, and deal with various situations which can happen in the sangha. Saich%C5%8D Saichō ( 最澄 , September 15, 767 – June 26, 822) was a Japanese Buddhist monk credited with founding the Tendai school of Buddhism based on

1953-490: The Chinese Tiantai school he was exposed to during his trip to Tang China beginning in 804. He founded the temple and headquarters of Tendai at Enryaku-ji on Mount Hiei near Kyoto . He is also said to have been the first to bring tea to Japan. After his death, he was awarded the posthumous title of Dengyō Daishi (伝教大師). Saichō was born in the year 767 in the city of Ōmi, in present Shiga Prefecture , with

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2016-589: The Court was Wake no Hiroyo, who invited Saichō to give lectures at Takaosan-ji along with fourteen other eminent monks. Saichō was not the first to be invited, indicating that he was still relatively unknown in the Court, but rising in prominence. The success of the Takaosanji lectures, plus Saichō's association with Wake no Hiroyo soon caught the attention of Emperor Kanmu who consulted with Saichō about propagating his Buddhist teachings further, and to help bridge

2079-631: The Japanese reading of Chih-i's central practice of chih-kuan [cessation and contemplation]) ( Kenkairon engi , DZ 1, pp. 294–296). Thus from its very inception the Tendai Lotus school was equally based on Mikkyō and T'ien-t'ai. It was as a subdivision of Saichō's new school that Mikkyō first received the official acknowledgment of the imperial court and became a proper subject of study in Japanese Buddhism. [I]n 813 Saichō composed

2142-591: The Sangha, replacing this system with Japanese-style management practices in which temple abbots appointed by the Governor-General of Korea were given private ownership of temple property and given the rights of inheritance to such property. More importantly, monks from pro-Japanese factions began to adopt Japanese practices, by marrying and having children. In Korea, the practice of celibacy varies. The two sects of Korean Seon divided in 1970 over this issue;

2205-655: The Tendai school, which was primarily focused on the Lotus Sutra . However, unlike the Shingon school (which saw esoteric practice as superior to the Lotus Sutra), Saichō held to the "identity of the purport of Perfect and Esoteric teachings" ( enmitsu itchi 円密一致) which means there is a unity and agreement among the teachings of the Lotus Sutra and Esoteric Buddhism." Saichō, in a letter to Kukai, wrote: But

2268-479: The application of "holes" in the dress of monks. Some monks tear their robes into pieces and then mend these pieces together again. Upāsakas cannot wear the "chö-göö", a yellow tissue worn during teachings by both novices and full monks. In observance of the Kathina Puja , a special Kathina robe is made in 24 hours from donations by lay supporters of a temple. The robe is donated to the temple or monastery and

2331-483: The court. Saichō also endorsed the court's bequest to Kūkai of the mountain temple of Takaosan-ji northwest of Kyoto as the first center for Kūkai's Shingon Buddhism . Kūkai, in turn, responded to Saichō's wish to incorporate Mikkyō into the eclectic system of Tendai by training Saichō and his disciples in the esoteric Buddhist rituals and by lending Saichō various Mikkyō texts that he had brought with him from China." Thus esoteric Buddhism became an important aspect of

2394-456: The exact reason for his departure remains unknown. Shortly after his retreat, he composed his Ganmon ( 願文 , "Saichō's Prayer") which included his personal vows to: In time, Saichō attracted other monks both on Mount Hiei, and from the Buddhist community in Nara , and a monastic community developed on Mount Hiei, which eventually became Enryaku-ji . Saichō was said to have carved an image of

2457-458: The foundation for all major Buddhist schools in East Asia. Before Saichō, all monastic ordinations took place at Tōdai-ji temple under the ancient Vinaya code, but Saichō intended to found his school as a strictly Mahayana institution and ordain monks using the Bodhisattva Precepts only. Despite intense opposition from the traditional Buddhist schools in Nara , his request was granted by Emperor Saga in 822, several days after his death. This

2520-433: The future development of Buddhism. During the last month of his stay on Chinese soil, while awaiting the arrival of his ship at the port city of Ming-chou, Saichō traveled to Yüeh-chou to collect additional Buddhist texts. At Lung-hsing ssu 龍興寺 Saichō chanced to meet the priest Shun-hsiao" , and likewise returned with esoteric ( tantric ) Buddhist texts. Saichō was entranced with the new material and wanted to learn more. On

2583-423: The given name of Hirono. According to family tradition, Saichō's ancestors were descendants of emperors of Eastern Han China ; however, no positive evidence exists for this claim. The region where Saichō was born did have a large Chinese immigrant population, so Saichō likely did have Chinese ancestry. During Saichō's time, the Buddhist temples in Japan were officially organized into a national network known as

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2646-569: The grounds that the original teachings of the Buddha had been lost. The Patimokkha is the Pali equivalent of Pratimokṣa ( Sanskrit ). It is being followed by the monks of the Theravada lineage (Thailand, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos). It consists of 227 rules for fully ordained monks ( bhikkhus ) and 311 for nuns ( bhikkhunis ). The Patimokkha is contained in the Suttavibhanga ,

2709-413: The head monks of the Tendai order after Saichō. Saichō was part of the four-ship diplomatic mission to Tang China in 803. The ships were forced to turn back due to heavy winds, where they spent some time at Dazaifu, Fukuoka . During this time, Saichō likely met another passenger, Kūkai , a fellow Buddhist monk who was sent to China on a similar mission though he was expected to stay much longer. When

2772-429: The newcomer, went so far as to deny the validity of transmission through writing (hitsuju Ù4)" (DZ 3, p. 344). In this comment Saichō denounced Kūkai and Shingon for their approach to Buddhism and religious study." Saichō's late life criticisms were ignored by his own leading disciples, and the Tendai would continue to teach Mikkyō and Shikangō ( śamatha-vipaśyanā ). Saichō's public condemnation of Kūkai would later form

2835-453: The northeast of Kyoto, a direction considered dangerous according to Chinese geomancy , Saichō's presence on the mountain was thought to protect the new capital and brought him to the attention of the court. Saichō and his community on Mount Hiei also started to correspond and exchange ceremonies with the established communities in Nara, in addition to the monks at the Court, further enhancing his prestige. One of Saichō's earliest supporters in

2898-594: The ordinands would be divided between two curricula: the shanagō course, centering on the study of the Mahavairocana Sūtra (this was the Mikkyō curriculum, shana being the abbreviation for Birushana, the Japanese transliteration of Vairocana), and the shikangō course, based on the study of the Mo-ho chih-kuan , the seminal work of the T'ien-t'ai patriarch Chih-i 智顗 (538–597) (this was the Tendai curriculum, shikan being

2961-478: The particular practices of each school of discipline; after that, the sangha should not accept them again. In this way, Buddhism keeps the vows "clean". It is possible to keep them or to leave this lifestyle, but it is considered extremely negative to break these vows. In 9th century Japan, the monk Saichō believed the 250 precepts were for the Śrāvakayāna and that ordination should use the Mahayana precepts of

3024-402: The place of Tendai within Japanese Buddhism, and in the process composed almost all of his major works. In 816, Saichō added a new introduction to the work. This introduction chides Sanron, Hossō, and Kegon—the leading schools of Nara Buddhism—for ignoring the influence of T'ien-t'ai on the works of their Chinese patriarchs, but its criticism of Shingon stands out: "The esoteric Shingon Buddhist,

3087-567: The practitioner to enlightenment. However, During the years that Saichō studied Esoteric Buddhism (from 805–815), more than half of the Tendai yearly ordinands left Mount Hiei. Many of them defected to the Hosso school ; others departed in order to study Esoteric Buddhism with Kūkai or to support their ailing mothers. It became clear that if Tendai were to survive, Saichō would have to retain many more of his students on Mount Hiei. Moreover, Saichō began to realize that his own idea of "enmitsu itchi"

3150-645: The resident monks then select from their own number a single monk to receive this special robe. In English literature before the mid-20th century, Buddhist monks, particularly from East Asia and French Indochina, were often referred to by the term bonze . This term is derived from Portuguese and French from Japanese bonsō  'priest, monk'. It is rare in modern literature. Buddhist monks were once called talapoy or talapoin from French talapoin , itself from Portuguese talapão , ultimately from Mon tala pōi  'our lord'. The Talapoys cannot be engaged in any of

3213-490: The seed of esoteric Buddhism (mikkyō) to the cultural soil of Japan. Saichō, for example, prepared the way for Kūkai—still largely unrecognized after his return from T'ang China—to perform the Mikkyō initiation ritual of abhiṣeka ( kanjō 灌頂) for the high priests of the Nara Buddhist establishment and the dignitaries of the imperial" Heian court . It was Saichō who performed the abhiṣeka , or initiatory ritual, for

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3276-496: The ships set sail again, two sank during a heavy storm, but Saichō's ship arrived at the port of Ningbo , then known as Mingzhou ( Chinese : 明州 ; pinyin : Míngzhōu ), in northern Zhejiang in 804. Shortly after arrival, permission was granted for Saichō and his party to travel to Tiantai Mountain and he was introduced to the seventh Patriarch of Tiantai , Daosui ( Chinese : 道邃 ; pinyin : Dàosuì ), who became his primary teacher during his time in China. Daosui

3339-482: The task was completed, Saichō and his party returned to Ningbo, but the ship was harbored in Fuzhou at the time, and would not return for six weeks. During this time, Saichō went to Yuezhou (越州, modern-day Shaoxing ) and sought out texts and information on Vajrayana (Esoteric) Buddhism. The Tiantai school originally only utilized "mixed" ( zōmitsu ( 雑密 ) ) ceremonial practices, but over time esoteric Buddhism took on

3402-402: The temporal concerns of life; they must not trade or do any kind of manual labour, for the sake of a reward; they are not allowed to insult the earth by digging it. Having no tie, which unites their interests with those of the people, they are ready, at all times, with spiritual arms, to enforce obedience to the will of the sovereign. The talapoin is a monkey named after Buddhist monks just as

3465-675: The traditional pratimokṣa vows. The pratimokṣa of the Mulasarvastivada lineage followed in Tibetan Buddhism is taken for life unless one or more of the four root vows are broken. In Tibetan Buddhism, there are eight types of Pratimokṣa vows: The lay pratimokṣa consists of five vows that are also known as the Five Śīlas : One is not obliged to take all five vows. The commentaries describe seven types of lay followers: Only full monks and full nuns are seen as full members of

3528-569: The traditional rivalry between the East Asian Yogācāra and East Asian Mādhyamaka schools. The emperor granted a petition by Saichō to journey to China to further study Tiantai doctrine in China and bring back more texts. Saichō was expected to only remain in China for a short time however. Saichō could read Chinese but was unable to speak it at all, thus he was allowed to bring a trusted disciple along named Gishin ( 義眞 ) , who apparently could speak Chinese. Gishin would later become one of

3591-507: The trip back he found that Kukai had studied these teachings in depth and had an entire library of vajrayana materials. This friendship would influence the future of Tendai. Saichō 最澄 and Kūkai 空海 are renowned as the founders, respectively, of the Japanese Tendai and Shingon schools, both of which grew into influential institutions of continuing importance even today. The two figures cooperated, moreover, in an effort to transplant

3654-510: The work of laying the foundation of the new Tendai school awaited him. Saichō continued to study and copy Mikkyō texts borrowed from Kūkai, but despite Kūkai's repeated requests he did not return to Takaosan-ji to resume his studies. Their rapport finally terminated when Kūkai harshly condemned Saichō's approach to Mikkyō as a transgression of the esoteric precept of samaya [the promise to keep the oral/esoteric teachings private], and Saichō retorted by denouncing Kūkai's manner of instruction Thus it

3717-459: Was Mikkyō that brought Saichō and Kūkai together; it was also Mikkyō that drove them apart. The break between Saichō and Kūkai left a long-lasting legacy in the Tendai and Shingon schools, whose complex relationship, constantly oscillating between affiliation and rivalry, shaped the contours of Buddhist history in the Heian period. During the last five or six years of his life, Saicho strove to secure

3780-627: Was accorded the status of the first bhikkhuni. Subsequent women had to undergo full ordination to become nuns. Theravada monasticism is organized around the guidelines found within a division of the Pāli Canon called the Vinaya Pitaka . Laypeople undergo ordination as a novitiate (śrāmaṇera or sāmanera) in a rite known as the "going forth" (Pali: pabbajja ). Sāmaneras are subject to the Ten Precepts . From there full ordination (Pali: upasampada ) may take place. Bhikkhus are subject to

3843-460: Was instrumental in teaching Saichō about Tiantai methods of meditation, monastic discipline and orthodox teachings. Saichō remained under this instruction for approximately 135 days. Saichō spent the next several months copying various Buddhist works with the intention of bringing them back to Japan with him. While some works existed in Japan already, Saichō felt that they suffered from copyist errors or other defects, and so he made fresh copies. Once

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3906-482: Was not exactly shared by the esoteric Shingon school, and especially its founder Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi). Ryuichi Abe writes, [W]hat makes the relationship between Saichō and Kūkai decisive in Japanese Buddhist history is not so much their cooperation as the manner in which it came to an end. Their alliance began to deteriorate when Saichō, after receiving abhiseka from Kūkai, hurried back to Mount Hiei, where

3969-425: Was the fruit of years of effort and a formal debate. By 822, Saichō petitioned the court to allow the monks at Mount Hiei to ordain under the Bodhisattva Precepts rather than the traditional ordination system of the prātimokṣa , arguing that his community would be a purely Mahayana , not Hinayana one. This was met with strong protest by the Buddhist establishment who supported the kokubunji system, and lodged

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