Misplaced Pages

#899100

65-592: The shrine traces its origin to a Tendai temple built in the Asuka period (538 – 710) called Tōnomine-ji, built by the monk Jo'e  [ ja ] (643 – 666). Jo'e  [ ja ] was the oldest son of Fujiwara no Kamatari (614 – 669), founder of the Fujiwara clan . Jo'e  [ ja ] located the temple on Tōnomine , a peak of on the southern side of Mount Goharetsu (619 metres (2,031 ft)). Jo'e  [ ja ] moved

130-591: A more thorough understanding of esoteric, Pure Land , and Tiantai teachings. Ennin brought important esoteric texts and initiation lineages, such as the Susiddhikāra-sūtra , the Mahāvairocana-sūtra and Vajraśekhara-sūtra . However, in later years, this range of teachings began to form sub-schools within Tendai Buddhism. By the time of Ryōgen , there were two distinct groups on Mt. Hiei,

195-515: A new doctrinal classification system (based on Zhiyi's system) for Japanese Tendai. All Buddhist teachings are seen as being included into the following categories. The first major group are those teachings that rely on the three vehicles: The highest teachings are those who derive from the one vehicle: Another important doctrine in Japanese Tendai is that it is possible to attain "Buddhahood with this very body" ( sokushin jōbutsu ). This

260-512: A number of breakaway schools rose during the Kamakura period, the Tendai school used its patronage to try to oppose the growth of these rival factions—particularly Nichiren Buddhism , which began to grow in power among the merchant middle class, and Pure Land Buddhism , which eventually came to claim the loyalty of many of the lower classes. Enryaku-ji , the temple complex on Mount Hiei , became

325-673: A range of teachings became more marked in the doctrines of Saichō's successors, such as Ennin , Enchin and Annen 安然 (841–?). After Saichō, the Tendai order underwent efforts to deepen its understanding of teachings collected by the founder, particularly esoteric Buddhism. Saichō had only received initiation in the Diamond Realm Mandala, and since the rival Shingon school under Kūkai had received deeper training, early Tendai monks felt it necessary to return to China for further initiation and instruction. Saichō's disciple Ennin went to China in 838 and returned ten years later with

390-626: A separate form of Buddhism. Shōshin rejected the view that esoteric or mantrayana ( shingon ) Buddhism was superior to the Tendai Mahāyāna teaching of the one vehicle. According to Jiko Hazama, the Tendai Buddhist worldview advocates a comprehensive form of Buddhism which sees all Buddhist teachings as being unified under an inclusive reading of the ekayāna teaching of the Lotus Sutra . This holistic and inclusive form of Buddhism

455-570: A similar hierarchy as the one used in Chinese Tiantai to classify the various other sutras in the Buddhist canon in relation to the Lotus Sutra , and it also follows Zhiyi 's original conception of Five Periods Eight Teachings or gojihakkyō ( 五時八教 ) . This is based on the doctrine of expedient means, but was also a common practice among East Asian schools trying to sort the vast corpus of writing inherited from India. Annen provided

520-484: A sprawling center of power, attended not only by ascetic monks, but also by brigades of sōhei (warrior monks) who fought in the temple's interest. As a result, in 1571 Enryaku-ji was razed by Oda Nobunaga as part of his campaign to unify Japan. Nobunaga regarded the Mount Hiei monks as a potential threat or rival, as they could employ religious claims to attempt to rally the populace to their side. The temple complex

585-591: Is is the expression of Dharma. In the major Tendai institutions like Taisho University and Mount Hiei , the main subjects of study are the Lotus Sutra, the works of the Tiantai Patriarch Zhiyi, the works of the founder Saichō and some later Tendai figures like Ennin. The thought of the Japanese Tendai school is founded on the classic Chinese Tiantai doctrines found in the works of patriarch Zhìyǐ . These include: Tendai Buddhism reveres

650-519: Is based on the doctrinal synthesis of Tiantai Zhiyi, which was ultimately based on the Lotus Sutra . Tendai Buddhism has several philosophical insights which allow for the reconciliation of Buddhist doctrine with aspects of Japanese culture such as Shinto and Japanese aesthetics . These include Zhiyi's theory of perfect interfusion or unity of all phenomena (expressed in teachings like ichinen sanzen "three thousand realms in one thought") and

715-474: Is closely related to the idea of original enlightenment. This idea was introduced by Saichō, who held that this described certain advanced practitioners who had realized the fifth degree of identity , though this attainment was a rare thing. Saichō understood the Lotus Sutra to be the "great direct path" to Buddhahood which could be attained in this very body. Saichō saw the story of the Dragon king's daughter in

SECTION 10

#1732801573900

780-571: Is held every year on April 29 and the second Sunday in November. On this day, people in ancient costumes and arranged in a circle play a form of football in which they kick a ball made of deerskin to each other. Tendai Tendai ( 天台宗 , Tendai-shū ) , also known as the Tendai Lotus School (天台法華宗 Tendai hokke shū, sometimes just " hokke shū "), is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition with significant esoteric elements that

845-770: Is one of the most important post-Saichō Tendai thinkers. He wrote around a hundred works on Tendai doctrine and practice. According to Annen's theory of the "four ones" ( shiichi kyōhan 四一教判), all Buddhas are ultimately a single Buddha, all temporal moments are one moment, all Pure Lands are also just one Pure Land, and all teachings are interfused into one teaching. According to Lucia Dolce, Annen "systematized earlier and contemporary doctrines elaborated in both streams of Japanese esoteric Buddhism, Tōmitsu (i.e., Shingon) and Taimitsu (Tendai)," "critically reinterpreted Kūkai's thought, offering new understandings of crucial esoteric concepts and rituals," and he also "elaborated theories that were to become emblematic of Japanese Buddhism, such as

910-400: Is the ordinary worldling. Indeed, the whole phenomenal world is the primordially enlightened Tathāgata . Tamura Yoshirō argued that hongaku was a non-dual teaching which saw all existents as interpenetrating and mutually identified. This negates any ontological difference between Buddhas and common people as well as between pure lands and mundane worlds. Tamura argued that this move re-affirms

975-455: The Lotus Sutra as the highest teaching in Buddhism. In Saichō's writings, he frequently used the terminology hokke engyō "Perfect Teaching of the Lotus Sutra" ( 法華円教 ) to imply it was the culmination of the previous sermons given by Gautama Buddha . Because of the central importance of the Lotus Sutra, Tendai Buddhism sees all Buddhist teachings and practices as being united under

1040-936: The Jimon and Sanmon : the Sammon-ha "Mountain Group" (山門派) followed Ennin and the Jimon-ha "Temple Group" (寺門派) followed Enchin . Sōō 建立大師相應 (831–918), a student of Ennin, is another influential Tendai figure. He is known for developing the ascetic practice circumambulating Mt. Hiei, living and practicing in the remote wilderness. This practice, which became associated with Fudō Myōō (Acala) and Sōō's hermitage at Mudō- ji, became quite influential in Tendai. A more elaborate and systematized practice based on Sōō's simple mountain asceticism developed over time, and came to be called kaihōgyō (回峰行). This remains an important part of Tendai Buddhism today. Akaku Daishi Annen 阿覺大師安然 (841–902?)

1105-502: The Kamakura period (1185–1333), Tendai had become one of the dominant forms of Japanese Buddhism , with numerous temples and vast landholdings. During the Kamakura period, various monks left Tendai (seeing it as corrupt) to establish their own "new" or " Kamakura " Buddhist schools such as Jōdo-shū , Jōdo Shinshū , Nichiren-shū and Sōtō Zen . The destruction of the head temple of Enryaku-ji by Oda Nobunaga in 1571, as well as

1170-602: The Meiji Restoration of 1868 Tanzan Shrine was designated solely as a Shinto shrine dedicated to the worship of the kami of Fujiwara no Kamatari. The Buddhist structures of the shrine were rededicated as Shinto structures. Under the Modern system of ranked Shinto Shrines , the Tanzan Shrine was designated a bekkaku kanreisha in 1874, an Imperial shrine of special status. The shrine lost this designation after

1235-635: The bodhisattva precepts for ordination (without the pratimoksha ), a practice tradition based on the "Four Integrated Schools" ( Pure Land , Zen , Mikkyo and Precepts), and an emphasis on the study of Chinese Esoteric Buddhist sources. David W. Chappell sees Tendai as "the most comprehensive and diversified" Buddhist tradition which provides a religious framework that is "suited to adapt to other cultures, to evolve new practices, and to universalize Buddhism ." Although Jianzhen (Jp. Ganjin ) had brought Tiantai teachings to Japan as early as 754, its teachings did not take root until generations later when

1300-586: The cloistered rule era (1086–1185) through the Edo period (1688–1735). According to Jacqueline Stone, the term "original enlightenment" itself (Chn. pen-chileh ) is first found in the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana " where it refers to true suchness considered under the aspect of conventional deluded consciousness and thus denotes the potential for enlightenment in unenlightened beings." The idea developed in

1365-445: The "array of doctrines and concepts associated with the proposition that all beings are enlightened inherently." According to Stone, as these teachings developed, they grew to include the idea that: Not only human beings, but ants and crickets, mountains and rivers, grasses and trees are all innately Buddhas. The Buddhas who appear in sutras, radiating light and endowed with excellent marks, are merely provisional signs. The "real" Buddha

SECTION 20

#1732801573900

1430-513: The Chinese Huayen tradition and influenced Chan Buddhism, as well as the thought of Saichō and Kūkai. Stone writes that the medieval Tendai doctrine regards "enlightenment or the ideal state as inherent from the outset and as accessible in the present, rather than as the fruit of a long process of cultivation." Scholars also refer to the doctrinal system associated with this idea as "original enlightenment thought". Stone defines this as

1495-555: The Chinese capital of the Tang dynasty , closely following the theories of yin-yang . The most prominent group of people within the court was the civil aristocracy ( kuge ) which was the ruling class of society that exercised power on behalf of the emperor. Kyoto's identity as a political, economic, and cultural centre started to be challenged in the post-1185 era with the rise of the shogunate system which gradually seized governance from

1560-742: The Emperor for a new, independent Tendai school in Japan. Because the emperor sought to reduce the power of the Hossō school , he granted this request, but with the stipulation that the new "Tendai" school would have two programs: one for esoteric Buddhism and one for exoteric Buddhist practice. The new Tendai school was therefore based on a combination of the doctrinal and meditative system of Zhiyi with esoteric Buddhist practice and texts. Tendai learning at Mount Hiei traditionally followed two curriculums: However, Emperor Kanmu died shortly thereafter, and Saichō

1625-682: The Hossō school was primarily centered on the doctrine of the One Vehicle ( ekayana ) found in the Lotus Sutra which the Hossō school saw as not being an ultimate teaching. This was known as the San-Itsu Gon-Jitsu Ronsō (the debate over whether the One-vehicle or Three-vehicles, were the provisional or the real teaching) and it had a great influence on Japanese Buddhism. Saichō also studied esoteric Buddhism under Kūkai,

1690-523: The Japanese school. According to Hazama Jikō , the main characteristic of Tendai "is its advocacy of a comprehensive Buddhism, the ideal of a Buddhist school based on what is called the "One Great Perfect Teaching," the idea that all the teachings of the Buddha are ultimately without contradiction and can be unified in one comprehensive and perfect system." Other unique elements include an exclusive use of

1755-494: The Lotus Sutra's Devadatta chapter as evidence for this direct path ( jikidō ) to Buddhahood which did not require three incalculable eons (as was taught in some forms of Mahayana Buddhism), but could be achieved in three lives or even one lifetime. Later Tendai scholars like Rinshō, and Annen were much more optimistic about the possibility of Buddhahood in this very body and claimed certain esoteric practices could lead to Buddhahood rapidly in only one lifetime, while de-emphasizing

1820-489: The Lotus Sutra." Saichō believed that by consolidating all Buddhist ideas and practices and including all the varieties of Buddhism, his new school would allow all to "enter the great sea of Thusness which has a single flavor" (真如一味の大海) by following the path of goodness and that this would protect the nation. According to Hazama Jikō "these themes run throughout Saichō's work" including his Hokke shuku 法華秀 句 and Shugo kokkai sho 守護国界章. Tendai thought also vigorously defends

1885-415: The One Vehicle (ekayana) taught in the Lotus Sutra. Saichō frequently used the term ichijō bukkyō ( 一乗仏教 , "One Vehicle Buddhism") and referred to the second chapter of the Lotus Sutra as his main scriptural basis. Saichō taught that there were "three kinds of Lotus Sutra". According to Jacqueline Stone , these can be explained as follows: Stone writes that Saicho saw all Buddhist teachings as being

1950-521: The Tendai Order") , presided over the first allotted ordinands in 827. The appointments of the zasu typically only lasted a few years, and therefore among the same generation of disciples, a number could be appointed zasu in one's lifetime. After Gishin, the next zasu of the Tendai school were: Enchō (円澄), Ennin 慈覺大師圓仁 (794–864), An'e (安慧), Enchin 智證大師圓珍 (814–891), Yuishu (惟首), Yūken (猷憲) and Kōsai (康済). By 864, Tendai monks were now appointed to

2015-466: The Tendai school's interests. Ryōgen is also known for this promotion of Pure Land nenbutsu recitation in his Gokuraku jōdo kuhon ōjōgi 極樂淨土九品往生義. Genshin 惠心僧都源信 (942–1017), a student of Ryōgen, wrote the famous Ōjōyōshū 往生要集 ("Essentials of Birth in the Pure Land"), a treatise on Pure Land practice which influenced later Pure Land Japanese figures. Although the Tendai sect flourished under

Tanzan Shrine - Misplaced Pages Continue

2080-439: The Tendai theory of hongaku (original enlightenment) which holds that enlightenment is intrinsic in all things. Also central to Tendai thought is the notion that the phenomenal world, the world of our experiences, fundamentally is an expression of the Buddhist law ( Dharma ). This notion poses the problem of how we come to have many differentiated experiences. Tendai Buddhism claims that each and every sense phenomenon just as it

2145-558: The abolition of the ranked shrine system after World War II . The present thirteen-story wooden pagoda was built in 1532, and is a reconstruction of the structure built by Jo'e in the Asuka Period. The pagoda is designated an Important Cultural Properties of Japan . The honden , or main hall, is built in the Kasuga-zukuri style. It is dedicated to Fujiwara no Kamatari. A Kemari Matsuri , or kickball festival,

2210-589: The concern with achieving Buddhahood in future lives. They also further extended the application of this idea to individuals at the lower bodhisattva levels of the degrees of identity schema and also argued that one could jump over bodhisattva stages. According to Groner, this allowed "for the possibility that worldlings who still have some of the coarser defilements might experience sokushinjobutsu." However, other Tendai figures like Hōjibō Shōshin (1136–1220 or 1131–1215), an important Tendai commentator on Zhiyi's works, were more traditional and critical of ideas concerning

2275-465: The court being moved to Kyoto from Nagaoka by Emperor Kanmu (737–806), the struggles for power regarding the throne that had characterized the Nara period diminished. Kyoto was selected as the location for the court because of its "proper" amount of rivers and mountains which were believed to be the most auspicious surroundings for the new capital. The capital itself was built in imitation of Chang'an ,

2340-680: The founder of the Shingon school. Saichō borrowed esoteric texts from Kūkai for copying and they also exchanged letters for some time. However, they eventually had a falling out (in around 816) over their understanding of Buddhist esotericism. This was because Saichō attempted to integrate esoteric Buddhism ( mikkyo ) into his broader Tendai schema, seeing esoteric Buddhism as equal to the Tendai Lotus Sutra teaching. Saichō would write that Tendai and Mikkyo "interfuse with one another" and that "there should be no such thing as preferring one to

2405-475: The geographic shift of the capital away from Kyoto to Edo , further weakened Tendai's influence. In Chinese and Japanese , its name is identical to Tiantai , its parent Chinese Buddhism school. Both traditions emphasize the importance of the Lotus Sutra and revere the teachings of Tiantai patriarchs, especially Zhiyi . In English, the Japanese romanization Tendai is used to refer specifically to

2470-535: The idea that all beings have the potential for full buddhahood and thus that the Lotus Sutra was a teaching for all sentient beings. This teaching in particular was a major point of contention with the Japanese Hossō ( Yogacara ) school in Japan who espoused the Five Natures Doctrine ( 五姓各別 , goshō kakubetsu ) which argues that not all being can become Buddhas, since some do not have

2535-662: The largest of which were the Eshin-ryu and the Danna-ryu. At the core of these doctrinal systems was the Tendai practice of the "threefold contemplation in a single thought" (isshin sangan 一心 三観) which is taught in Zhiyi's Mohezhiguan . According to Stone, this practice is based on seeing "that all phenomena are empty of substance, provisionally existing, and the middle, or both empty and provisionally existing simultaneously." While certain scholars have seen hongaku thought as denying

2600-585: The midst of daily activities and recitation of the daimoku during when one is approaching death. Imperial Court in Kyoto The Imperial Court in Kyoto was the nominal ruling government of Japan from 794 AD until the Meiji period (1868–1912), after which the court was moved from Kyoto (formerly Heian-kyō ) to Tokyo (formerly Edo ) and integrated into the Meiji government . Upon

2665-430: The monk Saichō 最澄 (767–822) joined the Japanese missions to Imperial China in 804 and founded Enryaku-ji on Mount Hiei. The future founder of Shingon Buddhism, Kūkai , also traveled on the same mission; however, the two were on separate ships and there is no evidence of their meeting during this period. From the city of Ningbo (then called Míngzhōu 明州), Saichō was introduced by the governor to Dàosuì (道邃), who

Tanzan Shrine - Misplaced Pages Continue

2730-546: The need for Buddhist practice, Stone notes that Tendai hongaku based texts like the Shinnyokan 真 如 観 (Contemplation of true suchness) and the Shuzenji-ketsu 修 禅 守 伏 (Decisions of Hsiuch’an-ssu) deny this idea. Instead, these texts teach various kinds of Buddhist practices, including nenbutsu, contemplation of emptiness (kukan 空観), meditations using Buddhist icons and mirrors, practicing the threefold contemplation in

2795-631: The other." Meanwhile, Kūkai saw mikkyo as different from and fully superior to kengyo (exoteric Buddhism) and was also concerned that Saichō had not finished his esoteric studies personally under him. Saichō's efforts were also devoted to developing a Mahāyāna ordination platform that required the Bodhisattva Precepts of the Brahmajala Sutra only, and not the pratimokṣa code of the Dharmaguptaka vinaya , which

2860-780: The patronage of the Imperial House of Japan and the noble classes, by the end of the Heian period , it experienced an increasing breakdown in monastic discipline, plus political entanglements with rival factions of the Genpei War , namely the Taira and Minamoto clans. Due to its patronage and growing popularity among the upper classes, the Tendai sect became not only respected, but also politically and even militarily powerful, with major temples having vast landholdings and fielding their own monastic armies of sōhei (warrior-monks). This

2925-522: The powerful sōgō ( 僧綱 , "Office of Monastic Affairs") with the naming of An'e (安慧) as the provisional vinaya master. Other examples include Enchin's appointment to the Office of Monastic Affairs in 883. While Saichō had opposed the Office during his lifetime, within a few generations disciples were now gifted with positions in the Office by the Imperial Family . By this time, Japanese Buddhism

2990-518: The rapid realization of Buddhahood for everyone (without denying the possibility of Buddhahood in this body). For Shōshin, sokushin jōbutsu applied to those who had "superior religious faculties" because they "have previously practiced the various provisional teachings" in many previous lives. The Tendai school was the locus of the development of the Japanese doctrine of hongaku 本覚 (innate or original enlightenment), which holds that all beings are enlightened inherently and which developed in Tendai from

3055-498: The realization of buddhahood by grasses and trees ( sōmoku jōbutsu )" as well as hongaku shisō thought. These various post-Saichō Tendai figures also developed the Tendai doctrine of "the identity of the purport of Perfect and Esoteric teachings" ( enmitsu itchi 円密一致) which according to Ōkubo Ryōshun "refers to the harmony and agreement between the Perfect teachings of the Lotus Sutra and Esoteric Buddhism." Ryōgen 良源 (912–985)

3120-488: The relative phenomenal world as an expression of the ultimate nondual reality and is found in phrases like "the worldly passions are precisely enlightenment" and "birth and death are precisely nirvana". These lineages also transmitted their teachings through transmission rituals which made use of mirrors to illustrate nonduality and the interpenetration of all phenomena. Hongaku teachings were passed down through various exoteric teaching lineages (which often involved secrecy),

3185-462: The remains of Kamatari to a 13-story pagoda on the site. During the Heian period , the temple developed together with the prosperity of the Fujiwara clan. The emperors Daigo (884 – 930) and Go-Hanazono (1419 – 1471) attached special reverence to the temple, and bestowed it with various honorifics. Under shinbutsu-shūgō , a system of syncretism of Buddhism and kami worship,

3250-441: The seeds for Buddhahood. The heated debates between Saichō and the Hossō scholar Tokuitsu frequently addressed this controversy as well as other related issues, such as how to categorize the various Buddhist teachings, and the value of certain Tendai teachings. Tendai thought also frames its understanding of Buddhist practice on the Lotus Sutra's teaching of upāya or hōben ( 方便 , expedient means) . Furthermore, Tendai uses

3315-460: The site was both a Shinto shrine and a Buddhist temple. The Tanzan Shrine and Tōnomine-ji coexisted on the same site. Tōnomine-ji had two subtemples located within its precincts, Myōraku-ji (妙楽寺) and Shōryō-in ( 聖霊院 ) . The shrine received significant financial support from the Tokugawa bakufu during the Edo period (1603 – 1868). During the anti-Buddhist shinbutsu bunri movement after

SECTION 50

#1732801573900

3380-447: The true "Lotus Sutra" and he therefore attempted to integrate all Buddhist teachings he had studied within a single framework based on the Lotus Sutra's One Vehicle. Hazama Jikō writes that the central feature of Tendai thought is its advocacy of the "One Great Perfect Teaching" (一大円教), "the idea that all the teachings of the Buddha are ultimately without contradiction and can be unified in one comprehensive and perfect system." This idea

3445-693: Was a major Buddhist intellectual in medieval Japanese Buddhism and the head of the Tendai curriculum at Mount Hiei. Shōshin wrote numerous works and commentaries, and is most known for his commentaries on the writings of Zhiyi, the Personal Notes on the Three Major Works of Tendai (Tendai sandaibu shiki 天台三大部私記). This is "the most detailed study on Tendai doctrine until the twentieth century," according to Matthew Don McMullen. Shōshin also wrote on esoteric Buddhism, which he interpreted in line with classical Tiantai doctrine, instead of seeing it as

3510-484: Was a more narrowly-focused set of practices (e.g. daimoku for the Nichiren school, zazen for Zen, nembutsu for Pure Land schools, etc.) in contrast to the more integrated approach of the Tendai. In spite of the rise of these new competing schools which saw Tendai as being "corrupt", medieval Tendai remained a "a rich, varied, and thriving tradition" during the medieval period according to Jacqueline Stone. Although

3575-525: Was also influenced by his study of Huayan (Jp. Kegon) philosophy under Gyōhyō 行表 (720–797) and this was his initial training before going to China. Because of the Imperial Court's interest in Tiantai as well as esoteric Buddhism, Saichō quickly rose in prominence upon his return. He was asked by Emperor Kanmu (735–806) to perform various esoteric rituals, and Saichō also sought recognition from

3640-529: Was dominated by the Tendai school to a much greater degree than Chinese Buddhism was by its forebear, the Tiantai. Philosophically, the Tendai school did not deviate substantially from the beliefs that had been created by the Tiantai school in China. However, Saichō had also transmitted numerous teachings from China was not exclusively Tiantai, but also included Zen (禪), Pure Land, the esoteric Mikkyō (密教), and Vinaya School (戒律) elements. The tendency to include

3705-504: Was finally granted and the traditional "Four Part Vinaya" ( Chinese : 四分律 ) was replaced by the Tendai Bodhisattva Precepts. Seven days after Saichō died, the Imperial Court granted permission for the new Tendai Bodhisattva Precept ordination process which allowed Tendai to use an ordination platform separate from the powerful schools in Nara . Gishin, Saichō's disciple and the first " zasu " ( 座主 , "Head of

3770-497: Was later rebuilt, and continues to serve as the head Tendai temple today. Kamakura period Tendai also produced a number of important figures of its own, including Jien 慈圓 (1155–1225), known as a historian and a poet, who wrote the Gukanshō (a religious history of Japan) and numerous devotional poems. Other important figures include Shōshin 證眞 (fl. c. 1153–1214) and Shinsei 眞盛 (1443–1495). Hōjibō Shōshin 寶地房證眞 (active 1153–1214)

3835-601: Was not allocated any ordinands until 809 with the reign of Emperor Saga . Saichō's choice of establishing his community at Mount Hiei also proved fortuitous because it was located at the northeast of the new capital of Kyoto and thus was auspicious in terms of Chinese geomancy as the city's protector. The remainder of Saichō's life was spent in heated debates with notable Hossō figures, particularly Tokuitsu , and maintaining an increasingly strained relationship with Kūkai (from whom he received esoteric initiations) to broaden his understanding of esoteric Buddhism. The debates with

3900-971: Was not unusual for major temples at the time, as rival schools also fielded armies, such as the head temple of the Yogācāra school, Kōfuku-ji . With the outbreak of the Genpei War, Tendai temples even fought one another, such as Mount Hiei clashing with Mii-dera depending on their political affiliations. In response to the perceived worldliness of the powerful Tendai school, a number of low-ranking Tendai monks became dissatisfied and sought to establish independent schools of their own. The major figures of "New Kamakura Buddhism" like Nichiren , Hōnen , Shinran , Eisai and Dōgen —all famous thinkers in non-Tendai schools of Japanese Buddhism—were all initially trained as Tendai monks. Tendai practices and monastic organization were adopted to some degree or another by each of these new schools, but one common feature of each school

3965-519: Was officially established in Japan in 806 by the Japanese monk Saichō ( posthumously known as Dengyō Daishi). The Tendai school, which has been based on Mount Hiei since its inception, rose to prominence during the Heian period (794–1185). It gradually eclipsed the powerful Hossō school and competed with the rival Shingon school to become the most influential sect at the Imperial court . By

SECTION 60

#1732801573900

4030-454: Was the 18th abbot of the head temple Enryakuji at Mount Hiei. He was an influential politician closely tied to the Fujiwara clan as well as a scholar. Due to his influence, the Tendai school became the dominant Buddhist tradition in Japanese intellectual life and at the imperial court. Due to Ryōgen's influence, Fujiwara family members also came to occupy important positions at Tendai temples. Ryōgen also established an army on Mt. Hiei to protect

4095-402: Was the seventh Tiantai patriarch, and later he journeyed to Tiantai Mountain for further study. After receiving teachings and initiations on Chan , Precepts and Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, Saichō devoted much of his time to making accurate copies of Tiantai texts and studying under Dàosuì. By the sixth month of 805, Saichō had returned to Japan along with the official mission to China. Saichō

4160-614: Was traditionally used in East Asian Buddhist monasticism. Saichō saw the precepts of the small vehicle ( hinayana ) as no longer being necessary. His ideas were attacked by the more traditional Nara schools as well as the Sōgō (the Office of Monastic Affairs) and they were not initially approved by the imperial court. Saichō wrote the Kenkairon to respond to their criticisms. By the time that Saichō died in 822, his yearly petition

4225-447: Was used by Saichō as a basis for his integration of the various schools of Buddhism into a single comprehensive synthesis. Hazama writes that "Saichō included both esoteric and exoteric teachings, and avoided an obsession with any one category of the Buddhist tradition such as Zen or the precepts. He sought instead to unite all of these elements on the basis of a single fundamental principle, the comprehensive and unifying ekayana spirit of

#899100