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Tendai Buddhism in Japan: An Historical and Religious Perspective
Jed Holdeman
EAS 399
The History of Buddhism is long and complex, and contains many of the twists
and turns one finds in many ancient religions. The story begins in India with Siddartha
Gautama, and continues in China where the religion undergoes many developments that
continue to shape the religion as it takes root in Korea, Japan and ultimately the rest of
the world. To study Tendai Buddhism is to analyze a very small piece of an incredibly
large puzzle. However, to say it is a small piece is not to say it is insignificant. Tendai
Buddhism has a rich history replete with religious, political and social dialogue and
conflict. A study of the founding of Tendai Buddhism illustrates well the Japanese
principle of borrowing from Chinese culture, and demonstrates how this sect played a
significant role in the political and religious development of Japan.
In order to understand its role in Japanese history it helps to understand its
historical antecedents. The capital was established in Nara in 710 and remained there
until 794 when Emperor Kanmu moved it to Kyoto. In Nara, Buddhism flourished,
enjoying support from the ruling court while at the same time maintaining a
strengthening amount of independence from it. Their independence was marked by
minimal interference from the court including exemption from taxation and corvée labor.
Although the Nara period saw the establishment of court-appointed monks who resided at
the court and oversaw those in the temples, this interference strengthened rather than
weakened the religion. Buddhism had gained a strategic voice at the emperor’s ear.
This strategic position created an interesting play of politics and religion, which
continued to be an important factor in the state in the Nara period, throughout the height
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of the Tendai sect and on into later centuries. The benefits were mutual and selfpropelling. The Buddhists of Nara (and later in the Tendai school) derived justification
for their political involvement from the Golden Light Sutra, while the politicos
“attempted to make it an instrument of state ideology.”1 According to Sources of
Japanese Tradition:
The political aspects of the sutra are most clearly stated in the chapter on kingly
law (Obosho-ron), which declares that government and religion are united by the
Buddhist Law (or dharma). The law of men must be universal but not final,
always subject to change, with peace as its ultimate end. Any king who violates
the Law will be punished, but as long as he is faithful to it, Buddha will see to it
that he enjoys immeasurable blessings.2
These principles establish a frame of mind in the monks and aristocrats that allows
Buddhist influence to continue to grow in the courts. However, some officials in the
government did not want complete dominance of the courts by the Buddhists, which
almost came about with the rise to power of a man named Dokyo. The attempted
resolution of this problem set the stage for Saicho to establish a Tendai sect that would
later become arguably the most influential sect in Japan.
Dokyo’s rise to power can largely be accredited to his years in service of Empress
Koken while she was sick. By the time she came to power in 764, she had become a nun
under Dokyo’s influence. This set the backdrop for Dokyo and the continued rise of
Buddhist power illustrated by his promotions to chief minister and meditation master, and
eventually to prime minister, while at the same time “insuring his own position by
appointing officials friendly to him and by trying to stop Fujiwara power.”3 He became
1
William Theodore de Bary et al. Sources of Japanese Tradition: From Earliest Times to
1600. Vol. 1 2nd ed. Columbia University Press: New York 2001.
2
De Bary et al. 105.
3
Groner, Paul. Saicho: The Establishment of the Japanese Tendai School. University of
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Dharma King in 766 and almost became emperor in 769. His life illustrates how
Buddhist influence had grown, and following his death, steps were taken by the
succeeding emperors to regain some measure of control over the religion (11)4. One of
the largest of these steps was that of Emperor Kanmu who moved the capital from Nara
to Kyoto in 794.
Emperor Kanmu significantly changed the religious and political face of the
empire. Although one might have expected him to completely sever the political ties
between the two powerful forces, this was not his method. Kanmu implemented various
reforms addressing the threat of Nara Buddhism, some of the most significant of which
took place after his move to Kyoto, which both politically and physically separated his
court from the Nara sects. His reforms included changing regulations for the ordination
of new monks and attempting to rid the monasteries of monks who were not serious
about the religion5. He further delineated the separation from Nara Buddhism by not
taking any of the temples with him on the move, which had been the tradition in previous
moves of the capital. The presence of the temples in the capital indicated and helped
maintain their significance. Though he took many steps to limit Nara Buddhism, Groner
argues, “Kanmu was clearly trying to reform Nara Buddhism, not destroy it.”6 And by
his actions in Kyoto with Saicho and Tendai Buddhism, one can see he clearly
recognized the need of a supportive Buddhist sect, whether he was a Buddhist himself or
not. However, before moving on to look at Saicho and Tendai in Japan, I would like to
first look at its predecessor, Tiantai Buddhism in China.
Hawaii Press: Honolulu 2000.
4
Groner 11.
Groner 12-13.
6
Groner 13.
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The Tiantai School was founded by Zhiyi in China in the 6th century. In this
period, Buddhism in China was undergoing significant changes. In order to cope with
discrepancies amongst the various different sects of Buddhism, schools often had to
develop some means of justification for their teachings. In Tiantai there developed an
idea of “The Five Periods of the Buddha’s Teaching.” These periods are used to explain
different levels of understanding offered by the Buddha. He was said to have tried to
reveal his complete understanding early in his career, but finding many who were unable
to understand, he broke it down into simplified forms to eventually build them up to
complete enlightenment.7 It is from the last of these stages that Tiantai claims its
authority.
This last stage is said to encompass the teaching of the Greater Vehicle and is
expressed in the Lotus and Nirvana Sutras. In this way, Tiantai makes obliging deference
to its Buddhist predecessors, but claims that while their views are legitimate teachings of
Buddha, and hence are on the right track, they are nonetheless incomplete. According to
Sources of Chinese Tradition, “[The Lotus Sutra] is an attempt to replace the Three
Vehicles by One Vehicle. In its all-inclusiveness, then, the Tiantai points again to the
doctrine of universal salvation, the outstanding characteristic of the Mahayana
movement.”8 Mahayana Buddhism is an attempt both to reconcile the differing paths to
enlightenment with each other, and to discern what the implications of enlightenment are
in the world.
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8
De Bary 133-134.
William Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom. Sources of Chinese Tradition: From
Earliest Times to 1600. Vol. 1, 2nd ed. Columbia University Press: New York
1999.
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Another aspect of Tiantai Buddhism that appealed to Saicho, who valued thisworldly applications of Buddhist doctrine, was its emphasis on practical learning and its
concern with the world in which the Buddha lives. According to Sources of Chinese
Tradition, “The Tiantai School is characterized by a strong philosophical content and at
the same time an even stronger emphasis on meditative practice.”9 The Lotus Sutra (a
sutra of “religious salvation through practice”) became the most used sutra of this school
along with the “Three Great Works of the school, namely, the Words and Phrases of the
Lotus (Fahua Wenju), the Profound Meaning of the Lotus (Fauhua Xuanyi), and the
Great Calming and Contemplation (Mohe Zhiguan),” supposedly expounded by Zhiyi
himself.10 These works help make up a doctrine built around:
The Perfectly Harmonious Threefold Truth: (1) all things or dharma are empty
because they are produced through causes and conditions and therefore have no
self-nature, but (2) they do have tentative or provisional existence, and (3) being
both Empty and Tentative is the nature of dharma and is the Mean. These Three–
Emptiness, Tentativeness, and the Mean – involve one another so that one is three
and three are one, the conditional thus being correlated with the unconditional.11
These three “Truths” illustrate well some basic principles of the Mahayana tradition.
They express, among other things, a view fairly universal in nature, though still replete
with paradox and abstract meaning: one is to reject anything that is causal yet not deny its
temporal existence, while ultimately maintaining a perspective that encompasses both of
these aspects of reality. One must outwardly demonstrate these notions; there is little use
in intellectual conceptualization, but at the same time, neither will mere practice bring
one closer to enlightenment.
9
De Bary 444.
De Bary 444.
11
De Bary 444-445.
10
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Connected with the Lotus Sutra and these three truths is the complex Tiantai view
of reality. It is multidimensional with “three thousand realms of existence, representing
experienced reality in all its diversity.”12 This view in many ways is derived from Indra’s
Net. Indra’s Net expounds the idea that all things are as interconnected jewels reflecting
and, in a way, being all other things and worlds. All things exist completely in each
individual thing at any single moment. The text itself says it best: “Within the boundaries
of a single jewel13 are contained the unbounded repetition, and profusion of the images of
all the jewels.”14 And continuing in this vein the Tiantai School propounds the idea “that
all beings have the Buddha-nature in them and can be saved.”15 This statement uses the
interrelationship of all things proposed by Indra’s Net to allow that all beings possess the
Buddha-nature and hence the capacity to attain enlightenment. This is one more
universalistic aspect of Tiantai that separates it from earlier schools and was one of its
most attractive points to its Japanese founder, Saicho.
Saicho was ordained as a monk at the age of nineteen in Nara. Earlier in his life,
his father had built a hut on Mount Hiei to thank the Kami (Shinto deities) for giving him
a son. Following his ordination and the subsequent training period, Saicho returned to
Mount Hiei to spend time reflecting and studying. As later events in his life will show,
he often showed a boundless desire to discern the truth, regardless of restrictions placed
on him by a particular sect or government regulation.
When he ascended Mount Hiei, he took five vows that greatly reflect his view of
enlightenment and foreshadow his future as a Buddhist leader. All five are interesting,
12
De Bary 445.
Simply stated, a “jewel” is a thing/object that exists.
14
De Bary 473.
15
De Bary 445.
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but at this point there are two that contribute most to this study of Tendai. The first is,
“So long as I have not attained wisdom (hannya), I will not participate in worldly affairs
unless it be to benefit others,” and the second is, “May any merit from my practice in the
past, present, and future be given not to me, but to all sentient beings so that they may
attain supreme enlightenment.”16 The first vow written here tells the reader two things.
First of all, Saicho had a deep desire to attain wisdom that was fairly unconditional in
nature. He had no stipulations about discerning truth no matter what the source. What
mattered for him was that it was Truth. Second, it also begins to illustrate an idea made
clearer by the following vow, namely that one who is enlightened is here to benefit “all
sentient beings” and all are capable of attaining enlightenment. He made these vows
before being ordained in the Tiantai order. Probably, his instruction from the Zen monk,
Gyohyo, helped put him in this frame of mind that was clearly predisposed favorably
toward many Tiantai doctrines. While on Mount Hiei, he studied diligently, and among
the texts he read were those of the Tiantai School (including the Lotus Sutra), which
would greatly affect the development of his temple.
Another event that influenced Saicho’s situation on the Mountain was his
appointment to a Buddhist post at the court in Kyoto. Saicho had spent 12 years in retreat
on the mountain, when the Emperor assigned him an official position in the court. As
mentioned before, Emperor Kanmu had moved the capital to regain a certain amount of
authority over Buddhism. However, he also realized he would need the support of the
religion to maintain a successful reign. What he needed was a respectable Buddhist
person or sect that was strong enough to give him legitimacy and protection, but not so
strong as to threaten his dominance. What he found was Saicho and his “ecumenical
16
Groner 29.
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center for the combined study of the teachings separately established in Nara” on a
mountain to the Northeast of the city.17 Saicho and the Tiantai tradition offered a form of
unification of Buddhism that was appealing to an emperor in the face of both political
and religious divisions that were threatening stability. The Emperor’s desire for a strong,
unifying foothold in Buddhism, Saicho’s disdain for worldly power and even the
geographic location combined to provide a strong foundation on which to establish
Tendai Buddhism.
As mentioned before, The Golden Light Sutra linked the religion and the state
indelibly, and by grace of some of what the sutra says, Buddhism came to be regarded as
a protector of the state. When this view is combined with Chinese ideas popular in Japan
at the time that Kyoto was threatened by evil from the Northeast (which resonated with
similar, native Shinto beliefs), Saicho’s temple was situated right where it needed to be to
be beneficial to itself and the court.18 Neither group orchestrated this neat fit (Saicho was
there before the court in 785), and Saicho found himself surprisingly and thankfully in a
useful position. But it was not only from his geographic position that he benefited.
Emperor Kanmu did not want to make connections with just any Buddhist sect,
but with one that would lend aid to his goal to reform Buddhism, taking away some of its
influence and resolving some of its complicating divisions. According to Sources of
Japanese Tradition, “[Saicho] had originally left Nara because of his dissatisfaction with
the worldliness and, he believed, the decadence of the monks there.”19 He agreed with
the emperor on this point; for him, Buddhism’s power and manipulation had corrupted its
Naran monks. This of course creates an interesting situation, because he now finds
17
De Bary 126.
Groner 31.
19
De Bary 126.
18
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himself in a similar situation, where he benefits from the court as an officer of it, and the
court benefits from him as someone attempting to propound a universalistic interpretation
of the religion. The court and the religion are still tied together, but his lack of interest in
worldly power (unlike the Nara monks) lent trust to his relationship with the court.
Saicho began to hold lectures on the Lotus Sutra, and became involved in lectures
elsewhere. Eventually, the court and one of its powerful families (the Wake) began to
hope specifically that Tendai would resolve some of the conflict in the religion.20 Saicho
began to rise in prominence because of this view and eventually he was able to travel to
China to receive spiritual sanction for his goals on Hiei with support from the Emperor.
In 804, Kanmu sent Saicho on a mission to learn the latest in Chinese Tang
Buddhism. China had for a long time been considered a rich source of culture and
knowledge by Japan. Although this view had begun to decline due to the weakening of
China in the years preceding Kanmu, it was still the place where Japanese Buddhism saw
its foundation. According to Sources of Japanese Tradition, “China was considered the
fatherland of Japanese Buddhism, and without some Chinese credentials, Saicho’s
monastery would have no standing alongside those of the powerful sects in Nara.”21 It
was in both Saicho’s and the Emperor’s interests to send him to China. They needed that
authority to compete with Nara.
The voyage to China would have a strong influence both on Saicho and his
mountain temple, and thus on Japan. Saicho did not spend much time there, but he
received initiation in Esoteric, Zen and Tendai Buddhism, focusing on “…Zhiyi’s grand
synthesis of Exoteric Buddhism in scripture, philosophy, and meditation and less to the
20
21
Groner 36.
De Bary 126.
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other two schools, which emphasized practice.”22 One can see by these few words that
what he learned tended to lean toward a very inclusive view of the path to enlightenment.
This was manifest in his goals upon his return to Japan.
In Japan, his sect took on qualities distinct from Tiantai in China largely due to
the influence of his esoteric training and connections. When the emperor sent Saicho to
China, he also sent a monk named Kukai, who focused on esoteric training, pursuing it
more thoroughly. The two formed a friendship (which later fell apart), and Saicho
received many esoteric texts for his mountain retreat and was initiated in more secret
rituals of Esoteric Buddhism. He was enchanted with these rituals and incorporated them
into his curriculum, but he continued to be more concerned with practical aspects of
Buddhism. By way of the esoteric rituals his monastery gained another level of authority
as concerns the state. Many of the rituals were understood to appeal to various good and
evil forces offering protection to the state. In addition, the rituals brought a sense of
magic and mysterious power to the religion, adding yet more weight to his monastery’s
role as protector.
When Saicho originally went to Hiei, he did not intend to form a new sect, but as
mentioned before, to “study the teachings separately established in Nara.”23 He
purportedly stated as his philosophy:
If…[a wise man] finds a correct doctrine, even though it is a principle of another
sect, he should adopt and transmit it. This is the duty of a wise person. If a man
maintains his partisan spirit even when his teachings are false; conceals his own
errors and seeks to expose those of other people; persists in his own false views
and destroys the right views of others – what could be more stupid than that?
From this time forward, monks in charge of instruction in the Law must desist
from such practices.24
22
De Bary 127.
De Bary 126.
24
De Bary 127-128.
23
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This indiscriminate philosophy of accepting what he discerned as true no matter where it
came from stands out as one of his most important and influential principles. It both
strengthened and weakened his standpoint in Kyoto. This statement alienated many sects
in Nara, but its open-minded perspective gave his sect a broad enough foundation to
persist.
Saicho began to develop and refine his mountain retreat, attempting to make it an
established monastery within Buddhism. He appealed to the new emperor to allow him
to sequester his students on the mountain for twelve years before allowing them to be
fully ordained as monks. This allowed him to wrest dominance over his students from
the Nara temples. The training they received was in some ways more relaxed than the
training they would have received in Nara, but the twelve-year stay on the mountain
meant a large amount of dedication and stamina were needed. Also, he emphasized their
role as protector of the state, and encouraged loyalty to the emperor, maintaining once
again a mutually beneficial relationship between state and religion. He had hoped to
completely sever ties with Nara, establishing an independent ordination, but this goal was
not achieved until after his death.25 Though he struggled once Kanmu had died, his work
paid off in the end. Carried on by his students, his monastery eventually became the only
legitimate place of ordination in the country.
The work of Saicho and his two immediate successors (Enchin and Ennin)
brought Tendai Buddhism authority and influence in Japan both politically and
religiously. In this way it began to resemble the Catholic Church in the West as the
leading authority on religion with heavy political weight to support it. It also was the
25
De Bary 130-131.
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birthplace of numerous, Japanese forms of the Greater Vehicle of Buddhism, including
Pureland, Sokagakkai, Sichiren-shoshu. It was also the birthplace of Japanese Zen,
which was first established in a Tendai temple on Mt. Hiei under Eisai (associated with
the Rinzai sect) and later developed under Dogen (Soto sect). Eventually, the Hieian
temples gained so much power (including 3000 temple buildings and an army) that in
1571 they were burned to the ground by a shogun, and all the monks were killed.
The political situation in Nara Japan set the stage for the arrival of Tendai
Buddhism by the hands of Saicho and Emperor Kanmu at the end of the 8th century. The
stage was one of a struggle for power, legitimacy and for some, a struggle to find
resolution and truth. Tendai Buddhism was a fitting response to this situation. It offered
an open-minded acceptance of legitimate truths founded on what it saw as the Greater
Vehicle of Buddhism. And at the same time, by location, ritual and doctrine it offered
the state protection, support and in 794, an unadulterated authority in Buddhism. The
ensuing history of the country has been greatly influenced by this sect both directly and
indirectly, and it all started with the birth of Tiantai Buddhism in China. Tendai
Buddhism in Japan paints a distinct picture of the Japanese phenomenon of borrowing
culture from the mainland and making it its own independently active agent on the island.
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Bibliography
Groner, Paul. Saicho: The Establishment of the Japanese Tendai School. University of
Hawaii Press: Honolulu 2000.
Lusthaus, Dan. Chinese Buddhist Philosophy (Tiantai).
http://www.human.toyogakuen- u.ac.jp/~acmuller/yogacara/articles/chbudbig5.htm. Jan. 21, 2003.
Varley, Paul. Japanese Culture. 4th ed. University of Hawaii Press: Honolulu 2000.
William Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom. Sources of Chinese Tradition: From
Earliest Times to 1600. Vol. 1, 2nd ed. Columbia University Press: New York
1999.
William Theodore de Bary et al. Sources of Japanese Tradition: From Earliest Times to
1600. Vol. 1 2nd ed. Columbia University Press: New York 2001.