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| Saichou (Dengyou Daishi) |
This is an interesting and pretty informative article I found through Lotus NN.
Read and Enjoy! :)
February 6, 2014 by
Mami 56 Comments
Differences among Japanese Buddhism Sects
According to the
“Japan Statistical Yearbook 2014” conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in 2013, around 84.7 million people in Japan are considered to be “Buddhists” regardless of whether or not they are considered “practicing Buddhists.” There are also many different Buddhist sects, too many to learn in just one article. There are 59 main sects that are affiliated with the Japan Buddhist Federation and that’s still not all of them. I can’t introduce them all, so instead I’ll focus on the 13 major sects and their history in Japan.
To help you along on this journey, I made a “Buddhaful” flow chart that you can use to follow along. There are a lot of sects and it becomes confusing, and this helped me a lot (and I hope it helps you too!)
Nara Buddhism – Nanto-Six-Sects
When the period changed from Asuka (550-710) to Nara (710 – 794), which occurred due to the capital getting moved from Asuka to Nara, aka Nanto, Japanese ambassadors called Kentoushi brought back academic Buddhism from China (the Tang Dynasty) and people studied it in the temples in Nara.
This academic Buddhism was classified and divided into six sects called The Six Sects of Nanto (南都六宗/なんとりくしゅう):
– 三論 (Sanron) : Three Treatises
– 成実 (Joujitsu) : Establishment of truth
– 倶舎 (Kusha) : Study of the Abhidharma-kosha
– 法相 (Hossou) : Mind-Only
– 華厳 (Kegon) : Flower-Garland
– 律 (Ritsu) : Rules of Discipline
Hossou-Sect
Among these six sects, Hossou (a.k.a. Yuishiki) was the sect that studied Yogacara, which originated in India. It still remains with two of the main temples, Koufukuji and Yakushiji, and has maintained the practice of the tradition even into modern times.
In this sect, Buddhists delve into their own minds and into the transient world where everything is changing and there are no permanent things.
Unlike the principles of Sokushin-Joubutsu (即身成仏) in Esoteric Buddhism, which means attaining enlightenment while still in the flesh, Hossou-sect established the theory that there are distinctions among people and that not everyone is so easily able to become a Buddha.
Actually, the Hossou and Kusha sects are known for having very complicated teachings and there is even a phrase: “3 years for Hossou, 8 years for Kusha”.
Kegon-Sect
Kegon, is a sect dedicated to the study of the Avatamsaka Sutras and its main temple is the famous Todaiji.
Within the temple, the giant Buddha statue of Vairocana, who is the Resplendent Buddha in the Avatamska, was built in 752 AD. Emperor Shomu also established temples called Kokubunji within the provinces for the spiritual protection of Japan. Todaiji temple was the Kokubunji of the Yamato Province (present-day Nara Prefecture) and was also placed as the head of Kokubunji temples in Japan.
In Kegon, there is a phrase: “One equals many and many equals one”
They preach to attain the integration of ideas with the polar opposite of those ideas.
As you could probably tell by the last sentence, this sect is very philosophical.
Ritsu-Sect
In early 754, a Chinese monk named Jianzhen (688-763 AD), a.k.a Ganjin, traveled to Nara, Japan.
He built Toushoudaiji temple in Nara and preached the Ritsu-sect form of Buddhism, which transmits and studies Buddhist Vinaya precepts.
Ganjin is said to have conducted Jukai (授戒), which means “the handing down of the precepts”, and this was done to more than 40,000 people.
Overall, the main feature of Nara Buddhism is that it supported the idea of national protection.
Heian Buddhism – Heian-Two-Sects
Emperor Konin (770-781 AD) didn’t like how groups of Buddhists could intervene in governmental affairs, so after his son became Emperor Kanmu (781 – 806 AD), he moved the capital from Heijoukyou to Heiankyou in 794 AD and left the Nara Buddhists in the older capital.
Because of that, there was a blank period of religion in Heiankyou and it became an opportunity to foster new types of Buddhism: the Tendai-sect and the Shingon-sect.
In 804 AD, 10 years after the naming of the new capital, Saichou, who later founded the Tendai-sect, and Kuukai, who later founded the Shingon-sect, went to China to study as Kentoushi ambassadors.
These two sects are called the “Heian-two-sects” (平安二宗/へいあんにしゅう).
Saichou: Tendai-Sect
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| Mount Hiei, photo by Casek |
Saichou founded the
Japanese Tendai-sect of Buddhism in Japan.
At the age of 19, he received Gusokukai, which is a higher form of ordination at Todaiji temple, and became an official monk. However, just 3 months later, he left for Mt. Hiei, which had been a mountain untouched by man up to this point, and this is where he built a quiet thatched hut that he called Ichijoshikanin temple, which went on to became Enryakuji temple.
While there, Saichou made a vow that he wouldn’t climb down the mountain, nor preach to the people, until being purified of the six sources (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind) of emotional confusion (joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure, love, and hatred).
It ended up taking him 12 years to complete this training in the mountain.
This style of training still remains and is practiced in Joudoin temple, the West pagoda on Mt. Hiei.
Saichou’s training and studies were even met with full recognition from the emperor and he was chosen as a priest to study abroad at the age of 35.
In China (Tang), he studied Tendai-sect Buddhism for 8 months and after returning to Japan, he founded the Tendai-sect of Japanese Buddhism.
When he started the Japanese Tendai-sect, he began by reevaluating Nara Buddhism and he realized some problems.
His three main criticisms were the following:
Nara Buddhism was not practical but mainly theoretical and its practice had just become a formality.
Nara Buddhism was connected with political powers.
In Nara Buddhism, not every person could attain enlightenment and enter Nirvana.
So, Saichou criticized the Six Sects of Nanto Buddhism that had mainly studied doctrines for the protection of the nation.
Furthermore, based on the Lotus Sutra, he insisted on sharing the belief of “Issaishujoushitsuubusshou” (一切衆生悉有仏性), which means that everyone has the nature of Buddha within them and can reach Nirvana, whereas Nara Buddhism contended that not everyone is able to do so.
In this way, Saichou attempted to disassociate himself from Nara Buddhism, but maintained that if people wanted to become official monks, they still had to receive the precepts in Todaiji temple like Saichou himself did.
Then, Saichou made an appeal to the Imperial court of Japan in order to establish the Ordination Hall for Buddhist Confirmation founded on the Tendai-sect form of Buddhism.
He explained to the competent authorities that the Tendai-sect could nurture purified Buddhist monks through the training on Mt. Hiei and that doing so would produce the sought after protection for the nation.
Saichou, however, did not live long enough to see this realized, nor was it long after his death that it was realized. An imperial sanction concerning the ordination hall was granted 7 days following Saichou’s death and the Tendai-sect was formally established, both in name and substance, as an independent religious sect.
The teachings of Saichou and the “Inextinquishable Dharma Light”, have been passed down to modern day monks at Mt. Hiei.
Saichou’s famous quote can be seen all over Mt. Hiei: “A person who lights up a single corner is truly a national treasure” (from “The Regulations for Students of the Mountain School”).
Saichou explanation of his quote was that “everyone who makes an effort is an all-important national treasure no matter where they are or what their profession”.
His teachings contain many elements linked to Shingon Esoteric Buddhism, Zen, and the teachings of the Joudo-sect, and thus Mt.Hiei functioned as a Buddhism university.
The Kamakura Buddhism founders that came later, such as Hounen, Shinran, Dougen, and Nichiren, all learned here and eventually set off in search of their own precepts.
*As a side note, Saichou was very strict about drinking alcohol. Someone who drank alcohol was never allowed to be a monk.
[to be continued]
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