by remarkable creativity as Tendai monks traveled to China
in search of new teachings and clarification.
Although much of Japanese Tendai doctrine is based on
the three major works by Zhiyi and their commentaries by
Zhanran, Japanese monks did much more than simply write
commentaries that reflected Chinese concerns and interpre-
tations. Instead, they had their own concerns in reading and
interpreting Chinese texts, sometimes taking passages out of
context and pushing them in new directions. Most of
Saicho ̄’s writings had been polemical attacks on Hosso ̄ and
defenses of Tendai in which he sometimes took terms from
Chinese texts and gave them a new emphasis. Occasionally
he used terms that had not appeared before. For example,
terms such as sokushin jo ̄butsu (the realization of buddhahood
with this very body), jikido ̄ (direct path), and so ̄moku jo ̄butsu
(the realization of buddhahood by trees and grasses) were
found in Chinese Tiantai texts, but in Japanese Tendai they
received a new emphasis. At first Japanese monks attempted
to enlist Chinese help in clarifying these teachings, writing
letters to China in which they asked about doctrine, but
eventually Japanese Tendai doctrine developed in unique
ways, helped by the paucity of direct contact between Chi-
nese Tiantai and Japanese Tendai after Enchin’s travels. Jap-
anese monks explored these issues through a debate system
in which they might take issues out of context and develop
them in new ways.
From the late Heian period to the middle of the Edo
period, much of Tendai thought was concerned with a
movement that has been called hongaku thought by twenti-
eth-century scholars. The locus classicus of the term hon-
gaku, often translated as “original enlightenment,” is in a
Chinese apocryphal text, the Dasheng qixin lun (Awakening
of faith in the Maha ̄ya ̄na), where it is found with two other
terms, shikaku (realized enlightenment) and fukaku (nonen-
lightenment). Hongaku referred to the concept that all sen-
tient beings had an intrinsic quality of enlightenment that
provided the bases for both realized enlightenment and non-
enlightenment. Through assiduous practice a person could
realize enlightenment and leave nonenlightenment. The
term hongaku thought is a modern term used to refer to Japa-
nese Tendai texts that discuss the implications of original en-
lightenment, often adopting a position that affirms this
world just as it is without any need for practice. The dissocia-
tion of original enlightenment and realized enlightenment is
epitomized by the mythical claim that Ryo ̄gen bestowed hon-
gaku teachings on his student Genshin (942–1017) and
teachings about realized enlightenment on his student Kaku-
un (953–1007), thereby suggesting that hongaku could be in-
terpreted as an independent term instead of in association
with practice.
The development of hongaku thought has often been
characterized as a degenerate phase of Tendai because it is
characterized by the flagrant disregard of historical prece-
dent, the production of texts attributed to major Tendai fig-
ures of the past, and a seeming disregard for traditional (and
sometimes for all) forms of practice. However, hongaku texts
exhibited a wide variety of attitudes toward traditional doc-
trine and practice. Some, such as those written by Ko ̄en
(1263–1317) of the Kurodani lineage (discussed below) ad-
vocated the reestablishment of Saicho ̄’s twelve-year period of
seclusion. Other texts, such as the Shinnyokan (Discernment
of suchness) required little more than a firm belief that one
was already a buddha. A number of strategies were employed
in hongaku texts to justify creative doctrinal positions, in-
cluding the creation of sources, secret oral transmissions,
word play, and associations of unrelated terms. These inno-
vative teachings were justified by regarding subjective inter-
pretations (often called mind discernment or kanjin) above
doctrines that relied on Scripture.
More traditional forms of Tendai scholarship continued
to survive during this period. Figures such as Ho ̄chibo ̄
Sho ̄shin (1131?–1215?) and Jitsudo ̄ Ninku ̄ (1307–1388)
wrote commentaries, essays, and debate manuals that dis-
played meticulous care with historical sources. Sho ̄shin in
particular was known for his careful differentiation of Chi-
nese and Japanese doctrinal views.
Tendai Esoteric Buddhism. Tendai’s most immediate
problem after Saicho ̄’s death was competing with the Esoter-
ic Buddhist tradition represented by Ku ̄ kai’s Shingon school.
The Tendai school occasionally used the term Shingon school
to refer to its Esoteric teachings. The two Esoteric traditions
are sometimes differentiated by calling Tendai Esoteric Bud-
dhism “Taimitsu” and Ku ̄ kai’s school “To ̄mitsu”; however,
To ̄mitsu is usually referred to as the Shingon school. Much
about the Esoteric traditions Saicho ̄ received in China and
his understanding of them remains obscure; in fact, the texts
Saicho ̄ is said to have received in China may have been writ-
ten by Annen (841–889? CE) to bolster Tendai claims to Eso-
teric lineages. However, Saicho ̄’s insistence on the agreement
of the purport of the Perfect Teaching and Esoteric Bud-
dhism has been a hallmark of Taimitsu. The inferiority of
Saicho ̄’s transmission of Esoteric Buddhist ritual led to Ten-
dai monks such as Ennin traveling to China, where he stud-
ied for nine years, from 838 to 847 CE. He collected 508 texts
in 802 fascicles, more than Ku ̄ kai, studied the Sanskritic
siddham: script, and brought back new rituals. He also estab-
lished a Dha ̄ran: ̄ı Hall in which the ritual of Abundant
Flames (shijo ̄ko ̄ho ̄) was to be performed to protect the emper-
or and the state, thus giving Tendai the ritual apparatus to
compete successfully with To ̄mitsu at court. Ennin also
wrote the first major commentaries on the Vajra ́sekhara
Su ̄tra and the Susiddhikara Su ̄tra. Along with the
Maha ̄vairocana Su ̄tra, these three major texts form the basis
of the threefold system of Esoteric Buddhism upon which
Taimitsu was based. Enchin studied in China from 853 to
858 CE under the Chinese Esoteric Buddhist master Fazh-
uan, the same master Ennin had trained under, and also
brought back a large number of texts and ritual traditions.
Enchin was the author of a number of texts that explained
the connection between Esoteric Buddhism and Tendai. ForTENDAISHU ̄ 9077