example, he argued that the Maha ̄vairocana Su ̄tra should be
classified with the Lotus Su ̄tra in the Tendai system of five
periods.
Esoteric Buddhism was eventually systematized by
Annen. Although he did not travel to China, Annen collect-
ed all of the texts and practices he could and strove to explain
and reconcile the differences he encountered. In addition, he
was acutely aware of Ku ̄ kai’s tradition and defended Tendai
interpretations against criticisms from To ̄mitsu sources, even
as he borrowed elements of Ku ̄ kai’s teachings.
Tendai Esoteric Buddhism is marked by several factors
that differentiate it from Shingon. While Shingon argues for
the nonduality of the Womb and Diamond-realm man:d:alas,
Tendai added another tradition, that found in the Susiddhi-
kara Su ̄tra (Soshitsujikyo ̄). This gave Taimitsu added ele-
ments of practice that helped it compete with To ̄mitsu.
Saicho ̄ had argued that the Lotus Su ̄tra and Esoteric Bud-
dhism had the same import; in contrast, Ku ̄ kai had given
Tendai and the Lotus Su ̄tra relatively low rankings in his clas-
sification of doctrine. Later Tendai monks had striven to
clarify the Tendai view. Saicho ̄’s student Ko ̄jo ̄ (779–858 CE)
developed an Esoteric ritual for the Lotus Su ̄tra. Ennin ar-
gued that all of Buddhism could be encompassed in “One
Great Perfect Teaching” (ichidai engyo ̄), a classification that
identified the essence of all teachings. However, he also need-
ed to differentiate teachings in a hierarchical manner. Be-
cause the Lotus Su ̄tra claimed that it was a hidden teaching
revealed only as the end of S ́a ̄kyamuni’s life, it could be inter-
preted as a hidden or Esoteric teaching. At the same time,
because the Lotus Su ̄tra did not have the ritual elements
found in Esoteric texts, Ennin argued that, although both the
Maha ̄vairocana Su ̄tra and the Lotus Su ̄tra were doctrinally
the highest teaching, only the Maha ̄vairocana Su ̄tra included
the most superior practices.
Annen further refined these teachings with a classifica-
tion called the “four ones”: one Buddha, one time, one place,
and one teaching. Like Ennin’s One Great Perfect Teaching,
Annen stressed the unity of Buddhist teachings. This teach-
ing was based on the identity of the dharmaka ̄ya with the en-
tire cosmos and the teaching that the dharmaka ̄ya preached.
Annen also had to explain how Buddhism could be classified
in a hierarchical fashion, which he did by adding a fifth cate-
gory—Esoteric teachings—to the traditional fourfold Ten-
dai doctrinal system: H ̄ınaya ̄na, shared, distinct, and Perfect
teachings. Esoteric teachings were thus given the highest po-
sition. Annen so identified Tendai with Esoteric teachings
that he used the term Shingon (mantra) to refer to his
teachings.
The agreement of the Lotus Su ̄tra and Esoteric Bud-
dhism can be seen in Tendai discussions of several doctrines.
Saicho ̄ based his argument on the realization of buddhahood
with this very body (sokushin jo ̄butsu) on the story of the real-
ization of the eight-year-old Na ̄ga girl in the Lotus Su ̄tra. In
discussions by later Tendai monks, the definition of this
rapid realization changed to become more radically sudden,
with Esoteric elements sometimes added. Tendai discussions
of the preaching of the dharma-body (hosshin seppo ̄) empha-
sized how the various bodies of the Buddha were ultimately
combined; thus the preachings of S ́a ̄kyamuni could be in-
cluded as aspects of the preaching of the dharma-body. In
both of these doctrines the Tendai position differed from
that found in the Shingon school. Although Annen’s work
marks the high point of the systematization of Taimitsu
thought and practice, later monks continued to refine it, and
a number of separate ritual lineages emerged.
The most important text for Taimitsu has been the
commentary of Yixing (683–727 CE) on the Maha ̄vairocana
Su ̄tra. Tendai used a different recension of the text, the four-
teen-fascicle Darijing yishi, than the Shingon school, which
used the twenty-fascicle Darijing shu. Although the two re-
censions did not differ significantly doctrinally, ritual differ-
ences were evident.
Esoteric Buddhism also decisively influenced two other
traditions: the practice of circumambulating mountain peaks
(kaiho ̄gyo ̄) and the Sanno ̄ tradition of Shinto. Kaiho ̄gyo ̄ is said
to have begun with the monk So ̄o ̄ (831–918 CE), who estab-
lished a temple called Mudo ̄ji on Mount Hiei as the base for
the practice. In its fully developed form a practitioner (only
men perform this practice) takes a vow to travel on set
courses for one thousand days spread over seven years. Trav-
eling the course is compared to traveling through a man:d:ala,
with the practitioner paying homage to deities at around
three hundred sites. After seven hundred days of circumam-
bulation, the practitioner undergoes a nine-day period with-
out food, water, sleep, or lying down. He then completes the
practice, extending his circumambulation down to Kyoto.
Upon completing the practice, he is received by the emperor.
Once a practitioner has taken a vow to begin the practice,
he is not permitted to end his austerities early. In fact he car-
ries a knife to end his life if he cannot finish the practice.
The Tiantai school in China honored a deity who pro-
tected its headquarters. In a similar manner, Hie taisha was
established at the foot of Mount Hiei as the focal point of
a cult to honor the deities that protected the Tendai school
on Mount Hiei. As time passed the numbers of shrines and
deities increased. By the Kamakura period deities were con-
sidered manifestations of various buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Tendai doctrine was used to give the system more coherence.
The term Sanno ̄ (mountain king) by which this form of
Shinto ̄ was known consisted of two characters, the first made
up of three vertical strokes joined by a single horizontal
stroke and the second consisting of three horizontal strokes
and one vertical stroke. The very name of the cult called to
mind the unity of the three truths. The separation of Shinto ̄
and Buddhism during the Meiji Restoration resulted in the
independence of the Sanno ̄ cult from Tendai.
Precepts and monastic discipline. Near the end of his
life, Saicho ̄ proposed that the Four-Part Vinaya ordination
traditionally used throughout East Asia be abandoned as in-
ferior H ̄ınaya ̄na and that a Maha ̄ya ̄na ordination based on9078 TENDAISHU ̄