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A- A. Taimisu
Dengyodaishi (767-823 AD) was the first founder of
Taimisu. Visitors to Kyoto could easily recognize the mountain
Hiei, the highest mountain that stood imposingly at the East of
the city. That was where Dengyodaishi established Ten Dai or the
Taimisu School of Buddhism. He was among the first Buddhist
who had realized the dangers of city life, while many others
before him enjoyed it greatly. He was not just proficient in the
complicated philosophy of the Ten Dai School, but was also an
excellent student of mystic rituals of the Chinese Secret doctrine
and yoga techniques.
His ambition was to unify all other Buddhist sects.
Vestiges of the new sects of Buddhism in the time of Kamakura
could be found on mount Hiei, Dengyodaishi's headquarters. The
capital was beside the mountain, yet Dengyodaishi seemed to be
separated from the world. The older sects of the Nara Dynasty
were rivals to the new leaders, both for sentimental reasons and
for the difference in the principles. Dengyodaishi at the Ten Dai
School focused on the way of the “One Vehicle” from the
Dharma Flower Sutra, while the older conservative sects
followed the direction of Yogacara. They disagreed on the
merging of the Shravaka, Prateyka-Buddha, and the Bodhisattva
vehicles into the One Vehicle doctrine of Dharma Flower Sutra.