790 james l. ford
returned from China. Let us now examine one final example of the
impact of esotericism on the Nara establishment.
Eison and the Esotericization of the Precepts
Eison (1201–1290),who studied esoteric, Hossō, and abhidharma doc-
trine at Daigoji, Tōdaiji, and Kōfukuji,established an order at Saidaiji
that synthesized Shingon and Ritsu praxis. He is perhaps best known
for his role in the precept revival movement of the early Kamakura
era that embraced a broad spectrum of members from fully ordained
monastics to lay folk. A brief background summary of the debates
that preceded Eison’s revival efforts will help to highlight the esoteric
nature of his reforms.
With the adoption of the bodhisattva Fan-wang precepts by Saichō,
along with later efforts by his successors Kōjō (779–859) and Annen
(841?–880?), precept standards on Mt. Hiei became notably relaxed
(Groner 1984b, 292–98). Reflecting a certain “esotericization” of the
precept ordination that tended to elevate essence over action, Annen,
for example, argued that strict adherence to the precept rules missed
their spirit and soteriological essence. Nara monks were highly criti-
cal of these trends and asserted that Tendai monks were not officially
ordained because they had not received the Ssu-fen-lu lineage passed
down from Śākyamuni.
In response to at least a perceived decline in monastic adherence to
and monastic knowledge of the vinaya within the Nara schools them-
selves, a precept revival occurred in the latter part of the Heian era.
Jippan (also pronounced Jichihan; d. 1144) is widely recognized as
the initial restorer to the Japanese world of the Nakāya principles of
discipline. Initially beginning his career at Kōfukuji, where he studied
Hossō doctrine, Jippan went on to study esoteric doctrine at Daigoji
and eventually founded the Naka-no-kawa school of Shingon. How-
ever, he is perhaps best known for restoring Tōshōdaiji, once the
fountainhead of Ganjin’s precept lineage transmitted from China, as
the center of vinaya education, and for inaugurating a new precept
lineage. Later recipients of this lineage included Zōshun (1104–1180),
Kakuken (1131–1212), Jōkei (1155–1213), Kainyo (n.d.), Kakushin
(1170–1243), Kakujō (1194–1249), and Eison (1201–1290), all affili-
ated with Nara schools. In 1212, Jōkei’s disciple Kakushin established
Jōki’in, a subtemple at Kōfukuji, as a center for precept study, which
became the center for radically new developments in the emerging