fully studied the Tiantai texts they obtained in China, but
after the ninth century CE relatively little exchange occurred
between the Chinese and Japanese schools. As a result, Japa-
nese Tendai developed in ways that were frequently distinct
from its Chinese antecedent. In the following paragraphs the
institutional development of the school is discussed, followed
by some of its doctrinal developments.
INSTITUTIONAL HISTORY. Tendai was initially based on
writings by the Tiantai exegetes Zhiyi (538–597 CE) and
Zhanran (711–782 CE) that had been brought to Japan by
Jianzhen (Japanese, Ganjin, 688–763 CE). The de facto
founder of the school, Saicho ̄ (767–822 CE, also known by
his posthumous title Dengyo ̄ daishi) was able to obtain these
texts while he was practicing on Mount Hiei and was so im-
pressed by them that he traveled to China to obtain better
copies. When Saicho ̄ returned from China in 805 CE, he
found that the court was more interested in the Esoteric
Buddhist (mikkyo ̄) doctrines he brought back than in Tiantai
doctrine. As a reward for performing Esoteric rituals to heal
the emperor’s illness, Saicho ̄ was awarded two yearly ordi-
nands by the court; this marks the establishment of the
school. Saicho ̄’s understanding of Esoteric Buddhism did not
equal that of Ku ̄ kai (774–835 CE), founder of the Shingon
school, who returned to Japan in 806 CE. As a result the Ten-
dai monks Ennin (794–864 CE) and Enchin (814–891 CE)
traveled to China, where they spent more time studying Eso-
teric Buddhism than Ku ̄ kai, brought back more texts than
Ku ̄ kai, and introduced new rituals that appealed to patrons
from the imperial family and the noble classes. Consequent-
ly, the school flourished and successfully competed with
Shingon.
Still a small group of monks 120 years after Saicho ̄’s
death, the Tendai school was significantly less influential
than its long-time rival, the Hosso ̄ school. Although it had
enjoyed sporadic successes, particularly under Ennin and En-
chin, the school had sunk into a period of decline. Tendai
was revived and came to dominate the Japanese Buddhist
world during the administration of Ryo ̄gen (912–985 CE).
When many of the buildings on Mount Hiei burned down
in 966 CE, shortly after he had assumed the leadership of the
school as zasu, Ryo ̄gen obtained funding to rebuild them
from Fujiwara Morosuke (908–960 CE), the power behind
the throne. In return for Morosuke’s support, Ryo ̄gen or-
dained Morosuke’s son Jinzen (943–990 CE) and designated
him as the next Tendai zasu. Jinzen’s relatives later assumed
many leadership positions in the Tendai school and con-
trolled many of the lands that Morosuke had given to Ten-
dai; they performed Esoteric rituals to insure their clan’s con-
tinuing domination of the Japanese political scene.
Ryo ̄gen also renovated Tendai education through a sys-
tem of debate. Tendai scholar-monks were expected to mem-
orize vast amounts of literature, to be able to recite passages
relevant to doctrinal problems, and then to resolve any con-
tradictions between the texts. Monks who excelled at this
were given high appointments by the court. As a result Ten-
dai finally came to dominate Hosso ̄ and Shingon. Ryo ̄gen
was also responsible for improvements to Tendai Esoteric rit-
uals, making them more elaborate or using them in new ways
to attract the patronage of the nobility.
The introduction of the nobility into the governance of
Tendai resulted in a number of significant changes in Ten-
dai. Noble lineages came to control a number of cloisters,
called monzeki, thereby limiting access for commoners to the
positions of authority in Tendai. The transmission of special
Esoteric rituals and secret doctrines within such lineages con-
tributed to increasing factional tendencies within Tendai.
Separate lineages representing both Esoteric and Exoteric
teaching formed. In addition, the lands controlled by Tendai
institutions had to be administered and protected, resulting
in special classes of monks who performed these functions.
Tendai monks had engaged in factional disputes with
Hosso ̄ and Shingon monks from early in Tendai history.
These factional tendencies eventually turned inward, partial-
ly because of competition among lineages for patronage and
control of the Esoteric rituals that appealed to the nobility.
The origins of this particularly virulent dispute began with
a debate over who should succeed Saicho ̄’s disciple Gishin
(781–833 CE) as zasu. The factions eventually coalesced
around those who traced their lineages back to two of the
great figures of Tendai Esoteric Buddhism, Ennin and En-
chin. The connection with Esoteric Buddhism was not acci-
dental, because this tradition valued the integrity of ritual
lineages that preserved secrets connected with the perfor-
mance of rituals. Because the rituals were conducted for the
nobility, considerable economic advantages accrued to those
who could preserve the secrecy of their lineage. Arguments
continued to revolve around appointments as zasu and ab-
bots of major temples until the monks in Enchin’s lineage
were forced to withdraw from Mount Hiei and make Onjo ̄ji
(also known as Miidera), located at the foot of Mount Hiei,
their base late in the tenth century, near the end of Ryo ̄gen’s
tenure as zasu. The tensions between the two groups contin-
ued to erupt sporadically in subsequent centuries, occasional-
ly resulting in bloodshed and the burning of each other’s
temples. Both groups were further subdivided into ritual and
doctrinal lineages that used oral transmissions (kuden) to
propagate their teachings and ritual practices.
The Tendai educational system was so influential dur-
ing the medieval period that virtually all of the founders of
the Kamakura schools of Buddhism received their early
training in Tendai institutions. Several, such as Ho ̄nen
(1133–1212) and Eisai (1141–1215), remained Tendai
monks for most of their lives.
The end of much of Mount Hiei’s secular power came
in 1571 as part of Oda Nobunaga’s (1534–1582) efforts to
reunify Japan. To do so he had to eliminate rival political
and military powers. Because Tendai had long been involved
in Japanese politics through the many monks with noble lin-
eages, Oda ordered his troops to make an example of Mount
Hiei. They burned all of the mountain’s monasteries andTENDAISHU ̄ 9075