858 anna andreeva
Ennin and the Rise of Taimitsu
Saichō, having established himself on Hiezan in the 780s, obviously
felt it necessary to pay attention to the Greater and Lesser Hie deities
(Ōbie and Obie ) residing at the foot of the moun-
tain. In Saichō’s writings, these deities of “princely kin” (Ōshi kenzoku
) are referred to as “the Mountain King of Hie” (Hie Sannō
) or even “the Great Mountain King of Hie” (Ōbie Sannō
) (Sugahara 1992, 18). In one of the texts attributed to Saichō
(and even more so in other Tendai texts written later), Ōbie Myōjin
or Sannō is mentioned by his dharma name (hōmyō ), Hōshuku
bosatsu , which may or may not mark the beginning of the
worship of this deity as one of the star constellations (seishuku ).^8
However, it was Saichō’s disciple Ennin (793–864) who played
the major role in defining the links between the deities of Miwa and
Sannō and laying the ground for the esoteric worship of kami in the
Tendai tradition. In the 880s, following Enchin’s request, chanting
esoteric scriptures, such as the Great Vairocana’s Sūtra of Prayers for
Divine Transformation and Attainment of Buddhahood (Dainichikyō
, T. 848), the Sūtra of One-syllable
Golden Sphere of Budda’s Pate (Ichiji butchō rinnō kyō
, T. 951) and the Tantra of Wondrous Attainments (Soshitsuji kat-
suma kyō , T. 893), in front of the Ōbie and Obie deities
was included as part of the duties of one or two yearly ordinands who
trained on Hieizan. This practice of chanting the sutras in front of the
local deities became a customary practice of Buddhist monks.
The Tendai tradition asserts that Ennin was instrumental in outlin-
ing the importance of the Miwa deity for kami worship at Hieizan.
The no longer extant Account of Assisted Quest for the Three Treasures
(Sanbō bugyōki , NDZ (1914–1921), Shūtenbu, Tendaishū
kengyōshōshō 2: 607–609) attributed to Ennin (MDJ (1970) 3: 1364),
may have been one of the early texts that discussed the ideas of the
original ground and manifestations of Sannō (Sannō suijaku
), the identity of the Ōmiya gongen as Hoshuku bosatsu (which
of Kamo was recorded in the Yamashiro kuni fudoki. These older narratives laying out
the origins of the Kamo lineage settled in Yamashiro during the ancient period were
subsequently taken up by the Tendai branch of Eryō.
(^8) Sugahara (1992, 14) argues that such worship in Japan may have been preceded
by a similar veneration in China, documented in Sui dynastic histories such as the
Annals of Sui (589–618) or the Jinshu (646).