Saicho

Saichō 最澄［七六六・七六七―八二二］is famous for being the first person in Japan to accept the Tendai school of thought. However, before  Saichō became active, the foundation for the spread of the Tendai teachings had already been laid by Ganjin 鑑真［六八八―七六三］ and his students. This paper examines the missionary activities of Ganjin and his students in propagating the Tendai teachings and the influence of these activities on  Saichō.

Saichō 最澄　is renowned as the founder of the Japanese Tendai sect. Conventionally, it has been said that Saicho's thought was influenced by Tendai  天台　in China. However, some researchers have pointed out that Saicho adopted the ideas of Kegon 華厳 in addition to Tendai. This paper takes this into account and strives to understand the position of Qingliang Chengguan 澄観,the fourth founder of the Kegon school,in Saicho. As a result, it has been pointed out that various similarities can be found in Saicho's understanding of Shinnyo 真如, such as the fact that there are traces of his adoption of Chengguan 's view of Shinnyo.

The Shugo kokkaishō 守護国界章 was written by Saichō 最澄 in the course of his controversy with Tokuitsu 徳一. What has not been taken up in previous research regarding this text is the section surrounding the interpretation of the Lotus Sūtra in the third volume of the second fascicle. In this paper, I take up Saichō’s discussion about the essence of the “Ox Cart” that appears in the Lotus Sūtra’s parable on the burning house and the three carts and examine its contents.

Saichō最澄 is one of Japan's leading Buddhists and is renowned as the founder of the Tendai sect天台宗 of Buddhism. He is also an indispensable figure in the history of Buddhism in Japan, having founded the parent body of the Tendai sect, from which Buddhist patriarchs of the Kamakura period鎌倉時代 (1185-1333) often emerged.
　However, although there is a vast accumulation of research on  Saichō, these studies are not necessarily based on  Saichō's life, but rather on images of  Saichō that have been cut out according to the interests of individual researchers.
　In light of this, the author has set the concept of "national defense,"護国 which is assumed to have been an underlying theme in  Saichō's life, as a key word in order to reconstruct  Saichō's life as a history of ideology.
　In the consultation for the doctoral dissertation, it was pointed out that there is a lack of explanation of  Saichō's definition of "national defense," and that the author was critical of the methodology used to understand  Saichō from the perspective of the purpose of "national defense. We have received comments from the audience. I will leave these issues for the future, but for now, I would like to present the author's results here.


Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

The Shugo-kokkai-shō 守護国界章 (abr. Shugo-shō) written by Saichō 最澄, a founder of the Japanese Tendai School, is the most comprehensive work on the debates between Saichō and a Hossō monk Tokuitsu 徳一. The Yū-mon 融文 is one of numerous quotations of the Shugo-shō, and its correct name seems to be the Joshō-hokke-yū-mon-shū 助照法華融文集 attributed to Pin Fa-shih 賓法師.
In Saichō’s texts, Pin Fa-shih took rank with Ling-jun 霊潤 and Fa-pao法宝 of the Nieh-p’an 涅槃 school (Mahāparinirvāņa-sūtra school) and other scholars of one-vehicle sects, so that his identity might be Ting-pin 定賓 of the Hsiang-pu 相部 sect of the Lü-tsung 律宗 (Vinaya school). Ting-pin also studied the one-vehicle sūtras (e.g. the Lotus-sūtra, Mahāparinirvāņa-sūtra, Tathāgatagarbha-sūtra etc.) and translations by Hsüan-tsang 玄奘 (e.g. Yogācāra-bhūmi, Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi, Nyāyapraveśaka etc.).
The Yū-mon arranged the two variations of four noble truths (Catuh-satya) in order of the wheels of Doctrine. It is similar to Fa-pao’s order to make a strict distinction between before the Samdinirmocana-sutra and after the Lotus-sutra.
According to other Pin Fa-shih’s quotations of the Saicho’s works, natural arhats (jōshō-shōmon 定性声聞) and natural pratyekabuddhas (jōshō-dokkaku 定性独覚) could become Buddhas even after they had realized their Hīnayāna goals.