Dissatisfied with monastic practice in Nara, Saicho built himself a small retreat on Mount Hiei in 788. In 804 he was sent to China by Emperor Kammu to study the latest trends in Chinese Buddhism, especially those most suitable for adoption at the new capital of Heian. During a year in China he studied with Tiantai, Zen, and Tantric masters and became convinced that Tiantai teachings articulated by Zhiyi and based on the Lotus Sutra were the supreme expression of the Buddha's teaching, opening the path to salvation for all beings and offering protection to the state that sponsored them.

He returned to Japan and his former monastery, renamed Enryakuji, loaded with Buddhist texts. With imperial backing he established a new Tendai school of Buddhism and a thriving monastic community where Zen, the Vinaya, Shingon, and Pure Land teachings were introduced alongside Tendai. Although honored and successful as a monk, Saicho's latter years were clouded by two disappointments: his estrangement from the Shingon master Kukai and his inability to secure permission to build an ordination platform on Mount Hiei and thus secure the full independence of Tendai from Nara Buddhism. The autonomy of Tendai was achieved shortly after Saicho's death when Enryakuji, by imperial decree, was permitted to conduct its own ordinations.

Martin Collcutt

The Encyclopedia of Asian History. Asia Society and Charles Scribner's Sons.