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Summary
Travel is an act for human beings to visit new places and experience different cultures and histories. Through travel, people can actually feel historical events and people’s lives by visiting historical places and cultural heritage sites, and can gain a deeper understanding of history and broaden their own perspectives. In this section, we will discuss the historical background of the trip and the places visited based on Ryotaro Shiba‘s “Kaido yuku” (On the Road) about this journey and history.
Kaidou wo yuku Volume 16 Eizan no michi.
In the previous article, I described the road to Tsubozaka, Yamato, Nara Prefecture. In this issue, we will discuss Mt. Hieizan, the Tendai sect of Buddhism, the largest academic center in the Middle Ages, which was founded by Saicho and gave birth to Dogen, Honen, Shinran, and other schools of Buddhism. In Sakamoto, a town at the eastern foot of Mt. Hiei, we will focus on the stone walls that reflect the high technology of the E-no-Anataishu, and we will also pay a visit to Hiyoshi-taisha Shrine near Honzaka, where Saicho is said to have climbed the mountain, to consider the historical connection between Mt. Then, we visited Akayama Zen temple, which is associated with Ennin, recalling Ennin’s arrival in Tang Dynasty China. We will also visit the ruins of Manjuin Monzeki Temple, located near Unmo-zaka, a slope at the western foot of Mt. After visiting the summit of Mt. Hiei, Ryotaro Shiba will visit Mudoji Valley, the home of the 1,000-day Kaiten Gyogyo, and finally, he will see a ceremony of the Hokkekai, a secret ceremony of the Tendai sect.
Saicho is said to have been born in 767 in Mitsu (today’s Sakamoto, Shiga Prefecture) on the western shore of Lake Biwa in Shiga County, Omi Province, as the eldest son of Mitsunobi-Tomomomoe. His talent blossomed early, and at the age of 12 he became a disciple of Gyohyo of the Kokubunji Temple in Omi. In 780 (the 11th year of the Hogoku era), he attained the priesthood, and in 785 (the 4th year of Enryaku era) he received the Gusoku precepts (250 precepts) at the Todaiji Precepts Temple in Nara, becoming an official priest recognized by the government.
In those days, Buddhism had a role as a state religion that explained the origins of the world and provided a basis for the state of the nation. To give clear form to these teachings, national temples were built throughout the country, and the Daibutsu (Great Buddha) was constructed at Todaiji Temple in Nara to oversee all the national temples. In this context, monks were public servants who studied and spread these teachings, and to become a monk, one needed to be certified by a temple recognized by the government.
Saicho is often compared to Kukai, who spread Shingon Buddhism at the same time, but according to Ryotaro Shiba, Kukai was a genius with a good sense of self-expression, while Saicho was a brilliant man who did not sell himself as much. However, they were not on the same ship and did not actually meet until five years later.
Their positions were also different. At that time, Saicho was a young leader of the Buddhist world and was in the position of a returning student (gengakusho) who could return in one year with an interpreter at government expense, while Kukai was an academic monk who was trying to master esoteric Buddhism at his own expense and was obliged to stay for a period of 20 years.
After Buddhism spread as the state religion, esotericism was the boom of the powerful at that time.
The need for esoteric Buddhism apparently grew because those in power (aristocrats) had a desire to protect themselves from curses, grudges, and hauntings that were prevalent behind the power struggle and wanted to obtain them through Buddhism, Onmyoudou, and witchcraft, as represented by esoteric Buddhism.
Sensitive to such needs, Kukai entered Tang China and visited the seventh founder of esoteric Buddhism, the monk Keika of Changan Qinglong Temple in Tang China, where he studied for about six months. (For more information on Kukai’s life and teachings, see “Koya-san-michi (Yukimura Sanada and Kukai).
Esoteric Buddhism, as described in “The Internet and Vairochanabutsu: The Kegon Sutra and Esoteric Buddhism” is based on the Mahayana Buddhism influenced by Indian Hinduism and various traditions indigenous to India. Therefore, many teachings of worldly benefits, such as witchcraft, were included in Mahayana Buddhism, and these teachings seemed to match the needs of the world at that time.
In contrast, Saicho went to Mount Tendai in China to study Tendai Buddhism under Dōzui at Shūzen-ji Temple and Gyōman at Butsurō-ji Temple, to copy Buddhist scriptures, to receive Zen teachings from Shūnen at Zenrin-ji Temple, and to receive esoteric Buddhist teachings from Ajātāshi Junxiao at Longxing-ji Temple in Yuezhou before returning to Japan.
The Buddhist view in Nara (the six sects of the Nanto sect), which had been influenced by the Indian caste system that distinguished between those who could become Buddhas and those who could not and that those who could become Buddhas were born with a fixed birthright, was replaced by the “Lotus Sutra,” which taught that “all people can become Buddhas. The Tendai Sect, founded by Saicho on Mt. Hiei, was intended to serve as a place for training people to study Buddhism in a comprehensive manner, based on the “Lotus Sutra,” a teaching that all people can become Buddhas. The Tendai Sect, founded by Saicho on Mount Hiei, was to serve as a place to train people to study Buddhism in a comprehensive manner.
In fact, monks such as Dogen, mentioned in “Zen Master Dogen” and Honen and Shinran, mentioned in “Kuya, Honen, Shinran, and Ippen: The Genealogy of Pure Land Thought” first trained (studied) at Hieizan, and then established their own sects.
In “On the Road,” they visited Hiyoshi Taisha Shrine, located at the foot of Mt.
Hiyoshi-taisha is the head shrine of the 3,800 Hiyoshi, Hie, and Sanno shrines in Japan, and has a long history. This deity sits on Mount Hie in the Land of Near Awakai. This “mountain of Hiei” later became Mount Hiei.
After the capital was relocated to Heian-kyo (Kyoto), Hieizan was located in the northeast, the demon’s gate of Kyoto, and was revered as a place to ward off demons and protect people from disasters.
After visiting Hiyoshi-taisha, I visited Akayama Zen temple, which is associated with Ennin, as described in “The Internet and Vairochanabutsu – The Kegon Sutra and Esoteric Buddhism” and “The Power of Amida Buddha and Pure Land Buddhism, which introduced the concept of a parallel world.
Ennin was a disciple of Saicho, and in order to revive the Tendai sect, which was on the verge of decline under the influence of Kukai’s Shingon esoteric Buddhism during Saicho’s time, he went to Tang China to study esoteric Buddhism, and became the monk who transformed the Tendai sect into esoteric Buddhism and restored the power of the sect.
Ennin is also famous for having built temples related to the Tendai sect in various parts of Japan, as described in “Strolling along the Roads of Akita, Matsuo Basho, Sugae Masumi, and Ningyo Dosojin” and “Strolling along the Roads of Hashu-kaido and Yamagata.
Akayama Zen-in is named after the location of the Zen temple where Ennin stayed when he was in Tang China, and was built by his disciple Anhui in accordance with Ennin’s will after his death.
The journey on Kaido yuku will continue with a visit to the Manjuin Monzeki temple near Unmo-zaka, a slope at the western foot of Mt. Hiei, followed by a visit to Mudoji Valley, the home of the 1,000-day Kaimu Gyo, and then conclude with a viewing of a ceremony of the Hokkekai, a secret ceremony of the Tendai sect of Buddhism.
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