Tendai Buddhism

Tendai (天台) is the school founded in Japan by Saichō in the early ninth century, based on the Chinese Tiantai tradition and the Lotus Sutra. Its central teaching, that all beings can become buddhas, and its embrace of meditation, esoteric ritual, discipline and devotion made its headquarters on Mount Hiei the seedbed of medieval Japanese Buddhism.

One vehicle, many paths

The Lotus Sutra teaches that the many forms of Buddhism are skilful means leading to a single truth. Tendai therefore gathered many practices under one roof: the study of the sutra, seated meditation, the esoteric rites known as Taimitsu, and constant recitation of Amida's name. The Tendai monk Genshin's treatise on rebirth in the Pure Land, written in 985, inspired the paintings of heaven and hell that followed.

Mount Hiei

At its height Enryakuji had thousands of halls and its own armed monks, who descended on Kyoto to press the monastery's interests. In 1571 the warlord Oda Nobunaga burned the mountain. Rebuilt, it remains the head of Tendai and the home of the kaihōgyō, a practice in which monks walk mountain circuits for a thousand days over seven years.

Tendai and art

Tendai esotericism produced mandalas, wisdom kings and multi-armed deities alongside Shingon. Its Pure Land practice inspired Amida halls, paintings of Amida's descent and of the six realms. Chūsonji at Hiraizumi, with its Golden Hall, is a Tendai temple.

In the collection

Browse esoteric Buddhist art and Buddhist Statues and Sacred Art. Our collector concierge can search Japan for Tendai material.

See also

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