Tendai

Tendai is a Japanese school of Mahayana Buddhism founded by Saichō. It draws on the Lotus Sutra and developed a broad practice integrating meditation, ritual, precepts, and esoteric teachings.

Lotus Sutra: A Mahayana Buddhist scripture that presents the Buddha’s teaching as a unified path and affirms the potential for universal buddhahood. Tendai treats this scripture as the culmination and unifying center of the Buddha’s teachings.
Shikan: A form of Buddhist meditation combining calming the mind with insight into reality. It names the paired contemplative methods prominent in Tendai practice.
Enryaku-ji: The Tendai Buddhist monastery complex on Mount Hiei, northeast of Kyoto. Saichō established the mountain monastery that became Tendai’s institutional center.
Jōdo Buddhism: Japanese Buddhist traditions centered on rebirth in the Pure Land of Amitābha Buddha. Pure Land teachings grew within Tendai and later developed into distinct Japanese schools.
Tiantai: A Chinese Buddhist tradition founded by Zhiyi, known for its interpretation of the Lotus Sutra and systematic classification of Buddhist teachings. Japanese Tendai inherited its name, core doctrines, and much of its scriptural framework from this Chinese school.
Mappō: The Buddhist age of the decline of the Dharma, when attaining liberation through traditional practice is considered difficult. Tendai developed practices for an era understood as spiritually distant from the Buddha.
Mount Hiei: A mountain northeast of Kyoto that became a major center of Japanese Buddhist practice and political power. Its setting shaped Tendai’s mountain-based institutions and its influence over the capital.
Nichiren Buddhism: A Japanese Buddhist tradition founded by Nichiren, emphasizing devotion to the Lotus Sutra. Nichiren trained at Mount Hiei before developing his own Lotus Sutra-centered movement.
Saichō: A Japanese Buddhist monk who founded Tendai and established its center at Mount Hiei in the early ninth century. His teachings and institutional reforms shaped Tendai as a distinct Japanese school.
Tendai esotericism: The Japanese Tendai tradition’s incorporation of esoteric Buddhist rituals, initiations, and teachings. Esoteric rites became one strand of Tendai’s integrated religious curriculum.

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