Tendai Buddhism is one of the most popular schools of Buddhism. The credit of initiating this school of Buddhism is attributed to Saicho. Saicho was a Japanese Buddhist monk who brought the Tendai school of Buddhism to Japan. He studied the Tiantai tradition in China and brought it to Japan, where it was developed as Tendai Buddhism.
Saicho is also credited for building the headquarters of Tendai Buddhism on Mt Hiei. The headquarters are still the largest centre for development of Tendai Buddhism.
Saicho came from a family of devout Buddhists. His education started at the age of 12 at a provincial temple in Omi. Here, he studied under Gyoho, who was a disciple of Tao-hsiian. The teachings that Saicho gave in his doctrine drew influence from his teachings in early life. He was ordained in 785, shortly after which he climbed Mt Hiei. He stayed there for over an year and practiced meditation. He also studied extensively during this one year. It was during this period that Saicho read a number of Tiantai texts and developed a great understanding of Tiantai Buddhism.
After having had enough knowledge of Tiantai Buddhism at hand, Saicho decided to head to China to know more about the Tiantai school of Buddhism. He headed to China for an eleven month trip to bring the authentic Tiantai Dharma Lineage to Japan. He even travelled to Yüeh-chou to collect more Buddhist texts. This trip laid the foundation of Tendai Buddhism.
Saicho was completely attracted and enticed by the teachings of Tiantai and the Lotus Sutra. He collected various sutras from the teachers of Tiantai Buddhism. He tried to learn the maximum possible from these sutras and even planned to bring them to Japan. It was this learning experience that enabled him to lay the foundation of Tendai Buddhism when he returned to Japan.
The esoteric connection to Tendai Buddhism can also be attributed to this trip. It was during this trip that Saicho had the chance to meet priest Shun-hsiao. He procured esoteric Buddhist texts from the preside and was completely enchanted by what these teachings had to offer. His in esoteric Buddhism further fostered when he met Kukai, another monk. Kukai knew a great deal about these teachings and also had a wide range of books on these teachings. It was Kukai, who eventually laid the foundation for the Shingon school of Buddhism.
After imbibing this great deal of knowledge during the 11 month trip to China, Saicho returned to Japan, where he founded the Tendai School of Buddhism. He had to put a considerable amount of effort for the same. It is all thanks to the immeasurable efforts of Saicho that world received something magnificent as Tendai school of Buddhism.
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