Fascicle Two 119

Chapter 5 Fascicle Two

3 Transmission of the Various Traditions in Japan

1 Introduction In the tenth month of the thirteenth year of the reign of the thirtieth emperor of Japan, Emperor Kinmei (r. 539-571 CE), (in 552), also known as Amekuni os- hihiraki hironiwa, the Buddha Dharma was transmitted to Japan from the Kingdom of Baekje (in the southwest of present-day Korea). King Seongmy- eong (r. 523-554) of that country (Baekje) personally wrote a prayer and sent it to the imperial court of Japan along with a gold gilded image of Śākyamuni Buddha, banners, canopies, several scriptures and treatises, and other items. In the eleventh month of the sixth year of the thirty-first emperor of Japan, Emperor Bidatsu (r. 572-585), (in 577), also known as Nunakakura no Futota- mashiki, the king of Baekje again sent several fascicles of scriptures and trea- tises, and six specialists including a Vinaya master, a Zen master, a nun, a dhāraṇī master, a Buddhist-image maker, and a temple architect. Japan in- stalled them in Ōwakeōji Temple1 (Ōwake Prince established) in Ōsaka when Shōtoku (574-621) was six years old. The next year, the seventh year of the em- peror, Shōtoku read those scriptures and treatises. For the six days of confes- sion (observed by laypeople), he had people refrain from killing sentient beings and had an edict issued prohibiting people from killing sentient beings across the country. In this way, the Buddha Dharma gradually became transmitted throughout the land. Monks who preserved the Buddhist teachings came from foreign countries. The Buddha Dharma gradually became popular so that all the peo- ple took refuge in it. During that time, although the Great Minister Mononobe no Moriya (d. 587) attempted to destroy the Buddha Dharma, because Prince Shōtoku utilized skillful means, all the people took refuge in it, the Buddha’s halls and pagodas became very prosperous, and the temples and buildings were extensively constructed. During the reign of Empress Suiko (r. 592-628), the Buddha Dharma and the number of monks became especially abundant. Thus, various schools gradually came to be transmitted and various teachings became very prosperous.

1 Ōwakeōji Temple is also called Ohowake no miko no tera.

Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2018 | doi 10.1163/9789004370456_007 © 120 Translation

More than three hundred years after the Buddha Dharma arrived in China, it was transmitted from China to Baekje (in 384). Thereafter, more than one hundred years after Baekje accepted Buddhism, it was transmitted to Japan in the year 552. Therefore, the origin of the Buddha Dharma of Japan was Baekje. The Buddha Dharma of Sui Dynasty (581-618) in China was not transmitted to Japan. In the fifteenth year of the reign of Empress Suiko (607), Prince Shōtoku dispatched Ono no Imoko to Mt. Heng in China during the Great Tang Dynasty (618-907). He brought materials back to Japan that Prince Shōtoku used in a previous life in China. After that, in (653) the fourth year of the Hakuchi Era (650-654) of the thirty-seventh emperor of Japan, Emperor Kōtoku (r. 645–654, thirty-sixth emperor in the traditional order of succession), Master Dōshō (d. 700) went to Great Tang China and studied the Hossō teaching under Tripiṭaka Master Xuanzang. After that, Japanese masters gradually went to China, stud- ied the Buddha Dharma and returned to Japan. (That is), the eminent monks who transmitted the Buddha’s teachings to Japan, went to China and brought the teachings back from that country. Even though the number of monks who went to China and transmitted the teachings was not large, some continuously did so without interruption. Japanese Buddhist teachings can be summarized in eight schools. The pre- vious masters gradually transmitted these. The eight schools are (1) Sanron (Three Treatises), (2) Hossō (Yogācāra), (3) Kegon (Avataṃsaka Sūtra), (4) Ku- sha (Abhidharma), (5) Jōjitsu (Satyasiddhi), (6) Ritsu (Vinaya), (7) Tendai (Lo- tus Sūtra), and (8) Shingon (esoteric). Hereafter, the details of the transmission of each of these traditions will be explained.

2 The Sanron (Three Treatises) School From the time the Buddha Dharma was transmitted from Baekje to Japan until the thirty-third year of Empress Suiko, seventy-four years passed. That year (625) corresponds to the eighth year of the Wude Era (618–626) of Emperor Gaozu (r. 618- 626) of the Tang Dynasty. In the same year, King Yeongnyu (r. 618-641) of Goguryeo (one of the ancient Three Kingdoms of Korea) sent Hyeg- wan (known in Japanese as Ekan) to the Japanese court. He was a specialist in Sanron, having studied it under Master Jizang (549-623, Chinese Sanlun mas- ter). He (Hyegwan) became the founding patriarch of Japanese Sanron. Even so, he did not lecture on Sanron. He did not open the teaching just as he did not show the jade although he was holding it. One year before him, Dharma Master Gwalleuk came from Baekje. Even though he too was an authority on the Three Treatises, he did not lecture on the teachings. During the reign of the thirty-seventh emperor of Japan, Emperor Kōtoku, Dharma Master Hyegwan