Eikan-dō Zenrin-ji

Eikan-dō Zenrin-ji 永観堂禅林寺
Tahōtō rising above the fall foliage.
Basic information
Location	Eikandō-chō 48, Sakyō-ku, Kyoto
Affiliation	Jōdo shū, Seizan branch
Country	Japan
Website	http://www.eikando.or.jp/
Architectural description
Founder	Shinshō
Completed	853

For other temples by similar names, see .

Eikan-dō Zenrin-ji (永観堂禅林寺) is the head temple for the Seizan branch of Japan's Jōdo-shū (Pure Land) Buddhist sect, located in Kyoto, Sakyō-ku. It was founded by Shinshō, a pupil of Kūkai, and is famous for its fall foliage and for its prominence in the past as a center of learning.

The temple is commonly referred to as either just "Eikan-dō" (永観堂, "View of Eternity Hall" or "Hall of Yōkan") or "Zenrin-ji" (禅林寺, "Temple of Forest of Zen"). However, it also has two other names. "Shōju-raigō-san" (聖衆来迎山) translates roughly to "Mountain of going across to the saints", while "Muryōsu-in" (無量寿院) means roughly "Temple of Immeasurable Fortune".

The temple got its start when Kūkai's pupil, the monk Shinshō, aspired to found a temple for the worship of the Gochi Nyorai, or Five Wisdom Buddhas. In 853, he purchased the mansion of Fujiwara no Sekio for this purpose. The construction of temples was forbidden in Kyoto at the time, however, and so it was not until ten years later, when formal Imperial approval was granted by Emperor Seiwa, that the Zenrin-ji was formally founded.

Though originally devoted to the Shingon sect, beginning in the time of Yōkan (永観, 1033-1111), the seventh head monk, the temple began to shift towards Jōdo-shū, a sect formally established roughly a century later in 1175. Yōkan had trained in a number of temples of different disciplines in Nara, and was a passionate devotee of the Amida Buddha. In 1072, he established a Yakuō-in (薬王院) on the grounds, which organized giving to the needy and caring for the ill. He also introduced the practice of Nenbutsu, a Chinese practice which was quite new in Japan, into the temple, and cultivated its observance among the monks and devotees.