Saichō

Saichō (最澄)
Painting of Saichō
School	Tendai
Personal
Born	September 15, 767
Died	June 26, 822 (age 55)
Senior posting
Title	Founder of Tendai Buddhism
Religious career
Teacher	Gyōhyō (行表)

Saichō (最澄^?, September 15, 767 – June 26, 822) was a Japanese Buddhist monk credited with founding the Tendai school of Buddhism based on the Chinese Tiantai school he was exposed to during his trip to Tang China beginning in 804. He founded the temple and headquarters of Tendai at Enryaku-ji on Mount Hiei near Kyoto. He is also said to have been the first to bring tea to Japan. After his death, he was awarded the posthumous title of Dengyō Daishi (伝教大師).

Saichō was born in the year 766 in the city of Ōmi, in present Shiga Prefecture, with the given name of Hirono. According to family tradition, Saichō's ancestors were descendants of emperors of Eastern Han China; however, no positive evidence exists for this claim. The region where Saichō was born did have a large Chinese immigrant population, so Saichō likely did have Chinese ancestry.

During Saichō's time, the Buddhist temples in Japan were officially organized into a national network known as the provincial temple system, and at the age of 13, Saichō became a disciple of one Gyōhyō (722–797, 行表). He took tonsure as a novice monk at the age of 14 and was given the ordination name "Saichō". Gyōhyō in turn was a disciple of Dao-xuan (702–760, 道璿, Dōsen in Japanese), a prominent monk from China of the Tiantai school who had brought the East Mountain Teaching of Chan Buddhism, Huayan teachings and the Bodhisattva Precepts of the Brahmajala Sutra to Japan in 736 and served as the "precept master" for ordination prior to the arrival of Jianzhen.