Saichō
767 CE–822 CE · Mount Hiei (Enryaku-ji)
767–822 CE
Saichō (767–822 CE) founded the Tendai school of Japanese Buddhism, the Japanese form of Chinese Tiantai. Born in Ōmi province near Lake Biwa, he established a retreat on Mount Hiei—later the great monastery Enryaku-ji—and in 804 traveled to China, where he studied Tiantai meditation and doctrine (along with Chan and esoteric elements) before returning to transplant the tradition. Mount Hiei became the seedbed from which many later Japanese schools (Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren) grew, their founders having trained there. He is well documented.
Life journeyclick any stop, or use ←/→Trace on the map →
Mount Hiei (Enryaku-ji)
What they did here
DOCUMENTED: founded his hermitage on Mount Hiei, which grew into Enryaku-ji, the head temple of Japanese Tendai.
About Mount Hiei (Enryaku-ji)
Mount Hiei, overlooking Kyoto in Japan, is the site of Enryaku-ji, the head temple of the Tendai school founded by Saichō in the early ninth century. As a major centre of learning it trained many of the founders of later Japanese Buddhist schools — including Hōnen, Shinran, Dōgen, Eisai and Nichiren, all of whom studied there before establishing their own movements.
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Saichō’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Buddhist world
Islamic world
Christian world
Jewish world
Scientists
Luminaries & Explorers world
Rulers world
- al-Hakam I· 771 CE–822 CE
- al-Amin· 787 CE–813 CE
- Jayavarman II· 770 CE–835 CE
- Harun al-Rashid· 763 CE–809 CE
- Nikephoros I· 760 CE–811 CE
- Charlemagne· 747 CE–814 CE
- al-Ma'mun· 786 CE–833 CE
- Irene of Athens· 752 CE–803 CE
- al-Hadi· 764 CE–786 CE
- Emperor Kanmu· 737 CE–806 CE
- K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat (Cauac Sky)· –785 CE
- Rurik· –879 CE
- Yaxun Bahlam IV (Bird Jaguar IV)· 709 CE–
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.