Saichō: Founding Patriarch of Japanese Buddhism

Abstract

Saichō 最澄 (767–822), one of the most prominent of Japanese Buddhist innovators, is the renowned ninth-century founder of the Tendai School (J. Tendaishū 天台宗), the first Japanese Buddhist sect with its own system of temples and monasteries, ordinations, practices and philosophy. It was in the goal of founding and maintaining an authentic Buddhist monastic institution that, for better or worse, influenced his thinking, and structured his philosophy. Although Saichō’s identity as founder is beyond dispute, this accomplishment was initially made possible through what we might call modes of self-displacement, essentially establishing his legitimacy as founder by tracing the origins of Tendai beyond himself to founders even more prominent in the minds of his contemporaries. It is through our participation in this initial displacement of Saichō that the meaning(s) of his contributions to Japanese Buddhism will begin to unfold.