Clerics › Religious Figure

Ennin (Jikaku Daishi)

Japanese Tendai pilgrim monk whose travel diary Nitto Guho Junrei Gyoki recorded Tang society and the Huichang persecution.

Also known as Jikaku Daishi · Master Ennin

Ennin (794 CE–864 CE) was a prominent Japanese Buddhist monk of the Tendai school. His 9-year pilgrimage across Tang China produced the invaluable travel journal Nitto Guho Junrei Gyoki, detailing Tang monasticism and culture.

Life and times

  1. 794 CEBornTang
  2. 845Huichang Secularization of BuddhismTook partage 51State secularization of 40,000 temples and 260,000 monastics to restore imperial fiscal solvency.
  3. 864 CEDied

Works

  1. Literature · Prose6
    1. Record of a Pilgrimage to Tang China in Search of the LawTangJapanese monk Ennin's diary of nine years in Tang China, 838–847, witnessing the Huichang purge
    2. Record of a Pilgrimage to Tang China in Search of the Law: Juan 1Tang
    3. Record of a Pilgrimage to Tang China in Search of the Law: Juan 2Tang
    4. Record of a Pilgrimage to Tang China in Search of the Law: Juan 3Tang
    5. Record of a Pilgrimage to Tang China in Search of the Law: Juan 4Tang
    6. +1 more
      1. Record of a Pilgrimage to Tang China in Search of the Law: Huichang 5, Fourth Month (The Laicisation Orders)Tang

Connections

  1. Shared events3
    1. Li Deyu787 CE–850 CE
    2. Li Yan814 CE–846 CE
    3. Zhao Guizhen780 CE–846 CE

Records

Pilgrimage to Mount Wutai and initiations

His years of study in Tang China

The Dictionary of Buddhism says Ennin was a Japanese monk who went to Tang China and paid homage at Mount Wutai. There he met the teacher Zhiyuan and copied the Tiantai books, and he received the great teaching of the two mandalas from the masters Yuanzheng, Yizhen and Faquan of Xuanfa Temple. He also received the Zhiguan from Zongying of Liquan Temple. He lived in Chang'an for six years before returning home, and his posthumous title is Jikaku.

References (1)