Jianzhen

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Statue of Ganjin, the founder of the "regular school" Risshū, in the Tōshōdai temple at Nara
Tōshōdai Temple ( Tōshōdai-ji , UNESCO World Heritage )
Ganjin's tomb in the Toshodai Temple

Jianzhen ( Chinese  鑒真  /  鉴真 , Pinyin Jiàn Zhēn , W.-G. Chien-chen; Japanese 鑑真 , Ganjin; * 688 ; † 763 ) was a Chinese Buddhist priest. At the age of 14 he became a priest in the Dayun Si Temple in China . Until 742 he taught in the Daming Si Temple in Yangzhou .

In that year the Japanese priests Eiei ( 栄 叡 ; † 749) and Fushō ( 普照 ; 8th century) visited him, who invited him to Japan. They had been sent by the Japanese Shōmu - tennō to look for authorized priests in China to introduce the ordination practice of Buddhism and thus the legitimacy and centralization of the Buddhist community (Sanskrit: Sangha ) in Japan. This had to do with the efforts of the imperial family in the Nara period to bring order to the organization of Buddhism, which gained more and more influence among the people and the influential clans.

Since the keelless Japanese ships were largely exposed to the waves and winds, journeys between China and Japan were associated with great risks. After several ship sinks and other setbacks, the now blind Jianzhen managed to cross in 753.

  • He brought, among other things, writings of the Vinaya and the canon of the Tiantai school ( Tiantai zong ), which were later also studied by Saichō , the founder of the Japanese Tendai .
  • In 754 he built an ordination platform in the Tōdai Temple ( Tōdai-ji ), which had been founded by the Tennō Shōmu as the central Buddhist authority of Japan. Shōmu was also ordained a second time by Ganjin. Ordination in the correct lineage was an important matter in Buddhism. In addition, in Japan the government decided how many monks could be ordained per year.
  • In the fifth month of the same year, Ganjin founded the "regular school" ( Ritsu or Risshū ). Until the founding of the Tendai School, only this school was allowed to conduct ordinations. All those not ordained there were officially not considered priests.
  • In the fifth month of the year 756 he became the general supervisor of the priests, in the eighth month the general administrator of the priests.
  • In 759 he founded the Tōshōdai Temple ( Tōshōdai-ji ) under the auspices of the Empress Kōken .
  • After his death in 763 he was posthumously given the imperial title The Great Teacher Kakai or The Great Teacher Who Crossed the Sea (Kakai Daishi).
  • His life story was written down by the court scholar Omi no Mifune .

literature

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Commons : Statue of Jianzhen (Tōshōdai-ji)  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Jianzhen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 鉴真 (simplified Chinese); 鑒真 (traditional Chinese); Jiàn Zhēn; Chien-chen (Wade-Giles)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION chinese buddhist priest
DATE OF BIRTH 688
DATE OF DEATH 763