Risshu
The Risshū ( Japanese 律宗 ; dt. About "school [shū] of the rules of conduct [ritsu]; Vinaya school") is a Japanese school of Buddhism that originated during the Nara period . It has been able to survive as an independent school to the present day.
history
The Chinese forerunner of the Risshū, the Lüzong ( Chinese 律宗 , Pinyin Lǜzōng , W.-G. Lü-tsung ), was based on the Mahayana - Vinaya and was by Dao Xuan (596–667; 道 宣 , dào xuān , Tao-hsüan ; Japanese dōsen) and is commonly one of the so-called 13 great Buddhist schools in China ( 十三 宗 , shísān zōng ).
The introduction of the Risshū in Japan in 753, like its founding in China, was motivated to lay down clear rules for the behavior of Buddhist monks and in particular to regulate questions about their ordination. This had become necessary because the lack of clarity on these questions threatened to compromise the established schools and their teachings, which was found to be unbearable, and spread moral laxity, arbitrariness in Buddhist questions and greed for power.
In Japan, the Risshū was closely linked to political interests from the start, as the rulers were unwilling to accept the uncontrolled growth of both power and the number of monks, who neither had to pay taxes nor do compulsory labor, any longer.
After more than a century of domestic political attempts at regulation (including in the Taika reform ), Shōmu -tennō finally sent representatives from Hossō- and Sanron-shū , Eiei ( 栄 叡 ;? -749) and Fushō ( 普照 ; 8. Century) to China to invite Ritsu teachers to Japan. At this request, Dao Xuan came first. In 753, the famous Ritsu teacher Jian Zhen (? -763; Japanese Ganjin) followed after four previously unsuccessful attempts at crossing, who according to the Risshu's own tradition is considered to be the true founder. He was received with the highest honors at the imperial court. An ordination platform ( 戒壇 , kaidan ) was set up at Tōdai-ji in 754 to represent all six Nara schools. Ganjin ordained Shōmu there that same year, as well as 400 lay people and 80 monks. Ganjin was finally appointed Daisōjō (in German about: "Grand Rectifier", one of the highest offices of the then state Buddhism) and established the Tōshōdai-ji in 759 , which he made the center of the Ritsu studies and where he also received permission to set up his own ordination platform.
Ordination platforms were also set up in 761 at Kanzeon-ji in Dazaifu and Yakushi-ji in Shimotsuke Province . Together with those at Tōdai-ji and Tōshōdai-ji, they controlled the entire ordinations in Japan until the Heian period , when Saichō was allowed to build his own Tendai Mahayana ordination platform on Mount Hiei in 822. Due to the loss of their monopoly, the Risshū experienced a sharp decline in the following century and was close to the end of the line of succession in the middle of the 10th century.
One of the first innovators was Jitsuhan ( 実 範 , also Jippan;? -1144), whose tradition did not prove itself historically.
Much more successful in the was -Kamakura period tradition begun in the syncretism of Ritsu and the teachings of the Shingon shū , a move that under Eison ( 叡尊 even Eizon; 1201-90) began under the name Shingon Ritsu ( 律真言 ) or Shingon-Risshū ( 真言 律宗 ) became known and addressed the general population to an unprecedented extent, including farmers and even members of the Hinin class for the first time . The center of the Shingon Ritsu studies became the Saidai-ji temple , which had around 1,500 branch temples at the time of Eison's death.
Eison's best-known pupil was Ninshō ( 忍性 ; 1217-1303; also Ryōkan ( 良 観 )), who was distinguished in particular by his extensive social activities (such as the building of hospitals and bridges) and his willing acceptance of high honorary positions during his lifetime (for which he, in particular by Nichiren , who was sharply criticized) made a name for himself. In 1261 he restored the Gokuraku-ji in Kamakura with the help of the Hōjō rulers .
The last great innovator of Shingon Ritsu was Onkō ( 飲 光 ; 1718-1804; also Jiun ( 慈雲 )) during the Tokugawa period .
Another and independent tradition of Ritsu teaching was introduced from China in Kyoto in the 13th century. First, this happened by Shunjō ( 俊 芿 ; 1166-1227) in 1211, who built the temple Sennyū-ji in Kyoto with the help of the Hōjō . The second tradition came from Donshō ( 曇 照 ;? -1239), who built the Kaikō-ji in Kyōto in 1228 after his first return and in 1240 after his second return, the Sairan-ji in Dazaifu and the Tōrin-ji in Made Kyoto centers of Ritsu studies. This tradition of the so-called Ritsu of the northern capital, however, never became particularly popular.
Fonts
The basic text is the Shibun-ritsu ( 四分 律 ; dt. About "The Vinaya in four parts", the Vinaya is the collection of rules of conduct for monks), one of Buddhayaśas and Zhu Fonian in the years 412/413 (Japanese Bustudayasha or Kakumyō and Jiku Butsunen) made translation of the Dharmaguptaka-vinaya of the Indian Dharmagupta school. There are u in its four parts. a. Both causes and consequences and appropriate punishments for the misconduct of the monks and nuns are described in detail.
The second basic text was the Shibun-ritsu-gyōji-shō ( 四分 律 行事 鈔 ), a commentary on the Shibun-ritsu by Dao Xuan.
In Shingon-Ritsu, in addition to Shibun-ritsu, the Bonmōkyō ( 梵網 經 , the Brahmajāla-sūtra ), the Yugaron ( 瑜伽 論 , the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra ), the rules of the Sarvastivada , and the three main scripts of Dao Xuan were used.
Teaching
From a philosophical or theological point of view, the Risshū did not actually bring any innovations for Buddhism in Japan . Her strict interpretation of the rules for religious orders was unsurpassed. Their primacy of practice over theory in favor of a moral consolidation of Buddhist teaching was to have far-reaching consequences for the historical development of Japanese Buddhism.
literature
- Daigan Lee Matsunaga and Alicia Orloff Matsunaga: Foundation of Japanese Buddhism; Vol. I; The aristocratic age . Buddhist Books International, Los Angeles and Tokyo 1974. ISBN 0-914910-25-6 .
- Daigan Lee Matsunaga and Alicia Orloff Matsunaga: Foundation of Japanese Buddhism; Vol. II; The mass movement (Kamakura & Muromachi periods) . Buddhist Books International, Los Angeles and Tokyo 1976. ISBN 0-914910-27-2 .
- Gregor Paul: Philosophy in Japan: from the beginning to the Heian period; a critical investigation . Iudicium, Munich 1993. ISBN 3-89129-426-3 .
- László Hankó: The origin of the Japanese Vinaya school Risshu and the development of its teaching and practice . Cuvillier, Göttingen 2003. ISBN 3-89873-620-2 .