Ennin (Japanese: 圓仁 or 円仁) (AD 793 or 794 - 864), who is better known in Japan by his posthumous name, Jikaku Daishi (慈覺大師), was a priest of the Tendai school.
He was born into the Mibu (壬生) family in present-day Tochigi Prefecture, Japan and entered the Buddhist priesthood at Enryakuji on Mt. Hiei (Hieizan) near Kyoto at the age of 14.
In 838, his trip to Tang Dynasty China marked the beginning of a set of tribulations and adventures. Initially,...
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Ennin (Japanese: 圓仁 or 円仁) (AD 793 or 794 - 864), who is better known in Japan by his posthumous name, Jikaku Daishi (慈覺大師), was a priest of the Tendai school.
He was born into the Mibu (壬生) family in present-day Tochigi Prefecture, Japan and entered the Buddhist priesthood at Enryakuji on Mt. Hiei (Hieizan) near Kyoto at the age of 14.
In 838, his trip to Tang Dynasty China marked the beginning of a set of tribulations and adventures. Initially, he studied under two masters and then spent some time at Wutaishan (五臺山; Japanese: Godaisan), a mountain range famous for its numerous Buddhist temples in Shanxi Province in China. Later he went to Chang'an (Japanese: Chōan), then the capital of China, where he was ordained into both mandala rituals. He also wrote of his travels by ship while sailing along the Grand Canal of China.
Ennin was in China when the anti-Buddhist emperor Wuzong of Tang took the throne in 840, and he lived through the Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution of 842-846. As a...
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