Tendai

Part of a series on
Mahāyāna Buddhism
Teachings Bodhisattva Buddhahood Mind of Awakening Buddha-nature Skillful Means Transcendent Wisdom Transcendent Virtues Emptiness Two truths Consciousness-only Three bodies Three vehicles Non-abiding Nirvana One Vehicle Bodhisattva Precepts Bodhisattva vow Bodhisattva stages Pure Lands Luminous mind Dharani Three Turnings
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas Shakyamuni Amitabha Adi-Buddha Akshobhya Prajñāpāramitā Devī Bhaiṣajyaguru Vairocana Mañjuśrī Avalokiteśvara Vajrapāṇi Vajrasattva Maitreya Kṣitigarbha Ākāśagarbha Samantabhadra Tara Wrathful deities
Mahayana sutras Prajñāpāramitā sūtras Lotus Sūtra Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra Mahāsaṃnipāta Sūtra Vimalakirtinirdeśa Pure Land Sutras Lalitavistara Sūtra Samādhirāja Sūtra Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra Tathāgatagarbha sūtras Śrīmālādevī Sūtra Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra Śūraṅgama Samādhi Sūtra Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra Ghanavyūha sūtra Golden Light Sutra Tathāgataguhyaka Sūtra Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra
Major schools Mādhyamaka Yogācāra Tiantai Tendai Huayan Zen Shingon Pure Land Nichiren Vajrayāna Tibetan Buddhism Dzogchen Fo Guang Shan Tzu Chi Fa Gu Shan Chung Tai Shan
Key figures Nāgārjuna Ashvaghosha Āryadeva Lokakṣema Kumārajīva Asanga Vasubandhu Sthiramati Buddhapālita Dignāga Bhāvaviveka Dharmakīrti Candrakīrti Zhiyi Bodhidharma Huineng Shandao Xuanzang Fazang Amoghavajra Saichō Kūkai Shāntideva Shāntarakshita Wohnyo Mazu Daoyi Jinul Dahui Zonggao Hongzhi Zhengjue Hōnen Shinran Dōgen Nichiren Śaṅkaranandana Virūpa Ratnākaraśānti Abhayākaragupta Nāropā Atisha Sakya Pandita Dolpopa Rangjung Dorje Tsongkhapa Longchenpa Hakuin Hanshan Taixu D. T. Suzuki Sheng-yen 14th Dalai Lama Thích Nhất Hạnh
Regional traditions China Han Chinese Taiwan Japan Korea Vietnam Tibetan Nepal Newar Bhutan Mongolia Malaysia Indonesia West
v t e

Part of a series on
Buddhism in Japan
Schools Jōjitsu Hosso Sanron Kegon Ritsu Kusha Tendai Shingon Jōdo-shū Jōdo Shinshū Rinzai Sōtō Nichiren Ōbaku Fuke-shū Shugendo Japanese new religions Zen in the US
Key figures Shōtoku Tori Busshi Rōben Saichō Kūkai Jōchō Kūya En no Gyōja Hōnen Myōe Shinran Jōkei Eison Ninshō Dōgen Eisai Ingen Nichiren Unkei Enni Issan Ichinei Musō Soseki Sen no Rikyū Rennyo Sesshū Tōyō Takuan Sōhō Ingen Hasegawa Tōhaku Sakuden Tenkai Inoue Enryō Murakami Senshō Nishida Kitarō Shaku Sōen D. T. Suzuki Suzuki Shunryū
Key topics Nihon Shoki Art Deities Architecture Temples Hongaku Honji suijaku Shinbutsu-shūgō Gongen Nenbutsu Death poem Zen garden Zazen Daimoku Sōhei Ikkō-ikki Butsudan Obon Kaichō Kanjin Senjafuda Danka system Shinbutsu bunri Haibutsu kishaku Gozan Bungaku
Glossary of Japanese Buddhism
v t e

Tendai (天台宗, Tendai-shū), also known as the Tendai Lotus School (天台法華宗 Tendai hokke shū, sometimes just "hokke shū"), is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition with significant esoteric elements that was officially established in Japan in 806 by the Japanese monk Saichō (posthumously known as Dengyō Daishi).^[1] The Tendai school, which has been based on Mount Hiei since its inception, rose to prominence during the Heian period (794–1185). It gradually eclipsed the powerful Hossō school and competed with the rival Shingon school to become the most influential sect at the Imperial court.

By the Kamakura period (1185–1333), Tendai had become one of the dominant forms of Japanese Buddhism, with numerous temples and vast landholdings. During the Kamakura period, various monks left Tendai (seeing it as corrupt) to establish their own "new" or "Kamakura" Buddhist schools such as Jōdo-shū, Jōdo Shinshū, Nichiren-shū and Sōtō Zen.^[2] The destruction of the head temple of Enryaku-ji by Oda Nobunaga in 1571, as well as the geographic shift of the capital away from Kyoto to Edo, further weakened Tendai's influence.^[3]

In Chinese and Japanese, its name is identical to Tiantai, its parent Chinese Buddhism school. Both traditions emphasize the importance of the Lotus Sutra and revere the teachings of Tiantai patriarchs, especially Zhiyi. In English, the Japanese romanization Tendai is used to refer specifically to the Japanese school. According to Hazama Jikō, the main characteristic of Tendai "is its advocacy of a comprehensive Buddhism, the ideal of a Buddhist school based on what is called the "One Great Perfect Teaching," the idea that all the teachings of the Buddha are ultimately without contradiction and can be unified in one comprehensive and perfect system."^[4]

Other unique elements include an exclusive use of the bodhisattva precepts for ordination (without the pratimoksha), a practice tradition based on the "Four Integrated Schools" (Pure Land, Zen, Mikkyo and Precepts), and an emphasis on the study of Chinese Esoteric Buddhist sources.^[4] David W. Chappell sees Tendai as "the most comprehensive and diversified" Buddhist tradition which provides a religious framework that is "suited to adapt to other cultures, to evolve new practices, and to universalize Buddhism."^[5]