Eison

Eison 叡尊 (1201–1290) was a Japanese Buddhist monk who founded the Shingon Risshu sect.

Eison entered religious training when he was eleven years old, studying initially at Daigo-ji and later at Kongōbu-ji. At the age of 34, while at Saidai-ji, he made the decision to become a fully ordained monk. However, since the process of ordination in Shingon Buddhism had been lost by this point in time, Eison decided to self-ordain, and along with three companions performed his own ordination ceremony at Tōdai-ji in 1236.^[1]

After spending some years as a travelling priest, Eison returned to Saidai-ji and founded the Shingon Risshu sect. Saidai-ji prospered under his governance, receiving increased donations and revenue despite Eison's vows of poverty. In later years, Eison also accepted donations of land from the Retired Emperor Kameyama. These generous donations may have been the result of Eison's response to the Mongol invasions of Japan, in which he performed esoteric rituals to repel the invaders.^[2] In honour of this, his disciples commissioned one of the earliest examples of a juzo (portrait of a living monk), sculpted in wood.^[3]

In 1273, 1275 and 1280, despite his advancing years, Eison made pilgrimages to the Ise Grand Shrine, where he presented copies of the Daihannya-kyo Sutra.^[4] After his death in 1290 he was given the posthumous title Kosho Bosatsu (興正菩薩).^[1]

References

1 2 Robert E. Buswell Jr.; Donald S. Lopez Jr. (24 November 2013). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton University Press. p. 280. ISBN 978-1-4008-4805-8.
↑ David Quinter (12 June 2015). From Outcasts to Emperors: Shingon Ritsu and the Mañjuśrī Cult in Medieval Japan. BRILL. pp. 135–136. ISBN 978-90-04-29459-2.
↑ Robert H. Sharf; Elizabeth Horton Sharf (2001). Living Images: Japanese Buddhist Icons in Context. Stanford University Press. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-8047-3989-4.
↑ Mark Teeuwen; John Breen (9 February 2017). A Social History of the Ise Shrines: Divine Capital. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-4742-7281-0.

Bibliography

Eison; Quinter, David (2007). "Account of the Origin of the Hannyaji Mañjuśrī: A Translation of "Hannyaji Monju Engi"". Monumenta Nipponica. 62 (4): 459–468. JSTOR 25066542. – via JSTOR (subscription required)
Eison; Quinter, David (2007). "Votive Text for the Construction of the Hannyaji Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva Statue: A Translation of "Hannyaji Monju Bosatsu Zō Zōryū Ganmon"". Monumenta Nipponica. 62 (4): 469–479. JSTOR 25066543. – via JSTOR (subscription required)
Meeks, Lori (2009), Vows for the Masses: Eison and the Popular Expansion of Precept-Conferral Ceremonies in Premodern Japan, Numen 56 (1), 1-43

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[Jr.Jr.2013-1] 1 2 Robert E. Buswell Jr.; Donald S. Lopez Jr. (24 November 2013). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton University Press. p. 280. ISBN 978-1-4008-4805-8.

[Quinter2015-2] David Quinter (12 June 2015). From Outcasts to Emperors: Shingon Ritsu and the Mañjuśrī Cult in Medieval Japan. BRILL. pp. 135–136. ISBN 978-90-04-29459-2.

[SharfSharf2001-3] Robert H. Sharf; Elizabeth Horton Sharf (2001). Living Images: Japanese Buddhist Icons in Context. Stanford University Press. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-8047-3989-4.

[TeeuwenBreen2017-4] Mark Teeuwen; John Breen (9 February 2017). A Social History of the Ise Shrines: Divine Capital. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-4742-7281-0.