(689 – 773), also known as Ryōben, was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

monk of the

Kegon The Huayan or Flower Garland school of Buddhism (, from sa, अवतंसक, Avataṃsaka) is a tradition of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy that first flourished in China during the Tang dynasty (618-907). The Huayan worldview is based prima ...

sect, and clerical founder of the

Tōdai-ji is a Buddhist temple complex that was once one of the powerful Nanto Shichi Daiji, Seven Great Temples, located in the city of Nara, Nara, Nara, Japan. Though it was originally founded in the year 738 CE, Tōdai-ji was not opened until the year ...

temple in

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...

Nara Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the northwest, Wakayama P ...

, Japan. He is popularly known as the . His life spanned the late

Asuka period The was a period in the history of Japan lasting from 538 to 710 (or 592 to 645), although its beginning could be said to overlap with the preceding Kofun period. The Yamato polity evolved greatly during the Asuka period, which is named after t ...

(538 – 710) to the early

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the cap ...

(710 – 794), a period associated with the establishment of Buddhism in Japan.

Early life

According to tradition, Rōben was born either in either

Ōmi Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō circuit. Its nickname is . Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, Ōmi was ranked as one of the 13 "great countrie ...

in present-day

Shiga Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,412,916 (1 October 2015) and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to the nort ...

Sagami Province was a province of Japan located in what is today the central and western Kanagawa Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kanagawa''" at . Sagami Province bordered the provinces of Izu, Musashi, and Suruga. It had access to the Paci ...

in present-day

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...

. Sagami is considered the more likely location. Roben-taken-by-eagle-Shukongoshinengi-by-Mitsuoki-detail

According to legend as a young baby, Rōben was snatched by an eagle and dropped off over a pine tree in front of what is now the

Nigatsu-dō Nigatsu-dō ( ja, 二月堂 ) is one of the important structures of Tōdai-ji, a temple in Nara, Japan. Nigatsu-dō is located to the east of the Great Buddha Hall, on the hillside of Mount Wakakusa. It includes several other buildings in additi ...

Hall. Rōben was raised as a monk, and reunited with his mother 30 years later. In one version of the story, Rōben wore an amulet of

Kannon Guanyin () is a Bodhisattva associated with compassion. She is the East Asian representation of Avalokiteśvara ( sa, अवलोकितेश्वर) and has been adopted by other Eastern religions, including Chinese folk religion. She ...

Bodhisattva since he was a baby, which his mother recognized when she came to Nara as a pilgrim. Records with the Ministry of Justice in Nara at the time, do record Rōben as having been raised as a monk since infancy, but do not state anything further as to his origins.

Early studies

Rōben first studied Hossō Buddhism under the monk (d. 728). Gien and his disciples Rōben and

Gyōki was a Japanese Buddhist priest of the Nara period, born in Ōtori county, Kawachi Province (now Sakai, Osaka), the son of Koshi no Saichi. According to one theory, one of his ancestors was of Korean descent. Gyōki became a monk at Asuka-dera, ...

are considered to have created the foundation of Japanese Buddhism at the beginning of the Nara period. In 733, the fifth year of the

Tenpyō was a after '' Jinki'' and before '' Tenpyō-kanpō.'' This period spanned the years from August 729 through April 749. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 729 : The new era name was created to mark an event or series of events. The ...

era, Rōben oversaw expansion and construction of and the massive bronze statue of

Vairocana Vairocana (also Mahāvairocana, sa, वैरोचन) is a cosmic buddha from Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. Vairocana is often interpreted, in texts like the ''Avatamsaka Sutra'', as the dharmakāya of the historical Gautama Buddha. In East ...

Buddha under the patronage of

Emperor Shōmu was the 45th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 聖武天皇 (45)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Shōmu's reign spanned the years 724 through 749, during the Nara period. Traditional narrative Be ...

(724 – 749). Kinshō-ji is now the Hokke-dō hall of

Establishment of Kegon school

In 740, the twelfth year of the

era, an eminent Korean monk of the

Silla Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms of K ...

kingdom (57 BC – 935 AD) named Simsang (, known as Shinjō in Japan, was invited by Rōben to Japan to help establish a new sect based on the

Huayan school The Huayan or Flower Garland school of Buddhism (, from sa, अवतंसक, Avataṃsaka) is a tradition of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy that first flourished in China during the Tang dynasty (618-907). The Huayan worldview is based primar ...

of thought. This led to the foundation of the

school of Buddhism with permission from

. Rōben subsequently became the second patriarch of the Kegon school.

Association with Tōdai-ji

Rōben later presided over the drawing of the eyes ceremony of the Great Buddha statue at

in 751. He was first a

bettō is a term which originally indicated the head of an institution serving temporarily as the head of another one, but which came to mean also the full-time head of some institution.Iwanami Japanese dictionaryEncyclopedia of Shinto, Bettō The Kama ...

monk at Tōdai-ji, but was later promoted to be a high Buddhist priest of the temple.

Later life

Rōben spent the final years of his life on the establishment of

Ishiyama-dera is a Shingon temple in Ōtsu in Japan's Shiga Prefecture. This temple is the thirteenth of the Kansai Kannon Pilgrimage. History It was constructed around 747 CE, and is said to have been founded by Rōben. The temple contains a number of cu ...

in present-day

Ōtsu file:Otsu City Hall.JPG, 270px, Ōtsu City Hall is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 343,991 in 153458 households and a population density of 740 persons per km². The total a ...

. He died on November 16, 773 at the age of 85 at or near Uda in present-day Nara Prefecture.

References

Kōjien is a single-volume Japanese dictionary first published by Iwanami Shoten in 1955. It is widely regarded as the most authoritative dictionary of Japanese, and newspaper editorials frequently cite its definitions. As of 2007, it had sold 11 mil ...

, 5th edition {{DEFAULTSORT:Roben 689 births 773 deaths Japanese Buddhist clergy Kegon Buddhists