The Six Schools of Nara Buddhism, also known as the ''Rokushū'' 六宗 (also ''Rokushuu/Rokushu''), were academic Buddhist sects. These schools came to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

from

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

during the late 6th and early 7th centuries. All of these schools were controlled by the newly formed Japanese government of

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

. These schools were installed to mimic and expand upon already existing mainland Asian Buddhist thought. The schools were installed during the reign of

Prince Shōtoku , also known as or , was a semi-legendary regent and a politician of the Asuka period in Japan who served under Empress Suiko. He was the son of Emperor Yōmei and his consort, Princess Anahobe no Hashihito, who was also Yōmei's younger half ...

, most likely to increase the power of the expanding government through Buddhist and

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, religion, theory of government, or way of life. Founded by Confucius ...

doctrine. Because of the government involvement in religious expansion, government funds were used to construct grand temples, statues, and paintings, most notably the Seven Great Southern Temples of Nara. Most of these sects wanted to be the main Buddhist school of the

Imperial House of Japan The is the reigning dynasty of Japan, consisting of those members of the extended family of the reigning emperor of Japan who undertake official and public duties. Under the present constitution of Japan, the emperor is "the symbol of the State ...

and high officials. Because of this, many of them tried to be appealing to nobility. Many of the themes of these schools delved on advanced level, complicated, almost cryptic, Indian philosophies on the mind and existence. Some of the schools, though, were ideas on the formation and operations of a vihara. Due to the location of the temples constructed for these schools they were also called, ''The Six Southern Schools of Nara Buddhism''. Eventually the increasing power of these schools of Buddhism and their influence in politics started to overwhelm the city of Nara. This forced Emperor Kanmu to relocate the capital, moving it to

Heian-kyō Heian-kyō was one of several former names for the city now known as Kyoto. It was the official capital of Japan for over one thousand years, from 794 to 1868 with an interruption in 1180. Emperor Kanmu established it as the capital in 794, mo ...

(

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

). It also directly encouraged the creation of the

Tendai , also known as the Tendai Dharma Flower School (天台法華宗, ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just ''Hokkeshū''), is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition with significant esoteric elements that was officially established in Japan in 806 by t ...

school, founded by Saichō, and

Shingon Buddhism is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asian Buddhism. It is a form of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism and is sometimes called "Tōmitsu" (東密 lit. "Esoteric uddhismof Tō-j ...

, founded by

Kūkai , born posthumously called , was a Japanese Buddhist monk, calligrapher, and poet who founded the Vajrayana, esoteric Shingon Buddhism, Shingon school of Buddhism. He travelled to China, where he studied Tangmi (Chinese Vajrayana Buddhism) und ...

. All six schools shared

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...

's original teaching of the

Four Noble Truths In Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths (; ; "The Four Arya (Buddhism), arya satya") are "the truths of the noble one (the Buddha)," a statement of how things really are (Three marks of existence, the three marks of existence) when they are seen co ...

, but differed in their interpretations of ideas such as the interdependency of phenomena, ultimate enlightenment (

nirvana Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

), non-self ( anātman), and the

Middle Way The Middle Way (; ) as well as "teaching the Dharma by the middle" (''majjhena dhammaṃ deseti'') are common Buddhist terms used to refer to two major aspects of the Dharma, that is, the teaching of the Buddha. The first phrasing, the Middle ...

. These schools laid the groundwork for the development of

Pure Land Buddhism Pure Land Buddhism or the Pure Land School ( zh, c=淨土宗, p=Jìngtǔzōng) is a broad branch of Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhism focused on achieving rebirth in a Pure land, Pure Land. It is one of the most widely practiced traditions of East Asi ...

and the emergence of the worship of a distinctly Japanese form of

Amitābha Amitābha (, "Measureless" or "Limitless" Light), also known as Amituofo in Chinese language, Chinese, Amida in Japanese language, Japanese and Öpakmé in Tibetan script, Tibetan, is one of the main Buddhahood, Buddhas of Mahayana, Mahayana Buddh ...

, ''Amida''.

The Six Schools (六宗)

# (

Mahayana Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main ex ...

) - Also known as the Vijñānavāda, Cittamatra or Consciousness-only school, this sect studied on mastering the

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, an ...

and

mind The mind is that which thinks, feels, perceives, imagines, remembers, and wills. It covers the totality of mental phenomena, including both conscious processes, through which an individual is aware of external and internal circumstances ...

. This is explained as the Indian idea of

Yogacara Yogachara (, IAST: ') is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through the interior lens of meditation, as well as philosophical reasoning (hetuvidyā). ...

that was intense drills on use of the mind.. The Hossō-shū was introduced to Japan from China by Dōshō, Chidatsu and Chitsū, Chihō and Gembō.Bingenheimer, Marcus (2001) ''A Biographical Dictionary of the Japanese Student-Monks of the Seventh and Early Eighth Centuries. Their Travels to China and their Role in the Transmission of Buddhism.'', pp. 49-54. # - This sect focused on the use of

sutra ''Sutra'' ()Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aphorism or a collection of aphorisms in the form of a manual or, more broadly, a ...

s in the

abhidharma The Abhidharma are a collection of Buddhist texts dating from the 3rd century BCE onwards, which contain detailed scholastic presentations of doctrinal material appearing in the canonical Buddhist scriptures and commentaries. It also refers t ...

-style. # (Mahayana): Originating as the Chinese

Huayan school The Huayan school of Buddhism (, Wade–Giles: ''Hua-Yen,'' "Flower Garland," from the Sanskrit "''Avataṃsaka''") is a Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty, Tang dynasty (618-907).Yü, Chün-fan ...

, this sect studied the '' Avataṃsaka Sūtra''. These sutras theorized the unobstructed interpenetration of all phenomena, or that all ideas and things can be penetrated and collected into one mind. # (

Sarvastivada The ''Sarvāstivāda'' (; ;) was one of the early Buddhist schools established around the reign of Ashoka (third century BCE).Westerhoff, The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy in the First Millennium CE, 2018, p. 60. It was particular ...

) - Also known as the "Dharma Analysis Treasury school", this sect studied the '' Abhidharma-kosa'' of

Vasubandhu Vasubandhu (; Tibetan: དབྱིག་གཉེན་ ; floruit, fl. 4th to 5th century CE) was an influential Indian bhikkhu, Buddhist monk and scholar. He was a philosopher who wrote commentary on the Abhidharma, from the perspectives of th ...

. It focused on abhidharma. This philosophy centers around the idea of that which the "self" is. # (

Dharmaguptaka The Dharmaguptaka (Sanskrit: धर्मगुप्तक; ; ) are one of the eighteen or twenty early Buddhist schools from the ancient region of Gandhara, now Pakistan. They are said to have originated from another sect, the Mahīśāsakas f ...

) - This sect studied the teachings of the famous Chinese "Blind Monk" Jianzhen, who taught his followers to strictly observe the prātimokṣa and monastic ordination. They were not so focused on doctrine as they were on the moral structure of their monks and nuns. # (Mahayana)- Also known as the "Three Treatise School", this sect studied the teachings of a Korean monk named Hyegwan. This school focused on three treatises that explained emptiness, mystical knowledge, and the reality of physical things. It displayed a less strict, rules orientated, path to Buddhism. This school was followed by Prince Shōtoku.

The Seven Great Temples of the Southern Capital (南都七大寺)

Daian-ji is a Buddhist temples in Japan, Buddhist temple located in the city of Nara, Nara , Nara, Nara Prefecture, Japan. It was founded by Emperor Jomei in 639 as one of the first official temples in Japan at the capital of Asuka-kyō and was subseq ...

(大安寺) * Gangō-ji (元興寺) *

Hōryū-ji is a Buddhist temple that was once one of the powerful Nanto Shichi Daiji, Seven Great Temples, located in Ikaruga, Nara, Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture, Japan. Built shortly after Buddhism was introduced to Japan, it is also one of the oldest Buddh ...

(法隆寺), located in the town of Ikaruga near present-day

. * Kōfuku-ji (興福寺) *

Saidai-ji } 280px, Model of Nara period Saidai-ji is a Buddhist temple located in the Saidiaji-Shiba neighborhood of the city of Nara, Nara Prefecture, Japan. It became the head temple of the sect after the sect's founder, , took over administration in 1 ...

(西大寺) *

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. The construction of the temple was an attempt to imitate Chinese temples from the much-admir ...

(東大寺) * Yakushi-ji (薬師寺)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nanto Rikushu *

The Six Schools (六宗)

The Seven Great Temples of the Southern Capital (南都七大寺)

See also

References