Saichō Dies and Mount Hiei Receives Ordination Approval

Saichō, the founder of the Tendai community on Mount Hiei, sought authority to ordain monks there using Mahayana bodhisattva precepts. His students otherwise had to obtain recognized full ordination through the established Nara system. The request concerned the rules and place by which they could become accepted members of the clergy.

Saichō presented petitions to the court and argued for an ordination system suited to his teaching. Nara clerical institutions opposed the change. The dispute involved doctrine as well as control over recognized ordination, rather than a simple contest between old and new beliefs.

He died in 822 before receiving approval. The court granted permission seven days later, still during Emperor Saga's reign. His disciples carried the new system forward. The authorization changed the institutional position of the Mount Hiei community; it did not mean that Saichō had conducted the approved rites or that all building work was complete before his death.