Japan/Nara/Tōdai-ji

Tōdai-ji東大寺

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Tōdai-ji: The World Behind the Great Buddha

An emperor could announce a great undertaking. It took many other lives to give it a future.

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Why Did Temples Become Powers in Their Own Right?

The land, learning, and shared beliefs that gave religious institutions a say in other people's lives.

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Related Events

The Edict to Create the Vairocana Great Buddha

In 743, Emperor Shōmu issued a proclamation calling for the creation of a colossal image of Vairocana Buddha and publicly invited broad participation in the undertaking.

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The Eye-Opening of Tōdai-ji’s Great Buddha

In 752, the Indian monk Bodhisena consecrated Tōdai-ji’s Great Buddha in Nara by painting its pupils at a ceremony attended by the imperial family, officials and clergy.

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Related People

Gyōki

行基

Gyōki was born in 668 in the area of present-day Sakai and entered Buddhist life in 682. Later tradition associates his family home with Ebara-dera.

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Rōben

良弁

Rōben is conventionally dated 689–773, but traditions disagree about his birthplace and childhood. His secure career emerged within the temples and teaching networks that preceded Tōdai-ji.

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Shōmu was born in 701, a son of Emperor Monmu. That fact placed him from birth near the center of the early eighth-century imperial succession, but it tells us far less about his childhood than later biography might tempt us to imagine.

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