Background
According to the Nihon Shoki, Hyegwan arrived in Japan in 625.
慧灌
According to the Nihon Shoki, Hyegwan arrived in Japan in 625.
According to the tradition, in his youth he journeyed to China, at that time ruled by the Sui dynasty, and studied the teachings of the Three Treatise school under the Chinese priest Chi-tsang (549-623). The school based its teachings upon three treatises, two of them attributed to the Indian Buddhist philosopher Nâgârjuna (ca. 150-ca. 250).
It placed great emphasis upon the concept of sünya (Japanese: kü), often translated in English as “void” or "emptiness.” Chi-tsang is said to have put the teachings of the sect into final form.
He was given the ecclesiastical rank of sôjô.
Hyekwan took up residence in Ganko-ji, a temple in Asuka, and numbered among his disciples such men as Fukuryo and Chizo. Chizo in turn had such eminent disciples as Dôji, Chiko, and Raiko, who raised the Sanron school to a position of eminence during the Nara period.
