Background
Ganjin was bom in the Chiang-yang district of Yang-chou in eastern China in the time of the T'ang dynasty.
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Ganjin was bom in the Chiang-yang district of Yang-chou in eastern China in the time of the T'ang dynasty.
He entered religious life at the age of thirteen and studied'under the eminent monk Tao-an, receiving instruction in the vinaya (rules of religious discipline), known in Japanese as ritsu. He thereafter gained fame by traveling about China and lecturing on the vinaya.
In 742 he was urged by two Japanese monks studying in China, Eiei and Fusho, to journey to Japan. He attempted to do so, but was frustrated five times by storms and prohibitions imposed by the Chinese government. Meanwhile, an eye ailment deprived him of his sight. In 753, on his sixth attempt, he at last succeeded in making the journey, sailing in a ship carrying Japanese envoys on their way home from China. He landed in Kyushu, and, in the second month of 754, finally reached the capital at Nara. At this time he was sixty-six years old. He took up residence in Todai-ji, and at the command of Emperor Shomu, set up a kaidan (ordination platform), where he transmitted the rules of discipline to the emperor, the empress, and a number of other distinguished personages.
As the first person to transmit the teachings on discipline to Japan, he is honored as the founder of the Ritsu sect of Buddhism in Japan. In 758 he was presented with the honorary title daiwajo and a mansion formerly belonging to Prince Niitabe. He took up residence there, and in time it became the temple known as Toshodai-ji.
In addition to founding the Ritsu sect in Japan, Ganjin brought with him a number of disciples and attendants who played an important role in introducing Tโang style sculpture and information on medicinal herbs to the Japanese of the time. The famous statue of Ganjin preserved in Toshodai-ji, which was said to have been made shortly before his death, is one of the oldest and finest examples of portrait sculpture in Japan.
Buddhism
