Questions and Answers on the Object of Devotion Chapter7-2

The Great Teacher Jikaku, a native of the province of Shimotsuke, was a disciple of the priest called Bodhisattva Kōchi. In the third year of Daidō [808], when he was fifteen years old, he became a disciple of the Great Teacher Dengyō. Taking up residence on Mount Hiei, he spent the following fifteen years studying and receiving the transmission of the doctrines of the six older schools and of the Lotus and True Word schools.

In the fifth year of Jōwa [838] he went to T’ang China, which was then under the rule of the emperor of the Hui-ch’ang era [Emperor Wu-tsung]. He studied under such outstanding scholars of the T’ien-t’ai and True Word doctrines as Fa-ch’üan, Yüan-cheng, I-chen, Fa-yüeh, Tsung-jui, and Chih-yüan and gained a thorough understanding of both the exoteric and esoteric teachings. In addition, he spent ten years in detailed study of the True Word secret doctrines, becoming ninth in the line of succession from the Thus Come One Mahāvairochana.

In the first year of Kajō [848] he became a teacher to Emperor Nimmyō. During the Ninju and Saikō eras [851–857] he wrote commentaries on the Diamond Crown and Susiddhikara sutras. He founded Sōji-in hall on Mount Hiei and became the third chief priest of the Tendai school. This marked the beginning of the True Word teaching of the Tendai school.

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