Dharma Wheel

Jikan wrote:Excellent question. I look forward to learning more about it myself.

I can tell you that every practice I have encountered in the little bit of experience I have had in Tendai-shu has emerged from the Lotus Sutra teachings, every practice without exception. The rationale for practice, the understanding behind the practice, all of it comes from that.

I have heard from more than one source that Tendai regards itself as a Madhyamika school, and also regards Shingon-shu as a Yogacara school. I think this statement should be qualified in that the TienTai teachings present a very particular kind of Madhyamika. Of course, Shingon-shu has its own way of understanding itself and its doctrinal differences from Tendai.

That's all I got on this.

LionelChen wrote: Its said that Ennin received 13 empowerments, including a few not received by Kukai, which shaped his understanding of Taimitsu in the Tendai context.

From what I've gathered from other readings, this mainly has to do with his reception of the SuSiddhi which Kukai did not receive.

• Esoteric Instruction and Ordinations
  Although the search for esoteric Buddhist credentials and materials were
  ostensibly Ennin’s primary purpose for traveling to China, they take up surprisingly little
  space in his journal. Ennin kept many notes about his copying and acquisition of texts,
  but these say nothing of his perspective on these texts and on esoteric ritual. Likewise,
  when Ennin notes in his journal the esoteric instruction and ordination he received these
  notes are brief and sometimes cryptic. Overall, the time Ennin spent in Changan studying
  esoteric Buddhism and receiving initiations is among the least well documented in the
  entire journal. There are several possible explanations for this paradox. The most likely
  is that the information was recorded in other places, such as the sutras and commentary
  he was copying and so he saw no need to be redundant. Perhaps the journal functioned as
  a place for information that was important but not recorded elsewhere.
  
  Although Ennin was very motivated to study, receive initiations, and bring back
  texts and ritual implements—enough to attempt to abandon the ship under uncertain
  circumstances—there is nothing in the journal that indicates that he views esoteric
  Buddhism as fundamentally different from any other form of ritual practice. In fact, as
  far as we can tell from the journal, he pays much closer attention to various non-esoteric
  rituals. It is only after he has received esoteric instruction in Changan, escaped the
  Huichang persecution, and returned to Japan, in short, after his journal is written, that he
  begins to formulate his own theory of how esoteric ritual fits into the more fundamental
  Tendai doctrinal scheme.
  
  In fact, the consensus view is that this process is fully
  completed only by Ennin’s disciple, Annen (­‘ 843-915?).26 Thus in most of the
  journal, although Ennin is collecting esoteric texts, his view of Buddhism and of ritual is
  unaffected by the esoteric Buddhist worldview.
  
  The traditional account is that Ennin traveled to China to remedy Saicho's lack
  of esoteric knowledge and credentials and thus fully esotericize the Tendai sect.27
  Although esoteric ritual eventually became a central component of the Tendai sect’s
  identity, we should not necessarily view the entire process as teleologically
  predetermined, inevitably leading to this point. Later Tendai monks have that tendency
  when they depict Ennin’s somewhat random wanderings as a carefully planned itinerary
  centered on the study of esoteric Buddhism.28 They also project later doctrinal
  formulations back onto this earlier, less doctrinally coherent time. The journal provides
  the main antidote to these readings, since it provides little support for them and much
  contradictory evidence.
  
  On the one hand, it is clear that Ennin is seeking after esoteric Buddhism, both
  from the anecdotes explaining why Ennin wanted to go to the Tang, and his own dreams
  recorded in his journal.29 On the other hand, Ennin seems primarily motivated by a
  desire to finish his master’s incomplete business, rather than an intrinsic interest in
  esoteric Buddhism, since Ennin was not a student of esoteric Buddhism prior to traveling
  to the Tang.
  
  (122-124)

• Ironically, had Ennin’s travels proceeded according to his initial plans, he may
  never have received the esoteric training and initiations that he did in Changan. His
  original plan was to travel to Mt. Tientai and on to Changan, as time permitted, and then
  return with the embassy. Had he been able to travel to Mt. Tientai, he may have felt his
  mission complete and returned with the embassy to Japan, without ever traveling to
  Changan or Mt. Wutai.

(125)

How did this extra learning if you will, effect the understanding of mikkyo in the Tendai context that differs from the Shingon one?

The Suxidi jieluo jing; Skt. Susiddhi-kara-mahā-tantra-sādhanôpāyika-paṭala; Tib. legs par grub par byed pai rgyud chen po las sgrub pai thabs rim par phye ba [To.807, P.431]; 34 chapters in 3 fasc. [T 893.18.603-692]; 37 chapters in 3 fasc. [K 432]; 38 chapters in 4 fasc. [other canons]; abbr. Susiddhi-tantra 蘇悉地經; trans. Śubhakarasiṃha 善無畏 in 726 CE. A manual for ensuring the successful completion of esoteric rituals, often grouped with a number of other early treatises on ritual theory and practice (Susiddhi-tantra [T 893], Subāhuparipṛcchā [T 894], Guhya-tantra [T 897], Dhyānottara [To.808, P.430]).

The esotericism of Japanese Tendai 台密 inherited the texts practical tradition from China in the late Tang, and regards the Susiddhi as an expression of the nonduality of the two principal (兩部不二) Vairocana-abhisaṃbodhi and the Tattvasaṃgraha. Important documents of this tradition include Ennins 圓仁 Condensed Commentary 蘇悉地羯羅經略疏 [T 2227] and an iconographic work, Mudrās of the Susiddhi Ritual Procedure 蘇悉地儀軌契印圖, brought to Japan by Enchin 圓珍 and Shūei 衆叡. [TZ.3164]. KI (mb) 5; [msj151]. Also written 蘇悉地羯囉經 and abbreviated as 蘇悉地經. [Iain Sinclair]

Incidentally, I also wrote a brief article on Ennin which might be of interest (mostly about his journal which I enjoy reading and studying):

https://sites.google.com/site/dharmadep ... nd-journey