Jianzhen

Jianzhen (Chinese: 鑒真; Wade–Giles: Chien-chen; 688–763), or Ganjin in Japanese, was a Chinese monk who helped to propagate Buddhism in Japan. In the eleven years from 743 to 754, Jianzhen attempted to visit Japan some six times. Ganjin finally came to Japan in the year 754 and founded Tōshōdai-ji in Nara. When he finally succeeded on his sixth attempt he had lost his eyesight as a result of his hardship. Jianzhen's lifestory and voyage are described in the scroll, "The Sea Journey to the East of a Great Bonze from the Tang Dynasty."[1]

Jianzhen
鑒真
This Nara period wooden statue vividly represent both Ganjin's gentle personality and his indomitable willpower.
Personal
Born
Chunyu

688
Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China
Died763 (aged 74–75)
Tōshōdai-ji, Nara Prefecture, Japan
ReligionBuddhism
NationalityChinese
SchoolRisshū
Lineage3rd generation
Dharma namesJianzhen
TempleDaming Temple
Tōshōdai-ji
Senior posting
TeacherZhiman (智滿)
Dao'an (道岸)

Life
Jianzhen Monk Memorial Hall, Daming Temple in Yangzhou, PRC
Map showing travels of the Monk Jianzhen to reach Japan

Jianzhen was born in Jiangyin county in Guangling Prefecture (present day Yangzhou, Jiangsu) China, with the surname of Chunyu (淳于). At the age of fourteen, he became a disciple of Dayun Temple (大云寺). At twenty he travelled to Chang'an for study and returned six years later, eventually becoming abbot of Daming Temple. Besides his learning in the Tripiṭaka, Jianzhen is also said to have been expert in medicine. He opened the Buddhist temple as a place of healing, creating the Beitian Court (悲田院)—a hospital within Daming Temple.

In autumn 742, an emissary from Japan invited Jianzhen to lecture in Japan.[2] Despite protests from his disciples, Jianzhen made preparations and in spring 743 was ready for the long voyage across the East China Sea to Japan. The crossing failed and in the following years, Jianzhen made three more attempts but was thwarted by unfavourable conditions or government intervention.

In summer 748, Jianzhen made his fifth attempt to reach Japan. Leaving from Yangzhou, he made it to the Zhoushan Archipelago off the coast of modern Zhejiang. But the ship was blown off course and ended up in the Yande (延德) commandery on Hainan Island. Jianzhen was then forced to make his way back to Yangzhou by land, lecturing at a number of monasteries on the way. Jianzhen travelled along the Gan River to Jiujiang, and then down the Yangtze River. The entire failed enterprise took him close to three years. By the time Jianzhen returned to Yangzhou, he was blind from an infection.

Golden Hall of Tōshōdai-ji in Nara, Japan
(World Heritage Site).

In the autumn of 753, the blind Jianzhen decided to join a Japanese emissary ship returning to its home country. After an eventful sea journey of several months, the group finally landed at Kagoshima, Kyūshū, on December 20. They reached Nara in the spring of the next year and were welcomed by the Emperor. At Nara, Jianzhen presided over Tōdai-ji. The Chinese monks who travelled with him introduced Chinese religious sculpture to the Japanese. In 755, the first ordination platform in Japan was constructed at Tōdai-ji, on the place where including former Emperor Shōmu and Empress Kōmyō received ordination by Jianzhen a year earlier. In 759 he retired to a piece of land granted to him by the imperial court in the western part of Nara. There he founded a school and also set up a private temple, Tōshōdai-ji. In the ten years until his death in Japan, Jianzhen not only propagated the Buddhist faith among the aristocracy, but also served as an important conductor of Chinese culture.

Jianzhen died on the 6th day of the 5th month of 763. A dry-lacquer statue of him made shortly after his death can still be seen at Tōshōdai-ji.[3] Recognised as one of the greatest of its type, it has been postulated by statue restoration experts that the statue incorporates linen clothing originally worn by Ganjin.[4] The statue was temporarily brought to Jianzhen's original temple in Yangzhou in 1980 as part of a friendship exchange between Japan and China.

Jianzhen is credited with the introduction of the Ritsu school of Buddhism to Japan, which focused on the vinaya, or Buddhist monastic rules.

In May 2010, the Taiwanese Buddhist organization Tzu Chi organized and produced an animated drama on Jianzhen's life and journey to Japan.

Notes and references
  1. A Blessing over the Sea: The Tōshōdai-ji Exhibition, in Shanghai, What are the Highlights of an Exclusive visit to the Tangzhaoti Temple Exhibition? on YouTube, Documentary on Buddhist Monk, Jianzhen, who made a sea voyage to the East (to Japan), to teach the precepts of Buddhism to the Japanese. / Dec 2019, minutes 1:19 (with subtitles).
  2. A Blessing over the Sea: The Tōshōdai-ji Exhibition, in Shanghai, What are the Highlights of an Exclusive visit to the Tangzhaoti Temple Exhibition? on YouTube, Documentary on Buddhist Monk, Jianzhen, who made a sea voyage to the East (to Japan), to teach the precepts of Buddhism to the Japanese. / Dec 2019, minutes 0:40–0:51 (with subtitles).
  3. The statue is made public only during a limited number of days around the anniversary of Jianzhen's death (see it on the right). (Planned June 2nd - 10th for year 2007.)
  4. NHK World, Mysteries of Ganjin's Statue, 11/2/13.

Bibliography
  • Bingenheimer, Marcus (2003). "A translation of the Tōdaiwajō tōseiden 唐大和上東征傳.” (Part 1)," The Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies 4, 168-189
  • Bingenheimer, Marcus (2004). "A translation of the Tōdaiwajō tōseiden 唐大和上東征傳. (Part 2)", The Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies 5, 142-181
  • Buswell, Robert Jr; Lopez, Donald S. Jr., eds. (2013). "Ganjin", in Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691157863.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Genkai, Aomi-no Mabito; Takakusu J., trans. (1928). Le voyage de Kanshin en Orient (742-754), Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient 28 (1), 1-41
  • Genkai, Aomi-no Mabito; Takakusu J., trans. (1929). Le voyage de Kanshin en Orient (742-754), Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient 29 (1), 47-62
  • Zhou, Yuzhi (2016). Ganjin: From Vinaya Master to Ritsu School Founder, Journal of Asian Humanities at kyushu University 1, 47-52
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