s and canals, the reclamation of uncultivated land, the reparation of landslides, the construction ofbridges and ships, the planting of trees, the sowing of hemp and grasses, and thedigging of wells and irrigation ditches. They shall also study the Sutras, and cultivatetheir minds, but shall not engage in private agriculture or trading. Two lay intendantswill be appointed to this Tendai monastery to supervise it alternately, and to keep outrobbers, liquor and women. Thus the Buddhist Law will be upheld and the nationsafeguarded.However, Tendai was never simply a branch of the public service that happened tobe organized as a religion. The document quoted makes it clear that while its monks had aduty to the world, they were not to be of the world. Neither Saicho nor the later leaders ofthe sect doubted that a monk? fundamental business remained what it always had been:self-guidance through study and moral discipline to a state of spiritual enlightenmentwhere he would cease to be reborn (nirvana). They also agreed with the older sects inthinking that this individualistic vocation could best be fulfilled in a monastery. There, theseeker after truth would find books and instructions as well as the bare necessities of food,shelter and clothing.Where Tendai did differ from the Nara sects was in its actual doctrine. It was thefirst fully Mahayana (Great Vehicle) teaching in Japan and with Shingon, eclipse the olderHinayana (Small Vehicle) teaching found at Nara. In other words, since about the end ofthe tenth century, Japanese Buddhism has been very largely one or other school ofMahayana.Mahayana Buddhism developed in India and China over the period 100-600 A.D. Having many branches and much subtle philosophy, it is a vast and complicated field of study. However, one can say that both Tendai and Shingon retained the Hinayanaconcepts of rebirth (karma), monasticism, and self-effort. Man was fated to suffer inexistence for so long as h...
