Ganjin

Ganjin (Japanese) or Jianzhen (Chinese) (鑒真 or 鑑真); June 6, 688 - 763 - a Chinese monk who brought to Japan the teachings of the Risshu school. In the period from 743 to 754, he tried five times to unsuccessfully reach Japan, until he arrived there for the sixth time.

Jianzhen was born in Jianyang County in the Chunyu family (淳于). He adopted Buddhism at the age of fourteen and became a disciple in the temple of Daming (大明寺). At twenty, he went to the capital, Chang'an , where he studied for six years and returned to Daming Temple, becoming its rector. He studied Tripitaka and was a connoisseur of medicine. He organized the Beitian Hospital (悲 田 院) at Daming Temple.

In the fall of 742 he was officially invited by the Emperor of Japan to conduct teachings on Buddhism and ordination of clergy. Despite student protests, Jianzhen prepared for the trip in 743 and boarded the ship, but was unable to cross the East China Sea. He made three more attempts to sail to Japan, but all were unsuccessful due to adverse weather and shipwrecks, as well as obstacles from government officials.

In the summer of 748, he made the fifth attempt to swim to Japan. He traveled from Yangzhou towards the Zhousan Archipelago in the direction of the modern Zhejiang Province . The wind changed the course of the ship, and it sailed to Yande (延 德) on Hainan Island (海南岛). Jiangchzhen was forced to return to Yangzhou by land, visiting several monasteries. The whole trip took him three years, he moved along the Gan River to Jiujiang , and then along the Yangtze River . During the trip, he caught an infection and went blind.

Tosedai-ji , Nara ( World Heritage )

In the fall of 753, a blind monk decided to board a Japanese ship returning to his homeland. After a difficult sea voyage in a few months on December 20, they sailed to Kagoshima (鹿 児 島) on the island of Kyushu (九州). The following spring, they reached Nara (奈良) and were warmly received by the emperor. In Nara, he was housed in the Todai-ji Temple (東大寺), one of Japan's most influential temples, and organized the ordination of Buddhist monks. Chinese monks taught the Japanese how to make traditional Buddhist sculptures.

In 759, the imperial court granted him a piece of land on which he founded the Tosedai-ji Temple (唐 招 提 寺). For ten years, he spread Buddhism among the Japanese aristocracy and taught the Japanese customs of Chinese culture.

Jianzhen died on the 6th of the 5th moon in 763 . After his death, a statue was made of varnish, which is preserved in the Tosedai-ji Temple . The statue was temporarily transferred to his own temple in Yangzhou in 1980.

Jiangchzhen is the founder of the Japanese Rissyu school, which emphasizes the monastic structure ( Vinaya ) according to the early Indian Dharmaguptaka school.