Tendai Esoteric Buddhism (Taimitsu): Reconsidering its Distinctive Features in

the Early Heian Period

Prof. Ōkubo Ryōshun (Waseda University)

Centre for the

Study of

Japanese

Religions

Seminars and Fora 2014-2015

Prof. Ōkubo Ryōshun (Waseda University)

is a leading scholar of Japanese Buddhism.

His main academic interest has been the

integration of Tendai and esoteric

doctrine, the so-called Taimitsu doctrine.

He is particularly well known for his study

of Annen (841-889?) and his influence on

Kūkai's (774-835) esoteric lineages,

Tōmitsu. He has also written on the

different types of Buddhism that

constituted Japanese Tendai, from Pure

Land to Zen and the Precepts. Among his

many publications are: Taimitsu kyōgaku

no kenkyū (A Study of Tendai

Teachings), Tendai kyōgaku to hongaku

shisō (Tendai Teachings and Original

Enlightenment Thought), Shin hasshū kōyō

(The New 'Essentials of the Eight Schools')

(Ed.). He is currently working on his sixth

book on Saichō (767-822).

Thursday, 19 February 2015 5:00-6:30 pm, Room B102 (Brunei Gallery)

SOAS - ALL WELCOME