Ryōgen facts for kids

Seated Jie Daishi, a cool sculpture of Ryōgen. It's an important cultural treasure in Japan.

Ryōgen is also known as Ganzan Daishi (left) or Tsuno Daishi (right). The Tsuno Daishi image shows him fighting bad spirits!

Ryōgen (良源, 912 – January 31, 985) was a very important Buddhist leader in Japan. He lived in the 900s and was the 18th chief abbot of a famous temple called Enryaku-ji.

Many people believe Ryōgen helped bring the Tendai school of Mahayana Buddhism back to life. He is also given credit for making Enryaku-ji strong again. Some stories say he was involved with "warrior monks," but this might be a tale made up later.

Ryōgen's Life Story

Ryōgen was born in a place called Omi Province in the year 912. He started his religious training at Mount Hiei when he was just 11 years old, in 923. Later, in 966, he became the chief abbot of Enryaku-ji.

Protecting the Temple

During the 900s, there were often disagreements between Enryaku-ji and other temples or shrines in the Kyoto area. Sometimes these arguments turned into fights. In 970, Ryōgen decided to create a small group to protect Enryaku-ji. This group also helped the temple in these disputes.

It's not fully clear if this group was made of people hired for protection or if they were trained monks. Most likely, this first temple protection group was made of hired people. This is because Ryōgen actually told his monks they were not allowed to carry weapons.

Rules for Monks

Besides not carrying weapons, Ryōgen made a list of 26 rules for his monks in 970. These rules were very strict! For example, monks were not allowed to cover their faces. They also couldn't hurt anyone or stop prayer services in a violent way. Monks were also forbidden from leaving Mount Hiei during their twelve years of training.

In 981, Ryōgen was given a very important job. He was made the general administrator, which was the highest rank a priest could get.