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Eisai: Reconnecting with China
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Credit for the introduction of Linji Zen (called Rinzai in Japan) is traditionally given to the aristocratic priest and traveler Myoan Eisai. As a young Tendai monk he accompanied a Shingon priest on a trip to China largely to sightsee and to visit the home of the Tendai sect as a pilgrim, but as well seeking a more authentic and vigorous tradition. However, the Tientai school in China must have been a mere shadow of its former self by this time, and naturally enough Eisai became familiar with Chan. But he was hardly a firebrand for Zen, for when he returned to Japan he continued practice of traditional Tendai Buddhism.
Some twenty years later, in 1187, Eisai again journeyed to China, this time planning a pilgrimage on to India and the Buddhist holy places. But the Chinese refused him permission to travel beyond their borders, leaving Eisai no choice but to study there. He finally attached himself to an aging Chan monk on Mt. Tientai and managed to receive the seal of enlightenment before returning to Japan in 1191, quite probably the first Japanese ever certified by a Chinese Chan master. He was not, however, totally committed to Zen. His Chan teacher was also occupied with other Buddhist schools, and what Eisai brought back was a Buddhist cocktail blended from several different traditions.
"Propagation of Zen for the Protection of the Country"
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Eisai did proceed to build a temple to the Huang-lung (Japanese Oryo) branch of the Linji Sect on the southernmost Japanese island, Kyushu {the location nearest China}, the first monastery dedicated to the practice of Zen.
Although his provincial temple went unchallenged, later attempts to introduce this new sect into Kyoto, the stronghold of traditional Buddhism, met fierce resistance from the establishment, particularly Tendai. But Eisai contended that Zen was a useful sect and that the government would reap practical benefits from its protection. He believed that moral laxity in the established Buddhist schools such as Tendai bore some responsibility for the violence and instability that pervaded Japanese culture. His spirited defense of Zen, entitled "Propagation of Zen for the Protection of the Country," argued that its encouragement of its morally upright and authentic practice would be good for Japanese Buddhism and therefore good for Japan.
Eisai faced the political realities of his time leaving behind the hostile, competitive atmosphere of aristocratic Kyoto settling at Kamakura, where through his political connections, he managed to get installed as head of a new temple in Kamakura, beginning Zen's long association with the Japanese warrior class.
Eisai is remembered not as a great teacher in the mold of Linji. He was merely a Tendai priest who imported Linji's sect from China hoping to bring discipline to his school and who advocated Zen on transparently practical sometimes almost political, grounds. Eisai's "Zen" began in Japan as a minor infusion of Buddhism's original discipline, but through an accommodation with the warrior establishment, he accidentally planted the seeds of Chan in fertile soil. Gradually the number of Zen practitioners grew, as more and more-of the samurai recognized in Zen a practical philosophy that accorded well with their needs.
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Almost as important, Eisai also brought back the tea plant, whose brew was used in China to keep drowsy monks awake during meditation, thereby instituting the long marriage of Zen and tea.