(1121-1206), also known as , was a Japanese

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

monk. From 1181 he devoted twenty-five years of his life to the endowment and rebuilding of

Tōdai-ji is a Buddhist temple complex that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples, located in the city of Nara, Japan. Though it was originally founded in the year 738 CE, Tōdai-ji was not opened until the year 752 CE. The temple has undergo ...

after its destruction in war.

Sources

A contemporary record known as the ''Benevolent Deeds of Namu-Amidabutsu'' provides the fullest evidence for Chōgen's life and career. This may be supplemented by diaries such as the of Fujiwara no Kanezane; temple records; documents including ''Solicitation for Funds by Chōgen in Genkyū 2''; and inscriptions including one on stone dating to 1202 from Kawachi Province recording his repair of irrigation channels first constructed by Gyōki Bosatsu. By the time of the illustrated ''Tōdaiji Daibutsu engi'' of the 1530s, which includes a scene of Chōgen at sea conveying logs for the great rebuilding, invocation of his memory could include a "mixture of fact and fable".

Biography

Born most likely in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ...

in 1121, Chōgen was initiated into religious life at the

Shingon Shingon monks at Mount Koya is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks such as Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra. Kn ...

centre of

Daigo-ji is a Shingon Buddhist temple in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, Japan. Its main devotion ('' honzon'') is Yakushi. ''Daigo'', literally "ghee", is used figuratively to mean " crème de la crème" and is a metaphor of the most profound part of Buddhist th ...

at age thirteen. Later in his teens he undertook ascetic practices in

Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), ...

and at Mount Ōmine, followed in his early twenties by time at Koyasan. After assorted pious deeds, including chanting the nembutsu a million times and the donation of statues and sutras to a number of temples, involvement in public works in the manner of Gyōki and Kūya, and possible trips to China, in 1181 Chōgen was appointed to raise funds for the reconstruction of Tōdai-ji. Over the next twenty-five years he oversaw repairs to the Giant Buddha, the hall in which it was housed, the south gate, and numerous other buildings in the temple complex, as well as being involved in the commissioning of numerous replacement images. He also continued his civic works, repairing bridges, driving robbers from the mountains, and easing the distress of man and beast. He finally died in the

Pure Land A pure land is the celestial realm of a buddha or bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism. The term "pure land" is particular to East Asian Buddhism () and related traditions; in Sanskrit the equivalent concept is called a buddha-field (Sanskrit ). T ...

hall at Tōdai-ji at the age of eighty-five in 1206.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chogen Japanese Buddhist clergy People of Heian-period Japan People of Kamakura-period Japan 1121 births 1206 deaths Heian period Buddhist clergy Kamakura period Buddhist clergy

Sources

Biography

See also

References