ABSTRACT
Perhaps China's most important contribution to nascent Japanese civilization was Buddhism. During the Nara Period, which occupied almost all of the eighth century, Buddhism continued to grow in southern Japan, especially at the capital itself. There were frequent visits and exchanges between Japan and Tang China, but there was no effort to fashion a native Buddhism; it was strictly Chinese Buddhism transplanted to Japanese soil. Buddhism in Japan, especially Tendai Buddhism, developed slowly but steadily in the centuries following the founding of the imperial capital of Kyoto. The seeds of Zen would fall on especially fertile ground in Japan and would reproduce the two great schools already existing in China; Caodao, which would be pronounced "Soto" in Japanese, and Linji, which would be pronounced "Rinzai". This chapter examines these by looking at the contributions of three historically great figures: Eisai, Dogen, and Hakuin.
