ENNIN (794–864), posthumous title, Jikaku Daishi; was a Japanese Buddhist monk of the Tendai school. Ennin was born in north-central Japan. At fifteen he entered the monastic center on Mount Hiei, the headquarters of the Tendai school, where he soon became a favorite disciple of Saichō (767–822), the Japanese monk who transmitted the Tendai (Chin., Tiantai) teachings to Japan from China. In 814 Ennin became a full-fledged monk, after which he studied the Buddhist precepts at Tōdaiji in Nara for seven years. Eventually, a physical ailment forced him to retire to a hut at Yokawa in the northern part of Mount Hiei, where he waited quietly for death. According to legend, Ennin devoted himself to copying the Lotus Sūtra (Jpn. Hōkekyō; Skt., Saddharmapuṇḍarika Sūtra) for three years, and miraculously regained his health after experiencing a vision of the Buddha in a dream. The next year (835) Ennin...