Jambudvīpa One of the four continents situated in the four directions around Mount Sumeru. Jambudvīpa is located to the south and is the place where the Buddhas appear. It is often used in the sense of the entire world.
Jetavana Monastery A monastery in Shrāvastī, India, where Shakyamuni Buddha is said to have lived and taught during the rainy season for the last twenty-five years of his life. Sudatta, a wealthy lay patron of the Buddha, built it as an offering on land provided by Prince Jetri. Jetavana Monastery was one of the two major centers of the Buddha’s propagation activities, the other being Bamboo Grove Monastery in Rājagriha.
Jeweled Necklace Sutra A sutra that sets forth fifty-two stages of bodhisattva practice and addresses the Mahayana, or bodhisattva, precepts. The full title is Bodhisattva Practice Jeweled Necklace Sutra. This work greatly influenced Buddhism in China and Japan. See also fifty-two stages of bodhisattva practice.
Jien (1155–1225) A priest of the Tendai school in Japan. Four times he assumed the position of chief priest of Enryaku-ji, the head temple of the Tendai school located on Mount Hiei.
Jikaku (794–864) Also known as Ennin or the Great Teacher Jikaku. The third chief priest of Enryaku-ji temple. In 838 he journeyed to China, where he studied both T’ien-t’ai’s teachings and Esoteric Buddhism. After returning to Japan, he became head of the Tendai school and later introduced esoteric elements into the Tendai doctrines.
Jimmu The first emperor of Japan, according to the oldest Japanese chronicles. He was said to have established the Japanese nation in 660 b.c.e.
Jissō-ji temple A temple of the Tendai school at Iwamoto in Suruga Province, Japan. In 1258 Nichiren Daishonin visited this temple to do research in its sutra library in preparation for writing his treatise On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land. At that time Nikkō, who studied at nearby Shijūku-in, another Tendai temple across the Fuji River, had an opportunity to serve the Daishonin at Jissō-ji and decided to become his disciple.
Jīvaka A skilled physician and devout Buddhist from the state of Magadha in India who also served as minister to King Ajātashatru. He won renown for treating King Bimbisāra, father of Ajātashatru, and Shakyamuni Buddha. When Ajātashatru killed his father to usurp the throne and tried to kill his mother too, Jīvaka dissuaded him. Later when the new king broke out in malignant sores, Jīvaka persuaded him to seek out the Buddha’s teachings.
Jōgū See Shōtoku.
Jōkaku (1163–1247) Also known as Kōsai. A priest of the Pure Land school and a disciple of the school’s founder Hōnen. He first studied the Tendai doctrine on Mount Hiei, but converted to the Pure Land teachings in 1198. He is regarded as the originator of the doctrine of one-time recitation of the Nembutsu, which asserts that reciting the Nembutsu just one time is enough to ensure rebirth in Amida Buddha’s pure land. Exiled twice, in 1207 and in 1227, he later spread the Pure Land teachings in Shimōsa Province.
Jōkyū Disturbance A battle that broke out between the imperial court and the Kamakura shogunate in 1221. The Retired Emperor Gotoba, along with two other retired emperors, attempted to overturn the rule of the regent Hōjō Yoshitoki. But the imperial forces were defeated, and the shogunate deposed the reigning emperor, placed another on the throne, and exiled the retired emperors to distant islands.
Jufuku-ji A Zen temple of the Rinzai school located in Kamakura in Japan. It was built by Hōjō Masako, the widow of Minamoto no Yoritomo, in 1200 and opened by Eisai. It is regarded as one of the five major Rinzai Zen temples of Kamakura and played a remarkable role in the early development of Zen in Japan.