While the perspective of original enlightenment dominated the medieval Tendai tradition, it was not universally accepted. An important critic was Hōchi-bō Shōshin (fl. 12th cent.), a scrupulous exegete who was the author of voluminous commentaries on the major works of Chih-i. Shōshin framed his criticism in response to “many among those who study shingon,” hinting at the esoteric roots of Tendai original enlightenment thought. Original enlightenment, he said, was to be understood in terms of the Awakening of Faith, as a potential within deluded worldlings to be realized by the practice of acquired enlightenment. In particular, Shōshin criticized the claim that the ordinary worldling is “originally the Buddha of self-awakening” (honrai jikakubutsu), a position he denounced as a denial of the causality of practice and attainment and “the same as heterodox teachings” (gedō-setsu). Shōshin also opposed definitions of Śākyamuni of the “Fathoming the Lifespan” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra as an originally inherent Buddha, which, he said, clearly went against the sūtra’s statement that Śākyamuni had practiced the bodhisattva way and attained Buddhahood in the remote past. Shōshin’s criticisms form an important external reference point for gauging how far original enlightenment thought had developed by the late Heian period. For convenience’ sake, this book will use the term “medieval Tendai thought” to refer to the tradition’s hongaku-dominated mainstream, but with the understanding that not all medieval Tendai thinkers accepted contemporary notions of original enlightenment. (Page 38-39)