Saichō’s personality was crucial to his eventual success. In his retreat to Mount Hiei, his voyage to China, his debates with Tokuitsu and his pursuit of independence for the Tendai School, Saichō exhibited a single-minded seriousness of purpose. Throughout his life he stressed the importance of strict adherence to monastic discipline. In his quest for approval of the Shijōshiki and other petitions, he repeated his request almost every year. In approving his proposals, the court recognized that there was no element of self-seeking in Saichō’s reforms. A less serious monk would probably never have succeeded in obtaining approval for such a major revision of the precepts against so much opposition.