In the Shijōshiki Saichō proposed that Tendai monks be ordained with the Fan wang precepts at the beginning of their twelve-year training period. He also asked that they be allowed to receive Ssufen lü ordinations at Tōdaiji after they had completed their training on Mount Hiei. Thus while the Fan wang ordination qualified the candidate to be a Tendai monk, the Ssufen lü ordination was taken only as an expedient measure to benefit other sentient beings, not for any spiritual qualification it might bestow on the Tendai monk. The Ssu fen lü ordination would enable Tendai monks to live in harmony with the monks of Nara and to avoid disputes over monastic discipline, seniority, or the procedures for holding assemblies. Because the Ssufen lü ordination did not qualify a person to be a Tendai monk and was taken primarily to smooth relations with other sentient beings, Saichö called it a ‘provisional Hinayäna ordination’ (keju shōkai).

Saichō died before the court had agreed to his proposals and thus never saw them put into effect. Administering Ssufen lü ordinations to Tendai monks proved to be unworkable and was quickly abandoned by his successors. After the bitter debates which had occurred between Saichō and the Nara schools, the monks of the two sides could not forget their differences so readily. The very concept of a provisional Ssufen lü ordination provoked heated arguments between the Tendai and Nara monks. The terms ‘provisional’ and ‘Hinayāna’ implied that the Ssu fen lü ordination was inferior.

If Saichō’s proposal for provisional Hinayāna ordinations had been adopted, it would have placed Tendai monks at a disadvantage in their relations with Nara monks.