One of the distinguishing characteristics of Buddhism during the Nara period (710-784) was the lavish expenditure of money by the state for temples, Buddhist images, and the copying of Buddhist texts. The merit from such activities was often devoted to the protection of the state and its ruler from various catastrophes. Records of Buddhist activities during the Nara period reveal that the ceremonies performed and the sūtras chanted were often directly related to state Buddhism. The establishment of a nationwide system of provincial temples (kokubunji) with the Tōdaiji temple at Nara as its center is one of the crowning achievements of state Buddhism at this time. Buddhism was thus used to integrate the provinces and the capital.

Qualified monks were required to keep the system functioning. The monks had to be able to chant the sūtras which would protect the state. They also were expected to have led a chaste life so that they could accumulate the powers for the ceremonies to be effective. In order to ensure that the men who joined the Buddhist order were able to perform these ceremonies, the court established requirements which candidates for initiation as novices or ordination as monks had to meet. According to an edict issued in 734, a candidate for initiation was required to be able to chant the Lotus Sūtra (Fa hua Ching, Skt. Saddharmapuṇḍrikasūtra) or the Sūtra of Golden Light (Chin kuang ming Ching, Skt. Suvarṇaprabhāsasūtra), to know how to perform ceremonies worshiping the Buddha, and to have led a chaste life for at least three years. The requirements were designed to ensure that the candidate would be able to effectively perform religious ceremonies. Little attention was paid to the candidate’s ability to explain Buddhist doctrine. If a candidate met the requirements, he would be initiated at the court at the beginning of the year, with the merit resulting from his initiation devoted to the welfare of the state. Successful candidates were called “yearly ordinands.”