The Buddha-nature was a controversial topic in India, China and Japan. In his classic study of the long history of these disputes, Tokiwa Daijō (1870-1945) argued that the debate between Saichō and Tokuitsu represented the culmination of the disputes over the Buddha nature. The issues were probably more clearly demarcated and discussed by both men than at any other time in East Asian Buddhist history. Many new issues were introduced into the debate and their relation to the subject of the Buddha-nature investigated. Saichō displayed considerable ingenuity and an impressive command of Buddhist literature in drawing upon a variety of sources to formulate and defend his position. At the same time, the debate with Tokuitsu prepared the ground for the controversy over the bodhisattva precepts (bosatsukai) by indicating that the Tendai and Hossō positions were irreconcilable. Saichō’s petitions concerning the bodhisattva precepts … represent his attempt to formulate practices which would reflect the more theoretical statements which he had advanced in his works criticizing Tokuitsu.