Saichō believed that he was living at a time in history which required radical changes in Japanese Buddhism. His proposal to base monastic practice on the Fan wang Ching was only one part of a larger plan to reform Tendai Buddhism. Saichō envisioned Mount Hiei as an institution which would dispatch monks to the provinces to spread Tendai teachings as well as training them so that they could realize enlightenment during their current lifetime (sokushin jōbutsu).

In the Hokke shūku, Saichō argued that the Lotus Sūtra was the Buddha’s ultimate teaching and that it was appropriate for the Japanese people. In the following passage, Saichō mentioned some of the factors which he believed should be considered in determining the right doctrine and practice for the Japanese people.

If we speak of the age in which we live, it is the end of the Period of the Imitated Dharma and the beginning of the Period of the End of the Dharma. If we inquire about the land in which we live, it is to the east of China (in other words, Japan). … If we ask about the people to whom this teaching is to be preached, it is to those who are born in a time of strife during the period of the five defilements (gojoku).²

These same three factors, the age in which Saichō lived, the Japanese nation, and the capabilities of the Japanese people, decisively influenced Saichō’s understanding of the role which the precepts should play in Japanese Buddhism and led him to formulate a new interpretation of the precepts for Heian period Japan.

Note 2: The five defilements (gojoku) are described in the Lotus Sūtra (Hurvitz trans., p. 31). They consist of five characteristics of an age in decline. First, the age or kalpa itself was defiled. The time was such that the other four defilements tended to come into being. Second, passions (kleśa) such as covetousness, anger and ignorance arose in people. Third, all sentient beings who lived at such a time were defiled; because of past wrongdoings, people possessed inferior faculties and had weak bodies. Fourth, people maintained wrong religious views. They believed in heterodox teachings such as in the existence of an eternal soul. Fifth, the lifespan of people gradually shortened.