Monk Imperial Prince Saiun (最雲法親王)

Cloistered Imperial Prince Saiun (1104 - March 10, 1162) was a monk of the Tendai sect of Buddhism in the middle of the Heian period. His father was Emperor Horikawa.

He went up to Mt. Hiei to become a priest and receive the commandments of Buddhism with having Ningo, who was the head priest of the Tendai sect, as his teacher, and then he learned the Exoteric Buddhism and the Esoteric Buddhism from Ninjitsu, who was a sojo (a high-ranking Buddhist priest). In 1156, he assumed the position of zasu (the head priest) of Enryaku-ji Temple, and then he was assigned to a sojo and he became Cloistered Imperial Prince by the Emperor's official announcement in 1158. In the same year, he left the position of zasu and moved to a cottage in a mountain to spend the rest of his life sitting in Zen meditation and reading Buddhist scriptures.

[Original Japanese]