[Buddha-l] Vinaya in Japan

[Bankei]

Could someone please assist me in understanding the history of the vinaya in
Japan?



My understanding is that Japanese monks initially followed the vinaya but it
was quickly bypassed for various reasons. I think Saicho, the founder of
Tendai, wanted his monks to be ordained under the Bodhisattva precepts only
and not under the vinaya. There may be various reasons for this, the major
one possibly being the hold the big Nara schools had on admitting monks
because they controlled the ordinations.



But there were still monks ordained under the vinaya, including monks of the
more older schools. But discipline became lax. Some of the reasons Dogen,
Eisai etc went to China was to bring back texts, knowledge and proper vinaya
lineages.



Some of my questions are:



Were Dogen 道元 (founder of Soto) and Eisai 栄西 (founder of Rinzai) properly
ordained under the vinaya in China?



Did they start ordaining monks on their return to Japan? If so, how did they
fill the property quorum?



And generally, what happened to the vinaya ordination tradition in Japan?



Thanks



Bankei