1. Nara schools of Buddhism (701-794). The Nara schools of Buddhism were introduced to Japan from Korea and China during the late 6th and early 7th centuries.As Nara was to the south of Kyoto these were called six southern schools of Nara Buddhism. i)
Sanron school. It is literally a 3-discourse school. Sanron was initially developed in China as a Madhyamik school based on 2 discourses by Nagarjuna and Aryadeva.It was transmitted to Japan in the 7th century.Madhyamik is very significant teaching of the Mahayana philosophies which re-emphasizes that phenomena are neither truly existent or absolutely non-existent, but characterized by impermanence and insubstantiality. ii)
Jojitsu or Satyasiddhi school. This school is believed to be an offshoot of the Sautrantika school, one of the Nikaya schools of Indian Buddhism.The difference in this school of thought was the denial of the Abhidharma as not being the ‘word of the Buddha’. iii)
Hosso school. Also called ‘Dharma Character school’ it was first founded by Xuanzang in China (630 AD) and later introduced in Japan in 654 AD by monk Dosho(629-700). The Discourse on the ‘Theory of Consciousness-Only’ called ‘