During the Nara Period, 6 distinct schools of Buddhism developed in the City of Nara. These would represent the major houses of Philosophical thought at the time and illustrate the importance of Buddhism in the intellectual development of Japanese Culture.
The Schools of Nara Buddhism:
Ritsu 律宗: strictly observance of the prātimokṣa and Monastic ordination
JoJitsu 成実宗: Transient phenomenon is not "real"
Kusha 倶舎宗: Dharma Analysis Treasury school, trying to understand Phenomenology and the self.
Sanron 三論宗: Experience without conceptualization, focused on three treatises that explained emptiness, mystical knowledge, and realities of physical things.
Hosso 法相宗: 8 kinds of consciousness, intense drills on use of the mind
Kengon 華厳宗, 花嚴宗: These sutras theorized the unobstructed interpenetration of all phenomena, or that all ideas and things can be penetrated and collected into one mind
Further Reading:
Engaging Japanese Philosophy: A Short History - Kasulis, T
Japanese PHilosophy: A Source Book - Heisig J, Kasulis T, Maraldo J.
Ritualized Writing - Lowe, B
