Huayan studies were founded in Japan when, in 736, the scholar-priest Rōben (良辯 or 良弁) originally a monk of the Hossō tradition invited Shinshō (審祥, also in Japanese Shinjō, Chinese Shen-hsiang, Korean Simsang) to give lectures on the Avatamsaka Sutra at Kinshōsen-ji (金鐘山寺, also 金鐘寺 Konshu-ji or Kinshō-ji), the origin of later Tōdai-ji.
According to tradition, Rōben was born either in either Ōmi Province in present-day Shiga Prefecture or Sagami Province in present-day Kanagawa Prefecture.
Rōben |
In 2009, Bill Roben's first feature film as a writer, Scream of the Bikini, directed by long-time collaborator Kiff Scholl, began playing the festival circuit.