During Saichō's time, the Buddhist temples in Japan were officially organized into a national network known as the provincial temple system, and at the age of 13, Saichō became a disciple of one Gyōhyō (722-797, 行表). He took tonsure as a novice monk at the age of 14 and was given the ordination name Saichō. Gyōhyō in turn was a disciple of Dao-xuan (702-760, 道璿, Dōsen in Japanese), a prominent monk from China of the Tiantai school who had brought the East Mountain Teaching of Chan Buddhism, Huayan teachings and the Bodhisattva Precepts of the Brahmajala Sutra to Japan in 736 and served as the precept master for ordination prior to the arrival of Jianzhen.