East Asian Yogācāra in the context of Tendai Buddhism

Tendai (天台宗, Tendai-shū), also known as the Tendai Dharma Flower School (天台法華宗, Tendai hokke shū, sometimes just Hokkeshū), is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition with significant esoteric elements that was officially established in Japan in 806 by the Japanese monk Saichō. The Tendai school, which has been based on Mount Hiei since its inception, rose to prominence during the Heian period (794–1185). It gradually eclipsed the powerful Hossō school and competed with the rival Shingon school to become the most influential sect at the Imperial court.

By the Kamakura period (1185–1333), Tendai had become one of the dominant forms of Japanese Buddhism, with numerous temples and vast landholdings. During the Kamakura period, various monks left Tendai to found new Buddhist schools such as Jōdo-shū, Jōdo Shinshū, Nichiren-shū and Sōtō Zen. The destruction of the head temple of Enryaku-ji by Oda Nobunaga in 1571, as well as the geographic shift of the capital away from Kyoto to Edo, ended Tendai's dominance, though it remained influential.

Kiyomizu-dera (Japanese: 清水寺; lit. 'Pure Water Monastery') is a Buddhist temple located in eastern Kyoto, Japan. It belongs to the Kita-Hosso sect of Japanese Buddhism and its honzon is a hibutsu statue of Jūichimen Kannon. The temple's full name is Otowa-san Kiyomizu-dera (音羽山 清水寺) . The temple is the 16th stop on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage route. Along with Kōryū-ji and Kurama-dera, it is one of the few temples in Kyoto that predates the foundation of the capital to Heian-kyō. It is also one of Japan's leading temples dedicated to the worship of Kannon, along with Ishiyama-dera (Ōtsu, Shiga) and Hase-dera (Sakurai, Nara). It is a famous tourist destination in Kyoto City, attracting many pilgrims throughout the year. The temple is part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Jingying Huiyuan (Chinese: 淨影慧遠, "Huiyuan of Jingying Temple", Japanese: Jōyō Eon; c. 523–592) was an eminent Chinese Buddhist scholar-monk of the Dilun branch of Chinese Yogācāra. He was a prolific commentator who wrote various commentaries on key Mahayana Sutras. He was the first Chinese author to write commentaries on the Pure Land Sutras (which still survive) and his commentary on the Contemplation Sutra influenced later Pure Land Buddhist figures like Daochuo and Shandao. Like later Pure Land figures, Huiyuan taught that even ordinary people could attain birth in the Pure Land through recitation of the Buddha Amitabha's name (nianfo).

Huiyuan's philosophy is a synthesis of Yogācāra and buddha-nature thought. He also advanced the doctrines of essence-function and the "dependent origination of the tathāgatagarbha" (Ch: 如來藏緣起, pinyin: rulaizang yuanqi), which holds that buddha-nature is the essence of both nirvāṇa and saṃsāra, both of which were seen as its "functions" (yong). Huiyuan synthesized this teaching with the Yogacara mind-only philosophy, identifying buddha-nature with the fundamental consciousness (ālāyavijñāna). Huiyuan's metaphysics was influential on later Huayan authors, like Fazang.

Kuiji (窺基; Kuījī; 632–682), also known as Ji (Chinese: 基), an exponent of Yogācāra, was a Chinese monk and a prominent disciple of Xuanzang. His posthumous name was Ci'en Dashi (慈恩大師; 'Master Ci'en'), the Great Teacher of Cien Monastery, after the Daci'en Temple or Great Monastery of Compassionate Grace, which was located in Chang'an, the main capital of the Tang Dynasty. The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda was built in Daci'en Temple in 652. According to biographies, he was sent to the imperial translation bureau headed by Xuanzang, from whom he later would learn Sanskrit, Abhidharma, and Yogācāra.

Kuiji collaborated closely with Xuanzang on the Cheng weishi lun, a redacted translation of commentaries on Vasubandhu's Triṃśikā-vijñaptimātratā. Kuiji's commentaries on the former text, the Cheng weishi lun shuji, along with his original treatise on Yogācāra, the Dasheng Fayuan yilin chang (大乘法苑義林章; "Essays on the Forest of Meanings in the Mahāyāna Dharma Garden") became foundations of the Faxiang School, the dominant school of Yogācāra thought in East Asia. He is accordingly considered the founder of this school which differed notably from Paramārtha's earlier Chinese Yogācāra system. Kuiji is also known for his commentaries on Dharmapāla's Yogācāra philosophy.

Dōshō (道昭; 629–700 C.E.) was a Japanese monk credited with playing an influential role in the founding of Buddhism in Japan.

In C.E. 653, the original Dōshō travelled to China, studying under the Buddhist monk Xuanzang, whose travels to India were immortalized in the book Records of the Western Regions. His studies centered on Xuanzang's Weishi, Chinese variant of Indian Yogācāra, but he was also exposed to Chinese Chán while there, which would later lead to his influence on the founding of Japanese Zen Buddhism. In China, the school is known as Wéishí-zōng (唯識宗, "Consciousness Only" school), or Fǎxiàng-zōng (法相宗, "Dharma Characteristics" school). In Japan, it is known as Hossō-shū(法相宗) or Yuishiki-shū (唯識宗).