Sho^toku Taishi （574-622）; prince Sho^toku， second son of the emperor Yo^mei. Studied under Korean monks who had come to Japan to teach Buddhism， and was reponsible for much of the early dissemination of knowledge of Buddhist doctrine in Japan. He wrote commentaries on the S/ri^ma^la^-su^tra 胜鬘经， Lotus Sutra 法华经， and Vimalaki^rti-nirde/sa-su^tra 维摩经. He later sent missions to China for gathering more scriptural materials， and then subsequently established seven Buddhist temples: the Shitenno^-ji 四天王寺， Ho^ryu^-gakumon-ji ， the Chu^gu^-ji 中宫寺， Tachibana-dera 橘寺， Hachioka-dera ， Ikejiri-dera 池尻寺， and Katsuragi-dera 桂木寺.