The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2188 page)

Senk
Kokushi
.

Posthumous title of
Eisai
.

 
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(Jap.). Immortal beings. The idea is of Chinese origin (
hsien
-jen), associated with religious
Taoism
and
alchemy
. With the spread of knowledge in religious Taoism among the Japanese gentry in the Nara period, the legends of Japanese sennin, like Kume no Sennin, possessing supernatural powers and riding clouds, began to appear. In Buddhism, the word sennin is one of the translations for the Sanskrit
i
. En no Gy
ja, the supposed founder of
Shugend
, was also called a sennin.

 
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see
CHAD
.

 
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(Jap., ‘teacher’). In the Japanese tradition, a general term of respect accorded to, amongst others, university lecturers, instructors in the martial arts, priests of
J
do
Shinsh
Buddhism, and priests of
Zen Buddhism
below the rank of
R
shi
.