When the Nestorian mission first arrived in China in A.D. 636, they procured from the Emperor Teitsung a decree authorizing the erection of a Tatsin (i.e. a Syrian) temple. This name, however, may have led to confusion, for both Zoroastrians and Manichaeans might conceivably have claimed the title (loosely construed), and in fact did so. When Huantsung, soon after 713, rebuilds the Nestorian Church, it is called a "Temple of Felicity." When Sutsung, in 756, recovers Singanfu, the Nestorian Churches are "luminous () temples," and this name has come to be identified with Nestorianism ever since, both in China and Japan.

When Zendo died, the Emperor Kaotsung (650-683) granted to the temple in which he resided the honorific title of Komyoji (), which is only another form of "luminous temple." The popular explanation of this name is obviously a fanciful one. Bright rays of light do not come out of the mouths of even the most eloquent preachers of any faith, nor do books, however holy and mouldy, glow with a phosphorescent light. Yet that was what Shoko is said to have seen issuing from the works of Zendo preserved in the library at the White Horse Monastery. Kaotsung was an enlightened monarch, and if he gave the title of Komyoji, it must have been for the quality of the doctrine and not by reason of any doubtful miracle. But it is quite probable that "luminous temple" and Komyoji may have been used as alternative titles to describe the Faith in One Saviour as taught, both by the Nestorians and the children of Zendo, during the period of collaboration, and that later, when Taitsung ordered the two to keep apart, the name of Komyoji was taken by the Buddhist section

of the "movement" as their own specific designation, the Manichaeans distinguishing their temple by the title Dai-un-komyoji.

This view receives considerable support from Japanese history. Shotoku Taishi, whom the Shinshu honour as the first of their Zenchishiki or Saints, died in 621, shortly after the commencement of the Tang Dynasty. Buddhism was, therefore, in full swing in Japan when, in 636, the Nestorian Mission arrived at Singanfu, and Zendo began his preaching, and there were many Japanese students being sent yearly to China for purposes of study. Not only so, but there were many Chinese families residing in Japan and naturalized there (ayabito), and it has been noticed that most of Kotoku Tenno's Taikwa Reforms (A.D. 645-654) were worked out for him by these ayabito. The whole of the Nara period was an age in which Japan was peculiarly sensitive to Chinese influences, and especially to the influences of Chinese Buddhism.