Tiantai Sect in Han Buddhism
The earliest sect to emerge in Chinese Buddhism was the Tiantai sect, founded by the prestigious monk Zhiyi (538-597) during the interregnum between the Chen (557-589) and Sui (581-618) dynasties.
A native of Huarong (present-day Jianli, Hubei Province) whose style names were De’an and Zhizhe, Zhiyi is said to have had double pupils in each of his eyes. When he was 18 he became a novice under the tutelage of Monk Faxu of the Guoyuan Temple in Xiangzhou (present-day Changsha, Hunan Province) and began learning the commandments from another monk by the name of Huikuang. Two years later he was ordained with Upasampana (Complete Commandments). With a penchant for meditating on the dharmaparyaya (dharma door), he arrived at Dasu Mountain in Guangzhou (present-day Guangshan County, Henan Province) in 560, where he soon won the favor of his master, Monk Huisi. In 567, he settled down in the Waguan Temple of Jinling (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu Province), where he preached the methodology of dhyana (meditation) and began writing. In 575 he arrived at Tiantai Mountain (in present-day Tiantai County, Zhejiang Province) for his own meditation sessions. In 591, he was invited to Yangzhou to ordain the Bodhisattva Sila (The Precepts of Bodhisattva, which consists of 10 commandments of cardinal importance and 48 commandments of secondary importance) for Yang Guang, son of Emperor Wendi, who had just been decorated as the King of Jin with Yangzhou as his fiefdom.
Zhiyi was posthumously honored as the Grand Master of Tiantai on account of the long years he had spent on Mount Tiantai. Because he regarded Mount Tiantai as his domain, the sect he founded was named “Tiantai sect.”
Historical records indicate that in his effort to establish the Tiantai sect, Zhiyi had the indispensable assistance of a disciple, Guanding (561-632), who took notes of all his lectures and remarks and compiled them into books to serve as the canons for this sect. The most important of these books are the Penetrating Exposition on the Saddharma-pundarika-sutra (Lotus Sutra), compiled on the basis of the “five graduated series of deeper meanings,” The Interpretative Commentary on Saddharma-pundarika-sutra, and Maha-samatha-vipassyna that provides a methodology for self-cultivation.
The philosophy of the Tiantai sect originated in the teachings of Huiwen, a monk of the Northern Qi Dynasty (550-577). From his research into the Mahaprajnaparamita-sastra and the Madhyamika-sastra he derived the theory that “the three kinds of wisdom: (1) earthly or ordinary wisdom; 2) supra-mundane, or spiritual (sravaka and pratye ka-buddha) wisdom; and 3) supreme wisdom (of bodhisattvas and Buddhas) of Buddhism can be obtained through one’s own mind,” and came up with the idea of “three kinds of enlightenment with one mind”: (1) study of all as void, or immaterial, 2) study of all as unreal, transient, or temporal; and 3) as the via media inclusive of both. If one achieves one kind of enlightenment, he can achieve the two other kinds as well. Huiwen’s philosophy was inherited by his disciple Huisi, and when Zhiyi learned it from Huisi, he developed the theory that “the Great Chiliocosm or Universe exists in one mind”. The theory later became the guideline for the Tiantai sect.
The Tiantai sect is also known as the Fahua sect because it derives its major doctrine from the Saddharmapundarika-sutra. Following the theory of this sutra, members of the Tiantai sect divide the life of Sakyamuni into “five periods” (1) the period of preaching the Avadamsaka Sutra; 2) the period of preaching Agama Sutras, 3) the period of preaching Vaipulya Sutras, 4) the period of preaching Pranna Sutras, and 5) the period of preaching the Lotus Sutra and the Nirvana Sutra.) and summarize the instructions of different preachers into “eight classifications of the Buddha’s teaching” (Four modes of teaching: 1) direct teaching, 2) gradual teaching, 3) esoteric teaching, and 4) indefinite teaching; four periods of teaching: 5) Hinayana teaching, 6) interrelated teaching, 7) differentiated teaching, and 8) completed teaching.)
The Tiantai sect became popular in Chinese religious life during its early days, but went on a decline by the mid-Tang Dynasty when other sects emerged. This prompted Monk Zhanran (711-782) to work to rejuvenate the Tiantai sect, and he produced a wealth of writings. But his efforts proved short-lived as most of the literature of this sect was damaged or missing as a result of the persecution of Buddhism under the 841-846 reign of Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty. Thanks to the efforts of some followers during the period that encompassed the Five Dynasties (907-960) and the Song Dynasty (960-1279), some of the missing materials were retrieved from Korea and Japan. The Tiantai sect then showed some signs of revival. Towards the end of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), a famous monk by the name of Zhixu (or Ouyi) delved into the study of the Tiantai sect, but he was not a follower of this sect, and his research covered the philosophies of other Buddhist sects as well. During the interregnum between the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and the Republic (1912-1949), the monk Dixian (1858-1935) made a name for himself as a self-styled advocate of the Tiantai sect, thus giving some hope to resurrecting the waning sect. Today, there is no lack of persons studying the teachings of the Tiantai sect, but few claim to be members.
