23 Facts About Tiantai

1.

Tiantai or T'ien-t'ai is an East Asian Buddhist school of Mahayana that developed in sixth century China.

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2.

Tiantai is sometimes called "The Lotus School", after the central role of the Lotus Sutra in its teachings.

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3.

Chinese Tiantai remains a living tradition to this day, being particularly strong in Hong Kong.

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4.

Furthermore, Tiantai were very influential in the development of other forms of East Asian Buddhism, such as Zen and Pure Land.

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5.

The schools of Buddhism that had existed in China prior to the emergence of the Tiantai are generally believed to represent direct transplantations from India, with little modification to their basic doctrines and methods.

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6.

However, Tiantai grew and flourished as a native Chinese Buddhist school under the 4th patriarch, Zhiyi, who developed an original and extensive Chinese Buddhist system of doctrine and practice through his many treatises and commentaries.

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7.

Over time, the Tiantai school became doctrinally broad, able to absorb and give rise to other movements within Buddhism, though without any formal structure.

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8.

Huisi then transmitted his teachings to Zhiyi, traditionally figured as the fourth patriarch of Tiantai, who is said to have practiced the Lotus Samadhi and to have become enlightened quickly.

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9.

Tiantai authored many treatises such as explanations of the Buddhist texts, and especially systematic manuals of various lengths which explain and enumerate methods of Buddhist practice and meditation.

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10.

Tiantai was the first to systematize and popularize the complex synthesis of Tiantai doctrine as an original Chinese tradition.

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11.

Zhiyi's Tiantai school received much imperial support during the Sui dynasty, because of this, it was the largest Buddhist school at the beginning of the Tang and thus suffered because of its close relationship with the house of Sui.

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12.

The debates between the Faxiang school and the Tiantai school concerning the notion of universal Buddhahood were particularly heated, with the Faxiang school asserting that different beings had different natures and therefore would reach different states of enlightenment, while the Tiantai school argued in favor of the Lotus Sutra teaching of Buddhahood for all beings.

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13.

Tiantai's work focused on the promotion of rituals for lay Buddhists and worked on converting the populace away from using blood, meat and alcohol for funerary and ancestral rites.

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14.

Defeat of the Song dynasty was a serious blow to Tiantai which suffered another setback during the Yuan dynasty which supported Tibetan Buddhism, while Chan Buddhism continued to grow in popularity while attacking the legitimacy of other schools.

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15.

Ancient Guoqing Temple at mount Tiantai, which had suffered from neglect and destruction, was renovated at the behest of Zhou Enlai.

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16.

Tiantai school takes the Lotus Sutra as the main basis, the Mahaprajnaparamitaupadesa of Nagarjuna as the guide, the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra as the support, and the Pancavimsatisahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra for methods of contemplation.

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17.

Tiantai is often termed the 'Four Sutras One Treatise School' because of the strong influence of these texts on the tradition.

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18.

Major Tiantai treatises studied in the tradition are the following works of Zhiyi:.

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19.

Central doctrine of Tiantai is the Lotus Sutra's doctrine of the One Vehicle or ekayana .

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20.

Tiantai sees all the various Buddhist teachings, scriptures and practices as being part of a single holistic vehicle leading to Buddhahood.

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21.

Tiantai thought provides a classificatory schema to explain how the different texts and teachings relate to each other.

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22.

The Tiantai view is that the highest teaching is a holistic and all encompassing teaching which includes all Buddhist views and practices.

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23.

Tiantai emphasizes meditation as the union of samatha and vipasyana .

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