Zhiyi(538 - 597)
智顗 · 지의
(J. Tendai Chigi; K. Ch’ǒnt’ae Chiǔi) (538-597). One of the most influential monks in Chinese Buddhist history and de facto founder of the Tiantai zong. A native of Jingzhou (in present-day Hunan province), Zhiyi was ordained at the age of eighteen after his parents died during the wartime turmoil that preceded the Sui dynasty’s unification of China. He studied vinaya and various Mahāyāna scriptures, including the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra ("Lotus Sūtra'") and related scriptures. In 560, Zhiyi met Nanyue Huisi (515-577), who is later listed as the second patriarch of the Tiantai lineage, on Mt. Dasu in Guangzhou and studied Huisi’s teachings on the suiziyi sanmei (cultivating samādhi wherever mind is directed, or the samādhi of freely flowing thoughts), the "four practices of ease and bliss" (si anle xing), a practice based on the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra, and the lotus repentance ritual. Zhiyi left Huisi at his teacher’s command and headed for the Southern capital of Jinling (present-day Jiangsu province) at the age of thirty (567) to teach the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra and the Dazhidu lun for eight years at the monastery of Waguansi. The Shi chanboluomi cidi famen [alt. Cidi chanmen] are his lecture notes from this period of meditation and teaching. In 575, he retired to Mt. Tiantai (present-day Zhejiang province), where he built a monastery (later named Xiuchansi by the emperor) and devoted himself to meditative practice for eleven years. During this time he compiled the Fajie cidi chumen and the Tiantai xiao zhiguan. After persistent invitations from the king of Chen, Zhiyi returned to Jinling in 585 and two years later wrote the Fahua wenju, an authoritative commentary on the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra. Subsequently in Yangzhou, Zhiyi conferred the bodhisattva precepts on the crown prince, who later became Emperor Yang (r. 604-617) of the Sui dynasty. Zhiyi was then given the title Great Master Zhizhe (Wise One). Zhiyi also established another monastery on Mt. Dangyang in Yuquan (present-day Hunan province), which Emperor Wen (r. 581-604) later named Yuquansi. Zhiyi then began lecturing on what became his masterpieces, the Fahua xuanyi (593) and the Mohe zhiguan (594). At the request of the king of Jin, in 595 Zhiyi returned to Yangzhou, where he composed his famous commentaries on the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, i.e., the Weimojing xuanshou and the Weimojing wenshou, before dying in 597. Among the thirty or so works attributed to Zhiyi, the Fahua xuanyi, Fahuawenju, and Mohe zhiguan are most renowned and are together known as the Tiantai san dabu (three great Tiantai commentaries). (Source: "Tiantai Zhiyi." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 911–12. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
Library Items
The Six Dharma Gates to the Sublime
"The Six Gates to the Sublime" is a classic Buddhist meditation instruction manual explaining the six practices crucial to success in traditional Indian Buddhist breath-focused (anapana) meditation and calming-and-insight (samatha-vipasyana) meditation. Correctly implemented, these six "gates" lead the meditator to realization of the fourth of the four truths (cessation), of which the "sublimity" referenced in the title is one of the four canonically-described practice aspects.
This classic was written by the sixth-century monk and meditation master, Shramana Zhiyi (Chih-i), one of the most illustrious figures in the history of Chinese Buddhism. Master Zhiyi is famous for his role in the founding of the Tiantai teachings lineage and for his authorship of a quartet of meditation manuals of which this is one. The translator of this volume is the American monk, Bhikshu Dharmamitra, a translator of numerous classic works from the Indian and Chinese Buddhist traditions. (Source Accessed July 15, 2021)
Dharmamitra, Bhikshu, trans. The Six Dharma Gates to the Sublime. By Śramaṇa Zhiyi (Chih-i). Kalavinka Buddhist Classics. Seattle: Kalavinka Press, 2009.
Dharmamitra, Bhikshu, trans. The Six Dharma Gates to the Sublime. By Śramaṇa Zhiyi (Chih-i). Kalavinka Buddhist Classics. Seattle: Kalavinka Press, 2009.;The Six Dharma Gates to the Sublime;Zhiyi;Śramaṇa Zhiyi (Ch. 沙門智顗);Chen De'an (陳德安);Master Tiantai(天台大師);Master Zhizhe(智者大師);Chih-i;Chih'i; Bhikshu Dharmamitra;The Six Dharma Gates to the Sublime
On the topic of this person
Buddha-Nature according to Zhiyi and the T'ien T'ai Tradition by Jamie Hubbard and Paul Swanson
Paul Swanson discusses the way in which Zhiyi understood the concept of buddha-nature and goes on to place that theory in the broader context of T'ien T'ai Buddhism.
Hubbard, Jamie, and Paul Swanson. "Buddha-Nature according to Zhiyi and the T'ien T'ai Tradition." Interview by Marcus Perman, Alex Gardner, and José Cabezón. AAR Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, Nov. 2018. Video, 4:19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI4wpr4NAjk.
Hubbard, Jamie, and Paul Swanson. "Buddha-Nature according to Zhiyi and the T'ien T'ai Tradition." Interview by Marcus Perman, Alex Gardner, and José Cabezón. AAR Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, Nov. 2018. Video, 4:19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI4wpr4NAjk.;Buddha-Nature according to Zhiyi and the T'ien T'ai Tradition by Jamie Hubbard and Paul Swanson;Zhiyi;Tien Tai;tathāgatagarbha;Buddha-Nature according to Zhiyi and the T'ien T'ai Tradition
Buddha-Nature in Early Chan and Japanese Zen by Rev. Kokyo Henkel: Conversations on Buddha-Nature
Henkel, Rev. Kokyo. "Buddha-Nature in Early Chan and Japanese Zen." Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, June 26, 2021. Video, 1:23:03. https://youtu.be/j_V3v-oqnNU.
Henkel, Rev. Kokyo. "Buddha-Nature in Early Chan and Japanese Zen." Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, June 26, 2021. Video, 1:23:03. https://youtu.be/j_V3v-oqnNU.
Henkel, Rev. Kokyo. "Buddha-Nature in Early Chan and Japanese Zen." Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, June 26, 2021. Video, 1:23:03. https://youtu.be/j_V3v-oqnNU.;Buddha-Nature in Early Chan and Japanese Zen;Buddha-nature as Emptiness;Buddha-nature as Luminosity;Buddha-nature as Self - Atman;Dzogchen;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Chinese Buddhism;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Japanese Buddhism;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism;Tien Tai;Zen - Chan;tathāgatagarbha;ātman;Buddhāvataṃsakasūtra;Dasheng qixin lun;Laṅkāvatārasūtra;Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra;Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra;Śrīmālādevīsūtra;Dōgen;Mazu Daoyi;Schaik, S.;Suzuki, S.;Zhaozhou;Zhiyi;Kokyo Henkel;Kokyo Yakai (Luminous Owl, Midnight Liberation 光梟夜解); 
Rev. Kokyo Henkel: On the Various Early Influences on the Formation of the Zen Tradition
Henkel, Rev. Kokyo. "On the Various Early Influences on the Formation of the Zen Tradition." Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, June 26, 2021. Video, 8:05. https://youtu.be/6w6KD6Ez8Yc.
Henkel, Rev. Kokyo. "On the Various Early Influences on the Formation of the Zen Tradition." Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, June 26, 2021. Video, 8:05. https://youtu.be/6w6KD6Ez8Yc.
Henkel, Rev. Kokyo. "On the Various Early Influences on the Formation of the Zen Tradition." Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, June 26, 2021. Video, 8:05. https://youtu.be/6w6KD6Ez8Yc.;Rev. Kokyo Henkel: On the Various Early Influences on the Formation of the Zen Tradition;Nāgārjuna;Madhyamaka;tathāgatagarbha;Yogācāra;Tien Tai;Dōgen;Zhiyi;trikāya;Dzogchen;Rev. Kokyo Henkel: On the Various Early Influences on the Formation of the Zen Tradition
Rev. Kokyo Henkel: Zhiyi's Six Dharma Gates to the Sublime and the Relationship between Tiantai and Zen
Henkel, Rev. Kokyo. "Zhiyi's Six Dharma Gates to the Sublime and the Relationship between Tiantai and Zen." Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, June 26, 2021. Video, 4:14. https://youtu.be/6n8SpHNZC4o.
Henkel, Rev. Kokyo. "Zhiyi's Six Dharma Gates to the Sublime and the Relationship between Tiantai and Zen." Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, June 26, 2021. Video, 4:14. https://youtu.be/6n8SpHNZC4o.
Henkel, Rev. Kokyo. "Zhiyi's Six Dharma Gates to the Sublime and the Relationship between Tiantai and Zen." Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, June 26, 2021. Video, 4:14. https://youtu.be/6n8SpHNZC4o.;Rev. Kokyo Henkel: Zhiyi's Six Dharma Gates to the Sublime and the Relationship between Tiantai and Zen;Zhiyi;Zen - Chan;Tien Tai;Rev. Kokyo Henkel: Zhiyi's Six Dharma Gates to the Sublime and the Relationship between Tiantai and Zen
Sudden and Gradual
This volume examines the historical basis of the debate over sudden versus gradual approaches to enlightenment in Chinese Buddhism, seeing it as part of a recurrent polarity in Chinese history and thought. Sudden and Gradual includes essays by Luis O. Gómez on the philosophical implications of the debate in China and Tibet, Whalen Lai on Taodheng's theory of sudden enlightenment, Neal Donner on Chih-i's system of T'ien-t'ai, John R. McRae on Shen-Hui's sudden enlightenment and its precedents in Northern Ch'an, and Peter N. Gregory on Tsung-mi's theory of sudden enlightenment. (Source: Motilal Banarsidass)
Gregory, Peter N., ed. Sudden and Gradual: Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought. Buddhist Tradition Series 16. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1991. First published 1987 by University of Hawai'i Press. https://terebess.hu/zen/Sudden-and-Gradual-Enlightenment.pdf.
Gregory, Peter N., ed. Sudden and Gradual: Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought. Buddhist Tradition Series 16. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1991. First published 1987 by University of Hawai'i Press. https://terebess.hu/zen/Sudden-and-Gradual-Enlightenment.pdf.;Sudden and Gradual;History of buddha-nature in China;Terminology;Debate(s);The doctrine of buddha-nature in Chinese Buddhism;Tien Tai;Daosheng;Zhiyi;Heze Shenhui;Zen - Chan;Zongmi;Sudden and Gradual: Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought
T'ien-T'ai Chih-I's Theory of Buddha Nature—A Realistic and Humanistic Understanding of the Buddha
Heng-ching Shih, in her contribution, explores in some detail the T'ien-t'ai view of Buddha Nature, with a special focus on the question of evil. This is clearly a difficult issue for any philosophical school whose basic affirmation is that all living beings are naturally and originally pure and radiant: how, if this is true, can one account for the apparent existence of evil, the opposite or absence of this purity and radiance? Shih's chronological review of the development of the theory of "inherent evil" in T'ien-t'ai begins with the Ta ch'eng chih-kuan fa men which, in accord with the tradition, she judges to predate Chih-i himself, and then proceeds to an analysis of the Kuan-yin hsüan-i, a work that, again following tradition, she
attributes to Chih-i. It is probably fair to say that the weight of contemporary historical-critical scholarship in both Japan and the West is against both this chronology and this attribution; Shih is, of course, aware of this, but judges the arguments against the traditional position to be inconclusive. The matter is complex, and the importance of Shih's paper lies not in this but rather in the substantive doctrinal analysis she provides of "inherent evil". (Griffiths and Keenan, introduction to Buddha Nature, 6)
Shih, Heng-Ching. "T'ien-T'ai Chih-I's Theory of Buddha Nature—A Realistic and Humanistic Understanding of the Buddha." In Buddha Nature: A Festschrift in Honor of Minoru Kiyota, edited by Paul J. Griffiths and John P. Keenan, 153–70. Tokyo: Buddhist Books International, 1990.
Shih, Heng-Ching. "T'ien-T'ai Chih-I's Theory of Buddha Nature—A Realistic and Humanistic Understanding of the Buddha." In Buddha Nature: A Festschrift in Honor of Minoru Kiyota, edited by Paul J. Griffiths and John P. Keenan, 153–70. Tokyo: Buddhist Books International, 1990.;T'ien-T'ai Chih-I's Theory of Buddha Nature—A Realistic and Humanistic Understanding of the Buddha;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Chinese Buddhism;Tien Tai;Zhiyi;Heng-Ching Shih; 
T'ien-t'ai Chih'i's Concept of Threefold Buddha Nature-A Synergy of Reality, Wisdom, and Practice
Paul L. Swanson's contribution, on Chih-i's threefold concept of Buddha Nature, places T'ien-t'ai thought on this matter in a broader conceptual context. He presents it as one more application of the fundamental T'ien-t' ai idea of synergy—that there is a deeply symbiotic relationship between the way things really are (reality), the awareness of the way things really are (wisdom), and the religious practice that produces such an awareness (practice). Swanson bases his exposition on the Fa-hua hsüan-i, in which Buddha Nature, along with nine other Buddhist concepts, is interpreted through the threefold pattern already adverted to. Swanson shows how Chih-i, drawing upon both the Nirvāṇa Sūtra and the Lotus Sūtra, accommodates Buddha Nature terminology and concepts into the structure of his own thought. (Griffiths and Keenan, introduction to Buddha Nature, 6)
Swanson, Paul L. "T'ien-t'ai Chih'i's Concept of Threefold Buddha Nature—A Synergy of Reality, Wisdom, and Practice." In Buddha Nature: A Festschrift in Honor of Minoru Kiyota, edited by Paul J. Griffiths and John P. Keenan, 171–80. Tokyo: Buddhist Books International, 1997. https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/en/files/2012/11/Chih-i-on-Buddha-nature.pdf.
Swanson, Paul L. "T'ien-t'ai Chih'i's Concept of Threefold Buddha Nature—A Synergy of Reality, Wisdom, and Practice." In Buddha Nature: A Festschrift in Honor of Minoru Kiyota, edited by Paul J. Griffiths and John P. Keenan, 171–80. Tokyo: Buddhist Books International, 1997. https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/en/files/2012/11/Chih-i-on-Buddha-nature.pdf.;T'ien-t'ai Chih'i's Concept of Threefold Buddha Nature-A Synergy of Reality, Wisdom, and Practice;Tien Tai;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Chinese Buddhism;Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra;Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra;Zhiyi;Paul Swanson; 
Chen, S.: The Liberation of Matter: Examining Jingxi Zhanran’s Philosophy of the Buddha-Nature of Insentient Beings in Tiantai Buddhism
Abstract
This dissertation examines the notion that not only sentient beings but also insentient
ones, e.g., flora, mountains, rivers, and manmade objects, have Buddha-nature. Employing an
exegetical approach, I investigate Jingxi Zhanran’s (711-782) theory of the Buddha-nature of
insentient beings. Emphasizing the all-pervasiveness of Buddha-nature and the nonduality of
mind and material, he eliminates the absolute distinction between sentient and insentient beings
and contends that Buddha-nature includes all beings. Additionally, insisting on the Tiantai notion
of mutual inclusion, which reveals a two-way relationship between sentience and insentience,
Zhanran reverses the positions of the subjective observer and the objective phenomenon,
subjectifying insentient beings.
In addition to examining the theoretical profundity of Zhanran’s theory, my study examines the issues of sentience versus insentience and Buddha-nature that took place before Zhanran and discusses the subsequent Tiantai concerns with the Buddha-nature of insentient beings. Through textual analysis, I reexamine the emergence of the Chinese thought that connects Buddha-nature to insentient things, initially presented by Jingying Huiyuan (523-592) and Jiaxiang Jizang (549-623). I also illustrate that the concept of the Buddha-nature of insentient beings is implied in Zhiyi’s (538-597) thought by interpreting Zhiyi’s teachings that inspired Zhanran’s advocacy. Furthermore, I analyze, on doctrinal grounds, Chinese Tiantai descendants’ endorsement of Zhanran’s theory, contrasting it with their Japanese counterparts’, the latter who found it difficult to conceptualize how insentient beings’ spiritual cultivation might occur.
Chen, Shuman. "The Liberation of Matter: Examining Jingxi Zhanran’s Philosophy of the Buddha-Nature of Insentient Beings in Tiantai Buddhism." PhD diss., Northwestern University, 2014.
Chen, Shuman. "The Liberation of Matter: Examining Jingxi Zhanran’s Philosophy of the Buddha-Nature of Insentient Beings in Tiantai Buddhism." PhD diss., Northwestern University, 2014.;The Liberation of Matter: Examining Jingxi Zhanran’s Philosophy of the Buddha-Nature of Insentient Beings in Tiantai Buddhism;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Chinese Buddhism;Buddha-nature of insentient things;trikāya;tathāgatagarbha;Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra;Jingxi Zhanran;Jingying Huiyuan;Jizang;Zhiyi;Tien Tai;Shuman Chen;The Liberation of Matter: Examining Jingxi Zhanran’s Philosophy of the Buddha-Nature of Insentient Beings in Tiantai Buddhism
Grosnick, W.: The Zen Master Dōgen’s Understanding of the Buddha-Nature in Light of the Historical Development of the Buddha-Nature Concept in India, China, and Japan
. . . The present study will have a twofold purpose: 1) to examine the history of the Buddha-nature concept in an attempt to discover a central core of meaning inherent in the concept, and 2) to evaluate Dōgen's view of the Buddha-nature in the light of that central core of meaning. Parts I and II of this work, which examine the doctrinal history of the Buddha-nature concept in India and China, are devoted to the former task, and Part III, which examines Dōgen's thought concerning the Buddha-nature, is devoted to the latter. It is hoped that through the examination of Dōgen's conception of the Buddha-nature in the light of the previous articulation of the concept, it will be possible to form conclusions concerning the significance of Dōgen's thought in Buddhist doctrinal history. (Grosnick, introduction, 7–8)
Grosnick, William. "The Zen Master Dōgen’s Understanding of the Buddha-Nature in Light of the Historical Development of the Buddha-Nature Concept in India, China, and Japan." PhD diss., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1979.
Grosnick, William. "The Zen Master Dōgen’s Understanding of the Buddha-Nature in Light of the Historical Development of the Buddha-Nature Concept in India, China, and Japan." PhD diss., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1979.;The Zen Master Dōgen’s Understanding of the Buddha-Nature in Light of the Historical Development of the Buddha-Nature Concept in India, China, and Japan;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Indian Buddhism;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Chinese Buddhism;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Japanese Buddhism;Dōgen;tathāgatagarbha;buddhadhātu;ekayāna;triyāna;tathatā;Yogācāra;trisvabhāva;Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra;Zhiyi;Tien Tai;Zen - Chan;Original Enlightenment;Shōbōgenzō;William Grosnick;The Zen Master Dōgen’s Understanding of the Buddha-Nature in Light of the Historical Development of the Buddha-Nature Concept in India, China, and Japan;Dōgen
Other names
- Śramaṇa Zhiyi (Ch. 沙門智顗) · other names
- Chen De'an (陳德安) · other names
- Master Tiantai(天台大師) · other names
- Master Zhizhe(智者大師) · other names
- Chih-i · other names
- Chih'i · other names
Affiliations & relations
- Tiantai · religious affiliation
- Faxu (法緒) · teacher
- Huikuang (慧曠) · teacher
- Nanyue Huisi · teacher
