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Zhiyi
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| Biography: Chih-i |
The Chinese Buddhist monk Chih-i (538-597) founded one of the most popular schools of Chinese Buddhism, the T'ien-t'ai.
Chih-i, also known as Chih-k'ai, was born Ch'en Wang-tao in South China in 538. He grew up in a chaotic period, during which North China was ruled by invaders from the northern steppes, while the Chinese held out in the south. Chih-i's father was an adviser to the Emperor of the Liang dynasty (502-557). When Chihi's mother and father died about the time the dynasty was overthrown in 557, he became a Buddhist monk in his home province.
After several years in the South, Chih-i went north to study with Hui-ssu, a famous Buddhist monk. There he encountered a religious tradition which, unlike the scholarly approach of southern Buddhism, encouraged religious observances. He remained in the North until 568, at which time his teacher instructed him to return to the southern capital to gain imperial support for the religion.
Chih-i was not in the southern capital very long before his lectures began to attract notice, even coming to the attention of the court. He also gained increasing numbers of students. Perhaps because he received too much notice in the bustling capital, he decided to leave for the solitude of the T'ien-t'ai Mountains in southeast China, where he lived with a small group of close disciples.
Supported by wealthy and pious laymen, Chih-i remained in the T'ien-t'ai Mountains from 575 to 585. Because he produced his most important doctrines and works during that period, his school of Buddhism is known as the T'ien-t'ai sect. It was the first great synthesis in Buddhism of doctrine as well as scripture and method. One of the significant and central concepts of his school was a belief in the universal attainability of enlightenment. This belief opposed the view of other Buddhist schools that enlightenment was something very few believers could obtain even after a lifetime of religious devotion. The T'ien-t'ai sect gained a large following in China and Japan.
In 585 Chih-i was prevailed upon to return to the capital and was received with enthusiasm. Only 4 years after his return, the southern state was overrun by the Sui armies. In spite of this change, however, Chih-i was able to maintain a close relationship with the Sui. The Sui prince, Yang Kuang, wanting to show his support for Buddhism, asked Chih-i to remain in Yang-chou, the Sui southern capital, but he soon returned to the seclusion of the T'ient'ai Mountains. Chih-i died while on another trip to the capital in 597.
Further Reading
The most complete discussion of the life and works of Chih-i can be found in Leon Hurvitz, Chih-i (538-597): An Introduction to the Life and Ideas of a Chinese Buddhist Monk (1963). A shorter piece which puts Chih-i in the context of his times may be found in Stanley Weinstein, "T'ang Imperial Patronage in the Formation of T'ang Buddhism," included in Perspectives on the T'ang, edited by Arthur F. Wright and Denis Twitchett (1972).
| Buddhism Dictionary: Chih-i |
(538-97)
Tradition places Chih-i as the third in the line of patriarchs in the T'ien-t'ai school, but in fact he founded the school and furnished most of its distinctive teachings himself, including (1) the T'ien-t'ai method of organizing and classifying scriptures and teachings known as p'an-chiao which gave the Lotus Sūtra the honoured place as the supreme scripture (see P'an-chiao); (2) the Three Truths that overcame the disconnection between the traditional Two Truths of Madhyamaka teaching; (3) the idea that the transcendent principle (Chinese, li) and phenomenal reality (Chinese, shih) mutually interpenetrate without obstruction; (4) and the idea of One Mind or absolute mind that underlies all of reality, in both its pure and defiled aspects. He was also renowned as a meditation master, and wrote a massive treatise on the methods and rationales of meditation, epitomized in the term chih-kuan, or ‘calming and contemplation’.
Chih-i was born into a family in south China with aristocratic connections, but realized the transitoriness of life at a young age after witnessing troops destroy a library. He became a monk, and studied with the renowned meditation master from north China Hui-ssu (515-77), later recognized as the second patriarch of T'ien-t'ai. After a stay in Chin-ling (modern Nanking), he went to Mt. T'ien-t'ai on the eastern seaboard in Chekiang province, and remained there for most of the rest of his life; it is from his residence and work there that the school derived its name. An early visionary experience aroused his faith (śraddhā) in the supremacy of the Lotus Sūtra, and during his career he wrote two commentaries on it, one a general survey of its meaning, the other a line-by-line exegesis. When China was reunited by the Sui dynasty in 581, his family's connections brought him to the attention of the court, where he was invited to preach and was duly honoured. The resulting patronage allowed him to buy the fishing rights along the coastline adjacent to Mt. T'ien-t'ai and to obtain an imperial ban on fishing in the area that remained in effect for at least two centuries.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Chih-i |
Chih-i (chē'-ē), 538-97, Chinese Buddhist scholar and founder of the T'ien-t'ai (in Japan, called Tendai, or Lotus) school of Buddhism. Chih-i produced a conceptual framework that integrated varying Indian Buddhist schools and scriptures into a coherent whole by classifying the various scriptures into five groups and eight teachings. According to Chih-i, the Avatamsaka Sutra (see Hua-yen Buddhism) revealed the essence of the Buddha's enlightenment, but was incomprehensible to his hearers. In an effort to provide beneficial instruction, the Buddha began with simple teachings that gradually became more subtle and profound, culminating with the Lotus and Nirvana Sutras, which for Chih-i were not merely scriptures, but guidelines for salvation. Chih-i united Buddhist scriptures into a continuous revelation.
Bibliography
See L. Hurvitz, Chih-i (1962); K. Ch'en, Buddhism in China (1964); P. Swanson, The Foundations of T'ien T'ai Philosophy (1989).
| Wikipedia: Zhiyi |
Zhiyi (Chinese: 智顗; pinyin: zhì yǐ; Wade-Giles: Chih-I; Japanese: Chigi) (538–597) is traditionally listed as the fourth patriarch, but actually is the founder of the Tiantai tradition of Buddhism in China. Zhiyi is famous for being the first in the history of Chinese Buddhism to elaborate a complete, critical and systematic classification of the Buddhist teachings, in order to explain the seemingly contradictory doctrines of Buddhism. He is also regarded as the first major figure to make a significant break from the Indian tradition, to form an indigenous Chinese system.
Born with the surname Chen (陳) in Huarong, Jing Prefecture (荊州華容), Zhiyi left home to become a monk at eighteen, after the loss of his parents and his hometown Jiangling that fell to the Western Wei army when Zhiyi was seventeen. At 23, he received his most important influences from his first teacher, Nanyue Huisi (慧思) (515-577), a meditation master who would later be listed as Zhiyi's predecessor in the Tiantai lineage. After a period of study with Huisi, he spent some time working in the southern capital of Jinling (金陵). Then in 575 he went to Tiantai mountain for intensive study and practice with a group of disciples. Here he worked on adapting the Indian meditation principles of śamatha and vipaśyanā (translated as "zhi" and "guan") into a complex system of self-cultivation practice that also incorporated devotional rituals and confession/repentance rites. Then in 585 he returned to Jinling, where he completed his monumental commentarial works on the Lotus Sutra, the Fahua wenzhu (587), and the Fahua xuanyi (593).
Among his many important works are the Mohe Zhiguan, Liumiao Famen, Fahua Wenzhu, and Fahua Xuanyi. Of the works attributed to him (although many may have been written by his disciples), about thirty are extant.
Chappell (1987: p. 247) holds that Zhiyi: "...provided a religious framework which seemed suited to adapt to other cultures, to evolve new practices, and to universalize Buddhism."[1]
Zhiyi and Bodhidharma were contemporaneous[2], though Zhiyi had royal patronage whilst Bodhidharma did not.
Contents |
Four Samadhi
Chih-i developed a curriculum of practice which was distilled into the 'Four Samadhi' (Chinese: 四種三昧[3]; Wade-Giles: ?).[4] These Four Samadhi were expounded in Zhiyi's 'Mohe Zhiguan' (Chinese: 摩訶止観, Jpn.: Makashikan).[5] The Mohe Zhiguan is the magnum opus of Zhiyi's maturity and is held to be a "grand summary" (p. 2) of the Buddhist Tradition according to his experience and understanding at that time.[2] The text of the Mohe Zhiguan was refined from lectures Zhiyi gave in 594 in the capital city of Chin-ling and was the sum of his experience at Mount T’ien-t’ai c.585 and inquiry thus far.[6] Parsing the title, 'zhi' refers to "ch’an meditation and the concentrated and quiescent state attained thereby" (p. 4) and 'guan' refers to "contemplation and the wisdom attained thereby" (p. 4).[7] Swanson (2002: p. 4) reports that Chih-i held that there are two modes of 'chih-kuan': that of sitting in meditation 坐, and that of “responding to objects in accordance with conditions” 歴縁対境, which is further refined as abiding in the natural state of a calm and insightful mind under any and all activities and conditions.[7]
Swanson (2002: p. 1) states that Zhiyi in the Mohe Zhiguan:
...is critical of an unbalanced emphasis on “meditation alone,” portraying it as a possible “extreme” view and practice, and offering instead the binome chih-kuan 止観 (calming/cessation and insight/contemplation, śamatha-vipaśyanā) as a more comprehensive term for Buddhist practice.[8]
The "Samadhi of One Practice" (Chinese: 一行三昧; Chinese: Yixing Sanmei; Japanese: ichigyō sanmai) which is also known as the "samadhi of oneness" or the "calmness in which one realizes that all dharmas are the same" (Wing-tsit Chan), is one of the Four Samadhi that both refine, mark the passage to, and qualify the state of perfect enlightenment expounded in the Mohe Zhiguan.[9] The term "Samadhi of Oneness" was subsequently used by Daoxin.[10]
The Four Samadhi:
- 'Samadhi of Constant Sitting' (Chinese: 常坐三昧) or 'One Round Samadhi' (Chinese: 一行三昧);
- 'Pratyutpanna-samadhi' (Chinese: 般舟三昧) or 'Prolonged Samadhi' or 'Samadhi of Constant Walking' (Chinese: 常行三昧);
- 'Samadhi of Half Walking and Half Sitting' (Chinese: 半行半坐三昧)
- 'Samadhi at Free Will' (Chinese: 隨自意三昧) or 'Samadhi of Non-walking and Non-sitting' (Chinese: 非行非坐三昧)
Notes
- ^ Chappell, David W. (1987). 'Is Tendai Buddhism Relevant to the Modern World?' in Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1987 14/2-3. Source: [1]; accessed: Saturday August 16, 2008. p.247
- ^ a b Swanson, Paul L. (2002). Ch'an and Chih-kuan: T'ien-t’ai Chih-i's View of “Zen” and the Practice of the Lotus Sutra. Presented at the International Lotus Sutra Conference on the theme “The Lotus Sutra and Zen”, 11-16 July 2002. Source: [2] (accessed: August 6, 2008). p.2
- ^ Swanson, Paul L. (2002). Ch'an and Chih-kuan: T'ien-t’ai Chih-i's View of “Zen” and the Practice of the Lotus Sutra. Presented at the International Lotus Sutra Conference on the theme “The Lotus Sutra and Zen”, 11-16 July 2002. Source: [3] (accessed: August 6, 2008). p.5
- ^ Chappell, David W. (1987). 'Is Tendai Buddhism Relevant to the Modern World?' in Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1987 14/2-3. Source: [4]; accessed: Saturday August 16, 2008. p.249
- ^ Dumoulin, Heinrich (author); Heisig, James W. (trans.) & Knitter, Paul (trans.)(2005). Zen Buddhism: A History. Volume 1: India and China. World Wisdom. ISBN 978-0-941532-89-1. p.311
- ^ Swanson, Paul L. (2002). Ch'an and Chih-kuan: T'ien-t’ai Chih-i's View of “Zen” and the Practice of the Lotus Sutra. Presented at the International Lotus Sutra Conference on the theme “The Lotus Sutra and Zen”, 11-16 July 2002. Source: [5] (accessed: August 6, 2008). p.5
- ^ a b Swanson, Paul L. (2002). Ch'an and Chih-kuan: T'ien-t’ai Chih-i's View of “Zen” and the Practice of the Lotus Sutra. Presented at the International Lotus Sutra Conference on the theme “The Lotus Sutra and Zen”, 11-16 July 2002. Source: [6] (accessed: August 6, 2008). p.4
- ^ Swanson, Paul L. (2002). Ch'an and Chih-kuan: T'ien-t’ai Chih-i's View of “Zen” and the Practice of the Lotus Sutra. Presented at the International Lotus Sutra Conference on the theme “The Lotus Sutra and Zen”, 11-16 July 2002. Source: [7] (accessed: August 6, 2008). p.1
- ^ Dumoulin, Heinrich (author); Heisig, James W. (trans.) & Knitter, Paul (trans.)(2005). Zen Buddhism: A History. Volume 1: India and China. World Wisdom. ISBN 978-0-941532-89-1. p.311
- ^ Sheng-Yen, Master (聖嚴法師)(1988). Tso-Ch'an. Source: [8]; (accessed: August 6, 2008) p.364
See also
References
- Dumoulin, Heinrich (author); Heisig, James W. (trans.) & Knitter, Paul (trans.)(2005). Zen Buddhism: A History. Volume 1: India and China. World Wisdom. ISBN 978-0-941532-89-1
- Donner, Neal & Daniel B. Stevenson (1993). The Great Calming and Contemplation. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
- Hurvitz, Leon (1962). Chih-i (538-597): An Introduction to the Life and Ideas of a Chinese Buddhist Monk. Mélanges Chinois et Couddhiques XII, Bruxelles: Institut Belge des Hautes Études Chinoises.
Electronic
- Chappell, David W. (1987). 'Is Tendai Buddhism Relevant to the Modern World?' in Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1987 14/2-3. Source: [9]; accessed: Saturday August 16, 2008
- Dumoulin, Heinrich (1993). "Early Chinese Zen Reexamined ~ A Supplement to 'Zen Buddhism: A History'" in Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1993 20/1. Source: [10] (accessed: August 6, 2008)
- Swanson, Paul L. (2002). Ch'an and Chih-kuan: T'ien-t’ai Chih-i's View of “Zen” and the Practice of the Lotus Sutra. Presented at the International Lotus Sutra Conference on the theme “The Lotus Sutra and Zen”, 11-16 July 2002. Source: [11] (accessed: August 6, 2008)
- Sheng-Yen, Master (聖嚴法師)(1988). Tso-Ch'an. Source: [12]; (accessed: August 6, 2008)
External links
- Digital Dictionary of Buddhism (log in with userID "guest")
- Biography in Chinese
- Buddhism of T'ien-T'ai
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