The Lotus Sutra - V. The Lotus Sutra and T’ien-t’ai (538-597 AD) |
Background - Buddhism in China
In the centuries
following Shakyamuni’s death, Buddhism spread widely throughout Asia. It was
propagated by dedicated missionaries - monks despatched to spread the word; by
explorers and military men; and by lay people, often traders, in the course of
their travels. The Silk Route, for example, took Buddhism north-east
through Tibet to China, and west as far as Arabia (although its impact here was
significantly less than in eastern Asia). Buddhism is
generally thought to have been introduced into China in the first century AD,
although some scholars argue for an earlier date. Initially, it appealed
less to the country’s ordinary people than to its intellectual and cultural
elite, who, over the following centuries, sponsored the translation of hundreds
of texts. Gradually, the new religion took root and flourished in society,
reaching its height from the seventh to the tenth centuries AD. The growth of
Buddhism in China was accompanied by intense doctrinal dispute.
Shakyamuni’s teachings arrived haphazardly over a considerable period of time,
and were anyway not systematized; in places they were even contradictory.
By the sixth century, ten major schools - the Three Schools of the South and
Seven Schools of the North - had become established, each claiming to teach the
truth of Shakyamuni’s Buddhism. The Five Periods
and Eight
Teachings
The Five Periods
and Eight Teachings is a system of classification formulated by the Chinese
Buddhist monk, T’ien-t’ai, to settle the uncertainty as to the
relative merits of various Buddhist doctrines. T’ien-t’ai was
originally called Chih-i (or Chih-che) and later came to be called after Mount
T’ien-t’ai, where he lived in retreat and founded his own school. He
is said to have attained enlightenment through reading and meditating deeply on
the Lotus Sutra, specifically the twenty-third chapter, ‘Former Affairs of the
Bodhisattva Medicine King’ (Yakuo). As a result of his enlightenment he was
able to prove the supremacy of the Lotus Sutra, and classify Shakyamuni’s
other teachings according to the order in which they were preached (the Five
Periods), and their content and method of presentation (the Eight Teachings). As a result of
this system of classification, T’ien-t’ai was able to defeat all the ten
major schools in debate and establish the primacy of the Lotus Sutra in China
for more than two centuries, a period which also saw the great cultural
flowering of the T’ang dynasty (AD 618 to 907) As time went on,
however, Buddhist temples became increasingly wealthy and the essential spirit
of the religion was corrupted, even within the T’ien-t’ai school.
Increasingly, elements of non-Buddhist beliefs were mixed with Buddhist doctrine
and Buddhism in China gradually declined, in accordance with the concept of the
three time periods. Ichinen sanzen
T’ien-t’ai’s
achievement in establishing the supremacy of the Lotus Sutra, while impressive,
was surpassed by his development of the theory of ichinen sanzen - ‘three
thousand realms in a moment of existence’ - which represents the ultimate
conclusion of his life’s work. Following his
classification of Buddhist teachings according to the Five Periods and Eight
teachings, T’ien-t’ai devoted himself to writing commentaries and exegeses
on the Lotus Sutra to explain more clearly the heart of Shakyamuni’s
teachings. His three major works are Hokke Gengi (Profound Meaning of the Lotus
Sutra), Hokke Mongu (Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra), and Maka Shikan
(Great Concentration and Insight). Hokke Gengi
explains that the entire meaning of the Lotus Sutra is condensed into its title,
Myoho-renge-kyo, and consists of a detailed examination of each separate
syllable. Similarly, Hokke Mongu is a close analysis of sentences and
phrases in each chapter of the sutra. Maka Shikan breaks
new ground, setting forth T’ien-t’ai’s own enlightenment in the principle
of ichinen sanzen. Taking the Lotus Sutra as a basis, it explains the
mutually inclusive relationship of life and all phenomena not in poetic (and
often fantastic) imagery, as Shakyamuni had done, but with an almost
mathematical precision. In this he reflected not only the characteristic
Chinese tendency to order and classify things, but also the truth that the
highest teachings of Buddhism are also rational. Even so,
T’ien-t’ai was clearly aware that enlightenment could not be reached through
the rational mind alone, and Maka Shikan deals at great length with meditative
practices that will enable one to progress closer and closer to grasping the
truth of ichinen sanzen in, and with, one’s own life. These practices
are very demanding, however, and are not realistic for anyone whose time cannot
be wholly devoted to Buddhist meditation; that is, for most ordinary men and
women. Consequently, while T’ien-t’ai’s influence on Chinese society
was considerable, the practice he formulated never gained great popularity. Nevertheless, for his achievements in proving the supremacy of the Lotus Sutra in China and laying the theoretical basis for the establishment of the Gohonzon, Nichiren Daishonin regarded T’ien-t’ai as the Buddha of the Middle Day of the Law (q.v.). If you would like to download this chapter please click here |