[W]hereas in Christianity arguments concerning the problem of evil focus on the relation of God and evil, in Tiantai it is the relation of Buddha and evil that is discussed. There arose a theory that there is evil in the Buddha, which proved controversial in later years. The idea that there is evil in the Buddha developed from the idea of the mutual inclusion of the ten worlds. In the idea often worlds, the world of the Buddha, as the world of supreme good, is located at the highest level, and the world of supreme evil, hell, is located at the lowest level. Human beings are in a middle position, caught between good and evil. Humans are intermediate beings, as emphasized in Western philosophy. But Tiantai insists that each of the ten worlds includes all of the others. Thus the world of the Buddha includes the supreme evil of hell. From this came the idea that there is evil in the Buddha, called “the theory of inherent evil.”

We can see the theoretical development of this idea in Tiantai’s The Profound Meaning of the Guanyin Chapter, according to which the Buddha does not intentionally do evil (cultivated evil) but includes evil in his nature (inherent evil). Here is, accordingly, the possibility of redeeming evil. Those who do not know evil are not qualified to redeem it. If we turn this theory of inherent evil around, it becomes possible to say that there is good, inherent good, in hell. From the idea of the mutual inclusion of the ten worlds, it follows that hell includes the supreme good of the Buddha’s world. Thus Tiantai taught the idea that there is good naturally even in hell. In this way, Tiantai recognized that hell would someday be awakened to the good, thus being redeemed and brought up into the Buddha’s world.

Put succinctly, evil and good are not permanently fixed in extreme contrast with each other. In this sense, the theory is authentically nondual. Stated positively, good and evil have things in common. The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra says, “The nature and form of evil is really the nature and character of good. There is good because there is evil and there is no good apart from evil. … Evil is the origin of good. If there is no evil there can be no good. … Evil goes together with good. But this is neither evil nor good. … Good goes together with evil. But this is neither good nor evil.”

According to the ideas of nongood and nonevil and the nonduality of good and evil, the redemption of evil is possible. Based on this, moreover, the existence of evil comes to be positively affirmed as a source of good. The existence of evil enhances the quest for the good and elevates the good itself. In this sense, without evil there is no good. This prevents human beings who are caught between good and evil from having split personalities or falling into despair.

Tiantai’s theory that the Buddha includes evil in his nature or that the existence of evil is a source of good may give rise to an optimistic impression in which evil is treated lightly. There may be a danger of falling into decadence by affirming permission to do evil as one likes. In fact, later there were some who were severely criticized for understanding it in this way and putting this idea into practice. But the original intention was to try to find a possibility for salvation by looking directly at the reality of evil and hell, and grieving over it. This is neither to monistically affirm evil by seeing good and evil as having the same roots nor to deny the existence of evil.

To conclude, it is not the case that in this world there is only good and no evil. Rather, we can see the vitality of eternal life in the midst of the battle for good over evil. Through this theory of good and evil we can understand Tiantai’s general view of the world and human life. We can feel the vitality of life and find its meaning in a life woven of the warp and woof of happiness and sorrow, joy and suffering, good and evil. This is why Tiantai developed views of the absolute and of eternity.

As the ultimate purpose of Tiantai Zhiyi’s The Great Calming and Contemplation is mastery of the cosmic reality of three thousand worlds in one occasion of experience, in it he develops various theories of practice and gives instructions about the various kinds of human conduct that go with these theories.

The term “calming contemplation” (zhiguan) is based on a compound of the Sanskrit śamatha (meditative calm) and vipaśana (contemplation). It indicates being rooted in the cosmic reality of eternity and infinity, not being upset by the changes and ups and downs of life, broadly observing the world from the perspective of such eternity and infinity, and having unattached wisdom. It is understood to be both meditation and wisdom, as the two terms together express such things as tranquility and illumination or clarity and serenity. Appropriate judgments and actions will follow from such a state.

The term mohe is a phonetic translation of mahā, meaning “great.” The worldview and life view of The Great Calming and Contemplation is on an extremely large scale. It teaches a theory of practice for all kinds of situations, so it is appropriate that it is modified by the term “great.” We encounter many kinds of situations and obstacles in the journey through life. The Great Calming and Contemplation anticipates such situations, teaches ways of dealing with them one by one, and devises means of helping. It deals with problems of love and passion and of sin and evil, indicates what is appropriate for food and clothing, and teaches what to do about disease. We might say that it is a book of counseling that deals with all the kinds of distress and suffering experienced in life.

Returning from the absolutely wonderful of “opening the relative and revealing the wonderful” to the world of conventional reality and relative existence brings this world to life by making the absolutely wonderful alive in this world. In terms of emptiness, it is to go from the conventional duality of A and B into their nondual emptiness. Yet one does not stagnate in nonduality or emptiness but returns to the duality of conventional existence, bringing emptiness into one’s life in order to have a true realization of nonduality and emptiness. This is why Zhanran, the sixth patriarch of Tiantai, maintained that “nonduality is dual, and duality is nondual.” Small Vehicle Buddhists stagnated in nonduality and emptiness, forgetting to reenter the actual world and make such truth alive there. As a consequence of this they fell into deep nihilism.

We should pay careful attention to realizing that seeing the divine in the human or entering the actual world and bringing it to life is neither to affirm humanity, just as it is, as divine, nor to affirm reality, just as it is, as absolute. It is an undeniable fact that humanity is not divine, and that the actual world is finite and relative. Based on this, we have to posit the divine over against humanity, and we have to posit the absolute over against the actual. Thus, we must assert the relatively wonderful. In other words, the “absolutely wonderful” of “opening the relative and revealing the wonderful” does not mean to ignore such facts and affirm humanity, as it is, or to affirm the actual as absolute. In this sense, the “relatively wonderful” of “breaking the relative and revealing the wonderful” is included in “opening the relative and revealing the wonderful.” Moreover, the “supreme truth of the middle way” is posited as the synthesis of “entering emptiness from conventional existence” and “entering conventional existence from emptiness.” Finally, the “threefold contemplation” is taught as a conclusion–the perfect and immediate calming and contemplation of the identity of emptiness, conventional existence, and the middle way.

Thus did Tiantai Zhiyi’s view of absoluteness reach its culmination. We can say that the Lotus Sutra’s teaching of the unifying truth (the Wonderful Dharma of One Vehicle) gained theoretical coherence here. We can conclude that actuality is a plural, finite, and relative world. This is actuality as factual. Zhiyi insists on always acknowledging its factuality as a fact, seeing the unifying truth in it, and thereby gaining a glimpse of an absolute state. If we put this in the context of the eternal life of the Buddha revealed in chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra, this actual life is transient—human beings live toward death. Based on this, one can realize the Everlasting Buddha, i.e., eternal life. It is in this way that one discovers the true or original Buddha.