Category Archives: Profound

Understanding Buddhism Through the Lotus Sūtra

The … elaboration of the meaning “subtle” paves the way to Chih-i’s own interpretation of the Lotus Sūtra, which is his attempt to establish the Lotus Sūtra as the doctrinal foundation for his system of understanding Buddhism. This is because the most significant feature of the Lotus Sūtra concerns the Ultimate Truth as the Buddha vehicle that embraces all types of the Buddha’s teaching. With the One Buddha-vehicle as the unifying force, Chih-i is able to incorporate different viewpoints, to classify the teaching of the Buddha, to reconcile differences among various divisions of Buddhism, and to give a reasonable explanation of various theories that are held by different schools. By doing so, Chih-i demonstrates that Buddhism can be viewed as a whole, and that various doctrines and theories of practice that are apparently contradictory to each other are in fact coherent, for they are part of the scheme in the Buddha’s teaching. Chih-i’s endeavor of establishing a coherent system of presenting Buddhism as a whole reflects the need of his time that calls for the unification of the Buddhist world in Southern and Northern China (as we have mentioned in the background introduction in Chapter One of Volume I). Chih-i’s effort of establishing a coherent system of understanding Buddhism may be driven by his own religious devotion as well as his own realization of the Lotus teaching. Having fully digested the teaching expressed in different Buddhist scriptures, Chih-i must have felt obligated to use his talent to take upon himself the huge task of systematizing the teaching of the Buddha, in order to reconcile contradictory views among various Buddhist schools, and to assure that Buddhism, as a whole, would further flourish in Chinese soil. (Vol. 2, Page 67-68)

The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism


The Ultimate Truth of Oneness

[T]he meaning of the subtlety (Miao-i) is concluded by Chih-i as signifying the single reality of the teaching of the Buddha. This is to say that the teaching of the Buddha concerns the Ultimate Truth of Oneness:

  1. Oneness of principle (Li-i) in terms of the Ten Dharma-realms (that the truth the Buddha intends to convey is one).
  2. Oneness of teaching (Chiao-i) in terms of the five flavors (that all teachings of the Buddha contain the same goal of leading living beings to attain Buddhahood).
  3. Oneness of practice (Hsing-i) in terms of contemplating mind (that all practices aim at attaining truth).
  4. Oneness of person (Jen-i) in terms of the six identities that various transformations of the Buddha (manifested in different levels of attainment) are ultimately one the eternal Buddha, and that all living beings will be able to attain Buddhahood. (Vol. 2, Page 27)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism


The Subtle Lotus

The three aspects of “subtle” are completely possessed by the Lotus Sūtra. In contradistinction to the views of Kuang-chai, who only assigns “fine” to the “present”, Chih-i argues that the Buddhist scriptures of the “past” contain both “fine” and “coarse” in terms of the cause and effect of Buddhahood. He goes through the teaching of the Buddha in the five periods that correspond with the five dairy flavors, and classifies the causes and effects that are contained in the teaching of the five periods into coarse or subtle. For Chih-i, the uniqueness of the present Lotus Sūtra as the ghee flavor (T’i-hu-ching) that is expounded in the fifth period is that it contains no coarse elements. The Lotus Sūtra presents only one kind of cause and effect of Buddhahood, which is the representation of a single unified entity. This one cause and effect of Buddhahood as the essential teaching of the Buddha is defined by Chih-i as “all-embracing in substance” (T’ikuang), “superior in position” (Wei-kao), and “eternal in function” (Yung-ch’ang). The substance of this essential teaching is all embracing, because it refers to the Ultimate Truth that permeates everywhere. The position of this essential teaching is superior because it refers to the Buddhahood that occurred in an incalculable past in the Origin. The function of this essential teaching is long because it refers to the Buddha’s activities in the Traces that can benefit sentient beings in the three periods of time, due to the fact that the Traces are derived from the Origin in an incalculable past. (Vol. 2, Page 66)

The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism


The Three Aspects of “Subtle”

The three aspects of “subtle” are illustrated in terms of the effect of Buddhahood. From the three perspectives of the effect of Buddhahood, the “vastness of substance” refers to an all-embracing nature of the substance, because this substance “permeates everywhere and is inclusive of everything in the universe. The “superiority of position” refers to the immeasurable length of time in the past when the Buddha had attained Buddhahood. The “length of function” refers to the Traces (activities of the historical Buddha) that are manifested by the eternal Buddha from the Origin (the moment the Buddha initially attained enlightenment in an incalculable past) (Ts’ung-pen Ch’uichi), that benefit sentient beings in the three periods of time in terms of past, present, and future. (Vol. 2, Page 66)

The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism


The Length of Function

The “length of function” (Yung-ch’ang) refers to the dynamic nature of the Middle Way functioning to teach and transform living beings. Where is this function derived from? It is derived from the wisdom of realizing that “the Ten Dharma-realms are Emptincss, the Provisional, and the Middle Way.” The ten realms are empty of substantial Being, but bear names and are temporarily existent this is the comprehensive view of reality: Emptiness and the Provisional are identical to each other, and this is the Middle Way. How does the Middle Way function? This is related to the Threefold Contemplation of Emptiness, the Provisional and the Middle Way. When the bodhisattva enters the view of Emptiness, he does not stop like the Two Vehicles (śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha) do (which entails the attachment to Emptiness). The bodhisattva proceeds to enter the view of the Provisional with Emptiness, which entails the view of non-attachment to the Provisional Existence. For Chih-i, entering the view of the Provisional Existence means to be active in the empirical world to save sentient beings. Since this view of the Provisional is integrated with Emptiness (i.e., the Provisional is Emptiness, and vice versa), it partakes the Middle Way. The function of the Middle Way is spoken of in terms of the bodhisattva entering the provisional existence with the view of Emptiness to benefit living beings. Whereas there are immeasurable sentient beings, the bodhisattva’s action of saving them also lasts forever. This endless action of saving beings renders length of function. Furthermore, these three aspects (substance, position, and function) are contained within each other. When one aspect is scrutinized upon, what one sees are the three aspects, since any one of these three is not apart from the other. When three aspects are examined, what one sees is actually one integrated unity of all three aspects. One cannot look at them as a fixed conception, they are neither the same nor different, which is designated by Chih-i as “fine” or “subtle.” (Vol. 2, Page 65)

The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism


The Ever-Present Buddha Realm

The Buddha-realm does not exist apart from the other nine realms. In essence, all living beings possess the Buddha-nature (Ch., Fo-hsing; Skt., buddhadhātu), and given the right condition, they can realize this potential for Buddhahood, i.e., the realm of hell to the realm of the Bodhisattva can be transformed instantaneously into the Buddha-realm. (Vol. 2, Page 65)

The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism


Ten Realms, Both Visible and Invisible

The ten realms exist simultaneously in one’s mind, but one may not necessarily experience them all at the same given moment. One may experience any one of the ten realms at any moment, depending on the conditions of what one’s actions were and are in the past and present, and where one’s thoughts reside. When one realm is experienced, it is visibly present in one’s mind, but the other nine realms are also present in one’s mind, though in an invisible state. (Vol. 2, Page 64)

The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism


Four Siddhāntas Employed by the Buddha

The Four Siddhāntas are the four methods employed by the Buddha to cause living beings to achieve accomplishment of attaining Buddhahood, or they can be the four viewpoints of perceiving truth.

The characteristics of the “Worldly Siddhānta” (Shih-chieh Hsi-t’an) concern the basic theory of causality (Yin-yüan) in Buddhism, and differentiate what is real and what is unreal. What is unreal (provisional) refers to all things in this spatial-temporal world that arise through Dependent Origination (Ch., Yüanch’i; Skt., pratityasamutpāda), rendering the fact that all things lack substantial Being, and are illusory. The unreal is spoken of in terms of the five aggregates bearing their existence in name. Names are not substantial, and thus, the five aggregates are only illusory and provisional. What is real (Shih) refers to the body that is constituted by the five aggregates, which really exists. In short, the Worldly Siddhānta distinguishes between phenomenon and noumenon, between real and unreal, between good and bad, and between different levels of religious practice and achievement. The teaching suits those beings that are capable of understanding the doctrine of the Worldly Siddhānta.

The characteristic of the “Siddhānta for Each Person” (Ko-ko Wei-jen Hsi-t’an) concerns the wholesome factors of beings, namely, arousing previous wholesomeness of beings, and encouraging them to keep doing good deeds and practice for their future destinies.

In contradistinction to the “Siddhānta for Each Person” (which is related to the wholesomeness of living beings), the “Siddhānta of Counteraction” (Tui-chih Hsi-t’an) is to treat the unwholesomeness of living beings. Hence, the characteristic of this siddhānta concerns the evil side of beings, namely, how to destroy evil by means of wholesomeness. This teaching of the Siddhānta of Counteraction reveals the goal of religious practice.

The “Siddhānta of the Supreme Truth” (Ti-i-i Hsit’an) reveals the principle (as truth) (Ti-li) by means of applying the formula of the fourth Alternative, namely, “everything is neither real nor unreal”, which transcends affirmation or negation. Therefore, the characteristic of this siddhānta concerns leading living beings to realize the truth by disposing the fundamental nature of emptiness of all entities, and by negating all possible attachments to either unreal (provisional) or real, and either good or evil. The passage concerning the Four Siddhäntas is originally stated in the Mahāprajn͂āpāramitopadeśa (Ta-chih-tu Lun), T.25, 59b-61b.

For a brief explanation of the Four Siddhāntas, see also Hurvitz, Chih-i, p.313, note l. For a detailed discussion of the Four Siddhāntas in the Ta-chih-tu Lun, see Swanson, Foundations of T’ien-t’ai Philosophy, pp.23-30. (Vol. 2, Page 53)

The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism


Four Siddhāntas and the Lotus Sūtra

This is the last part in elaborating the Four Siddhāntas. By stressing that the Four Siddhāntas are expressed in the Lotus Sūtra, Chih-i legitimizes his own view concerning the Lotus Sūtra as the ultimate teaching of the Buddha embracing all types of the teaching. The passage is quoted by Chih-i from the “Chapter on Expedient Means” (Fang-pien-p’in) in order to prove that the meaning of the Four Siddhāntas can be drawn from it:

“[The Buddha] understands all actions of living beings, what they think in their deep minds, their habitual tendencies [they carry] from the past, their desires, their nature, the power of their exertions, and whether their faculties are acute or dull. [The Buddha] employs various causes and conditions, similes, parables, and other words and phrases, adapting whatever means that are suitable to expound his teaching.”

This passage is interpreted by Chih-i as:

” ‘Desire’ is the [mundane] pleasure and desire, which indicates the Worldly Siddhānta. ‘Nature’ refers to the nature of knowledge and wisdom, which indicates the Siddhānta for Each Person. The ‘power of exertions’ refers to the destruction of evil, which indicates the Siddhānta of Counteraction. ‘Acute or dull faculties’ refers to different realizations attained by two people [with either acute or dull faculties], which indicates the Siddhānta of the Supreme Truth.”
Chih-i associates the phrases “their desires” with the Worldly Siddhānta (for the teaching suits the desire of living beings), “their nature” with the Siddhānta for Each Person (for nature means the nature of knowledge and wisdom which denotes the wholesomeness this teaching is intended to produce), “the power of their exertions” with the Siddhānta of Counteraction (for power is meant to destroy evil, which is the intended result of this teaching), and “whether their faculties are acute or dull” with the Siddhānta of the Supreme Truth (for the teaching aims at enlightening living beings of different capacities).

Through such an interpretation that reveals the meaning of the Four Siddhāntas implied in the Lotus Sūtra, the validity of the Lotus Teaching is confirmed.

Differentiating the Teaching of the Buddha

Chih-i’s intention of differentiating the teaching of the Buddha is for the sake of presenting it as a whole. This is to say that although there are various types of the teaching, all of them are unified under the One Buddha-vehicle that is expressed in the Lotus Sūtra. Therefore, the Lotus Sūtra functions to dissolve the relative teachings into the ultimate teaching. Chih-i affirms that all of the relative teachings of the Three Vehicles (śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, and bodhisattva) contain the real intention of the Buddha in leading sentient beings to attain Buddhahood. This intention of the Buddha is the ultimate teaching of the One Buddha-vehicle. By this definition, all types of the teaching of the Buddha are subtle. The distinction between the relative and the ultimate is only made to coincide with living beings separated from conceiving the subtlety of the Buddha’s teaching. Chih-i asserts that the only purpose for the Buddha to employ the coarse device as the relative teaching is for the ultimate teaching. In this sense, all types of the teaching of the Buddha in the five periods that are analogized with the five flavors of dairy products (milk, cream, curdled milk, butter, and ghee) contain subtlety. In terms of revealing the Ultimate Truth, the teaching of the five flavors is not dissimilar to each other. Once the ultimate teaching (i.e., Lotus Sūtra) is presented, there is no more coarseness or relativity, but subtlety. (Vol. 2, Page 44-45)

The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism