Chih-i’s further analysis of the relationship between the door of the Traces and the door of the Origin is also his endeavor to demonstrate the polar concept of the substance and the function. In Chih-i’s interpretation of the Lotus Sūtra that is divided by him into two major part, the Traces and the Origin, the Traces highlights the recent event of the Buddha’s self-practice and transformation of others, and the Origin the original enlightenment of the Buddha: the former denotes the function and the latter the substance. In a sense that function is derived from substance, Chih-i confirms that it is due to the original enlightenment of the Buddha in the Origin from which the Buddha’s activities in the Traces are derived. While emphasizing the key role of the Origin as the substance contrary to the Traces as the function, Chih-i does not hesitate to clarify the fact that the function is already contained in the substance as the enlightenment of the Buddha simultaneously arouses the function of saving sentient beings. (Page 63)

[T]he Three Tracks refer to the same aspects concerning objective reality, knowledge, and practice. These are the three major components in religious cultivation in Chih-i’s philosophy of Buddhism, equivalent to realization (Cheng), teaching (Chiao) and practice (Hsing) in traditional Buddhism respectively. Chih-i’s point is that, these three components are in fact imbedded in the nature of all sentient beings, by which Chih-i strongly argues that all beings are able to attain Buddhahood. The theory of the Three Tracks concludes the previous four categories of Subtlety that are concerned with religious cultivation and indicates that this religious cultivation can be accomplished by the power of self-practice. To further prove the significance of the Three Tracks in attaining Buddhahood, Chih-i correlates them with the ten categories of the triple dharma that are related to the attainment of Buddhahood, and by which the major concepts of Buddhahood are presented. With the fifth category of Subtlety, the process of attaining Buddhahood by the power of self-cultivation is completed. (Page 45)

The all-embracing nature reflects Chih-i’s positive view towards the empirical world in the sense that the Ultimate Truth is embedded in all entities, underlining its unlimited pervasiveness. In the context that the Ultimate Truth pervades everything in the world, an entirely positive and unique view of perceiving the mundane world is presented. The mundane world as a place of birth and death is identified with the eternal realm of enlightenment. With this view, a negative outlook of the mundane world is transformed into a positive affirmation. Instead of the traditional view of negating the mundane world as something harmful that hinders one’s path to liberation, Chih-i’s all-embracing approach towards the world is rather revolutionary, and is epistemological and soteriological. (Page 39)

How can Chih-i’s philosophy assume “perfect and harmonizing” (Yüan-jung)? Based on our study of the work Hsüan-i (Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra), we would like to propose that it is due to several characteristics of the Ultimate Truth demonstrated by Chih-i that corresponds to his own philosophy that his philosophy as perfect harmonization is established.

First, Chih-i associates the Ultimate Truth with the One Buddha-vehicle (that is advocated in the Lotus Sūtra). This is because the One Buddha vehicle stands out to be supreme in position with which one can attain Buddhahood. Its superiority legitimatizes itself to be the unifying force that embraces all different doctrines in Buddhism and converges all the other Three Vehicles (śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, and bodhisattva). Apparently, speaking in terms of the Buddha-vehicle, the Ultimate Truth bears all-embracing nature, and functions to reconcile differences.

Second, the Ultimate Truth is linked to the state of subtlety, seeing that it consists of three aspects (substance, position, and function), and the relationship between one and three is inconceivable. Chih-i defines this subtle state of inconceivability as neither the same nor different, with which the nature of flexibility of the Ultimate Truth is emphasized: “The one aspect that is discussed contains the three aspects; the three aspects that are discussed are actually one aspect. These aspects are not different from each other, neither are they besides one another nor are they the same. Therefore, they are called ‘subtle’.”

Third, considering that the Ultimate Truth is represented by the Buddha-vehicle, Chih-i regards the realization of the Ultimate Truth as the state of Buddhahood. This ultimate state is vehemently emphasized by Chih-i to be quiescent and illuminating. For instance, in his definition of the Subtlety of the Original Empathy and Response, Chih-i states that the Buddha abides at the state of quiescence and is able to illuminate sentient beings by responding to them in order to activate their inherent wisdom. Chih-i’s focus on the aspect of illumination unravels dynamic and functional nature of the Ultimate Truth.

Fourth, the Ultimate Truth is spoken of by Chih-i in terms of the Buddha-nature that is originally possessed by all sentient beings. The Buddha-nature as the Ultimate Truth indicates that Buddhahood can be universally attained by all beings, and that Buddhahood is the ultimate goal for religious salvation, whereas it does not exclude any being. On the other hand, the concept of Buddha-nature draws a complete scheme of religious path to liberation, for it includes the cause and effect of Buddhahood. The Buddha-nature that is embedded in all beings denotes the potentiality of beings as the cause for attaining Buddhahood. The manifestation of the Buddha-nature indicates the attainment of Buddhahood as the effect. Thus, by revealing universal liberation of all beings, the Buddha-nature as the Ultimate Truth is designated the feature of non-exclusiveness (i.e., comprehensiveness). The Buddha-nature as the Ultimate Truth that includes the cause for Buddhahood in the beginning and the effect of Buddhahood at the end of religious path formulates a feature of completeness and perfection. (Page 36-37)

[Chih-i’s] talent lies in the fact that he not only absorbed and incorporated different views and theories, but also went beyond all of his predecessors and contemporaries by formulating his own system of thought. Since his system is based on a complete evaluation and critique of all other available views of his time, it is thus endowed with the features of syncretism, comprehensiveness, and completeness, and a sense of harmony, flexibility, and perfection.

With regard to Tendai Buddhism in Japan that was founded by Saichō (767-822), it was “essentially the same as its parent sect in China, and was based like it on the teachings of the Lotus Sūtra.” The Nichiren School in Japan that is founded by Nichiren (1222-1282) not only worships the Lotus Sūtra as the supreme of all scriptures, but also goes so far as to only chant the title of the Lotus Sūtra as the most revered phrase, representing the cause and effect of Buddhahood. This can be seen as the impact of Chih-i’s effort of interpreting the title of the Lotus Sūtra in his work Hsüan-i (Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra).

The biography of Kumārajīva describes how he displayed his talent even when he was still in his mother’s womb. It is said that after his mother conceived him, the wisdom of Kumārajīva was so highly effective that he even influenced his mother, with which she became very knowledgeable, and her understanding ability was doubled than before. In addition, she was able to speak Sanskrit language without ever having learned it before, and was extremely fluent in being engaged in debate. (Page 10)

At the time of Chih-i, facing voluminous Buddhist scriptures and commentaries and diverse discourses, there was obviously an urgent need for a comprehensive guideline to swim through controversies in order to get a clear picture of what the real theme of the teaching of the Buddha is. Only when the real intention of the Buddha was grasped, the disputes over various Buddhist principles could be resolved. It was Chih-i who has come to the scene to fulfill this huge task. He has appropriately chosen the Lotus Sūtra to be the supreme doctrine, because of its reconcilable nature in incorporating all divisions of Buddhism, and because it equally addresses all sentient beings. The essence of T’ien-t’ai Buddhism is revealed through this text with Chih-i’s unique interpretations. When the concepts and principles in Indian Buddhism are reshaped, remolded, redefined, and re-categorized with Chinese epistemology in Chih-i’s system, they become distinctively Chinese, forming the main characteristics of Chinese Buddhism. Therefore, Chih-i is worthy to be called one of the greatest Buddhist masters in China, who contributed greatly to Chinese Buddhism which developed to full bloom in the T’ang Dynasty. (Preface xix-xxx)

A tradition of expressing one’s thought by commenting on the Confucian or Taoist classics was prominent especially throughout this period. A whole different outlook was presented through various kinds of interpretations of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu which was a typical form of the Hsüan-hsüeh [Neo-Taoism] discourse during the Wei and Chin as well as during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Apparently, Chih-i has followed this tradition as well, such as in the case of his two commentaries on the Lotus Sūtra. However, his work Hsüan-i (Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra) is more than just a commentary, rather, it is the expression of his own system of thought. Andō Toshio highly values Chih-i’s approach. He goes so far as to say:

“If the three great works of T’ien-t’ai are supposed to be the commentaries on the Lotus Sūtra, one may well consider the Lotus Sūtra as the annotation for Chih-i ‘s original thought.”

It should be noted that the term Shih-hsiang (True Mark) was originally used by Kumārajiva in his translation of the Lotus Sūtra. This term is equivalent to the Dharma-nature, i.e., true nature of entities (Skt., dharmatā; Ch., Fa-hsing) or the Dharma-realm, i.e., the realm of the ultimate or true reality (Skt., dharmadhātu; Ch., Fa-chieh) and so forth. The term specifically stands for the truth of dependent origination (Skt., pratītyasamutpāda; Ch., Yüan-ch’i). What Shih-hsiang represents is the principle, and this principle denotes the true form of all things as they are, the true original nature, true reality, real aspect, and bears the characteristics of being unchanging, indestructible, immanent and permanent. Therefore, in Chih-i’s philosophy, the immanent nature of the Ultimate Truth is taken as the substance the underlying principle of all things, which embraces, diminishes all differences and affirms all existing things, and is the comprehensive and affirmative view of reality in terms of the Middle Way. The implementation of this feature of non-distinction and being all-embracing is the adherence to the One Buddha-vehicle as the single reality of the teaching of the Buddha. The unchanging, indestructible and permanent nature of the Ultimate Truth is viewed by Chih-i as the Buddha-nature inherent in all sentient beings. The Ultimate Truth as the realm of true reality is characterized by Chih-i in terms of the Ten Suchnesses and the Ten Dharma-realms. Due to the richness the term Shih-hsiang (Ultimate Truth) denotes, it features the core of Chih-i’s thought: everything can be concluded as the expression and revelation of the Ultimate Truth, and the Ultimate Truth is the substance and principle of all things.