Zhiyi, the Tiantai founder, sets out ten things that Buddhist monks should keep in mind when teaching and practicing Buddhism. Roughly these ten are to:

1. Clarify that the principle of the path is the quiescent and inconceivable true nature of reality.
2. Establish the structure and framework of the sūtras, particularly in terms of the eight kinds of teachings that include four types according to content and four according to method.
3. Reconcile seeming contradictions with the four aims of teaching in order to meet people’s worldly desires, individual strengths, therapeutic needs, or to directly teach the ultimate truth.
4. Eliminate wrong views and attitudes.
5. Practice in a way that is appropriate to one’s ability and without pride.
6. Deeply understand the meaning of the teachings both broadly and deeply.
7. Unfold the meaning of the sūtras gradually with attention to context and in coordination with the meanings in other sūtras.
8. Gradually settle the interpretation of the sūtras in agreement with what they actually say.
9. Make sure to match meanings and connotations when translating sūtras.
10. Fully assimilate the meaning of the sūtras through contemplation.

Zhiyi claims to maintain nine of these practices, with the exception of translation of Buddhist texts, and criticizes those monks who only study but do not practice meditative contemplation on the one hand, and on the other hand criticizes those who only meditate but do not study.

Except for translation, in nine out of ten ways I am vastly different from those monks in the world who study only the writings or those Zen monks who are concerned with formality. Some Zen monks concentrate on meditation, but their meditation is either shallow or false. They practice none of the remaining nine except for meditation. This is not idle talk. Wise men in the future who have eyes should consider this seriously. (Hori 2002, p. 100)

Zhiyi is making the point that the true practitioner maintains a balance between the study of the Buddha’s teachings to inform practice and the putting into practice of the teachings through meditation. In this he is not only saying that those who study the sūtras and those who meditate should have mutual respect, as the Venerable Mahācunda advised, but that a true practitioner will engage in both in order to have authentic practice and understanding.