Lecture 9: Tiantai School Flashcards
What are the names of two major Buddhist sutras most important to the Tiantai School?
- The Lotus Sutra
- The Great Nirvana Sutra
Who were the two major figures (Chinese monks) in Tiantai School and what were their major works?
- Huisi, who wrote Dasheng Zhiguan Famen ( Method of Concentration and Intuition in Mahayana).
- Zhiyi, who wrote Maha Zhiguan (Mahayanic Concentration and Intuition).
Analyze the meaning and method of zhiguan (cessation) in the Tiantai School.
- The method of cessation consists in practicing Buddhist meditation, focusing on breathing (xi), facing the emptiness of the phenomenal (or material) world (se) and returning to the One Pure Mind (xin), the Ultimate Reality.
- Six Methods: breath-counting (shu), breath-following (shui), calmness of mind (zhi), intuition of essence of objects in the world (guan), return them to emptiness (fan), and bring the emptiness into the One Pure Mind (jing).
- These could be practiced while one is always sitting (changzuo), while one is always walking (changxing), or half sitting half walking (banzuo banxing).
What is the meaning of the Tiantai doctrine “perfect harmony of three levels of truth”?
The first doctrine, “perfect harmony of three levels of truth,” means the truth of emptiness (kong), the truth of hypothesis (jia) and the truth of middle path (zhong) are all harmonized by the Mind as the only true reality. There is only one Mind/Heart, not in a human but metaphysically, which makes up everything (is the Ultimate Reality).
What is meaning of the Tiantai doctrine “true nature of all dharmas”?
The second doctrine, “true nature of all dharmas,” means all dharmas have no self-nature (i.e. are empty); they depend on the Pure Mind/Heart as their true reality, yet they still enjoy certain hypothetical existence. (Remember that the Tiantai school accepts causality.) The very nature of all dharmas is both empty and hypothetical.
What is the essential meaning the Tiantai doctrine “three thousand worlds in an instant of thought”? What kind of world vision does it imply?
- “Three thousand worlds (san qian shijie)” means the totality of all phenomenal world is not pluralistic, but unified in the sense that all come from the one Universal Mind.
- The phenomenal world consists of ten realms, each of them involving the other, thereby making 100 realms. Each of the 100 realms possesses 10 characteristics, now becoming 1000 realms. Each of these 1000 realms consists of living beings, of space and of aggregates, therefore becoming 3000 worlds.
- One is in all and all is in one; they are not pluralistic, but unified in the sense that the all come from the One Universal Mind/Heart. This is monism, seeing the world as one, and one manifesting into many.
Examine Huisi’s major philosophical difficulty and how Zhiyi overcame Huisi’s difficulty.
- Huisi’s Method of Concentration and Intuition in Mahayana has two points of weakness.
- First, ontologically, it is questionable that true-thusness is originally pure and in the meanwhile impure (i.e. that it’s both good and evil).
- Second, logically, the attribution of defilements to the Absolute Mind is a confusion of thought and a logical inconsistency (i.e. to say that something is both good and evil at the same time), which is recognized by Huisi himself.
- Zhiyi posits the One Pure and Clean Mind in all beings to be achieved by practicing absolute zhiguan (juedui zhiguan; the point where you reach the Ultimate Real and there is no contamination, only pure cessation and contamination). This practice presupposes a philosophy of mind exempt from all duality (i.e. you reach the Ultimate Mind at the very end and there is no potentiality for good or evil). The Mind is the basis of all dharmas. It is commonly accepted that without Mind there would be no thought and no awareness.
- As to the double nature of mind both pure and impure or contaminated, Zhiyi recognizes them only on the hypothetical level, to say that the hypothetical mind is both pure and contaminated.
Explain the Tiantai School’s division of Buddha’s teaching into five moments.
“Division of Buddha’s Teachings” (panjiao) is a special phenomenon in Chinese Mahayana Buddhism (there is no division in Indian Buddhism), meant to dissolve the perplexities caused by diverse Buddhist sutras and to consolidate the fundamental tenets of Buddha’s teachings from beginning to end into an integrative system of truth. It also aims to divide certain teachings into higher and lower forms of Buddhism.
What are the five moments of Buddha’s teachings?
- Huayan Moment (splendor of flowers): Buddhist doctrine as proclaimed by Buddha right after his sudden enlightenment after sitting under a tree for 40 days; represents the highest moment of his teachings.
- Deer Garden Moment (Luyuan Moment): in order to make his teaching understandable to common people, Buddha taught also the Hinayana Buddhism in the Deer Garden, including the four noble truths (e.g. how to ease suffering; they are all Mahayana Buddhism) taught in the Agamas.
- Vaipulya Moment (“Vaipulya” means extension, everywhere being equal): where Buddha taught the intermediate level Mahayana Buddhism for all, not just common people.
- Prajna Moment: a higher form of Mahayana Buddhism contained in the Prajna Sutras.
- Fahua Moment (fahua meaning lotus flower) and Nirvana Moment: appear in the teachings of the Lotus Sutra (Saddharma Pundarika) and the Nirvana Sutra (Mahaparinirvana).
