3. The Buddha-Nature Thought in the Tiantai School

At the same time in China, while Bodhidharma (470-534 CE) and his disciple Huike (487-593 CE) at the Shao-lin temple were preaching the doctrine of “not depending the scriptures”, Huisi (515-677 CE) and his disciple Zhiyi (538-597 CE) at the Tiantai Mountain were trying to establish the doctrines of the Tiantai School.

Zhiyi was technically considered as the third patriarch after Huiwen and Huisi; but actually he was the founder of the Tiantai School. Zhiyi is famous for being the first in the history of Chinese Buddhism to elaborate a complete, critical and systematic classification of the Buddhist teachings (Panjiao) into five periods and eight types of teachings, in order to explain the seemingly contradictory doctrines of Buddhism. He is also regarded as the first major figure to make a significant break from the Indian tradition, to form an indigenous Chinese system. He received his most important influences from his first teacher Huisi a meditation master who would later be listed as Zhiyi‘s predecessor in the Tiantai lineage. After a period of study with Hui-ssu, he spend some time working in the Southern Capital, after which he retired to Tiantai mountain for intensive study and practice with a group of disciples, adapting the Indian meditation practice of śamatha-vipaśyanā (Zhiguan) into his system. Zhiyi wrote very little, but his lectures were recorded by his faithful disciple Guanding (562-632 CE). The most important of these lectures are the three great works: Miaofa lianhuajing xuanyi (Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra)^[1] , Miaofa lianhuajing wenju (Textual Commentary on the Lotus Sūtra),^[2] and Mohe zhiguan (Great Concentration and Insight)^[3] .

The central doctrines of the Tiantai School are crystallized in its three common sayings, namely, “the true nature of reality”; “the perfect harmony of the threefold truth”; and “the three thousand worlds immanent in an instance of thought”.^[4] All these doctrines, as will be presented hereafter, are based upon the thought of Buddha-nature.

In the “threefold truth”, the Tiantai School taught that there is a true state or principle which is realizable through and manifested in phenomena. There is no principle besides phenomenon; the phenomenon itself is principle. In order to avoid thinking of principle versus phenomenon, the Tiantai School established the threefold truth: emptiness, temporariness, and mean. Kongdi, the truth of emptiness, means all existences are empty and non-substantial in essence. Jiadi, truth of temporariness, means all existences are temporary manifestations produced by causes and conditions. Zhongdi, the truth of the mean, means the absolute reality of all existences cannot be explained in either negative or affirmative terms.^[5] Here, “mean” (zhongdi) is not something between the two; it is over and above the other two or duality. Thus, the truth of the zhongdi is really the Buddha-nature. Basing on the nature of Buddha-nature that is identical in Buddhas and in all beings, Zhiyi emphasizes the idea of totality and mutual identification; the whole and its parts are identical. The whole cosmos and all the Buddhas may be present in a grain of sand or the point of a hair or, as the Tiantai master would put it, “The three thousand worlds immanent in an instance of thought”. Such an expression is intended to show the interpretation of all dharmas and the ultimate unity of the universe. When this is applied to the religious life, it means that phenomenal life is not denied but affirmed absolutely. The everyday life of the layman is part of the life of the Buddha.

To make clear this idea, in the Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra, Zhiyi quoted the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra and explained:

“大經云。十二因緣名為佛性者。無明愛取既是煩惱。煩惱道即是菩提。菩提通達無復煩惱。煩惱既無即究竟淨。了因佛性也。行有是業道即是解脫。解脫自在緣因佛性也。名色老死是苦道。苦 即法身。法身無苦無樂是名大樂。不生不死是常。正因佛性故。”^[6]

The Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra says, “Twelvefold conditioned coarising is also called the Buddha-nature.” This means that ignorance, passion, and attachment are identified with defilements or kleśa. But kleśa and bodhi are integrated. Bodhi is penetrating understanding, and thus it has no kleśa. If one has no kleśa, then one has ultimate purity; this is Buddha-nature as the complete cause of Buddhahood. The two links of volitional activity and existence are identified with the way of karmic deeds, which is integrated with deliverance. Mastery in deliverance is the Buddha-nature as conditional cause for Buddhahood. The links of name (mind)-and-form and decay-and-death refer to the way of suffering. Suffering is integrated with the Dharma Body. The Dharma Body has neither suffering nor pleasure; therefore it is called “great bliss”. It is neither born nor it does it die, so it is eternal. This is the Buddha-nature as the correct cause of Buddhahood.^[7]

The integration of Buddha-nature and phenomena was also presented in the doctrine of “absolute mind” of the Tiantai School. This absolute mind embraces the universe in its entirety. All things in the world depend on this mind for their existence. This absolute mind originally and for all times contains two natures, one pure and the other impure. Its pure nature is responsible for the attributes of the Buddha, while its impure nature is responsible for the myriad things in the phenomenal world. In its substance the absolute mind is everywhere the sane and undifferentiated, but in its functioning it is diverse and is therefore differentiated. But in spite of their variety all phenomenon manifestations are harmoniously integrated in the absolute mind. The theory that everything is a manifestation of the absolute mind leads logically to the position taken by Zhanran (711-782 CE), the sixth patriarch of the Tiantai School in China, who held that the Buddha-nature is to be found even in inanimate things such as mountains, rivers, or the tiniest particle of dust. Zhan-ran is best known for his scriptural exegesis of such works as Zhiyi‘s Mohe Zhiguan (The Great Calming and Contemplation), as well as his promotion of the doctrine of universal Buddha-nature.^[8]

Briefly, Zhiyi classified the Buddha-nature into three categories, or three types of causes for attaining Buddhhood: the “correct cause” is all beings are inherently endowed with the principle or nature of the Tathāgata. This corresponds to the role of the objective realm in the attainment of Buddhahood. The “complete cause” is the wisdom which illumines or realizes the inherent Buddha-nature. This corresponds to the role of wisdom in the attainment of Buddhahood. The “conditional cause” is the conditions, the practice of the Buddhist path, which bring about the realization of wisdom. This corresponds to the role of practice in the attainment of Buddhahood.

The above detailed analysis of Buddha-nature in the Tiantai School shows that Buddha-nature has very important role in the thought of this school. Buddha-nature was the fundamental thought from which Zhiyi proposed the central doctrines of the Tiantai School. Not only having importance in the Tiantai School, but the doctrine of Buddhanature also occupied the important role in the thought of the Hui-yen School.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Miaofa lianhuajing xuanyi 妙法蓮華經玄義, Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011) [T33n1716], pp. 681-814.

[2]:

Miaofa lianhuajing wenju 妙法蓮華經文句, Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011) [T34n1718], pp. 001-150.

[3]:

Mohe zhiguan 摩訶止觀, Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011) [T46n1911], pp. 001-140.

[4]:

Wing-tsit Chan, Aṅguttaranikāya Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, p. 24.

[5]:

Kenneth K. Saṃyuttanikāya. Ch‘en, Buddhism in China: Aṅguttaranikāya Historical Survey, p. 311.

[6]:

Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011) [T33n1716], p. 700a.

[7]:

Paul L. Swanson (Tr.), Foundations of the Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011)’ien-t’ai Philosophy, p. 222.

[8]:

Kenneth K. Saṃyuttanikāya. Ch‘en, Buddhism in China: Aṅguttaranikāya Historical Survey, p. 313.