Today: Tiendai and Chan (Zen)
Buddhism
November 5, 2015
• First Tiantai…
• It is known as Tendai in Japan. This branch of
Mahayana Buddhism was founded in China
and then brought to Korea, Japan, and
Vietnam.
• The name Tiantai is taken from Tiantai
Mountain in China, where this school’s fourth
patriach, Zhiyi lived (538-597).
Zhiyi (538-597),
the founder of
Tiantai.
Scenes of Mount Tiantai.
Here is a short video about Tiantai (Tendai) in
China and Japan.
• Zhiyi is famous as the first Chinese Buddhist
master to truly break from the Indian Buddhist
tradition (= not just following a school of
Buddhism already established in India).
• This school was entirely Chinese in origin, rather
than a transplantation from India. Inasmuch as
the name is taken from a Chinese mountain, we
can see that it was intended to be a truly Chinese
Buddhist school.
• This school of Buddhism is also known as “The
Lotus School” because of the importance it gives
to the Lotus Sutra.
• From the time of the Tang dynasty in China (618-907),
Tiantai became popular. In later centuries it declined again.
• Now, a few words about Zhiyi. Although he is considered to
be the fourth patriarch of this lineage, he was effectively its
real founder.
• He went to Tiantai Mountain, which was already a center
for ascetics, to study meditation.
• While there, he practiced samatha (mindful breathing) and
vipassana (insight into reality) meditation.
• From this training, he developed a system of Buddhist
practice that included devotional rituals, and thereby made
it more easily adaptable outside the Indian context.
Vipassana meditation involves mindfulness, or
observing what is going on in the moment. Have you
ever tried it?
• Zhiyi wrote a text called Lesser Treatise on
Concentration and Insight, which was probably
the first manual of Buddhist meditation in China.
• Later he also created the Greater Treatise on
Concentration and Insight, which is the main text
for Tiantai (Tendai).
• In the meditation that he taught, he emphasized
two elements: (1) sitting in meditation and (2)
insightful mindfulness to surrounding conditions.
• Tiantai developed a system for mindfulness
through breathing exercises.
• “Mindfulness” means being aware of what is
going on from moment to moment, such as the in
and out movement of breath, and the arrival and
departure of thoughts in the mind.
• For this training, Zhiyi delineated four kinds of
breathing,of which only the last kind is correct
for mindfulness.
Zhiyi wrote about the proper way to breathe in
meditation.
• The four kinds of breathing mentioned were:
• (a) Panting, (b) unhurried breathing, (c) deep and
quiet breathing, and (d) stillness or rest.
• Zhiyi wrote that only “stillness,“ the last method
of breathing, was the preferred style of breathing
in meditation.
• Tiantai Buddhism taught that one could rapidly
gain enlightenment (within this lifetime) by
focusing on the mind in meditative practice.
• According to Zhiyi, the Buddha gave different
teachings over five different periods of his life.
• As we may recall from our previous lecture,
early Mahayana in East Asia highlighted the
concept of skillful means.
• The term “skillful means” is used to indicate
that one uses whatever methods for teaching
the Buddhist Dharma that is best adapted to
the capacities of the listener (or audience).
Skillful
means…meani
ng doing
whatever is
suitable to get
successful
results.
• We saw the principle of skillful means applied in the
story of the man who rescued his children from the
burning house by promising them toys if they would
leave the house (= say whatever is necessary to save
people).
• This is consistent with the Mahayana ideal of the
bodhisattva, who will do anything to bring others to
enlightenment before he will seek enlightenment for
himself.
• The bodhisattva will adapt his methods to the needs of
the people he seeks to help.
• The five periods are therefore an example of skillful means,
in which the Buddha adapted his basic teachings to match
the differing capacities of his changing public clientele.
• According to Zhiyi, the five periods of the Buddha’s
teaching were:
• (1) The Flower Garland (Avatamsaka Sutra) Period, for three
weeks after the Buddha attained enlightenment. In this
period, the Buddha supposedly taught that there were
countless Buddhist universes.
• This teaching described the bodhisattva’s path through ten
stages. It also discusses the development of bodhicitta (the
seed of enlightenment, to be developed in the
bodhisattva’s practice).
In Zhiyi’s teachings, the number of Buddhas is limitless, hence
the universe is full of Buddhist realms. A mandala can illustrate
one particular Buddhist cosmic realm.
• (2) The Agama Period, taught at the Deer Park (Sarnath) for
12 years. In this period, the Buddha taught the Agamas
(early scriptures including part of the Pali canon of
Theravada Buddhism).
• In this period, he also taught the Four Noble Truths and
Dependent Origination (every thing dependent on other
phenomena).
• (3) The Vaipulya (Correct and Equal) Period, lasting 8 years.
During this period the Buddha taught the main Mahayana
ideas contained in several sutras.
• Examples of this teaching are nondualism (the middle path,
not choosing one side over the other), the doctrine of
emptiness (shunyata), and the teaching that is beyond
words (= hence the truth as silence).
According to Zhiyi, the Buddha taught for 12 years in
the Deer Park at Sarnath.
• (4) The Prajna (Wisdom) Period, lasting 22 years. During
this period elaborated on the concept of emptiness
(shunyata), as recorded in the Prajnaparamita Sutras (which
we discussed previously).
• In this teaching, although all things may appear to be
substantial, they are actually ultimately empty of
substance. Also, all phenomena that are experienced (=
dharmas) are actually dependent on each other, rather
than being independent.
• (5) The Lotus and Nirvana Period, lasting 8 years. During
this period the Buddha preached about the one
encompassing path (vehicle) of Buddhism, which is
perpetuated by three kinds of Buddhist beings:
The Buddha taught about emptiness for 12 years
too.
• (a) sravaka (Buddhist disciples, or monks),
• (b) pratyekabuddhas (those who attain
buddhahood on their own, without becoming
monks), and
• (c) bodhisattvas (who vow to save the world
before themselves).
• The sravakas are equivalent to Theravada monks,
who are committed to enlightenment, but who
do not necessarily actively try to save others.
• On the other hand, the bodhisattvas do try to save
others, so they are examples of Mahayana doctrine.
• In Tiantai teaching, Buddhas can easily move between
the everyday world of samsara and the world of
nirvana. They have the ability to appear on every level
of existence in order to teach the Dharma.
• The five teachings of the Buddha, as propounded in
Tiantai, are an example of how the Chinese Buddhist
sects synthesized and condensed Indian Buddhist
teachings to select the most important points for the
Chinese public.
• In line with the concept of skillful means,
then, Tiantai promoted the idea that the
Buddha preached four types of teachings:
• (1) Gradual teaching, for those with lesser
learning abilities (needing more time to learn
the Buddhist principles).
• (2) Sudden teaching, for those who had
superior abilities (capable of quickly grasping
the important Buddhist concepts).
The Buddha was said to have taught the Dharma
at different levels according to the different
learning capacities of his followers.
• (3) Secret teaching, which were more profound and
mystical, and could be transmitted without the
recipient even realizing it.
• (4) Variable (adaptable) teaching, which could be
readily adapted to any kind of person or situation.
• And so, we can see that, as in other branches of
Mahayana, human nature is taken as the basis for
varying the Buddhist teaching. Some people can
understand more, and some less, so we teach
according to their ability to learn.
In his third
mode of
teaching, the
Buddha taught
in more
esoteric or
mystical terms.
In this mode,
the student
might not even
realize that
they were
being taught.
• Generally, confronted by the many diverse schools of
Buddhist thought from India, Chinese Buddhist thinkers
tried to synthesize the various teachings into a
comprehensive system.
• And so, Zhiyi accordingly said that the Buddha’s four
methods of teaching corresponded to four Buddhist
doctrines, each geared towards a different kind of
audience. They were:
• (1) The Tripitaka Teaching: sutra or scripture, vinaya or
monastic rules, and Abhidamma, the basic teachings.
These correspond to the essential Theravada doctrine.
• In this first kind of teaching, one renounces the everyday
world and aims for nirvana. At this level of understanding,
people are only interested in their own salvation.
The Buddha’s
Abhidhamma
teaching was
equivalent to the
basic Theraevada
doctrine.
• (2) “The Common Teaching”: the doctrine of
emptiness. This means the understanding that all
things are ultimately empty.
• This understanding is shared by both Theravada
and Mahayana. It means that people recognize
that all things have no underlying substance (=
doctrine of anatma).
• Emptiness in this case means the emptiness that
is observed in Dependent Co-Arising, where each
thing is dependent on something else, and
cannot exist independently.
Teaching about Dependent Co-Arising; this is both
Theravada and Mahayana doctrine.
• (3) “The Special Teaching”: especially for
Mahayana, and therefore for bodhisattvas. This
doctrine is aimed at teaching the principle of
putting the salvation of all sentient beings before
oneself.
• This corresponds to mainstream Mahayana
teaching.
• In this understanding, each person is born with a
fundamental Buddha-nature, which can be
awakened to realize oneself as a Buddha. Huayan
follows this understanding.
Each of us
contains
Buddha