Tiantai

Tiantai is a school of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism named after Tiantai Mountain in Zhejiang province. It arose in the 6th century during the Liang dynasty and was developed by Zhiyi (Chih-i), with earlier contributions from Guanding. The school offered a systematic, integrative approach to Buddhist doctrine, bringing together various sutras and teachings into a coherent framework.

Its doctrinal centerpiece is the Lotus Sutra, which the school regards as the culmination of the Buddha’s teaching. Tiantai articulates the Threefold Truth—emptiness (the ultimate nature of phenomena), conventional existence (the everyday sense of reality), and the nondual unity of emptiness and existence. It also emphasizes the unity of all dharmas and the idea that countless realms can be perceived within a single moment of thought (the concept known as ichinen sanzen). The Five Periods and Twelve Stages of the Buddha’s teaching are used to classify sutras and explain how the Buddha’s message unfolds from provisional to ultimate truth.

Practically, Tiantai emphasizes the equal cultivation of calm and insight, as outlined by Zhiyi in the meditation text Mohe Zhiguan (Great Calming and Contemplation). The school promotes a comprehensive, practice-oriented path that integrates doctrinal study, meditation, and devotion to the Lotus Sutra.

Tiantai had a significant influence on East Asian Buddhism. It inspired the Japanese Tendai school, founded by Saichō, who studied Tiantai in China. Its doctrinal motifs also shaped later movements, including Nichiren Buddhism’s emphasis on ichinen sanzen. The Tiantai tradition continued to influence Chinese and Japanese Buddhist scholarship and monastic practice for centuries.