CONTEMPLATIONS OF TIANTAI
IN CONSTRUCTION
天台宗
The Tiantai zong (T'ien-t'ai model; it absorbed the Nirvana school).
The Meditation: Contemplation by the visualization of the three thousand qualities of illusion in an instant. The hundred divisions of realms and the thousand qualities form the sphere of visualisation, by way of the Threefold Contemplation (past present and future) of the Two Truths (Threefold), the Fourfold Teachings, the Subtle Dharma, and the Non-conceivable Discernment.
The school was founded by Chih-che during the Sui Dynasty (6th century). The chief text is the Lotus Sutra (the Law-flower Sutra) which is supported by the Prajnaparamita Sutra, the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, etc. It teaches one to rest the physical body in three aspects and to gain a clear insight into truth from three views.This name is attributed to the Tian-tai Mountain in Che-chiang Province.
This model divides each of the ten realms of existence (hells, ghosts, animals, asuras, men, devas, sravakas, pratyeka-buddhas, bodhisattvas, and buddhas) into ten divisions and each division has ten qualities making a total of one thousand qualities. These qualities are further multiplied by three (past, present, and future) making a total of three thousand qualities.
The main Tiantai meditation treatises are :
Zhiyi's Concise Śamatha-vipaśyanā (小止観)
Mahā-śamatha-vipaśyanā (摩訶止観)
Six Subtle Dharma Gates (六妙法門)
The attainment of Awakening is correctly based upon śamatha and vipaśyanā. Śamatha (first four jhanas) is the first step to untie all bonds and vipaśyanā is essential to root out delusion through correct absorption using Perception, Memory, Cognition, Consciousness and develops Wisdom.
六妙法門
It is important to understand these six Dharma Gates and their relation to the Chan processes.
1. Watching of the breath, called here "Counting the Breath."
2. "Following with Tranquility," the development of the Becoming of Consciousness.
3. "Stabilizing" the Becoming of Consciousness. This is the stilling of the mind.
These three are identical to the normal Contemplative approach where the Becoming of Consciousness is established through breathing in the background and the presence of non-particularity in the sensations and establishment of Defensive Qi.
4. The then prevailing absorption may use "Turning Back," which is the contemplation of the origin of mind itself.
5. Purification.
6. Insight Contemplation.
These forms of śamatha-vipaśyanā are correlated with the meditative perspectives of emptiness and provisional existence, as the method of cultivating realization.
It is important for Chan students, then, to discern the actual illusion inherent in these and this is effectively discerning through the development of contemplation of the Emptiness of Emptiness itself.
This carries the meditation beyond the Tiantai vipassana level into Buddha's Supra Mundane mode.
The Chan approach with Contemplation of the Emptiness of Emptiness is indicated as the final Contemplation Device. It is clear that the Buddha's Supra Mundane Contemplations must also be understood.
THE CONFESSION BY INTROSPECTION UPON THOUGHTS