Tiantai's Teachings on the Judgment of Religions -- A Series of Essays on Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism by Fu Shi Lun

Author: Han Huanzhong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-11-01
Features: The judgment of teachings is a product of the sinicization of Buddhism and also an academic method that further promotes the sinicization of Buddhism. Master Zhiyi of Tiantai used the "Five Flavors and Eight Teachings" as the means of judgment and the entire Buddhist scriptures and theories as the teachings to be judged. He interpreted the concepts of realms, wisdom, practice, hierarchy, the Three Laws, and the relationship between Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya in Buddhist scriptures one by one. He highly promoted the "Lotus Sutra" with the principle of "manifesting the root and revealing the manifestation" and applied the principle of "non-duality of the root and manifestation" to other scriptures. Master Zhiyi of Tiantai constructed the doctrinal system of the Tiantai sect through the method of judgment, which had a broad and profound impact on the development of Chinese Buddhism.