智顗

Readings

Pinyin: Zhìyǐ

Wade-Giles: Chih-i

Hangul: 지의

Korean MC: Jiui

Korean MR: Chiŭi

Katakana: チギ

Hepburn: Chigi

Trí ỷ

Zhiyi

• (538–597) Technically listed as the fourth patriarch, but the de facto founder of the Tiantai 天台 school in China. Also known as 智者, 天台, and 天台大師. His surname was Chen 陳; his style was, De-an 德安. A native of 頴川 Ying-chuan in Anhui, became a neophyte at 7, and was fully ordained at 20. Zhiyi is famous for being the first scholar in the history of Chinese Buddhism to elaborate a complete, critical and systematic taxonomy of the Buddhist 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, and to form an indigenous Chinese system. He received his most important influences from his first teacher, Nanyue Huisi 南嶽 慧思 (515–577), a meditation master who would later be listed as his predecessor in the Tiantai lineage. After a period of study with Huisi, Zhiyi spent some time working in the southern capital of Jinling, after which he retired to Tiantai mountain for intensive study and practice with a group of disciples, adapting the Indian meditation practice of zhiguan 止觀 into his system. A distinctive aspect of his study and teaching is his high evaluation of the Lotus Sūtra, and much of the profound influence of this text on East Asian Buddhism can be attributed to Zhiyi. Beyond his seminal commentaries on the Lotus among his many important works are the Mohe zhiguan 摩訶止觀 and the Liu miaofamen 六妙法門. Although many of the works attributed to him may have been written by his disciples, about thirty texts are extant that list him as their author. His school also became the foundation of important Buddhist schools in Korea and Japan. In addition to his work on the Lotus Sūtra, he commented on numerous other important Mahāyāna texts, also composing influential treatises on practice, such that he stands as one of the single most influential persons in the history of East Asian Buddhism. 〔續高僧傳 T 2060.50.480a21〕[resp. cmuller, John McRae; source(s): JEBD, Yokoi, Iwanami]

Dictionary References:

Bukkyō jiten (Ui), 726

Bulgyo sajeon, 824a

Chūgoku bukkyōshi jiten (Kamata), 3,21,29,40,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,53,62,68,71,89,98,108,109,117,118,119,124,128,134,159,162,178,188,202,245,246,249,250,265,266,268,288,306,307,309,315,330,343,352,359,360,364,365,370,371,375,376,387,391,408

Fo Guang Dictionary, 5038

Ding Fubao

Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.), 843c

Iwanami bukkyō jiten, 561

A Glossary of Zen Terms (Inagaki), 90, 103, 354

Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha), 30a/31

Japanese-English Zen Buddhist Dictionary (Yokoi), 51

Zen Dust (Sasaki), 188

Index to the Bussho kaisetsu daijiten (Ono), 437

Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki), (v.1-6)3556c,1145a,2317b,3798c, (v.9-10)764b,778b

Bukkyō daijiten (Oda), 1191-2

Copyright © 2010 -- Charles Muller

generated: 2013-01-14