智顗=Venerable Zhi-yi; 一念三千=To embrace three thousands worlds in a thought; 六即佛位=Six Stages of Realisation to Buddhahood; 六妙法門=The Six Subtle and Magnificent Practices; 四種佛土=Four Types of Buddhaland; 十乘觀法=Ten Ways of Contemplation; 圓頓止觀=The Complete and Immediate Practice of Concentra; 釋禪波羅蜜次第法門=An Explanation on the Stages of Practice of Medi; 觀心法門=The practice of contemplating the mind
This thesis investigates the Complete and Immediate Practice of Concentration and Contemplation founded by Venerable Zhi-yi. Topics of research include investigating his ideology, methods of practice and classification of stages of cultivation and attainment. The main focus of the thesis is to analyse the actual ways of practice and the uniqueness of the theory of this Complete and Immediate Practice of Concentration and Contemplation of the Tian-tai school. Firstly, this thesis studies Venerable Zhi-yi’s journey of practice and attainment throughout his life. This sets the foundation for further investigation into the Tian-tai school’s Complete and Immediate Practice of Concentration and Contemplation. This thesis illustrates how Venerable Zhi-yi’s journey of practice throughout his life is in accordance with the ‘Contemplation and Practice Stage of Realisation’ (the five processes in the practice of the ‘Five Levels of Practitioners’), in the Tian-tai’s classification of stages of cultivation. Secondly, by setting its foundation on the supreme truth of the Tian-tai school’s Complete Teaching, and from the perspectives of way of contemplation, liberation and attainment of Buddhahood, this thesis explains the uniqueness of the Complete Teaching, and the significance of the Complete Teaching’s practice of concentration and contemplation. Then, the thesis goes on to study Venerable Zhi-yi’s three major writings on cultivation of concentration and contemplation. They are: An Explanation on Stages of Practice of Meditation Paramita (Shi Chan Bo Luo Mi Ci Di Fa Men), The Six Subtle and Magnificent Practices (Liu Miao Fa Men), The Great Practice of Concentration and Contemplation (Mo He Zhi Guan). Among them, The Great Practice of Concentration and Contemplation is the major writing that constructs the teaching of the Complete and Immediate Practice of Concentration and Contemplation. It expounds the non-sequential meditative practice of the Complete Teaching in Tian-tai, and the utmost comprehensive and immediate practice of contemplating the mind. Among the major practices of the Tian-tai school, this thesis highlights and provides explanations and analysis on the cultivation of the ‘Twenty-five Skilful Means’, the ‘Four Types of Samadhi’, the ‘Fa-Hua Samadhi’, the ‘Ten Ways of Contemplation’ and many more. Based on the three studies mentioned above, this thesis goes a step further into discussing the significance and specialty of Tian-tai’s method of contemplating the mind. With this discussion, it analyses the meaning of the ‘Six Stages of Realisation to Buddhahood’ and the ‘Four Types of Buddhaland’ as expounded by Venerable Zhi-yi for the Tian-tai school. The author propounds that Venerable Zhi-yi’s turning to recollection of the Buddha’s name, and his vow to be reborn in the Western Pureland at his later age, is related to his theory of Complete Teaching. This view is in response to doubts and rejections that some Pureland practitioners and scholars have about Venerable Zhi-yi. Finally, by upholding the Complete Teaching’s principle of practice of ‘neither connected nor disconnected’, this thesis concludes that Venerable Zhi-yi sees the significance of stages in practice. Venerable Zhi-yi sees the cultivation of ‘Five Levels of Practice and Contemplation’ as the cause, and the ‘Resemblance Stage of Realisation’ where the six sense organs are purified as the effect/fruition.
