This study focuses on the value of simple practice that is developed by the sixth-century Chinese Buddhist scholar-practitioner Zhiyi in his instructive text of meditation, the Liumiao famen . This text, like the Mohezhiguan , is one of three texts that represent Zhiyi's three-fold zhiguan system. The practices within the text center around the mindfulness of breathing; a simple practice that is traditionally considered to be the most rudimentary of Buddhist practices. Zhiyi situates these practices within the doctrinal framework of Mahayana Buddhism. In this study, I demonstrate that the core values that support simple practice is accessibility, the accessibility of this practice and its attainments by any kinds of practitioners regardless of their socio-religious status, either a monk or a lay person.
