Real name: Chen De'an
Nicknames: Tiantai Master, Wise Master, Eastern Sakyamuni
Font size: De'an
Era : Chen and Sui Dynasties
Nationality: ***
Place of birth: Huarong, Jingzhou (now Gongan County, Hubei)
Main Works: "The Sentences of the Lotus", "Maha Zhi Kuan", etc.
Main achievements: The actual founder of the Tiantai Sect, revered as the "Eastern Sakyamuni" by later generations
Belief: Buddhism Chen De'an - the fourth ancestor of the Tiantai Sect of Chinese Buddhism
His father was an official in the Liang Dynasty. When he was seventeen years old, during the war in the late Liang Dynasty, his family was scattered and displaced, so he vowed to become a monk in front of the Buddha statue in Changsha Temple in Jingzhou. At the age of eighteen, he went to Guoyuan Temple in Xiangzhou (today's Changsha City, Hunan Province) to become a monk and was taught the Ten Precepts. His master asked him to study law at Huikang Lawyer's office, and he received full precepts at the age of twenty. By this time, he had already studied the disciplines intensively and was very good at Zen contemplation.
In the first year of Tianjia (560), Emperor Chen Wen heard that Zen Master Huisi came south from the north and lived in Dasu Mountain in Guangzhou (now Guangshan County, Henan), so he went to ask for help. Huisi lectured him on the Four Practices of Peace and Happiness, and he practiced them day and night, achieving great attainments. At the age of twenty-three, he worshiped Huisi as his teacher, practiced Zen, and attained Lotus Samadhi. When Huisilin went to Nanyue in the first year of Chen Guangda (567), he asked him to go to Jinling (today's Nanjing) to spread the Zen method. He went east with Faxi and other 27 people and arrived in Chendu to teach Zen. Two years later (569), Lord Waguan Temple was invited to give lectures on the Lotus Sutra, establish new religious doctrines, interpret the scriptures, and lay the foundation for a religious outlook.
Zhiyi lived in Waguan Temple for eight years. In addition to teaching the Lotus Sutra, he also taught the Theory of Great Wisdom and the Stages of Zen (i.e., the Stages of Zen Paramitas). Wrote "Six Wonderful Dharma Doors" and so on. In the seventh year of Chen Taijian's reign (575), he left Jinling and entered Tiantai Mountain for the first time. He founded Jialan on the northern peak, planted pines and chestnuts, and introduced flowing springs. Then he went to the Huading Peak in the north of the temple, where he walked on the Toutuo route and meditated day and night.
In March of the third year of Chen Zhide (585), Zhiyi returned to Jinling and lived in Lingyao Temple. Master Chen invited the Taiji Hall to lecture on "The Theory of Great Wisdom" and "The Prajna Sutra of the Renwang". Famous monks such as Huixun, Huikang and Huibian were all ordered to participate in the discussion. Later he moved to Guangzhai Temple and taught the Lotus Sutra. The disciples listened to the initiation and recorded it as "Sentences of the Lotus". Since then, most of the sutras and meanings taught by Zhiyi were recorded in books from the initiation transcripts. After Chen died, Zhiyi went to Lushan Mountain to live in seclusion.
In the eleventh year of Emperor Kaihuang’s reign in the Sui Dynasty (591), King Yang Guang of Jin was the general manager of Yangzhou. He sent an envoy to Lushan Mountain to ask Zhiyi to go to Yangzhou to preach ordination. He immediately went to confer Bodhisattva ordination on Yang Guang and received " "Wise Man" title. The following year (592), he returned to his hometown of Jingzhou and founded Yuquan Temple in Yuquan Mountain, Dangyang County. In the next two years (593-594), he lectured on "The Mysterious Meaning of the Lotus Sutra" and "Maha Zhi Kuan" in the temple.
In the spring of the fifteenth year of Emperor Kaihuang's reign (595), Zhiyi was invited by Yang Guangzhi to go to Yangzhou to write the Jingming Jingshu. In September, he resigned and returned to Tiantai, reorganized the mountain temple, and studied Jinglinquan. , when he was fifty-eight years old. In the next two years (597), the monk Jizang of Jiaxiang Temple in Kuaiji sent a letter to Tiantai to invite him to lecture on the Lotus Sutra at Jiaxiang Temple, but he was unable to go due to illness. After some time, he dictated "Guan Xin Lun" to his disciples while he was ill. In October, Yang Guang sent an envoy to the mountain to welcome him, but he still reluctantly came out of the mountain and walked to Shicheng. He was too sick to move forward and soon passed into silence. His life span was sixty years old and his monk was forty years old. Zhiyi built thirty-six temples in his life. After his death, the King of Jin established another Buddhist temple in Tiantai Mountain according to his last wish, and later named it Guoqing Temple in the first year of Daye (605).
Master Yin Guang said: Master Wise, the incarnation of Sakyamuni. Before he died, he asked: "Where does the master of the Unjudged Realm enter?" The answer was: "I will not lead others, but I will purify the six roots (that is, the ten faith levels, the six roots will be pure, as is clear from the merits and virtues of the Lotus Sutra). It will harm my own interests. People, but (only, only) ascend to the fifth level (the fifth level, that is, the position of observing the movement, perfecting the five dwelling troubles, but seeing the confusion has not been eliminated)." (Omitted below) I am really afraid that future generations will not realize it, so I use it. The person who preached the Dharma made him feel ashamed and did not dare to imitate what he had heard. (Master Yin Guang's "Essentials for Stopping Deviations in Buddhist Practice")