The use of Signs in Tien－Tai Buddhism

·期刊原文

The use of Signs in T'ien－T'ai Buddhism

Haiyan SHEN

Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal), No.15, 2002,

pp.495-584.

As the founder of the first Buddhist school – T’ien-t’ai Buddhism in China, master Chih-i’s indispensable contribution toward the establishment of Chinese Buddhism is reflected mainly in his ingenious interpretation of one of the most important Buddhist scriptures – the Lotus Sutra . This is because such an interpretation is not simply the interpretation of the scripture, but more significantly, through his systematic exposition of the Lotus Sutra, Chih-i expresses his own philosophical thought. Precisely speaking, the interpretation itself is a concrete demonstration of Chih-i’s own philosophical system of understanding Buddhism. In this paper, I will deal with Chih-i’s system of sign interpretation, which is discussed under eight categories. The source work of this study is based on Chih-i’s gigantic work The Profound and Subtle Meaning of the Lotus Sutra (Taish² vol.33, no.1716). This study reveals how Chih-i creatively interprets the Lotus Sutra, and how his perfect harmonization philosophy is at work through his system of sign interpretation.

Keywords

Sign interpretation 符号诠释，Lotus Sutra 法华经，Hs'an-i 玄义， Perfect harmonization philosophy 圆融哲学，Middle Way-Ultimate Truth 中道实相

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