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From: kde@heawk1.gsfc.nasa.gov ( Keith Evans)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern
Subject: T'ien-T'ai
Message-ID: <1990Dec20.012126.6237@nas.nasa.gov>
Date: 20 Dec 90 01:21:26 GMT
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Organization: NAS Program, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
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Approved: prabhu@amelia.nas.nasa.gov


Sorry that in my 'Is this YOUR mind?' post I failed to mention exactly
who T'ien-T'ai was. You can read Jon Doskow's footnotes on T'ien-T'ai,
if you want more detail than I will give here.

The Great Teacher T'ien-T'ai (537-597) was orphaned early and went into
the priesthood. After studying under the Great Teacher Nan-Yueh (Hui-ssu),
who believed that the Lotus Sutra was supreme among the sutras, he gained
an understanding of the Lotus Sutra upon reading the 23rd chapter (which
he had memorized on hearing it once at the age of 7).

Prior to this time, the people were wondering which of the sutras was the
best. T'ien-T'ai studied allthe sutras and put them into the 5 periods 
(when they were taught) and the 8 teachings (what they taught). From
this he claimed that the Lotus Sutra was the true intent of Shakyamuni.

The Emperor  asked him to debate priests from the other sects to determine
which was the best. T'ien-T'ai easily won and the Emperor took faith in
the Lotus Sutra. Because of this the people were happy and the land was
peaceful. Also known as the Chinese Golden Age.

>From his study of the Lotus Sutra is where ichinen sanzen, 3000 life-
conditions in a single moment, comes from. With the Ten Worlds (hell, 
hunger, anger, animality, humanity, rapture, learning, realization,
boddhisattva, buddhahood) and the Mutual Possession of the Ten Worlds
(each world contains the other 9), and the Ten Factors (appearance, 
nature, entity, power, influence, internal cause, relation (external cause),
latent effect, manifest effect and their consistency from beginning to end),
and the 3 realms (the entity of live (living beings), its environment,
and their interaction (the 5 components, form, perception, conception,
volition, concsiousness)) equals 10 x 10 x 10 x 3 = 3000 basic life-
conditions of living beings. 

T'ien-T'ai claimed that the ultimate truth of Buddhism is ichinen sanzen.
The Gohonzon is ichinen sanzen in its enlightened and by chanting
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo in front of it, one manifests this in their life.

Keith Evans   (kde@heawk1.gsfc.nasa.gov)