A Hermeneutic Approach to the Lotus Sutra 一On Tiantai Zhi)仇 Work ， The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra' H a iyan She n Department of Ph ilosophy, Shanghai University Abstract: The actual fo under of the Tiantai Buddhist School - Zhiyi made a great contribution to the development of Chinese Buddhism. ln his m as t e rpie c吼 叫 e Pr可， ound Meaning ofthe LOlus Sutra, he presented his philosophical system of Buddhism, a comprehensive picture of the Buddhist doctrines and practices, w ith his Five Secti ons as an exegeti c device to interpret the Lotus SU lra. This paper outlines the whole structure ofthis work in orde r to explore how his system of Buddhism is presented thro ugh hi s hermene utic approach and to deepen o ur understa nding of his philosophy Key Terms: Tiantai Buddhism , Fahua Xuany i, Fi ve Sections Threefold Truth, Ultimate Truth Introduction In hi story of Chinese Buddhism, the establishment of Tiantai Buddhism, as the fì rst estab!ished Chinese Buddhist School, is one of the most signifìcant events marking a milestone transforming lndian Buddhisl11 to Chinese Buddhism. The actual fo under of th e Tiantai Buddhist School is Zhi yi (538-597). Hi s thoughts and theories laid soli d found ati on fo r th e school. Among Z hi 叭 's wo rk, hi s masterpi ece Th e p ，可'ò und Meaning o( the Lotus Sutra (Mi。可'à Lianhua Jing Xuany i 妙法 蓮 華經 玄 義 ; hereafter I abbreviati on Xuany i) contains most of hi s philosophical system concerning Buddhis l11 , This paper is th e reslllt ofthe p r句 e c t of Shanghai Uni versity “ 21 1 Proj ect" phase 111 project "the clIltural ecology of Chi ncse folk in transiti on." I For a study of thi s wo rk, 5ee Haiyan Sbcn, The Pro(o lll1d M.叩 ning ofthe LOlIIs SlIIra: Tiantai Philosophy of Buddhis (India: Originals (an imprint of Low Price Publica ti on), 200 5 ) 沈海燕 ， { 法教玄義的背學 ) U 海 」海古辛苦的版社 ， 201 0 ) -35- 哲學與文化 第卅 八 卷第十二期 20 11 .12 and thus can be regarded as the key text in understanding deeply hi s Buddhist philosophy The work Xuanyi is composed of ten fascicles, and the interpretation of tbe Lofus Sufra foll ows the five categories of analysis na l1led “ Five Sections" (WlI z hang 五章 ) or “ Five Layers of the Profound Meaning" (Wuchong xi間ny l 五重玄義 ) as a general guideline. These Five Sections are Zhiyi's own system of interpreting Buddhist sutras With the means of the “ Five Sections": Nal1le (Ming 名 ) ， Substance ( η 體)， Gist (Zo 咚 宗 )， Function (Yong 用 )， and Teaching (Jia o 教 )， the int e 叩 retation is no longer passively following the scripture chapter by chapter. Rather, the inte叩 r e tati o n is made according to these categories, and the revelation of the themes of the scripture is also revolved around these categories. These fiv e meanings serve as an exegetical device to interpret the Lofus Su lra. The first meaning “Nal1le" concerns an explanati on of the title ofthe LofllS Sufra. The second meaning “ Substance" concems the fundamental theory the LOfUS Sufra is based on, and refers to the Ultimate Truth. The third meaning “Gist" concem s the essential teaching of the Lofus SlI fl 田 ， and takes the practice for attaining Buddhahood as ca u s 巴， and the attainment of Buddhahood as effect. The fourth meaning “ Functi on" displays the power the L ofuS Sutra exerts in benefiting li ving beings. The fifth m ea nm 且“Teac hin g" cla ssifies the various teachings of the Buddha, so that all teac hings of the Buddha are incorporated and confinned as valid Consequently, the work X lIanyi is no longer limited to the nature of a commentary lt becomes the mediul1l to ex press Zhiyi's own thought. Moreover, the Five Sectior峙 ， that are applied for the systematic int e 叩 re tation of the Lofus SUfra, refer to the structure of the text X uanyi itse lf. Within the domain of the Five Sections, a vast and complex structure of illustrati ons is laid 0 叭， focusing on the themes of the Lofus Sufra. David Chappell has also pointed out the distinctive feature of the X lIany i Zhiyi's Xuany i was totally interpretative and did not follow the individual chapters at all - a very different hermeneutical ori entation from that of the textual exegesis that had been the dominant method of Canonical Buddhism in the fifth and sixth centuries when the central aims were accuracy, a uth e ntici 旬 ， -36- Haiya n Shen: A Henneneuti c Approach to the Lotlis Sutra On Tiantai Zhi yi's Work, The P ， 可òund Meaning o(the LolUS Slitra Au z q nu F nunu nurr o ρLnH s v ρ nHρLV s s L - iv - iv “ V The issue o f thc interpretatio n of th e Lollls SlIlra 的 nol only about presenting the theme of the Lolus S lI lrα ， but is also abollt Zhiyi 's presentation of a comprehensive picture of Buddhism. The interpretation of the Lolus S lIlra is well gllided by Z hi yi's own syste ll1 of c1 assifying the teachings of the Buddha. That is to say, every single notion of BlIddhism that is illllstrated in the texl is lInder the scrutiny of the Fourfold Teaching (Sijiao 四教 ) J Therefore, the interpretation of the Lotus Sutra is actllall y the systematic expressio n o f Z hi 叭 ' s own thollght. Along with this interpretation, vario us Buddhist theories and systems are enull1erated and e lu c idat叫 ， making the Xuanyi into an cncyclopedic compendillm of B lIddhism. However, the BlIddhist theories and concepts are enumcrated as part of the illllstrali ve discollrse for Zhi yi's own system of thollght, indicating comprehensive natllre of hi s views and all-embracing nature of hi s perfect and harmo nizatio n phi losophy (YuC/ nrong z h exue 固融哲學) W ith this philosophy, o ne sees no conflict a mong different things and theories. A II existing things are compli ll1entary 1 0 巴 ac h other. They are not separate entities and do no t David Chappell , ,‘HermenclIti cal Phases in Chinese BlIddhism." In Bllddhist Hel 叫別 leuflCS ， ed ited by Donald Lopez {Honolulu: Uni versity of Hawaii Press‘ 1988),184 J In hi s schemc of classifyi ng thc tc ac hin 且 of the Buddha, Zh iyi divides the Buddha's teaching in terms of content inl o four types, including Tripitaka (Za l1g ñÌ>~)， Common (To l 啟 迪 ) ， Separale (Bie 別) and Perfect Tcachings (Ylla l1 阻 ). Thc ripitaka (coIlection of writings in BlIddh ism) Teaching rcfcrs to Srävakayãna Buddhi sm, whi ch consists of the teachings of thc Ihree pitaka 爪 in cllldin g .\'litras (i.e. , Ihe teachings of Ih c BlIddha), v ill αIyas (i.e. , di scipline) and abhidharm的 (i.c., commentaries on BlIddhist doctrin es), and is des igned tor thc .,rävakas and pral\'ekabliddllll.\'. The Common Teaching is common to bOl h Srãvakayãna and clementary Mahãyã na. and caters to .{:，.ã νakas ， pra tyekab llddlu肘 ， and bodh isa tt νa .\' 0 1' lowcr rac lllti cs. The Separate Teaching means thal thc tcaching caters to thc capabilily of lhe bodhisallvo.l' on ly, and is scparate rrom the fonner Iwo tcachings, and is also separate from the laSI teaching of the Perfect, 10, Ihe doctrinc ofthe Separatc Tcaching does not yet enable onc to perccive an integrated rea lity The Perfect Teaching addresses aIl the Three Veh icles Urävakas, pralyekabuddhas, and bodhisall ν肘， and expollnds th e Middle Way of mlltual identifìcation, rcωgniz ín g the fll nda menl al id enl ity among aIl enlilies. Th e rero 悶 ， th e Perfect Teaching is regarded by Zhiy í as thc lIltimate teachin 且 0 1' Ihe BlIddha. Brllno Petzold's 1l1 0nu ll1cntal work The Clas刺刀 catio /'l (jj Bllddh 悶 111 is ent ircly devoted to the subj ecl 0 1' varioll s classifì cations in In dia, China, and Japan Cf., Petzold. Brllno. The Classifìcatioll (jj' Bllddhislll: CO I/1，戶 Iï S /I 悍的 e c/assifìcatiol1 0/ Bllddhist doCII 川的• il1 IlIdia. Chilla. al1d .Jap仰 (Harra sso wit z Vcrlag: Wiesbaden, 1995) -37- 哲學與文化 第卅八卷第十二期 2011 .12 exclude one another. COnfimling o ne thing and negating the other can only result in partiality. Not only nothing is separated, but also all entities are ultimately identified with each other. They are merged into one e nti 句 ， but at the same time, each o f them represents different characteri sti cs of the Ultimate Truth. This phil osophy is embodi ed in the theory of the Middle Way-Ultimate Truth (Zhongdao s hix iang 中道質相) ， which consists of the 4 three aspects : EI叮mp叭Im間e 臼s s 伏( Kon咚E 空 )， the Pro 圳v I 剖S 1 ωna0 叫a叫1 μ(.Ji叫α 假) ， and the Middle Way (Zhang 中 ). E mp叭仰tin ess is spoken of in terms o f 出t h 巴 illusory 間n a仙t u 陀re of 飢e X 叫I s叫t e n cωe ， 釗S m c巴 thi叮m gs are o 叫r i 且 in a ted depending on causes and conditions. The Provisional conveys th e characteri sti c of things from the angle of conventional existence. Although things are illu so 吟 ， they do bear certain names and temporally exist The Middle W ay is to id e nti f扯 E mpt i n ess with the Provisional, or vice versa, transcending both views, but at the same time embracing both of them.