Korea Journal of Buddhist Studies ISSN:1598-0642(Print) 불교학연구

This work seeks to clarify the meaning of Chih-I's Yuna-Tun Chih-Kuan from the Sui-Tzu-I San-Mei. According to Chih-I, Yuan-Tun Chih-Kuan is composed of the four kinds of samadhi. The four kinds of samadhi are classified into Li-Kuan and Shih-Kuan. Generally speaking, in Chinese Buddhism, li-kuan was regarded as a method of practice contemplating the ultimate reality itself. On the other hand, Shih-Kuan, it is said, takes experiential phenomena as the object of meditation.Traditionally, Chih-I's Yuan-Tun Chih-Kuan as Li-Kuan has been estimated as a turning point of the Chinese Buddhism(intuitivism) from Indian Buddhism(scholasticism). This view may involve some misunderstandings concerning the practice of Li-kuan. If Li-kuan is a direct contemplation on the ultimate reality, and does not need experiential intermediaries, it may be regarded as a mystic intuition. However this view however is controversial. Because Chih-I's Yuan-Tun Chih-Kuan should be understood under the light of the doctrine of emptiness and mahāyāna soteriology based on the theory of nonduality instead of the theravādin soteriology which emphasizes exclusion of kleśas. What is li-kuan? In four kinds of samādhi, li-kuan is well explained in Sui-Tzu-I San-Mei. The Sui-Tzu-I San-Mei is the practical method through which a practitioner contemplates the four phases of his mind, its arising, staying, changing, and disappearing and finally realizes the truth of emptiness. For Chih-I, Li-Kuan is not a direct intuition of the truth without experiential intermediaries. Judging from the above, we may say that Chih-I's Yuan-Tun Chih-Kuan is the practical theory of Buddhism that is firmly grounded in Mahāyāna thought.