Tiantai Deshao
Tiantai Deshao
891 – 972
Tiantai Deshao (天台德韶, 891–972) was a Dharma heir of Fayan Wenyi and the most politically influential Chan master of the Wuyue kingdom (907–978), one of the Ten Kingdoms that succeeded the Tang. Patronised by King Qian Chu, he was appointed National Teacher (*guóshī*) and based at the Tiantai mountains in modern Zhejiang[1]. From this position he undertook the project for which he is now best remembered: the recovery, at the king's request and expense, of Tiantai-school texts lost during the Huichang persecution of 845, by commissioning copies from monasteries in Goryeo Korea and Heian Japan and re-importing them into China[2].
Although a Chan master, Deshao thus played the decisive role in the revival of the Tiantai school during the tenth century — an outward instance of the Fayan house's characteristic willingness to engage philosophically and practically with non-Chan Buddhist traditions[3]. His chief disciple Yongming Yanshou would extend this synthetic temperament into a comprehensive Chan-Pure-Land-Huayan-Tiantai harmonisation that shaped late-imperial Chinese Buddhism[4].
Names
Disciples of Tiantai Deshao
Teachers and lineage of Tiantai Deshao
Teacher / root master:
Teachings
- dialogueChan and Doctrine Are Not Two
When Deshao had established himself on Mount Tiantai, a student asked him, "You are a Chan master—why do you study and teach the Tiantai doctrinal commentaries?" Deshao said, "The mind that understands Chan and the mind that understands doctrine: is there a difference?" The student said, "I don't know." Deshao said, "That is because you have not yet understood either one."
When the Korean monk Gyunyeo came to study with Deshao, seeking Tiantai texts that had been lost in Korea, Deshao said to him: "The texts were never lost in Korea. They were always in your heart. What you seek from me is confirmation that the Dharma does not belong to one country or one mountain. Take the books—and take this: the Dharma of the texts and the Dharma of the mountain are the same Dharma."
Other masters in Fayan
Master Record Sources
891-972
Tiantai Deshao
Qingyuan line
- nameZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
Tiantai Deshao
- teachersZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
Fayan Wenyi