Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s1.t2.5

v1.c7.s1.t2.5

The Tien-Tai School took *Saddharma Puṇḍarīka* as its tenets, *Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra* (Great Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom) as its guidelines and the *Nirvana Sutra* as its basis and *Prajna Sutra* as its method to visualise the truth. Varieties of *sutras* were cited to increase creditability and various scriptures were referred to gain success. In addition to inheriting and developing the *One Noting Mind and Three Reflections* of Huiwen and Huisi, the School also absorbed thoughts of the “Three Treatises” that was popular in the Southern Dynasty and *Prajñā* and inherited critically the ten Panjiao (analysis and judging on for teaching) of North and South. As a result, theories of the Tien-Tai School are combination of the Southern philosophical connotations and the Northern’s emphasis on the practices in the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589 CE). It proposed to make use of *Samatha* and *Vipasyana* equally for learning theories and contemplating.