On The Tiantai Sect's Characteristics Of Zhixu's Ti-Tsang Confessions

Zhixu was one of the “Four masters” in the late Ming dynasty.He had a wide range of research fields throughout his life,and his writings were abundant.He was firm in his faith and especially praised the Ti-tsang faith.“Zhancha sutra confession” and“Praise Ti-tsang bodhisattva's confession ceremony” are his two Ti-tsang confessions.At the same time,Zhixu's thought is especially inclined to Tiantai sect,which was recognized as the 31 st ancestor of Tiantai sect.His two Ti-tsang confessions also have strong Tiantai's characteristics.There are two main features of the Tiantai in Zhixu's Ti-tsang confessions.First,inheritance and transformation of the structure of the Tiantai confessions.The features of the Tiantai confessions structure are “Ten steps”,“Five parts and ten steps” and“both theory and practice are emphasized”.From the perspective of the structure of“Ten steps”,the two Ti-tsang confessions of Zhixu are basically the same as the“Fahua samadhi confession” of Tiantai sect,and the sequence of the ceremony is basically the same,which is the inheritance of the Tiantai ceremony mode.From the perspective of the structure of “Five parts”,Zhixu adjusted the “Five parts” mode of “Fahua samadhi confession” to “Six parts” according to the thought of “Sutra of the karma of good and evill ” and the need of cultivation,and made a big transformation in the content.From the perspective of the structure of “both theory and practice are emphasized ”,Zhixu's “ Zhancha sutra confession ” followed this characteristic.The difference lies in that Zhixu combined the thought of “Sutra of the karma of good and evill”,placed the anapana after the “Ten steps”ritual,but actually separated the anapana from the confession of ritual.Zhixu's “ Praise Ti-tsang bodhisattva's confession ceremony” only retains the structure of “Ten steps”,which is intended to make it convenient for beginners and ordinary believers to practice and meet the needs of the secularization of Ti-tsang beliefs.Second,the application and play of confession thought to Tiantai sect.From the perspective of the principle of confession,Zhixu's theoretical basis is derived from the thought of“karma of good and evil”in “Sutra of the karma of good and evill”,which is integrated with the theories of Tiantai sect,such as the theory of human nature,judgment teaching method,the theory of “Three noble truths”,and the theory of “Six buddhas”,and the “Karma of good and evil” positioning to the ontological height.From the perspective of the confession method,Zhixu advocated the confession of wooden wheel divination and two kinds of anapana according to the report on “Sutra of the karma of good andevill”,which became the biggest feature of this confession and distinguished it from other confessions.Zhixu integrated the ideology of Tiantai sect,constituted his practice view of “practice and theory support each other,be consistent all the time”.In a word,Zhixu created the two confessions of “Zhancha sutra confession” and“Praise Ti-tsang bodhisattva's confession ceremony” based on the “Three Ti-tsang sutras”,in particular,the “Sutra of the karma of good and evill” as the “body”,the Tiantai sect ideology as the“use”.