tras;
(_c_) the Leng-yen-ching; (_d_) the Prajna-paramita; (_e_) the Lotus
Sutra which is the crown, quintessence and plenitude of all Buddhism.
He also divided religion into eight parts,[818] sometimes counted as
four, the latter half of the list being the more important. The names
are collection, progress, distinction and completion. These terms
indicate different ways of looking at religion, all legitimate but not
equally comprehensive or just in perspective. By collection is meant
the Hinayana, the name being apparently due to the variously
catalogued phenomena which occupy the disciple in the early stages of
his progress: the scriptures, divisions of the universe, states of the
human minds and so on. Progress (T'ung, which might also be rendered
as transition or communication) is applicable to the Hina and Mahayana
alike and regards the religious life as a series of stages rising from
the state of an unconverted man to that of a Buddha. Pieh, or
distinction, is applicable only to the Mahayana and means the special
excellences of a Bodhisattva. Yuan, completeness or plenitude, is the
doctrine of the Lotus which embraces all aspects of religion. In a
similar spirit of synthesis and conciliation Chih-I uses Nagarjuna's
view that truth is not of one kind. From the stand-point of absolute
truth all phenomena are void or unreal; on the other hand they are
indubitably real for practical purposes. More just is the middle view
which builds up the religious character. It sees that all phenomena
both exist and do not exist and that thought cannot content itself
with the hypothesis either of their real existence or of the void.
Chih-I's teaching as to the nature of the Buddha is almost
theistic. It regards the fundamental (pen) Buddhahood as not merely
the highest reality but as constant activity exerting itself for the
good of all beings. Distinguished from this fundamental Buddhahood is
the derivative Buddhahood or trace (chi) left by the Buddha among men
to educate them. There has been considerable discussion in the school
as to the relative excellence of the _pen_ and the _chi_.[819]

The T'ien-T'ai school is important, not merely for its doctrines, but
as having produced a great monastic establishment and an illustrious
line of writers. In spite of the orders of the Emperor who wished to
retain him at Nanking, Chih-I retired to the highlands of Che-Kiang
and twelve monasteries still mark various spots where he is said to