Sìmíng Zhīlǐ (四明知禮, 960–1028, Japanese: Shimei Chirei), also known as Siming Fazhi (四明法智), was a Chinese Buddhist scholar monk and key figure in the revival and development of the Tiantai School during the Northern Song dynasty.
[1] Revered as the seventeenth patriarch of Tiantai Buddhism, he was also posthumously titled Fazhi Dashi (法智大师), meaning "Master of Dharma Wisdom."
His efforts defended and defined the orthodox philosophy of the Tiantai school, and shaped its doctrinal and ritual practices for generations.
Siming (四明山), a "public" (shifang zhuchi) monastery which had been reserved for the Tiantai school by imperial decree.
Zhili, his co-abbot Yiwen worked to restore the dilapidated temple, making it into a key center for the Song Tiantai revival.
[16] In 1017, Zhili took a vow to self-immolate after three years of practicing the Lotus Repentance in order to attain birth in the Pure Land.
Zhili's writings became a key source for the school's doctrinal orthodoxy, becoming part of the orthodox Tiantai canon later in the Song dynasty.
"Off Mountain" (i.e. "heterodox") proponents like Daochang Ningfen (754-828), Ciguang Wu'en (912-986), Yuanqing (源淸, ?–997), Zongyu, Qingzhao (963-1017) and Zhiyuan (976–1022), were influenced by Chan and Huayan thought.
[28][26] This heated debate went on for some years as various figures from the opposing Qiantang faction wrote various works defending their position and Zhili and his disciple Renyue responded in kind.
[29] Zhili's criticisms were particularly focused on the Huayan-Chan emphasis on the ultimate principle (理) and one mind (一心), exemplified in the writings of Guifeng Zongmi.
[26] This foundationalist model bases all reality on an ultimate pure awareness, the various phenomena are secondary and their specific forms are irrelevant.
Instead, as Ziporyn explains, "it is the nature of ultimate reality, not merely to assume any shape at all, but to be precisely these ten realms, these three thousand suchnesses.
However, if one understands the Tiantai view of identity which sees the entire Dharma Realm (the whole of existence) as inherently including the defilements, Zhili writes:then the taint and delusion are dependent [on the buddha nature], and the poison and harm create nothing that was not already there.
Zhili considers any adoption of this idealistic trend which gives ontological priority to the mind to be a corruption of Tiantai thought.
[32] Off mountain scholars like Yuanqing had adopted this doctrine and identified it with the Tiantai teaching "three thousand realms in a single thought moment" (yinian sanqian).
The unity and perfect harmony of the three truths means that none of them is more ultimate or foundational, all phenomena are inherently included in all others, and thus one cannot speak of any phenomenon as more important or basic.
[32] Indeed, for Zhili, the off-mountain view influenced by Zongmi creates problems for the practice of Tiantai meditation precisely because it cuts off contemplation of relative phenomena in favor of an unconditioned "true awareness" that is beyond all thought and form.
In Zongmi's way of teaching meditation (which was adopted by the off-mountain faction), any specific form or thought is nullified as a merely illusory appearance arising from the true mind (which is formless and indeterminate).
[26][34] For Zhili, the initial object that one meditates on is the constantly changing and deluded sixth consciousness and its everyday thoughts.
[34] Zhili also criticized the Chan school's rejection of scriptural study and language, holding that these classic Mahayana sutra teachings were necessary for enlightenment.
He saw the Chan slogan of "a special transmission outside the teaching, not depending on words and letters" as incompatible with the traditional Mahayana concept of upaya (skillful means) as taught in the Lotus Sutra.
"[26] For Zhili, the "perfect teaching" of the Lotus Sutra and Tiantai is seen as including and "opening up" all Buddhist skillful means, revealing the ultimate truth within the conventional.
[26] Thus, in Zhili's classic Tiantai perspective, buddhahood contains an understanding of the whole Buddhist tradition of teachings and scriptures and how they all fit together in a harmonious whole.
[26] This "well rounded" teaching of Tiantai is in contrast to the Chan ideal of an enlightenment that is outside of scriptural study and other skillful means and practices, relying instead only on a "direct pointing.
"[26] In Zhili's doctrinal classification system (panjiao), the Chan teaching of Zongmi that he criticized is not completely rejected.
[26] His writings, such as the Shibuermen Zhi Yaochao (十不二门指要钟), were instrumental in defining authentic Tiantai doctrine and refuting Huayan-influenced interpretations.
[37] His Pure Land writings focus on interpreting the Contemplation Sutra as a meditation text which belongs to the perfect teaching of Tiantai.
[44] However, for Zhili, this view contradicts the teaching of mutual inclusion and thus he argued that the supreme pure land has form, and so does the Dharmakaya.
[35] Zhili founded a pure land "lotus society" (lianshe) for laypersons and monks called nianfo hui which may have included ten thousand men and women and which focused on the simple practice of reciting the Buddha's name.
[46] Yearly society meetings at Yanqing yuan temple would include the public announcement of the recitations and achievements of the members.