Modern Chinese Tiantai?

Post Reply
KiwiNFLFan
Posts: 218
Joined: Thu Oct 05, 2017 10:15 am

Modern Chinese Tiantai?

Post by KiwiNFLFan »

I watched some videos by Rev. Kanjin Cederman, currently a priest in the Nichiren Shu tradition. However, it was mentioned that before this, he was ordained as a monk in the Chinese Tiantai tradition.

So there must be modern Chinese Tiantai groups in existence. A simple Google search failed to turn up anything though. I'd like to find out more about Chinese Tiantai, if anyone knows anything. What does their daily practice look like?
User avatar
Queequeg
Former staff member
Posts: 14454
Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2012 3:24 pm

Re: Modern Chinese Tiantai?

Post by Queequeg »

There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
humble.student
Posts: 359
Joined: Wed Aug 19, 2015 1:35 pm

Re: Modern Chinese Tiantai?

Post by humble.student »

KiwiNFLFan wrote: Sun Dec 20, 2020 10:20 pm I watched some videos by Rev. Kanjin Cederman, currently a priest in the Nichiren Shu tradition. However, it was mentioned that before this, he was ordained as a monk in the Chinese Tiantai tradition.

So there must be modern Chinese Tiantai groups in existence. A simple Google search failed to turn up anything though. I'd like to find out more about Chinese Tiantai, if anyone knows anything. What does their daily practice look like?
If I am not mistaken, it must refer to the ordination lineage, as opposed to a sectarian (in the neutral sense of the term) affiliation.
SilenceMonkey
Posts: 1448
Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2018 9:54 am

Re: Modern Chinese Tiantai?

Post by SilenceMonkey »

KiwiNFLFan wrote: Sun Dec 20, 2020 10:20 pm I watched some videos by Rev. Kanjin Cederman, currently a priest in the Nichiren Shu tradition. However, it was mentioned that before this, he was ordained as a monk in the Chinese Tiantai tradition.

So there must be modern Chinese Tiantai groups in existence. A simple Google search failed to turn up anything though. I'd like to find out more about Chinese Tiantai, if anyone knows anything. What does their daily practice look like?
It seems to me like there aren't many tiantai teachers these days, especially in the west. I once met the professor Raul Birnbaum who said his own teacher was a very skillful teacher in the tian tai tradition, but when I asked him about tian tai teachers still around he didn't know of any.

Although it does seem Ven. Dammadipa teaches on Tiantai and Chan. I believe he has training in theravada, tiantai and chan, and is also now a student of Sakya Trizin. He brings all of this knowledge together in his teachings.

Master Sheng Yen was also quite interested in Tiantai.
SilenceMonkey
Posts: 1448
Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2018 9:54 am

Re: Modern Chinese Tiantai?

Post by SilenceMonkey »

KiwiNFLFan wrote: Sun Dec 20, 2020 10:20 pm I watched some videos by Rev. Kanjin Cederman, currently a priest in the Nichiren Shu tradition. However, it was mentioned that before this, he was ordained as a monk in the Chinese Tiantai tradition.

So there must be modern Chinese Tiantai groups in existence. A simple Google search failed to turn up anything though. I'd like to find out more about Chinese Tiantai, if anyone knows anything. What does their daily practice look like?

There's ven. Miaojing 玅境 and his two monasteries in New Mexico, Taos and Vadito (the first two links) (the third link is his publishing house):

https://fayun.org/public/#!/fy/school/main

A friend recently mentioned him to me:
"My college professor introduced me to his videos. He is fairly well known in Taiwan. Not like other high profile 20th / 21st century teachers but respected in certain circles. You can read about him and access his talks / books at http://fayun.org (Students at his monastery in NM will also send books if requested). He’s known for lecturing on the yujia shidi lun (yogacara bhumi shastra) but gave talks on a whole range of sutras and sastras. His teacher I think was a disciple of Dixian, the most famous 20th c. Tiantai master"

I'm not sure he would speak english, but there's a good chance some of his students at those two monasteries would.
User avatar
Javierfv1212
Posts: 309
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 1:39 am
Location: South Florida

Re: Modern Chinese Tiantai?

Post by Javierfv1212 »

Wikipedia says
During the modern era, Tiantai Buddhism suffered through the same turmoil that befell all of Chinese Buddhism. The most influential figure in modern Tiantai, who carried the Tiantai lineage (specifically the Lingfeng lineage) from the late Qing into the 20th century was Dixian.[34] His student, the monk Tanxu (1875 – 1963), is known for having rebuilt various temples during the Republican era (such as Zhanshan temple in Qingdao) and for preserving the Tiantai lineage into the PRC era.[35] During the Chinese Civil War, various dharma heirs of Dixian moved to Hong Kong, including Tanxu and Baojing. They helped establish the Tiantai tradition in Hong Kong, where it remains a strong living tradition today, being preserved by their dharma heirs.[36]

Baojing's dharma heir, Jueguang, helped establish the Guanzong Temple in Hong Kong and trasmitted the lineage to numerous monks from Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan and mainland China.[37] Tanxuan's heir, Yongxing, founded Xifang Temple in Hong Kong as well as various temples in Malaysia and the United States (as well as the Texas Buddhist association and its Jade Buddha Temple).[38] Furthermore, other monks from this lineage have recently helped to reintroduce the Tiantai tradition to mainland China, aiding in the reconstruction of Chinese Buddhism after the reform and opening up period.[39]

The ancient Guoqing Temple at mount Tiantai, which had suffered from neglect and destruction, was renovated at the behest of Zhou Enlai. Guoqing Temple remains a place of pilgrimage for Japanese Tendai Buddhists.[40]
It is quite impossible to find the Buddha anywhere other than in one's own mind.
A person who is ignorant of this may seek externally,
but how is it possible to find oneself through seeking anywhere other than in oneself?
Someone who seeks their own nature externally is like a fool who, giving a performance in the middle of a crowd, forgets who he is and then seeks everywhere else to find himself.
— Padmasambhava

Visit my site: https://sites.google.com/view/abhayajana/
Post Reply

Return to “Tendai”