Zhiyi
538 CE–597 CE · Jingzhou
538–597 CE
Zhiyi was the great systematizer—effectively the founder—of the Tiantai school of Chinese Buddhism, active 538–597 CE. From his base on Mount Tiantai he built a comprehensive synthesis centered on the Lotus Sūtra, including the 'three truths' (empty, provisional, and the middle), a sophisticated meditation system, and a classification scheme ordering the whole of the Buddha's teachings. He is one of the best-documented figures of Chinese Buddhism, and his work shaped later East Asian thought, including the Japanese Tendai school.
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Jingzhou
What they did here
Birthplace of Zhiyi.
About Jingzhou
Jingzhou, in the area of modern Hubei province, China, was the birthplace (in 538) of Zhiyi, the sixth-century master regarded as the de facto founder of the Tiantai school of Chinese Buddhism, who later settled on Mount Tiantai in Zhejiang.
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Zhiyi’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Buddhist world
Christian world
Graeco-Roman world
Islamic world
Jewish world
Rulers world
- Maurice· 539 CE–602 CE
- Emperor Wen of Sui· 541 CE–604 CE
- Phocas· 547 CE–610 CE
- Hormizd IV· –590 CE
- Khosrow I Anushirvan· 512 CE–579 CE
- Empress Suiko· 554 CE–628 CE
- Emperor Yang of Sui· 569 CE–618 CE
- Prince Shotoku· 574 CE–622 CE
- Khosrow II Parviz· 570 CE–628 CE
- Pulakeshin II· –642 CE
- Heraclius· 575 CE–641 CE
- Justinian I· 482 CE–565 CE
- Bumin Qaghan· –552 CE
- Harsha· 590 CE–647 CE
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.