Cheontae

Cheontae
Hangul	천태종
Hanja	Thiên đài tông
Revised Romanization	Cheontae
McCune–Reischauer	Ch'ŏnt'ae

Cheontaeis theKoreandescendant of theChinese BuddhistschoolTiantai.Tiantai was introduced to Korea a couple of times during earlier periods, but was not firmly established until the time ofUicheon(1055-1101) who established Cheontae inGoryeoas an independent school.

Due to Uicheon's influence, it came to be a major force in the world ofGoryeo Buddhism.After he returned fromSong Chinain 1086, Uicheon sought to ease conflict between the doctrinal Gyo (Giáo) schools andSeon(Thiền) schools, believing that the Cheontae doctrine would be effective to this end. Cheontae doctrine holds theLotus Sutraas the peak of theBuddha's teachings, and postulates the following:

• All things are empty and without essentialreality.
• All things have aprovisional reality.
• All things are both absolutely unreal and provisionally real at once.

In accordance with the Cheontae doctrine, all experiences in the sensory world are in fact expressions of Buddhist law (Dharma), and therefore contain the key toenlightenment.This explains the extravagant altars and thecolorful dynamismfound at Seon temples usingDancheongcoloring, differing from the austere and monochromatic aesthetic of theZenschool, intellectually predominant in Japan from theKamakura periodonwards.

Cheontae as a school has been largely absorbed into theJogyeSeon tradition, but an independent Cheontae school has been revived and has an estimated 2 million adherents.The school's headquarters are atGuinsainChungcheongbuk-do,nearDanyang.The school also funds and operates the Buddhist university,Geumgang University.

See also

• Zhiyi
• Uicheon
• Tiantai Buddhism
• Korean Buddhism
• Guinsa
• Ryongtongsa
• Geumgang University

External links

• Cheontae(in Korean)
• A. Charles Muller (trans):"Outline of the Tiantai Fourfold Teachings", compiled by the Goryeo Śramaṇa Chegwan.