Dynamics of Practice and Understanding – Chinese Tiantai Philosophy of Contemplation and Deconstruction

Abstract

This chapter discusses and examines the deconstructive practice of Tiantai contemplation from a philosophical point of view. The scope of this examination embraces all the Tiantai doctrines that describe the dynamics and epistemological nature of ultimate realization, called “subtle awakening” (miaowu 妙悟), as well as all the relevant Buddhist sources based on which Tiantai master Zhiyi (智顗 538–597) developed this type of “contemplation” (guan 觀). According to the Tiantai view, epistemological and ontological issues coincide with one another, since contemplation entails our insight that “truth and falsehood are inseparable” concerning the way we relate to and exist in our world. Therefore, (1) the introduction deals with the question of the specific sense in which Tiantai contemplation must be grounded in deconstructive practice. The subsequent two sections, (2) and (3), elaborate the epistemological and soteriological implications of this Buddhist teaching; section (4) and (5) discuss its linguistic pragmatics; (6) and (7) highlight the ontological and hermeneutical issues, and (8) elaborates on the Tiantai philosophy of mind.