Foreword

Not only are the Buddhist sutras voluminous in quantity, but many of the doctrines seem to contradict each other when one attempts to understand them in a cross-cutting manner. The judgments and analyses of the teachings widely practiced during the Northern and Southern dynasties of China are an important starting point for understanding Buddhism. In particular, the doctrinal analyses of the Tendai school, considered to be the definitive version of doctrinal judgments, remain useful for understanding Buddhist doctrine to this day.

As is well known, the doctrinal analysis of the Tendai is organized into five periods classified according to the time when the sutras were preached, such as the Flowery Ornament, the Deer Park, the Developed Sutras, the Wisdom, the Dharma Flower, the Nirvana, into four methods of teachings, sudden, gradual, secret, and indeterminate, and four contents of the teachings, the Basket Teachings, common, particular, and perfect. These are called the five periods and the eight teachings.

The framework for this doctrinal analysis was organized by the great Master Tendai Zhiyi (538-597), the material founder of the Tendai School. Then, through his disciples Zhāng-an Guàn-ding (561-632), who noted and wrote down his lectures, and Jing-xi Zhan-ran (711-782), who commented on Tendai's three major works, it took root under the names of the five periods, four Dharma teachings, four methods of teachings, and, finally, under the name the five periods and eight teachings.

Later, during a stay at the Dengyō-in Temple of the Tendai school in China, the Korean Taegwan wrote the Four Doctrines of the Tendai, which summarizes the essence of the school's doctrines. The work was later published in a woodcut edition by Kosan Chien (976-1022), a high priest of the Sangai stream of the Tendai school. Since then, Zhiyi's dogmatic analysis has been used in Chinese, Korean and Japanese Buddhist circles.

The five-period theory within Zhiyi's doctrinal analyses attempts to clarify the purpose of the teachings by using the approximate period in which the sutras (in groups) were preached as a clue. Once one understands this principle, it can be a great help in reading and understanding the meaning of the vast amount of sutras. However, the question arises as to the basis on which this period classification was established and whether it is valid or not. Even if the classifications are valid, it is then necessary to understand exactly what the characteristics of each period are.

In order to determine when the sutras were preached, it was necessary to examine the places where they were preached, the participants present, the surrounding circumstances, the content of the sermons, etc., without omission, but the task of reading and comparing so many sutras was in itself a daunting one, and in the context of India, where history has never been recorded, there was not enough historical evidence to begin with, so this was undoubtedly an extremely difficult task. It is known that there are phrases in the content of the sermon that reveal specific periods of time, such as age and years, so it was more objective to use these as a basis, even if they are not as numerous in terms of quantity.

The reason why Zhiyi divided the time of the sermons into five periods when examining the various sutras is that each of them has its own significant characteristics, just as the 365 days of the year are divided into four seasons because each season has its own characteristics.

For example, the first of the five periods in Zhiyi's analysis is the period of Flowering Ornament (kegon-ji). Everyone can easily agree with this. Indeed, the time of the teaching is clearly stated at the beginning of the Sutra.

"At one time the Buddha was in the land of Magadha, in a state of purity, at the place of enlightenment, having just realized true enlightenment.

It is clear that this sutra was preached shortly after the Buddha attained enlightenment at the place of his awakening, under the Bodhi tree in the land of Magadha.

While it is clear that the Flower Ornament Sutra was the first teaching given by the Buddha, establishing the chronology of the other teachings was an extraordinarily difficult task. To give an example, for Zhiyi, this sentence from the first chapter of the Lotus Sutra "if men, faced with pain, take disgust at old age, illness and death, they (the Buddhas) preach Extinction (Nirvana) to them, which will bring the pains to an end", to which he adds this sentence from the chapter of the Means "having reflected on these things, I went to Vanarasi (Benares) (...) I preached to the five Buddhas, who were the first to receive this teaching. ) I preached to the five monks," to which he adds this sentence from the Nirvana Sutra: "In the past, in Varanasi, I turned the wheel of Dharma for all the listeners and, first in Kusinagara, I turned the biggest wheel for the Bodhisattvas. "He understood that the Agama Sutras were preached after the Flowery Ornament Sutra. I will not follow Zhiyi in his methodical analysis of the sutras, their chronology and content. I will simply summarize this analysis, knowing that Shakyamuni Buddha had a specific purpose in teaching each period.

The 5 periods

The first period was the period of floral ornamentation (kegon).

It took place under the Bodhi tree near Gaya and lasted 21 days.

During this period, Shakyamuni taught the Flower Ornament Sutra of the great universal correct Buddha. The school based on this sutra is the School of Flowery Ornamentation

Shakyamuni's goal in teaching this sutra was suddenness. "Suddenness" (jp. gigi), means "to probe the predisposition". It means "to bestow the Flowery Ornament Sutra on beings to probe their predisposition. In other words, the revered Shakya, having attained enlightenment, thought about how to guide beings. He expounded the Flowery Ornament Sutra - the result of his reflection, which contains the high meanings of the Great Vehicle - in order to probe their capacities for the Buddha's path.

Seeing the listeners dazed by this teaching, he continued his preaching with the more accessible sutras of the second period.

This second period is the Agama (agon) period.

It took place in the Deer Park in Benares and lasted 12 years. The sutras preached during the Agama period are

The Instruction in sections of one and more

Long Instructions

Medium Instructions

Various Instructions

The Schools based on these teachings, which are related to the Lesser Vehicle, are the Treasury of Scholasticism (Gusha), Fulfillment of Truth (Jōjitsu), and the Commandments (Ritsu)

The goal that Shakyamuni sought to achieve during this period was seduction.

"Seduction" (jp. yūin), means "to attract", "to initiate". It was a matter of bestowing the Agama sutras on a portion of the beings. Indeed, if Shakyamuni had given, offhand, the profound doctrines of the Great Vehicle to the auditors and the Buddhas for themselves i.e. the two vehicles of beings of lesser predisposition, they would not have been able to understand them. So, in order to gradually "attract" them to the high teachings, he first taught them minor teachings that would serve as a basis.

The 3rd period is the Period of the developed sutras (hōdō).

It took place in the great treasure pavilion between the world of desires and the world of matter. It lasted 16 years during which Shakyamuni Buddha preached the Shrimala Sutra, the Sutra of the Understanding of the Profound Mystery, the Lankavatara Sutra, the Shuramgama Sutra, the Sutra of Observation the Sutra of Infinite Lives, the Sutra of the Great Sun, the Amitabha Sutra, the Sutra of Golden Radiance, the Sutra of the Achievement of Perfection, the Sutra of the Diamond Crown, the Vimalakirti Sutra.

The Schools based on these sutras are the Nature of Dharmas (Hossō), the Pure Land (Jōdō), the True School of the Pure Land (Jōdō shinshū), the Schools of Meditation (Zen) the School of True Words (Shingon).

In teaching these sutras, Shakyamuni Buddha's goal was discredit.

Discrediting" (jp. danka), means "to exclude", "to rebuke" beings. This objective was realized by the developed sutras. It was to challenge and destroy the attachment of beings to the minor teachings of the Small Vehicle, in order to awaken in them a heart that loves the Great Vehicle, showing them the noble truth of the Great Vehicle.

The 4th period was the Period of Wisdom (hannya).

It took place in four places and 16 ceremonies. The places were the Sacred Mount of the Eagles and the Land of the White Roads. The back and forth between these two places gives 4 places and 16 ceremonies.

The Wisdom Period lasted 14 years during which time Shakyamuni taught the Great Sutra of the Perfection of Wisdom, the Sutra of the Praise of the Light of Wisdom, and the Adamantine Wisdom Sutra. The school based on these sutras is the School of the Three Treatises (sanron). Shakyamuni's goal for this period is filtering. "Filtering" (jp. tōta): the ideogram 淘 (jp. tō) means "washing rice." It is "to wash", "to plunge into water". The other ideogram, 汰 (jp. da), also means "plunge into water", "clean".

Between people who are narrow-minded and those who are broad-minded, there is a great dissimilarity. This is what we nowadays call "the difference". In Buddhism, "difference" and "equality" are taught. The word "difference" refers to dissimilarities in faces or physical makeup, the difference in sex between men and women, disparities in individual abilities, all of which are due to conditionality. In other words, everything in this world is the aspect of difference, which is a facet of the true principle.

Filtering" consists in gathering what is different, selecting and standardizing. This is why it is a matter of cleaning up visible differences. Therefore, even for the people of the Small Vehicle, from the moment they have opened the awakening of the wisdom (jp. hannya) of the Great Vehicle, the teachings of the Small Vehicle, in themselves, possess the meanings of the Great Vehicle. And these meanings and values appear. This is what is called "filtering," which was granted to the predispositions by the Wisdom Sutras.

The 5th period is the Lotus/Nirvana Period (hokke/nehan).

It took place on the Sacred Mount of the Eagles and in the air, that is to say 2 places and 3 ceremonies. It lasted 8 years

The Sutras of this period are the Sutra of Infinite Senses (Sacred Eagle Mount), the Lotus Sutra (Sacred Eagle Mount, ceremony in the air), the Sutra of the Contemplation Method of the Universal Sage Bodhisattva (Sacred Eagle Mount) and the Nirvana Sutra (Sāla Wood)

The schools based on these sutras are the Tendai and Nichiren schools.

Shakyamuni's objective during this period was openness (integration)

The last objective, "opening-integration" (jp. kai-e), refers to the Lotus Sutra. It is "opening the meaning in that the origin of all sutras lies in the Lotus Sutra. In other words, all the sutras have arisen, each as a means of expressing a small part of the Lotus Sutra. Finally, when the meaning of the Lotus Sutra is opened, this time all the sutras enter the Lotus Sutra. This is called "integration. From this, too, the Lotus sutra forms the basis of all the other sutras, and the word "sutra" (KYŌ) in the Lotus sutra forms the reason why all the others can be called "sutra."