The schools of

Mahayana Buddhism ''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing bra ...

developed several different schemes of doctrinal classification (

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

: 教判,

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: ''jiàopan'', Japanese: ''kyōhan'', Korean:교판, RR: ''gyopan'').

History

The classification of Buddha teachings is discussed very early by Mahayana Buddhists in China. In 600 AD there were 10 main classifications. And it continued to develop. Kukai in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

wrote Himitsumandara jūjūshinron (祕密曼荼羅十住心論, Treatise on The Ten Stages of the Development of Mind) and

Enchin (814–891) was a Japanese Buddhist monk who founded of the Jimon school of Tendai Buddhism and Chief Abbot of Mii-dera at the foot of Mount Hiei. After succeeding to the post of Tendai , in 873, a strong rivalry developed between his followers ...

also wrote his classification. Tibetan Buddhists also developed different classifications.

Five Periods and Eight Teachings

Zhiyi Zhiyi (; 538–597 CE) also Chen De'an (陳德安), is the fourth patriarch of the Tiantai tradition of Buddhism in China. His standard title was Śramaṇa Zhiyi (沙門智顗), linking him to the broad tradition of Indian asceticism. Zhiyi i ...

of the

Tiantai Tiantai or T'ien-t'ai () is an East Asian Buddhist school of Mahāyāna Buddhism that developed in 6th-century China. The school emphasizes the ''Lotus Sutra's'' doctrine of the "One Vehicle" (''Ekayāna'') as well as Mādhyamaka philosophy, ...

school categorized the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

's teachings in the

Mohe Zhiguan The Móhē zhǐguān (Chinese: 摩訶止観; Pinyin: ''Móhē Zhǐguān''; Wades-Giles: ''Mo-ho Chih-kuan'', Romanji: ''Makashikan;'' Sanskrit: ''Mahaśamatha-vipaśyanā'') is a major Buddhist doctrinal treatise based on lectures given by the Ch ...

(摩訶止觀) and Fahua Xuanyi (法華玄義). These are classed under what are now known as the ''Five Periods and Eight Teachings'' (五時八教). The Five Periods are as follows: * Flower Ornament Period (華嚴時) * Āgamas Period (阿含時) * Vaipūlya (方等時) * Prajñā (般若時) *

Lotus Lotus may refer to: Plants *Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly: ** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae **Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...

Nirvāṇa ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

Period (法華涅槃時). The Eight Teachings are subdivided into two groups: *The Fourfold Methods of Conversion (化儀四教) **Sudden Teaching (頓教) **Gradual Teaching (漸教) **Secret Teaching (秘密教) **Variable Teaching (不定教) *The Fourfold Doctrines of Conversion (化法四教) **Tripitaka Teaching (三藏教) **Shared Teaching (通教) **Distinctive Teaching (別教) **Complete Teaching (圓教)

followed this classification.

Five Divisions and Ten Schools

Fazang wrote Huayan Yisheng Jiaoyi Fenqi Zhang (華嚴一乘教義分齊章) in which he classified Buddhist teachings into ''Five Divisions and Ten Schools'' (五教十宗). *

Hīnayāna Hīnayāna (, ) is a Sanskrit term literally meaning the "small/deficient vehicle". Classical Chinese and Tibetan teachers translate it as "smaller vehicle". The term is applied collectively to the ''Śrāvakayāna'' and ''Pratyekabuddhayāna'' pa ...

teaching (小乘教) **The doctrine of the reality of both the self and the dharmas (我法俱有宗) ( Vātsīputrīya) **The doctrine that the self is non-substantial but the dharmas are real, and that the past, present, and future exist independently (法有我無宗) (

Sarvāstivāda The ''Sarvāstivāda'' (Sanskrit and Pali: 𑀲𑀩𑁆𑀩𑀢𑁆𑀣𑀺𑀯𑀸𑀤, ) was one of the early Buddhist schools established around the reign of Ashoka (3rd century BCE).Westerhoff, The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy ...

) **The doctrine that the reality of the dharmas exists only in the present and not in the past or the future (法無去來宗) (

Mahāsāṃghika The Mahāsāṃghika (Brahmi: 𑀫𑀳𑀸𑀲𑀸𑀁𑀖𑀺𑀓, "of the Great Sangha", ) was one of the early Buddhist schools. Interest in the origins of the Mahāsāṃghika school lies in the fact that their Vinaya recension appears in se ...

) **The doctrine that the present contains both reality and unreality (現通假實宗) (

Prajñaptivāda The Prajñaptivāda (Sanskrit; ) was a branch of the Mahāsāṃghika, one of the early Buddhist schools in India. The Prajñaptivādins were also known as the ''Bahuśrutīya-Vibhajyavādins''. History According to Vasumitra, the Prajñaptivād ...

) **The doctrine that worldly truth is unreal, but that Buddhist truth is real (俗妄真實宗) (

Lokottaravāda The Lokottaravāda (Sanskrit, लोकोत्तरवाद; ) was one of the early Buddhist schools according to Mahayana doxological sources compiled by Bhāviveka, Vinitadeva and others, and was a subgroup which emerged from the Mahāsā� ...

) **The doctrine that all things and phenomena are mere names without self-nature (諸法但有宗) (

Ekavyāvahārika The Ekavyāvahārika ( sa, एकव्यावहारिक; ) was one of the early Buddhist schools, and is thought to have separated from the Mahāsāṃghika sect during the reign of Aśoka. History Relationship to Mahāsāṃghika Tāran ...

) *Elementary Mahāyāna teaching (大乘初教) **The doctrine that maintains the non-substantiality of all things (一切皆空宗) ( Sānlùn) *Final Mahāyāna teaching(大乘終教) **The doctrine that recognizes an unchanging truth that is the essence (bhūtatathatā) of all things(真實不空宗) ( Tiāntāi) *Sudden Mahāyāna teaching (大乘頓教) **The doctrine that the truth lies in the mystic realm beyond the polarity of subject and object. (相想俱絕宗) (

Chán Chan (; of ), from Sanskrit '' dhyāna'' (meaning "meditation" or "meditative state"), is a Chinese school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. It developed in China from the 6th century CE onwards, becoming especially popular during the Tang and So ...

) *Perfect Teaching (of the One Vehicle) (一乘圓教) **The doctrine that all things exist in perfect harmony and interrelation (圓明具德宗) ( Huáyán) The

Huayan school The Huayan or Flower Garland school of Buddhism (, from sa, अवतंसक, Avataṃsaka) is a tradition of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy that first flourished in China during the Tang dynasty (618-907). The Huayan worldview is based primar ...

followed this classification.

Nine yanas

There are

nine yanas Yāna (Sanskrit: यान and Pāli: "vehicle") refers to a mode or method of spiritual practice in Buddhism. It is claimed they were all taught by the Gautama Buddha in response to the various capacities of individuals. On an outwardly conven ...

in Nyingma teachings. 九乘次第論集
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Notes

Bibliography

* * Kanno, Hiroshi (2000)
A Comparison of Zhiji`s and Jizang`s Views of the Lotus Sutra:
Annual Report of The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University, vol III, 125–147 * Liu, Ming-Wood (1993)
The Chinese Madhyamaka Practice of "p'an-chiao": The Case of Chi-Tsang
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 56 (1), 96–118 * Mun, Chanju (2006). The History of Doctrinal Classification in Chinese Buddhism: A Study of the Panjiao Systems. Lanham, MD: University Press of America. {{ISBN, 0761833528 * Classification systems