From the perspective of historical formation we can see chapters 10-22 as a group created in order to show that … inspiration can be found in the midst of ordinary life. This part of the sutra should be recognized as a kind of third division, in contrast with the traditional two-part division.

Nichiren was one who paid special attention to this part of the sutra. For this reason he insisted on the idea of “a third teaching,” saying, “The teachings of Nichiren are the third teaching.” Tiantai Zhiyi’s idea of the third “doctrine” lies behind this. His “three kinds of doctrine” are (1) the inclusiveness or non-inclusiveness of all kinds of people, (2) the universality or nonuniversality of transformation, and (3) closeness to or distance from the Buddha. Whereas the first and second kinds of doctrine characterize the first half of the Lotus Sutra (teachings of the historical Shakyamuni), the third characterizes the latter half of the sutra (teachings of the Everlasting Original Shakyamuni). But Nichiren could see only the point stressing that Superior Practice and the other bodhisattvas who emerged from the earth were authentic disciples of the Buddha, and from that perspective he picked up and accepted the third doctrine, calling it the third teaching.”

Since we have surveyed the Lotus Sutra according to the traditional view of its division into two parts, and have already seen that there are three parts to the sutra with regard to its historical formation, we need to look at one more part and describe its distinctive teachings. This part consists of chapters 10-22, which overlap both of the traditional two divisions. …

As we have seen in the section on the historical formation of the sutra, this part of the sutra was composed as one group in accord with a consistent intention: it was done to emphasize bodhisattva practice. Bodhisattva practice means human activity in the world, which is the characteristic idea that runs continually through this group of chapters, from the beginning to the end.

In his later years, Nichiren secluded himself on Mt. Minobu and led a quiet life. He realized that it would be impossible to reform society in his own lifetime, placed his trust in the future, placed himself within a vast, infinite cosmic reality, and found peace in a state of mind that transcended this world. Yet his disciples and followers in various places carried on his mission and gave unstintingly of their lives. There have been some in premodern and modern times who, remembering Nichiren’s entrustment of the future to them, developed strong activist movements, thinking it was time to reform the world and build the country.

The birth of a new era always involves trouble. The hull of the old system cannot be removed all at once, and the new powers themselves constantly experience crises from internal division. The Hojo regime was exactly like this. Following a series of extraordinary natural disasters and cataclysms, it was faced with social instability. In addition, there twice occurred unprecedented attacks from outside of Japan: the Mongol raids of 1274 and 1281.

Yet these domestic and external troubles were different from the symptoms of a period of decline. They were the kind of troubles that occur as trials during times of constructive development. They were not the kind of troubles that cause one to despair or to give up on the world but the kind that produce the will to courageously confront and reform the world. Under these circumstances, Nichiren did not understand Buddhism to be limited to saving individual souls, but rather understood it to extend to the salvation of society as a whole. Thus his hope to reform this world colored his faith in and devotion to the Lotus Sutra.

It is not hard to find reasons for this. Observing the trends and the troubles of the new age in Kamakura, Nichiren wrote his Establishment of True Dharma for the Protection of the Country and presented it to the government. In this treatise he proclaims the unification of Buddhism based on the Lotus Sutra and gives full force to social salvation by calling for Buddhism to be united, emphasizing that the nation could only be made secure if governed by politics based on the idea of a unified Buddhism.

He focused his criticism in this work on Honen’s Pure Land chanting of Amida Buddha’s name. Honen’s concentration on retaining the nembutsu as his focus of devotion, and rejecting everything else, was contrary to the unification of Buddhism that Nichiren sought. Nichiren also objected to the Pure Land nembutsu as an escape from the actual world. But Nichiren invited oppression upon himself by making such criticisms of Pure Land Buddhism. In 1261, at the age of forty, he was exiled to Izu Island for about two years, and in 1271 he was exiled for about three years to Sado Island. During this time he was subjected to frequent persecution, beginning his career filled with suffering. …

Yoshiro Tamura, "Introduction to the Lotus Sutra", p123-124

As the Heian period came to a close, there was great social upheaval and strong symptoms of the evil and pollution of the end days. By the seventh year of Eisho (1052), even some ordinary people were announcing the coming of the final, degenerate period of the Dharma. The age and the society proved to be finite and relative, and people were forced to realize that human beings have an evil nature and are death-bound. Faced with this kind of reality, people could not remain steeped in the world of absolutistic monism. This is why Honen (1133-1212) who kept his eyes on the real world and sought its salvation, adopted the Pure Land theory of relativistic dualism and relied upon it rather than upon the absolutistic monism of the Tendai doctrine of original enlightenment. For him there was a polarization between Buddha and ordinary human beings and between the pure land and the sahā world. He encouraged people to reject life in the sahā world, in favor of being reborn in the pure land of the next life.

Shinran (1173—1262), Dogen (1200—1253), and Nichiren (1222-1282) also came into reality out of Mt. Hiei’s hall of truth. Yet their attitudes toward the actual world were quite different from Honen’s. While Honen was mostly devoted to giving up on this life and longed for the pure land of the next life, Shinran, Dogen, and Nichiren struggled positively within the actual world. Their activities and writings came right after the Jokyu turbulence of 1221 and were related to it.

The Jokyu turbulence was the last attempt by the former dynasty to regain political power, which ended in total failure. This was the decisive event that transferred political power from the former dynasty to the newly emerging samurai warrior class. It was a kind of preparation for a period wherein the samurai would build a new order. Shinran, Dogen, and Nichiren were active in the midst of this trend. This was especially true of Nichiren, who had his home base in Kamakura, the center for the newly emerging samurai regime, and felt the new winds directly.

[W]hereas in Christianity arguments concerning the problem of evil focus on the relation of God and evil, in Tiantai it is the relation of Buddha and evil that is discussed. There arose a theory that there is evil in the Buddha, which proved controversial in later years. The idea that there is evil in the Buddha developed from the idea of the mutual inclusion of the ten worlds. In the idea of ten worlds, the world of the Buddha, as the world of supreme good, is located at the highest level, and the world of supreme evil, hell, is located at the lowest level. Human beings are in a middle position, caught between good and evil. Humans are intermediate beings, as emphasized in Western philosophy. But Tiantai insists that each of the ten worlds includes all of the others. Thus the world of the Buddha includes the supreme evil of hell. From this came the idea that there is evil in the Buddha, called “the theory of inherent evil.”

We can see the theoretical development of this idea in Tiantai’s The Profound Meaning of the Guanyin Chapter, according to which the Buddha does not intentionally do evil (cultivated evil) but includes evil in his nature (inherent evil). Here is, accordingly, the possibility of redeeming evil. Those who do not know evil are not qualified to redeem it. If we turn this theory of inherent evil around, it becomes possible to say that there is good, inherent good, in hell. From the idea of the mutual inclusion of the ten worlds, it follows that hell includes the supreme good of the Buddha’s world. Thus Tiantai taught the idea that there is good naturally even in hell. In this way, Tiantai recognized that hell would someday be awakened to the good, thus being redeemed and brought up into the Buddha’s world.

Put succinctly, evil and good are not permanently fixed in extreme contrast with each other. In this sense, the theory is authentically nondual. Stated positively, good and evil have things in common. The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra says, “The nature and form of evil is really the nature and character of good. There is good because there is evil and there is no good apart from evil. … Evil is the origin of good. If there is no evil there can be no good. … Evil goes together with good. But this is neither evil nor good. … Good goes together with evil. But this is neither good nor evil.”

According to the ideas of nongood and nonevil and the nonduality of good and evil, the redemption of evil is possible. Based on this, moreover, the existence of evil comes to be positively affirmed as a source of good. The existence of evil enhances the quest for the good and elevates the good itself. In this sense, without evil there is no good. This prevents human beings who are caught between good and evil from having split personalities or falling into despair.

Tiantai’s theory that the Buddha includes evil in his nature or that the existence of evil is a source of good may give rise to an optimistic impression in which evil is treated lightly. There may be a danger of falling into decadence by affirming permission to do evil as one likes. In fact, later there were some who were severely criticized for understanding it in this way and putting this idea into practice. But the original intention was to try to find a possibility for salvation by looking directly at the reality of evil and hell, and grieving over it. This is neither to monistically affirm evil by seeing good and evil as having the same roots nor to deny the existence of evil.

To conclude, it is not the case that in this world there is only good and no evil. Rather, we can see the vitality of eternal life in the midst of the battle for good over evil. Through this theory of good and evil we can understand Tiantai’s general view of the world and human life. We can feel the vitality of life and find its meaning in a life woven of the warp and woof of happiness and sorrow, joy and suffering, good and evil. This is why Tiantai developed views of the absolute and of eternity.

As the ultimate purpose of Tiantai Zhiyi’s The Great Calming and Contemplation is mastery of the cosmic reality of three thousand worlds in one occasion of experience, in it he develops various theories of practice and gives instructions about the various kinds of human conduct that go with these theories.

The term “calming contemplation” (zhiguan) is based on a compound of the Sanskrit śamatha (meditative calm) and vipaśana (contemplation). It indicates being rooted in the cosmic reality of eternity and infinity, not being upset by the changes and ups and downs of life, broadly observing the world from the perspective of such eternity and infinity, and having unattached wisdom. It is understood to be both meditation and wisdom, as the two terms together express such things as tranquility and illumination or clarity and serenity. Appropriate judgments and actions will follow from such a state.

The term mohe is a phonetic translation of mahā, meaning “great.” The worldview and life view of The Great Calming and Contemplation is on an extremely large scale. It teaches a theory of practice for all kinds of situations, so it is appropriate that it is modified by the term “great.” We encounter many kinds of situations and obstacles in the journey through life. The Great Calming and Contemplation anticipates such situations, teaches ways of dealing with them one by one, and devises means of helping. It deals with problems of love and passion and of sin and evil, indicates what is appropriate for food and clothing, and teaches what to do about disease. We might say that it is a book of counseling that deals with all the kinds of distress and suffering experienced in life.

Returning from the absolutely wonderful of “opening the relative and revealing the wonderful” to the world of conventional reality and relative existence brings this world to life by making the absolutely wonderful alive in this world. In terms of emptiness, it is to go from the conventional duality of A and B into their nondual emptiness. Yet one does not stagnate in nonduality or emptiness but returns to the duality of conventional existence, bringing emptiness into one’s life in order to have a true realization of nonduality and emptiness. This is why Zhanran, the sixth patriarch of Tiantai, maintained that “nonduality is dual, and duality is nondual.” Small Vehicle Buddhists stagnated in nonduality and emptiness, forgetting to reenter the actual world and make such truth alive there. As a consequence of this they fell into deep nihilism.

We should pay careful attention to realizing that seeing the divine in the human or entering the actual world and bringing it to life is neither to affirm humanity, just as it is, as divine, nor to affirm reality, just as it is, as absolute. It is an undeniable fact that humanity is not divine, and that the actual world is finite and relative. Based on this, we have to posit the divine over against humanity, and we have to posit the absolute over against the actual. Thus, we must assert the relatively wonderful. In other words, the “absolutely wonderful” of “opening the relative and revealing the wonderful” does not mean to ignore such facts and affirm humanity, as it is, or to affirm the actual as absolute. In this sense, the “relatively wonderful” of “breaking the relative and revealing the wonderful” is included in “opening the relative and revealing the wonderful.” Moreover, the “supreme truth of the middle way” is posited as the synthesis of “entering emptiness from conventional existence” and “entering conventional existence from emptiness.” Finally, the “threefold contemplation” is taught as a conclusion–the perfect and immediate calming and contemplation of the identity of emptiness, conventional existence, and the middle way.

Thus did Tiantai Zhiyi’s view of absoluteness reach its culmination. We can say that the Lotus Sutra’s teaching of the unifying truth (the Wonderful Dharma of One Vehicle) gained theoretical coherence here. We can conclude that actuality is a plural, finite, and relative world. This is actuality as factual. Zhiyi insists on always acknowledging its factuality as a fact, seeing the unifying truth in it, and thereby gaining a glimpse of an absolute state. If we put this in the context of the eternal life of the Buddha revealed in chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra, this actual life is transient—human beings live toward death. Based on this, one can realize the Everlasting Buddha, i.e., eternal life. It is in this way that one discovers the true or original Buddha.

The most distinctive of [Tiantai Zhiyi’s views] is the theory of the “threefold truth” of emptiness, conventional existence, and the middle way. The theory of “threefold contemplation” is related to these three: “Entering emptiness from conventional existence; entering conventional existence from emptiness. This is the supreme meaning of the middle way.” He concludes the three with the integration of calming and contemplation—that is, the idea of the three contemplations in a single instant, in which emptiness, conventional existence, and the middle way are the same, identical, and simultaneous. This theory of the threefold contemplation is derived from verse 18 of the twenty-fourth chapter of Nagarjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārika:

Dependent origination we declare to be emptiness. It [emptiness] is a dependent concept; just that is the middle path.

This theory of the threefold contemplation is an application of what had been taught in the Sutra of the Main Business of the Bodhisattva’s Jeweled Necklace, a Chinese sutra believed to be from the fifth or sixth century.

Emptiness involves the negation of fixed contrapositions, such as human versus divine, ordinary people versus Buddha, evil versus good, or A versus B generally. Wherever one transcends such dichotomizing, one finds the ultimate reality of existence and of the truth—the Dharma—that supports existence. Tiantai Zhiyi’s view of absoluteness began from this idea. The truly absolute God, Buddha, or Good is found where such dichotomies as those involving human beings, ordinary people, or evil are broken through or transcended. This he calls “the absolutely wonderful.”

Tiantai Zhiyi maintains that the reason the Wonderful Dharma is wonderful is its true absoluteness—i.e., its absolute absoluteness—which is provisionally presupposed to be in contrast with the relative as a way of elevating wonder to a higher position. But the proper meaning of wonderful is to be found in the inconceivable transcendence of dualistic thought and judgments that distinguish between absolute and relative. “The wonderful is derived from the inconceivable. That it is so named is not due to the finite and relative.” Zhiyi defines it as the “nonabsolute and nonrelative” or as the “extinguishing of both relative and absolute,” because it goes beyond both absolute and relative. Thus, we can say that Tiantai Zhiyi’s view of absoluteness has its origin in emptiness, a fundamental Buddhist view of truth, from which he developed his view of absoluteness. In fact, he sometimes refers to the idea of emptiness and works out logical developments based on it.