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The Paradox of Evil in Tiantai Buddhist Philosophy
Author(s) -
Liu Jee Loo
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
religion compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.113
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 1749-8171
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-8171.2007.00023.x
Subject(s) - gautama buddha , philosophy , buddhism , doctrine , good and evil , theology , epistemology , political ponerology , problem of evil
A unique thesis of Tiantai Buddhism is the claim that human nature contains evil and that even the Buddha cannot be completely rid of his evil nature. The thesis was most vigorously defended and developed by a Tiantai monk, Zhili ( ad 960–1028). This thesis has attracted a lot of discussion among Tiantai scholars. Their debate focuses on whether this thesis is truly representative of the original doctrine of the Tiantai founder, Zhiyi (of the sixth century ad ). In 2000, Brook Ziporyn published a book Evil and/or/as the Good , which offers Tiantai's evil‐nature thesis a novel explanation and justification. This book sparked a series of discussion on whether evil is not only necessary but also ‘valuable’. This present project gives an overview of these debates and provides a fresh insight on the topic.