In general, Tiantai Zhiyi 天台智顗 (538–597) is said to have realized the five stages of disciples (wupin dizi wei 五品弟子位). Dashi Zhipan 大石志磐 (d. u.), however, opined in the Fuzu tongji 仏祖統紀, edited in the last years of the Southern Song period, that Zhiyi reached the ten degrees of faith (shixin 十信). Furthermore, when explaining Zhiyi’s original stage of realization, Zhipan cited Liangsu’s 梁粛 (753–793) account of the Tang period to argue that Zhiyi had reached the stage of either virtual enlightenment (dengjue 等覚) or supreme enlightenment (miaojue 妙覚).
When problematizing Zhiyi’s stage of realization, two problems have to be taken into account. First, according to hagiographic accounts Zhiyi gained the dhāraṇy-āvartā nāma dhāraṇī 初旋陀羅尼. And second, the five stages of disciples theoretically are included in the ten degrees of faith. The present paper shows that Shenzhi Congyi 神智従義 (1042–1091) of the Northern Song considered Zhiyi’s stage of realization to correspond to the ten degrees of faith. Furthermore, the paper points out that the notion that Zhiyi’s stage of realization exceeds the five stages of disciples can be found in Siming Tanzhao’s 四明曇照 (d. u.) Zhizhe dashi biechuan zhu 智者大師別伝註 as well as in other Southern Song Tiantai materials, including the writings of Baiting Shanyue 柏庭善月 (1149–1241). In this way, I would like to clarify a part of the history of Song period Tiantai thought, which contributed to the formation of Zhipan’s opinion.
