智顗

Zhiyi, founder of the Tiantai school, also known as 智者 and 天台 (天台大師); his surname was 陳 Chen; his 字 was 德安, De-an; born about A. D. 538, he died in 597 at 60 years of age. He was a native of 頴川 Ying-chuan in Anhui, became a neophyte at 7, was fully ordained at 20. At first a follower of 慧思, Huisi, in 575 he went to the Tiantai mountain in Chekiang, where he founded his famous school on the <Lotus Sūtra> as containing the complete gospel of the Buddha.