三生

The three births, or reincarnations, past, present, future. Tiantai has (a) 種 planting the seed; (b) 熟 ripening; (c) 脫 liberating, stripping, or harvesting, i.e. beginning, development, and reward of bodhi, a process either gradual or instantaneous. Huayan has (a) 見聞生 a past life of seeing and hearing Buddha-truth; (b) 解行生 liberation in the present life; (c) 證入生 realization of life in Buddhahood. This is also called 三生成佛, Buddhahood in the course of three lives. There is also a definition of three rebirths as the shortest term for arhatship, sixty kalpas being the longest. There are other definitions.