Tendai in Japan springs straight from China’s Tiantai, sharing the Lotus Sūtra as its north star and the famous five periods and eight teachings framework. When Saichō (Dengyō Daishi) returned from Tang China in 806 CE, he set up shop on Mount Hiei, transplanting Tiantai’s ekayāna vision—“one vehicle” liberation—into Heian-era soil. The result felt like two sides of the same coin: both schools champion the threefold truth and universal Buddha-nature, yet Tendai soon wove in esoteric rituals picked up from Shingon, plus a healthy dose of honji-suijaku (the native kami-Buddha interplay).

Enryaku-ji on Hiei became a buzzing hub, training monks who would branch out into Zen, Pure Land and even Nichiren schools—proof that the Tendai garden, while cut from the same cloth as Tiantai, sprouted uniquely Japanese blossoms. Today’s Goeika spring chants still echo down Hiei’s trails, and NHK’s 2024 documentary “Echoes of the Lotus” highlighted that living lineage. Back in China and Taiwan, Tiantai scholars gather at annual conferences to explore eco-mindfulness—an area where Tendai temples on Hiei have been pioneers with forest-bathing retreats and river-cleaning initiatives.

In a nutshell, Tendai and Tiantai are two limbs of one ancient tree: each reaches for its own light—Japan’s imperial courts and mountain folk versus China’s monasteries on Tiantai Shan—yet both remain firmly rooted in the timeless wisdom of the Lotus Sūtra.