Zhiyi, Zhizhe Master, whose surname was Chen, was from Yingchuan and had double pupils from birth, a mark of a noble person. At fifteen he went to the Buddha in Changsha and vowed to leave home. While reciting the Buddha's name, he saw in a dreamlike trance a mountain meeting the sea. From the mountaintop a monk beckoned to him and called, "You will live here and end your life here." After waking, he became even more devout. At eighteen he took refuge with Dharma Master Fa Xu of Guoyuan Temple in Shangzhou and left home. When he received full ordination, he had already mastered the Vinaya and also cultivated meditative concentration.
At that time, Master Huisi of Wuchen was famous and deep in practice, and Zhiyi, having heard of his way from afar, wished to meet him more eagerly than a traveler on the road. The place where Master Huisi lived was then in the midst of fighting between Chen and Qi. Yet Zhiyi, valuing the Dharma and treating life lightly, braved danger to visit him. Master Huisi said that long ago they had together heard the Lotus Sutra at the Vulture Peak assembly, and that because of that karmic connection he had now come again. He showed him the Samantabhadra Bodhimaṇḍa and taught the Four Practices of Ease (四安樂行). The master practiced austerities day and night, polishing his mind according to the teaching. At this time his longing for the Dharma burned, but his livelihood was poor, so he cut cypress wood to use in place of incense and rolled up the blinds to receive moonlight. When the moon set, he lit pine and cypress to illuminate, and when those fell, he continued with chestnut wood. After fourteen days of this, while reciting the Lotus Sutra, at the line in the Medicine King chapter, "All Buddhas together praise this as true diligence, this is the true Dharma, and this is called making offerings to the Tathāgata," his body and mind were opened. Continuing in samādhi and contemplating in stillness, he was like the high sun shining into a deep valley; he awakened to the Lotus and, like a clear breeze drifting in the sky, he penetrated all Dharma marks. He then reported his experience to Master Huisi, who in turn told him what he had realized and what he had received from his teacher, and had him practice for four nights. The merit of that diligence surpassed a hundred years of practice. Master Huisi exclaimed, "Without you it could not be attained, and without me it could not be recognized. The concentration you heard is the expedient that appears before the Lotus Samādhi, and what appeared and continued is the Dhāraṇī of the Lotus (the great wisdom that turns from provisional existence into emptiness, the fifth of the six stages of the Lotus). Even if ten million scholars of the letter tried to follow your argument, they could not; among those who teach the Dharma, you are foremost."
Afterwards, at the request of Shen Junli, Grand General of Equal Rank (儀同大將軍), he took charge of Waguan Temple. Before long he resigned and sent a disciple to Shen Junli, saying, "Formerly, when I was in the assembly of the Southern Peak master, and first crossed to Jiangdong, the mirror of the Dharma was ever clearer and the lute of the mind often sounded. When I first came to Waguan Temple, forty people sat in meditation together, and about twenty attained the Dharma. The next year a hundred people sat, and twenty attained the Dharma. The year after that two hundred sat, and ten attained the Dharma. Afterwards the assembly grew larger, but fewer and fewer attained the Dharma, and instead it became an obstacle to my own practice, which shows my level of practice. I have heard that the records of Mount Tiantai speak of a place called the Meditation Palace. I now intend to rest from worldly ties on that mountain, pecking at the peaks and drinking from the streams, and to fulfill my lifelong vow."
In autumn of the seventh year of the Taijian era of the Chen (575), he entered Mount Tiantai, where an old monk guided him and said, "If you wish to build a temple, there is a site at the foot of the mountain, and I will gladly give it to you." "In times like these it is hard even to build a hut, let alone a temple." "It is not yet the time, but when the Three Kingdoms are unified, a powerful person will establish a temple here. When the temple is finished, the country will also be made clear, and the temple should be named Guoqing Temple." At that time there was a master named Zhengguang on Mount Tiantai, who was no ordinary person. He had lived on the mountain for more than thirty years, concealing himself and illuminating the Way; it was easy to associate with him but difficult to recognize him. Yet everything he foretold came true. That evening Zhiyi stayed in Zhengguang's hut, and Zhengguang said, "Do you remember the time I beckoned to you long ago?" When he looked at the place where Zhengguang lived, it was exactly like the mountain he had seen in the dream. Emperor Yang of Sui sent a man to summon the master to Shicheng, but he said, "I know that my life's end is here. Therefore I will not go forward; I will pick up an axe and cut off the bonds of karma today." Then, listening to the sound of chanting Amitāyus, he said, "To adorn the Pure Land, the forty-eight vows of Amitābha, and to dwell among the lotus ponds and jewel trees is easy, but there are no people [who do so]. Those who can see the hell's fiery carts before their eyes and repent may still go to and be born in the Land of Bliss; how much more so those who cultivate precepts and wisdom? They have constant practice in the Way, so their fruition is not in vain, and the voice and form of the Buddha truly do not deceive people." At this time Monk Zhi Lang asked, "Master, at what stage have you arrived, and when you leave the world, where will you be born? Also, whom should we take as our teacher?" "If I had not been leading the assembly, I would surely have attained the Sixth Root Purification stage (六根清淨位, the stage of the six sense roots purified in the Perfect Teaching's Six Identities, corresponding to the Identity of Similarity), but because I acted for others I suffered loss and remained at the fifth rank. You asked where I will be born: all my teachers and fellow practitioners attend Avalokiteśvara, and they will come to receive me. You asked whom to take as your teacher: have you not heard? 'The precepts are your teacher, and the Four Samādhis are your bright guides. They will cause you to cast off your heavy burdens and remove the three poisons. They will also govern the four elements, loosen the bonds of karma, break the māras, let you taste the flavor of dhyana, break the banner of pride, and keep you far from wrong paths. They will also free you from the pit of non-action (無爲阬) and depart from the obstacle of great sorrow (大非難).' Only rely on this great teacher. You and I met through the Dharma and grew close through the Dharma, and we have transmitted and practiced the lamp of the Buddha-Dharma, and so we have become kin. If there is anyone who is not like this, he is not inside our school."
When he finished speaking, he seemed to enter meditative absorption.
— Inch'ŏn Pogam – 23. The Deeds of Zhiyi Dharma Master