Within the Tiantai tradition, meditation is organized around the integrated discipline of *zhiguan* (止觀), often rendered as “calming and contemplation” or “stopping and seeing.” This practice unites śamatha (cessation, the quieting of discursive thought) with vipaśyanā (insight, the contemplative discernment of the nature of phenomena). Calming steadies and concentrates the mind, while contemplation investigates emptiness, impermanence, and the conditioned character of all dharmas. Rather than treating these as separate stages, Tiantai presents them as mutually supporting aspects of a single meditative path. In this way, concentration and insight are cultivated together so that stillness does not lapse into dullness, and analysis does not become scattered or agitated.

A distinctive framework for this path is the contemplation of the threefold truth, in which emptiness, provisional existence, and the Middle Way are held together within a single act of awareness. Emptiness reveals that all phenomena lack independent, inherent nature; provisional existence acknowledges that these same phenomena function causally and conventionally; the Middle Way is the non-dual integration of these two perspectives. Tiantai meditation trains practitioners to see each thought and experience as simultaneously empty and yet provisionally real, already embraced within the Middle. This contemplative stance is not merely theoretical, but is applied directly to the flow of mind, so that the arising and passing of thoughts themselves become the field of practice.

To give this vision concrete form, Tiantai lays out the Four Samādhis (四種三昧), structured regimens that weave together sitting, walking, and daily-life awareness. Constantly Sitting Samādhi emphasizes extended seated meditation, often accompanied by recitation and contemplation of emptiness. Constantly Walking Samādhi centers on continuous walking meditation, frequently joined with recitation—especially associated with the Lotus tradition—and circumambulation. Half-Walking Half-Sitting Samādhi alternates these two modes, sometimes incorporating practices of repentance and visualization of Buddhas. Neither Walking nor Sitting Samādhi points to a more encompassing awareness, in which meditative presence is carried into all activities and circumstances.

Within this overall framework, Tiantai gives special prominence to contemplations grounded in the Lotus Sutra. Recitation of the sutra, visualization of the Buddha it reveals, and reflection on its teaching of universal Buddhahood and the “one vehicle” are all taken up as meditative acts. These practices are not separate from *zhiguan* but are integrated into it, so that faith, devotion, and doctrinal contemplation support and deepen insight. In this way, Tiantai meditation becomes a comprehensive discipline: it stabilizes the mind, illuminates the nature of reality through the threefold truth, and infuses both formal practice and ordinary life with the contemplative spirit of the Lotus.