智顗是天臺宗的實際創始人，因為他不僅提出了一系例獨標一幟的理論命題，諸如一念三千、一心三觀、三諦圓融等，並且建構了完整的理論體系和判教思想。由於智顗這一套理論圓熱於天臺山，所以稱天臺宗。又由於天臺宗奉《法華經》為宗經(立宗的主要經典)，天台宗因此又別稱為法華宗。上述幾點可以說是學界定論的看法。 現在，大陸上不少有些學者對上述結論產生種種誤解：既然智顗是天臺宗的創始人，以為「天臺宗」、「五時八教」時概念都是他提出的，建立天臺宗的法統也是他所為；既然天臺宗以《法華經》為宗經，於是簡單地把《法華經》思想等同於峋臺宗思想。造成這種誤解的根本原因是，研究者沒有從史料出發，而是承襲別人研究文章，所以造成人誤亦誤。下面，這做法，正應了智顗當年在創建天臺學風時批評的：這些人如矮人觀場，隨他人傍人哭笑。 本文針對上述提及的三個問題，以史料為根據，談點自己的看法。

　　　　　Zhi Yi was the actual found of the Tian Tai Sect, since he not only proposed a series of distinctive theoretical theoretical propositions but also constructed an integrated theoretical framework along with judgmental thoughts. Zhi Yi's theory reached its bloom in Mount Tian Tai Sect was therefore known as the Tian Tai Sect. bwside, the Tian Tai Sect was also called the Fa Hua Sect since it respected Fa Hua Jing as the classic of the sect. all these are the established views of the academic circle. Nowadays, quite a few scholars from the mainland have misunderstandings about the fore-mentioned conclusions. They attributed concepts like the "Tian Tai Sect," "Five Times and Eight Teachings" along with the construction of the tradition of the Tian Tai Sect to Zhi Yi, purely because he was the founder of the sect. They also identified the thoughts in Fa Hua Jing with the thoughts of the Tian Tai Sect simply due to the fact that the Tian Tai Sect simply due to the fact that the Tian Tai Sect respected Fa Hua Jing as their classic. The fundamental cause of such misunderstandings is the none of these researchers began with historical sources; instead they just succeeded others' researches. Such a methodology happened to justify the criticism Zhi Yi made when he founded the style of the Tian Tai Sect: These people are just like dwarfs, being mocked by others as they like it. In this paper we, based on historical sources, talk about our own ideas regarding the three issues above.