Zhiyi, the Tendai Daishi (a great master of Tendai sect), interpreted each of junyoze (Buddhism Ten Factors of Life) in three different ways; the first, second, and the third meaning of a form (the first factor) is as follows: every form is equal; every form is different; every form is in the middle; Zhiyi applied these three ways of interpretation to each of junyoze; thus as for the ninth factor, 'recompense,' the first, second, and the third meaning is as follows: every recompense is equal, every recompense is different, every recompense is in the middle; and he expounded these three aspects of each one of the ten factors as the three truths of the empty, contingent, and middle; for this reason, these three ways of interpretation are called santen dokumon (literally 'the meaning changes three times as one reads the text').
天台大師・智顗は「是の相も如なり、乃至、是の報も如なり」と「是の如きの相、乃至、是の如きの報」と「相も是に如し、乃至、報も是に如す」として、十如是を三種に読み、これを「空・仮・中」の三諦（さんたい）の義に配釈したので、これを三転読文（さんてんどくもん）といわれる。