Chan Buddhism

This article is about Chan/Zen Buddhism in China. For an overview of the school, seeZen.

"Chan school" redirects here. For the Harvard University public health school, seeHarvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Chan Buddhism
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	Thiền
Traditional Chinese	Thiền
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Chán Wade–Giles Ch'an2 Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Sim4 Middle Chinese Middle Chinese Dzyen
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabet	Thiền
Chữ Hán	Thiền
Korean name
Hangul	선
Hanja	Thiền
Transcriptions Revised Romanization Seon
Japanese name
Kanji	Thiền
Hiragana	ぜん
Transcriptions Romanization Zen

Chan(traditional Chinese:Thiền;simplified Chinese:Thiền;pinyin:Chán;abbr.ofChinese:Thiền na;pinyin:chánnà), fromSanskritdhyāna(meaning "meditation"or" meditative state "), is a Chinese school ofMahāyānaBuddhism.It developed inChinafrom the 6th centuryCEonwards, becoming especially popular during theTangandSong dynasties.

Chinese Buddha Character Fo

Chan is the originating tradition ofZen Buddhism(the Japanese pronunciation of the samecharacter,which is the most commonly used English name for the school). Chan Buddhism spread from China south toVietnamasThiềnand north toKoreaasSeon,and, in the 13th century, east toJapanasJapanese Zen.

History

See also:Silk Road transmission of Buddhism

The historical records required for a complete, accurate account of early Chan history no longer exist.

Periodisation

The history of Chan in China can be divided into several periods. Zen, as we know it today, is the result of a long history, with many changes and contingent factors. Each period had different types of Zen, some of which remained influential, while others vanished.

Andy Ferguson distinguishes three periods from the 5th century into the 13th century:

1. TheLegendary period,fromBodhidharmain the late 5th century to theAn Lushan Rebellionaround 765 CE, in the middle of theTang dynasty.Little written information is left from this period.It is the time of the Six Patriarchs, including Bodhidharma andHuineng,and the legendary "split" between the Northern and the Southern School of Chan.
2. TheClassical period,from the end of theAn Lushan Rebellionaround 765 CE to the beginning of theSong dynastyaround 950 CE.This is the time of the great masters of Chan, such asMazu DaoyiandLinji Yixuan,and the creation of theyü-lügenre, the recordings of the sayings and teachings of these great masters.
3. TheLiterary period,from around 950 to 1250,which spans the era of the Song dynasty (960–1279). In this time thegong'an-collectionswere compiled, collections of sayings and deeds by the famous masters, appended with poetry and commentary. This genre reflects the influence ofliteration the development of Chan. This period idealized the previous period as the "golden age" of Chan, producing the literature in which the spontaneity of the celebrated masters was portrayed.

Although John R. McRae has reservations about the division of Chan history in phases or periods,he nevertheless distinguishes four phases in the history of Chan:

1. Proto-Chan(c. 500–600) (Southern and Northern Dynasties(420 to 589) andSui dynasty(589–618 CE)). In this phase, Chan developed in multiple locations in northern China. It was based on the practice ofdhyanaand is connected to the figures of Bodhidharma and Huike. Its principal text is theTwo Entrances and Four Practices,attributed to Bodhidharma.
2. Early Chan(c. 600–900) (Tang dynasty(618–907 CE)). In this phase, Chan took its first clear contours. Prime figures are the fifth patriarchDaman Hongren(601–674), his dharma-heirYuquan Shenxiu(606?–706), the sixth patriarchHuineng(638–713), protagonist of the quintessentialPlatform Sutra,andShenhui(670–762), whose propaganda elevated Huineng to the status of sixth patriarch. Prime factions are theNorthern School, Southern School and Oxhead School.
3. Middle Chan(c. 750–1000) (fromAn Lushan Rebellion(755–763) untilFive Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period(907–960/979)). In this phase developed the well-known Chan of the iconoclastic zen-masters. Prime figures areMazu Daoyi(709–788),Shitou Xiqian(710–790),Linji Yixuan(died 867), andXuefeng Yicun(822–908). Prime factions are theHongzhou schooland the Hubei faction.An important text is theAnthology of the Patriarchal Hall(952), which contains many "encounter-stories" and the canon genealogy of the Chan-school.
4. Song dynastyChan (c. 950–1300). In this phase, Chan took its definitive shape including the picture of the "golden age" of the Chan of the Tang-dynasty, and the use ofkoansfor individual study and meditation. Prime figures areDahui Zonggao(1089–1163) who introduced theHua Toupractice andHongzhi Zhengjue(1091–1157) who emphasizedSilent Illumination.Prime factions are theLinji schooland theCaodong school.The classic koan-collections, such as theBlue Cliff Recordwere assembled in this period,which reflect the influence of the "literati" on the development of Chan.In this phase Chan is transported to Japan, and exerts a great influence on Korean Seon viaJinul.

Neither Ferguson nor McRae gives a periodisation for Chinese Chan following the Song-dynasty, though McRae mentions

[5.] "at least apostclassical phaseor perhaps multiple phases ".

Introduction of Buddhism in China (c. 200–500)

See also:Han dynasty,Silk Road transmission of Buddhism,andSix Dynasties

Sinification of Buddhism and Taoist influences

When Buddhism came to China, it was adapted to the Chinese culture and understanding. Theories about the influence of other schools in the evolution of Chan vary widely and are heavily reliant upon speculativecorrelationrather than on written records or histories. Some scholars have argued that Chan developed from the interaction betweenMahāyānaBuddhism andTaoism,while one believes that Chan has roots inyogicpractices, specificallykammaṭṭhāna,the consideration of objects, andkasiṇa,total fixation of the mind.

Buddhist meditationwas practiced in China centuries before the rise of Chan, by people such asAn Shigao(c. 148–180 CE) and his school, who translated variousDhyāna sutras(Chán-jing, thiền kinh, "meditation treatises" ), which were influential early meditation texts mostly based on the Yogacara meditation teachings of theSarvāstivādaschool ofKashmircirca 1st-4th centuries CE.The fivemain types of meditationin the Dhyana sutras areanapanasati(mindfulness of breathing);paṭikūlamanasikārameditation, mindfulness of the impurities of the body; loving-kindnessmaitrīmeditation; the contemplation on the twelve links ofpratītyasamutpāda;and the contemplation on theBuddha's thirty-two Characteristics.Other important translators of meditation texts wereKumārajīva(334–413 CE), who translatedThe Sutra on the Concentration of Sitting Meditation,amongst many other texts; andBuddhabhadra.These Chinese translations of mostly Indian Sarvāstivāda Yogacara meditation manuals were the basis for the meditation techniques of Chinese Chan.

Buddhism was exposed toConfucian,Taoistand localFolk religiousinfluences when it came to China. Goddard quotesD.T. Suzuki,calling Chan a "natural evolution of Buddhism under Taoist conditions".Buddhism was first identified to be "a barbarian variant of Taoism", and Taoist terminology was used to express Buddhist doctrines in the oldest translations of Buddhist texts,a practice termedko-i,"matching the concepts".

Judging from the reception by theHanof the Hinayana works and from the early commentaries, it appears that Buddhism was being perceived and digested through the medium of religious Daoism (Taoism). Buddha was seen as a foreign immortal who had achieved some form of Daoist nondeath. The Buddhists' mindfulness of the breath was regarded as an extension of Daoist breathing exercises.

The first Buddhistconvertsin China were Taoists.They developed high esteem for the newly introduced Buddhist meditational techniques,and blended them withTaoist meditation.Representatives of early Chinese Buddhism likeSengzhaoandTao Shengwere deeply influenced by the Taoist keystone works ofLaoziandZhuangzi.Against this background, especially the Taoist concept ofnaturalnesswas inherited by the early Chan disciples:they equated – to some extent – the ineffableTaoandBuddha-nature,and thus, rather than feeling bound to the abstract "wisdom of the sūtras", emphasized Buddha-nature to be found in "everyday" human life, just as the Tao.

Chinese Buddhism absorbedNeo-Daoistconcepts as well.Concepts such asT'i-yung( thể dụng Essence and Function) andLi-shih( lý sự Noumenon and Phenomenon, or Principle and Practice) first appeared inHua-yenBuddhism,which consequently influenced Chan deeply.On the other hand, Taoists at first misunderstoodsunyatato be akin to the Taoistnon-being.

The emerging Chinese Buddhism nevertheless had to compete with Taoism and Confucianism:

Because Buddhism was a foreign influence, however, and everything "barbarian" was suspect, certain Chinese critics were jolted out of complacency by the spread of the dharma [...] In the first four centuries of the Christian Era, this barbarian influence was infiltrating China just when it was least politically stable and more vulnerable to sedition. As the philosophy and practice infiltrated society, many traditionalists banded together to stop the foreign influence, not so much out of intolerance (an attitude flatly rejected by both Taoism and Confucianism), but because they felt that the Chinese worldview was being turned upside down.

One point of confusion for this new emerging Chinese Buddhism was thetwo truths doctrine.Chinese thinking took this to refer to twoontological truths:reality exists on two levels, a relative level and an absolute level.Taoists at first misunderstoodsunyatato be akin to the Taoist non-being.In IndianMadhyamakaphilosophy the two truths are twoepistemological truths:two different ways to look at reality. Based on their understanding of theMahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutrathe Chinese supposed that the teaching of Buddha-nature was, as stated by that sutra, the final Buddhist teaching, and that there is an essential truth above sunyata and the two truths.

Divisions of training

When Buddhism came to China, there were three divisions of training:

1. The training in virtue and discipline in the precepts (Skt.śīla),
2. The training in mind through meditation (Skt.dhyāna) to attain aluminousand non-reactive state of mind, and
3. The training in the recorded teachings (Skt.Dharma).

It was in this context that Buddhism entered into Chinese culture. Three types of teachers with expertise in each training practice developed:

1. Vinayamasters specialized in all the rules of discipline for monks and nuns,
2. Dhyāna masters specialized in the practice of meditation, and
3. Dharmamasters specialized in the mastery of the Buddhist texts.

Monasteries and practice centers were created that tended to focus on either the Vinaya and training of monks or the teachings focused on one scripture or a small group of texts. Dhyāna (Chan) masters tended to practice in solitary hermitages, or to be associated with Vinaya training monasteries or the dharma teaching centers. The later naming of the Zen school has its origins in this view of the threefold division of training.

McRae goes so far as to say:

... one important feature must not be overlooked: Chan was not nearly as separate from these other types of Buddhist activities as one might think [...] [T]he monasteries of which Chan monks became abbots were comprehensive institutions, "public monasteries" that supported various types of Buddhist activities other than Chan-style meditation. The reader should bear this point in mind: In contrast to the independent denominations of Soto and Rinzai that emerged (largely by government fiat) in seventeenth-century Japan,there was never any such thing as an institutionally separate Chan "school" at any time in Chinese Buddhist history(emphasis McRae).

Legendary or Proto-Chan (c. 500–600)

See also:Southern and Northern DynastiesandSui dynasty

Mahākāśyapa and the Flower Sermon

The Chan tradition ascribes the origins of Chan in India to theFlower Sermon,the earliest source for which comes from the 14th century.It is said thatGautama Buddhagathered his disciples one day for aDharma talk.When they gathered together, the Buddha was completely silent and some speculated that perhaps the Buddha was tired or ill. The Buddha silently held up and twirled a flower and his eyes twinkled; several of his disciples tried to interpret what this meant, though none of them were correct. One of the Buddha's disciples,Mahākāśyapa,gazed at the flower and smiled. The Buddha then acknowledged Mahākāśyapa's insight by saying the following:

I possess the true Dharma eye, the marvelous mind of Nirvāṇa, the true form of the formless, the subtle Dharma gate that does not rest on words or letters but is a special transmission outside of the scriptures. This I entrust to Mahākāśyapa.

First six patriarchs (c. 500 – early 8th century)

Main article:Lineage (Buddhism)

Traditionally the origin of Chan in China is credited toBodhidharma,anIranian-language speakingCentral Asian monkor an Indian monk.The story of his life, and of the Six Patriarchs, was constructed during theTang dynastyto lend credibility to the growing Chan-school.Only scarce historical information is available about him, but his hagiography developed when the Chan tradition grew stronger and gained prominence in the early 8th century. By this time a lineage of the six ancestral founders of Chan in China was developed.

The actual origins of Chan may lie in ascetic practitioners of Buddhism, who found refuge in forests and mountains.Huike,"a dhuta (extreme ascetic) who schooled others"and used theSrimala Sutra,one of theTathāgatagarbha sūtras,figures in the stories about Bodhidharma. Huike is regarded as the second Chan patriarch, appointed by Bodhidharma to succeed him. One of Huike's students,Sengcan,to whom is ascribed theXinxin Ming,is regarded as the third patriarch.

By the late 8th century, under the influence ofHuineng'sstudentShenhui,the traditional list of patriarchs of the Chan lineage had been established:

1. Bodhidharma(Đạt ma) c. 440 – c. 528
2. Dazu Huike(Tuệ khả) 487–593
3. Sengcan(Tăng xán)?–606
4. Dayi Daoxin(Đạo tín) 580–651
5. Daman Hongren(Hoằng nhẫn) 601–674
6. Huineng(Huệ năng) 638–713

In later writings, this lineage was extended to include 28 Indian patriarchs. In theSong of Enlightenment( chứng đạo caZhèngdào gē) ofYongjia Xuanjue( vĩnh gia huyền giác, 665–713), one of the chief disciples ofHuìnéng,it is written that Bodhidharma was the 28th patriarch in a line of descent from Mahākāśyapa, a disciple ofŚākyamuni Buddha,and the first patriarch of Chan Buddhism.

Mahākāśyapa was the first, leading the line of transmission;
Twenty-eight Fathers followed him in the West;
The Lamp was then brought over the sea to this country;
And Bodhidharma became the First Father here:
His mantle, as we all know, passed over six Fathers,
And by them many minds came to see the Light.

Lankavatara Sutra

In its beginnings in China, Chan primarily referred to theMahāyāna sūtrasand especially to theLaṅkāvatāra Sūtra.As a result, early masters of the Chan tradition were referred to as "Laṅkāvatāra masters". As theLaṅkāvatāra Sūtrateaches the doctrine of theEkayāna"One Vehicle", the early Chan school was sometimes referred to as the "One Vehicle School".In other early texts, the school that would later become known as Chan is sometimes even referred to as simply the "Laṅkāvatāra school" (Ch. Lăng già tông,Léngqié Zōng).Accounts recording the history of this early period are to be found in theRecords of the Laṅkāvatāra Masters(Chinese:Lăng già sư tư ký).

Bodhidharma

Main article:Bodhidharma

Bodhidharma with Dazu Huike. Painting bySesshū Tōyō,15th century.

Bodhidharma is recorded as having come into China during the time ofSouthern and Northern Dynastiesto teach a "special transmission outside scriptures" which "did not stand upon words".ThroughoutBuddhist art,Bodhidharma is depicted as a rather ill-tempered, profusely bearded and wide-eyed barbarian. He is referred to as "The Blue-EyedBarbarian"(Bích nhãn hồ;Bìyǎn hú) in Chinese Chan texts.Only scarce historical information is available about him but his hagiography developed when the Chan tradition grew stronger and gained prominence in the early 8th century. By this time a lineage of the six ancestral founders of Chan in China was developed.

Little contemporary biographical information on Bodhidharma is extant, and subsequent accounts became layered with legend.There are three principal sources for Bodhidharma's biography:The Record of the Buddhist Monasteries of Luoyangby Yáng Xuànzhī's ( dương huyễn chi, 547), Tan Lin's preface to theLong Scroll of the Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices(6th century CE), andDayi Daoxin'sFurther Biographies of Eminent Monks(7th century CE).

These sources vary in their account of Bodhidharma being either "from Persia" (547 CE), "a Brahman monk from South India" (645 CE), "the third son of a Brahman king of South India" (c. 715 CE).Some traditions specifically describe Bodhidharma to be the third son of aPallava kingfromKanchipuram.

TheLong Scroll of the Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practiceswritten by Tan Lin ( đàm lâm; 506–574), contains teachings that are attributed to Bodhidharma. The text is known from theDunhuang manuscripts.The two entrances toenlightenmentare the entrance of principle and the entrance of practice:

The entrance of principle is to become enlightened to the Truth on the basis of the teaching. One must have a profoundfaithin the fact that one and the same True Nature is possessed by all sentient beings, both ordinary and enlightened, and that this True Nature is only covered up and made imperceptible [in the case of ordinary people] byfalse sense impressions".

The entrance of practice includes the following four increments:

1. Practice of the retribution of enmity: to accept all suffering as the fruition of past transgressions, without enmity or complaint
2. Practice of the acceptance of circumstances: to remain unmoved even by good fortune, recognizing it as evanescent
3. Practice of the absence of craving: to be without craving, which is the source of all suffering
4. Practice of accordance with the Dharma: to eradicate wrong thoughts and practice the six perfections, without having any "practice".

This text was used and studied by Huike and his students. The True Nature refers to theBuddha-nature.

Huike

Bodhidharma settled inNorthern WeiChina. Shortly before his death, Bodhidharma appointed his disciple Dazu Huike to succeed him, making Huike the first Chinese-born ancestral founder and the second ancestral founder of Chan in China. Bodhidharma is said to have passed three items to Huike as a sign of transmission of the Dharma: a robe, a bowl, and a copy of theLaṅkāvatāra Sūtra.The transmission then passed to the second ancestral founder Dazu Huike, the third Sengcan, the fourth ancestral founder Dayi Daoxin, and the fifth ancestral founderDaman Hongren.

Early Chan in Tang China (c. 600–900)

East Mountain Teachings

With the fourth patriarch,Daoxin(Đạo tín580–651),Chan began to take shape as a distinct school. The link between Huike and Sengcan, and the fourth patriarch Daoxin "is far from clear and remains tenuous".With Daoxin and his successor, the fifth patriarchHongren(Hoằng nhẫn601–674), there emerged a new style of teaching, which was inspired by the Chinese textAwakening of Faith in the Mahayana.According to McRae, the "first explicit statement of the sudden and direct approach that was to become the hallmark of Ch'an religious practice" is associated with theEast Mountain School.It is a method named "Maintaining the one without wavering" (shou-i pu i,Thủ nhất bất di ),the onebeing thenature of mind,which is equated with Buddha-nature.In this practice, one turns the attention from the objects of experience, to the perceiving subject itself.According to McRae, this type of meditation resembles the methods of "virtually all schools of Mahayana Buddhism," but differs in that "no preparatory requirements, no moral prerequisites or preliminary exercises are given," and is "without steps or gradations. One concentrates, understands, and is enlightened, all in one undifferentiated practice."Sharf notes that the notion of "Mind" came to be criticised by radical subitists, and was replaced by "No Mind," to avoid any reifications.

A large group of students gathered at a permanent residence, and extreme asceticism became outdated.The period of Daoxin and Hongren came to be called theEast Mountain Teaching,due to the location of the residence of Hongren at Huangmei.The term was used byYuquan Shenxiu( thần tú 606?–706), the most important successor to Hongren.By this time the group had grown into a matured congregation that became significant enough to be reckoned with by the ruling forces.The East Mountain community was a specialized meditation training centre. Hongren was a plain meditation teacher, who taught students of "various religious interests", including "practitioners of the Lotus Sutra, students of Madhyamaka philosophy, or specialists in the monastic regulations of BuddhistVinaya".The school was typified by a "loose practice,"aiming to make meditation accessible to a larger audience.Shenxiu used short formulas extracted from various sutras to package the teachings,a style which is also used in the Platform Sutra.The establishment of a community in one location was a change from the wandering lives of Bodhidharma and Huike and their followers.It fitted better into the Chinese society, which highly valued community-oriented behaviour, instead of solitary practice.

In 701Shenxiuwas invited to the Imperial Court by Zhou EmpressWu Zetian,who paid him due to imperial reverence. The first lineage documents were produced in this period:

[T]he genealogical presentation of the Chan transmission was first recorded on paper in the early years of metropolitan Chan activity. The earliest recorded instance of this was in the epitaph for a certain Faru, a student of Hongren's who died in 689, and by the second decade of the 8th century, the later followers of Hongren had produced two separate texts describing the transmission from Bodhidharma to Shenxiu.

The transition from the East Mountain to the two capitals changed the character of Chan:

[I]t was only when Hongren's successors moved into the environment of the two capitals, with its literate society and incomparably larger urban scale, that well-written texts were required for disseminating the teaching.

Members of the "East Mountain Teaching" shifted the alleged scriptural basis, realizing that theAwakening of Faithis not a sutra but asastra,commentary, and fabricated a lineage ofLankavatara Sutramasters, as being the sutra that preluded theAwakening of Faith.

Southern School – Huineng and Shenhui

Huinengtearing sutras

See also:Subitism

According to tradition, the sixth and last ancestral founder,Huineng( huệ năng; 638–713), was one of the giants of Chan history, and all surviving schools regard him as their ancestor.The dramatic story of Huineng's life tells that there was a controversy over his claim to the title of patriarch. After being chosen by Hongren, the fifth ancestral founder, Huineng had to flee by night toNanhua Templein the south to avoid the wrath of Hongren's jealous senior disciples.

Modern scholarship, however, has questioned this narrative. Historic research reveals that this story was created around the middle of the 8th century, as part of a campaign to win influence at the Imperial Court in 731 by a successor to Huineng called Shenhui. He claimed Huineng to be the successor of Hongren instead of Shenxiu, the recognized successor.A dramatic story of Huineng's life was created, as narrated in thePlatform Sutra,which tells that there was a contest for the transmission of the title of patriarch. After being chosen byHongren,the fifth patriarch, Huineng had to flee by night toNanhua Templein the south to avoid the wrath of Hongren's jealous senior disciples.Shenhui succeeded in his campaign, and Huineng eventually came to be regarded as the Sixth Patriarch.In 745 Shenhui was invited to take up residence in the Heze Temple in the capital, Dongdu (modernLuoyang) In 753, he fell out of grace and had to leave Dongdu to go into exile.

The most prominent of the successors of Shenhui's lineage wasGuifeng Zongmi.According to Zongmi, Shenhui's approach was officially sanctioned in 796, when "an imperial commission determined that the Southern line of Ch'an represented the orthodox transmission and established Shen-hui as the seventh patriarch, placing an inscription to that effect in the Shen-lung temple".

Doctrinally, Shenhui's "Southern School" is associated with the teaching thatenlightenment is suddenwhile the "Northern" or East Mountain school is associated with the teaching that enlightenment is gradual. This was a polemical exaggeration since both schools were derived from the same tradition, and the so-called Southern School incorporated many teachings of the more influential Northern School.Eventually both schools died out, but the influence of Shenhui was so immense that all later Chan schools traced their origin to Huineng, and "sudden enlightenment" became a standard doctrine of Chan.

Shenhui's influence is traceable in thePlatform Sutra,which gives a popular account of the story of Huineng but also reconciles the antagonism created by Shenhui. Salient is that Shenhui himself does not figure in thePlatform Sutra;he was effectively written out of Chan history.ThePlatform Sutraalso reflects the growing popularity of theDiamond Sūtra(Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra) in 8th-century Chinese Buddhism.Thereafter, the essential texts of the Chan school were often considered to be both theLaṅkāvatāra Sūtraand theDiamond Sūtra.TheLaṅkāvatāra Sūtra,which endorses the Buddha-nature, emphasized purity of mind, which can be attained in gradations. The Diamond-sutra emphasizes sunyata, which "must be realized totally or not at all".David Kalupahanaassociates the laterCaodong school(JapaneseSōtō,gradual) andLinji school(JapaneseRinzai school,sudden) schools with theYogacaraandMadhyamakaphilosophies respectively.The same comparison has been made by McRae.The Madhyamaka school elaborated on the theme ofśūnyatā,which was set forth in theprajnaparamitasutras, to which theDiamond Sutraalso belongs.The shift from theLaṅkāvatāra Sūtrato theDiamond Sutraalso signifies a tension between Buddha-nature teachings, which imply a transcendental reality, versus śūnyatā, which denies such a transcendental reality.

Tibetan Chan

Chinese Chan Buddhist teachers such asMoheyanfirst went to Tibet in the eighth century during the height of theTibetan Empire.There seems to have been disputes between them and Indian Buddhists, as exemplified by theSamye debate.Many Tibetan Chan texts have been recovered from the caves atDunhuang,where Chan and Tantric Buddhists lived side by side and this led toreligious syncretismin some cases.Chan Buddhism survived in Tibet for several centuries,but had mostly been replaced by the 10th century developments inTibetan Buddhism.According to Sam Van Schaik:

After the 'dark period', all visible influences of Chan were eliminated from Tibetan Buddhism, and Mahayoga and Chan were carefully distinguished from each other. This trend can already be observed in the tenth-century Lamp for the Eyes in Contemplation by the great central Tibetan scholar Gnubs chen Sangs rgyas ye shes. This influential work represented a crucial step in the codification of Chan, Mahayoga and the Great Perfection as distinct vehicles to enlightenment. In comparison, our group of [Dunhuang] manuscripts exhibits remarkable freedom, blurring the lines between meditation systems that were elsewhere kept quite distinct. The system of practice set out in these manuscripts did not survive into the later Tibetan tradition. Indeed, this creative integration of meditation practices derived from both Indic and Chinese traditions could only have been possible during the earliest years of Tibetan Buddhism, when doctrinal categories were still forming, and in this sense, it represents an important stage in the Tibetan assimilation of Buddhism.

Classical or Middle Chan – Tang dynasty (c. 750–1000)

Daoxin, Hongren, Shenxiu, Huineng and Shenhui all lived during the early Tang. The later period of theTang dynastyis traditionally regarded as the "golden age" of Chan. This proliferation is described in a famous saying:

Look at the territory of the house of Tang —
The whole of it is the realm of the Chan school.

An Lu-shan rebellion

TheAn Lushan Rebellion(755–763) led to a loss of control by the Tang dynasty, and changed the Chan scene again. Metropolitan Chan began to lose its status, while "other schools were arising in outlying areas controlled by warlords. These are the forerunners of the Chan we know today. Their origins are obscure; the power of Shen-hui's preaching is shown by the fact that they all trace themselves to Hui-neng."

Hung-chou School

Main article:Hongzhou school

Linji

The most important of these schools is theHongzhou school( hồng châu tông ) ofMazu,to which also belongDazhu Huihai,Baizhang Huaihai,HuangboandLinji(Rinzai). Linji is also regarded as the founder of one of the Five Houses.

This school developed "shock techniques such as shouting, beating, and using irrational retorts to startle their students into realization".Some of these are common today, while others are found mostly in anecdotes. It is common in many Chan traditions today for Chan teachers to have a stick with them during formal ceremonies which is a symbol of authority and which can be also used to strike on the table during a talk.

These shock techniques became part of the traditional and still popular image of Chan masters displaying irrational and strange behaviour to aid their students.Part of this image was due to later misinterpretations and translation errors, such as the loud belly shout known askatsu."Katsu" means "to shout", which has traditionally been translated as "yelled 'katsu'" – which should mean "yelled a yell".

A well-known story depicts Mazu practicing dhyana, but being rebuked by his teacherNanyue Huairang,comparing seated meditation with polishing a tile.According to Faure, the criticism is not about dhyana as such, but "the idea of" becoming a Buddha "by means of any practice, lowered to the standing of a" means "to achieve an" end "".The criticism of seated dhyana reflects a change in the role and position of monks in Tang society, who "undertook only pious works, reciting sacred texts and remaining seated indhyana".Nevertheless, seated dhyana remained an important part of the Chan tradition, also due to the influence ofGuifeng Zongmi,who tried to balance dhyana and insight.

The Hung-chou school has been criticised for its radicalsubitism.Guifeng Zongmi ( khuê phong tông mật ) (780–841), an influential teacher-scholar and patriarch of both the Chan and theHuayan school,claimed that the Hongzhou school teaching led to a radical nondualism that denies the need for spiritual cultivation and moral discipline. While Zongmi acknowledged that the essence of Buddha-nature and its functioning in the day-to-day reality are but different aspects of the same reality, he insisted that there is a difference.

Shitou Xiqian

TraditionallyShítóu Xīqiān(Ch. Thạch đầu hi thiên, c. 700 – c.790) is seen as the other great figure of this period. In the Chan lineages he is regarded as the predecessor of theCaodong(Sōtō) school.He is also regarded as the author of theSandokai,a poem which formed the basis for theSong of the Precious Mirror SamadhiofDongshan Liangjie(Jp. Tōzan Ryōkan) and the teaching of theFive Ranks.

The Great Persecution

During 845–846Emperor Wuzongpersecuted the Buddhist schools in China:

It was a desperate attempt on the part of the hard-pressed central government, which had been in disarray since the An Lu-shan rebellion of 756, to gain some measure of political, economic, and military relief by preying on the Buddhist temples with their immense wealth and extensive lands.

This persecution was devastating for metropolitan Chan, but the Chan school of Ma-tsu and his likes had survived, and took a leading role in the Chan of the later Tang.

Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (907–960/979)

See also:Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period

After the fall of theTang dynasty,China was without effective central control during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. China was divided into several autonomous regions. Support for Buddhism was limited to a few areas. TheHua-yenandT'ient-taischools suffered from the changing circumstances, since they had depended on imperial support. The collapse of T'ang society also deprived the aristocratic classes of wealth and influence, which meant a further drawback for Buddhism. Shenxiu's Northern School and Henshui's Southern School didn't survive the changing circumstances. Nevertheless, Chan emerged as the dominant stream within Chinese Buddhism, but with various schools developing various emphasises in their teachings, due to the regional orientation of the period. TheFayan school,named after Fa-yen Wen-i (885–958) became the dominant school in the southern kingdoms of Nan-T'ang (Jiangxi,Chiang-hsi) andWuyue(Che-chiang).

Literary Chan – Song dynasty (c. 960–1300)

See also:Song dynasty

The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period was followed by the Song dynasty, which established a strong central government. During the Song dynasty, Chan ( thiền ) was used by the government to strengthen its control over the country, and Chan grew to become the largest sect inChinese Buddhism.An ideal picture of the Chan of the Tang period was produced, which served the legacy of this newly acquired status:

In the Song dynasty (960–1279), Chinese Chan Buddhism reached something of a climax paradigm. By "climax paradigm", I mean a conceptual configuration by which Chan was described in written texts, practiced by its adherents, and by extension understood as a religious entity by the Chinese population as a whole... Previous events in Chan were interpreted through the lens of the Song dynasty configuration, and subsequent developments in China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam were evaluated, even as they occurred, against what was known of the standards established during the Song. Thus the romanticized image of the great Tang dynasty masters – Mazu and his students, Caoshan, Dongshan, and their students, and of course Linji – was generated by Song dynasty authors and functioned within Song dynasty texts. Similarly, even where subsequent figures throughout East Asia – Hakuin Ekaku (1685–1769), the famous reviver of Japanese Rinzai, is the best example – evoke the examples of Bodhidharma, the Sixth Patriarch Huineng, Mazu, and the others, they do so through the conceptual filter of Song-dynasty Chan.

Five Houses of Chan

See also:Five Houses of Chan

During the Song theFive Houses (Ch. Ngũ gia ) of Chan,or five "schools", were recognized. These were not originally regarded as "schools" or "sects", but based on the various Chan-genealogies. Historically they have come to be understood as "schools".

The Five Houses of Chan are:

• Guiyang school( vi ngưỡng tông ), named after mastersGuishan Lingyou(771–854) and Yangshan Huiji (813–890), dharma-descendants ofMazu Daoyi;
• Linji school( lâm tế tông ), named after masterLinji Yixuan(died 866), whose lineage came to be traced to Mazu, establishing him as the archetypal iconoclastic Chan-master;
• Caodongschool ( tào động tông ), named after mastersDongshan Liangjie(807–869) andCaoshan Benji(840–901);
• Yunmen school( vân môn tông ), named after masterYunmen Wenyan(died 949), a student ofXuefeng Yicun(822–908), whose lineage was traced toShitou Xiqian:
• Fayan school( pháp nhãn tông ), named after masterFayan Wenyi(885–958), a "grand-student" ofXuefeng Yicun.

Rise of the Linji-school

Main article:Linji school

The Linji-school became the dominant school within Chan, due to support from the literati and the court.Before the Song dynasty, the Linji-school is rather obscure, and very little is known about its early history.The first mention of Linji is in theZutang ji,compiled in 952, 86 years after Linji's death.But theZutang jipictures theXuefeng Yicunlineage as heir to the legacy of Mazu and the Hongzhou-school.

According to Welter, the real founder of the Linji-school was Shoushan (or Baoying) Shengnian ( thủ sơn tỉnh niệm ) (926–993), a fourth generation dharma-heir of Linji. TheTiansheng Guangdeng lu( thiên thánh quảng đăng lục ), "Tiansheng Era Expanded Lamp Record", compiled by the official Li Zunxu ( lý tuân úc ) (988–1038) confirms the status of Shoushan Shengnian, but also pictures Linji as a major Chan patriarch and heir to the Mazu, displacing the prominence of the Fayan-lineage.It also established the slogan of "a special transmission outside the teaching", supporting the Linji-school claim of "Chan as separate from and superior to all other Buddhist teachings".

Dahui Zonggao

Over the course of Song dynasty (960–1279), the Guiyang, Fayan, and Yunmen schools were gradually absorbed into the Linji. Song Chan was dominated by the Linji school ofDahui Zonggao,which in turn became strongly affiliated to the Imperial Court:

... the Ta-hui school of Sung Chan had become closely associated with the Sung court, high officials, and the literati [...] With the establishment of theWu-shan (Gozan) systemduring the Southern Sung the school of Ta-hui took precedence. The Chinese bureaucratic system entered into Chan temples throughout the country, and a highly organized system of temple rank and administration developed.

The Wu-shan system was a system of state-controlled temples, which were established by the Song government in all provinces.

Koan-system

The teaching styles and words of the classical masters were recorded in the so-called "encounter dialogues".Snippets of these encounter dialogues were collected in texts as theBlue Cliff Record(1125) of Yuanwu,The Gateless Gate(1228) ofWumen,both of the Linji lineage, and theBook of Equanimity(1223) byWansong Xingxiuof the Caodong lineage.

These texts became classic gōng'àn cases, together with verse and prose commentaries, which crystallized into the systematizedgōng'àn(koan) practice. According to Miura and Sasaki, "[I]t was during the lifetime ofYüan-wu's successor,Dahui Zonggao( đại tuệ tông cảo; 1089–1163) that Koan Chan entered its determinative stage. " Gōng'àn practice was prevalent in the Linji school, to whichYuanwuand Dahui belonged, but it was also employed on a more limited basis by the Caodong school.

The recorded encounter dialogues, and the koan collections which derived from this genre, mark a shift from solitary practice to the interaction between master and student:

The essence of enlightenment came to be identified with the interaction between masters and students. Whatever insight dhyana might bring, its verification was always interpersonal. In effect, enlightenment came to be understood not so much as an insight, but as a way of acting in the world with other people

This mutual enquiry of the meaning of the encounters of masters and students of the past gave students a role model:

One looked at the enlightened activities of one's lineal forebears in order to understand one's own identity [...] taking the role of the participants and engaging in their dialogues instead Koan practice was a literary practice, styling snippets of encounter-dialogue into well-edited stories. It arose in interaction with "educated literati".

There were dangers involved in such a literary approach, such as fixing specific meanings to the cases.Dahui Zonggao is even said to have burned the woodblocks of theBlue Cliff Record,for the hindrance it had become to study of Chan by his students

Silent illumination

The Caodong was the other school to survive into the Song period. Its main protagonist was Hung-chih Cheng-chueh, a contemporary of Dahui Zonggao. It put emphasis on "silent illumination", or "just sitting". This approach was attacked by Dahui as being mere passivity, and lacking emphasis on gaining insight into one's true nature. Cheng-chueh in his turn criticized the emphasis on koan study.

Post-classical Chan (c. 1300–present)

Yuan dynasty (1279–1368)

TheYuan dynastywas the empire established byKublai Khan,the leader of theBorjiginclan, after theMongol Empireconquered theJin dynasty (1115–1234)and theSouthern Song dynasty.Chan began to be mixed withPure Land Buddhismas in the teachings ofZhongfeng Mingben(1263–1323). During this period, other Chan lineages, not necessarily connected with the original lineage, began to emerge with the 108th Chan Patriarch,Dhyānabhadraactive in both China and Korea.

Ming dynasty (1368–1644)

Chan Buddhism enjoyed something of a revival in theMing dynasty,with teachers such asHanshan Deqing( hàm sơn đức thanh ), who wrote and taught extensively on both Chan and Pure Land Buddhism; Miyun Yuanwu ( mật vân viên ngộ ), who came to be seen posthumously as the first patriarch of theŌbakuschool ofZen;and asYunqi Zhuhong( vân tê 祩 hoành ) andOuyi Zhixu(蕅 ích trí húc ).

Chan was taught alongside other Buddhist traditions such asPure Land,Huayan,TiantaiandChinese Esoteric Buddhismin many monasteries. In continuity with Buddhism in the previous dynasties, Buddhist masters taught integrated teachings from the various traditions as opposed to advocating for any sectarian delineation between the various schools of thought.

With the downfall of the Ming, several Chan masters fled to Japan, founding theŌbaku school.

Qing dynasty (1644–1912)

At the beginning of theQing dynasty,Chan was "reinvented", by the "revival of beating and shouting practices" by Miyun Yuanwu (1566–1642), and the publication of theWudeng yantong( "The strict transmission of the five Chan schools" ) by Feiyin Tongrong's (1593–1662), a dharma heir of Miyun Yuanwu. The book placed self-proclaimed Chan monks without proper Dharma transmission in the category of "lineage unknown" (sifa weixiang), thereby excluding several prominent Caodong monks.

Modernisation

19th century (late Qing dynasty)

Around 1900, Buddhists from other Asian countries showed a growing interest in Chinese Buddhism.Anagarika Dharmapalavisited Shanghai in 1893,intending "to make a tour of China, to arouse the Chinese Buddhists to send missionaries to India to restore Buddhism there, and then to start a propaganda throughout the whole world", but eventually limiting his stay to Shanghai.Japanese Buddhist missionaries were active in China in the beginning of the 20th century.

Republic of China (1912–1949) – First Buddhist Revival

See also:Republic of China (1912–49)

Traditional Chan Buddhist Grand MasterWei ChuehinTaiwan,sitting in meditation.

The modernisation of China led to the end of the Chinese Empire, and the installation of the Republic of China, which lasted on the mainland until theCommunist Revolutionand the installation of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

After further centuries of decline during the Qing, Chan was revived again in the early 20th century byHsu Yun( hư vân ), a well-known figure of 20th-century Chinese Buddhism. Many Chan teachers today trace their lineage to Hsu Yun, includingSheng Yen( thánh nghiêm ) andHsuan Hua( tuyên hóa ), who have propagated Chan in the West where it has grown steadily through the 20th and 21st century.

The Buddhist reformistTaixupropagated a Chan-influencedhumanistic Buddhism,which is endorsed by Jing Hui, former abbot ofBailin Monastery.

Until 1949, monasteries were built in the Southeast Asian countries, for example by monks ofGuanghua Monastery,to spread Chinese Buddhism. Presently, Guanghua Monastery has seven branches in the Malay Peninsula and Indonesia.

People's Republic of China (1949–present) – Second Buddhist Revival

See also:China

Chan was repressed in China during the recent modern era in the early periods of the People's Republic, but subsequently has been re-asserting itself on the mainland, and has a significant following inTaiwanandHong Kongas well as amongOverseas Chinese.

Since theChinese economic reformof the 1970s, a new revival of Chinese Buddhism has been ongoing.Ancient Buddhist temples, such asBailin MonasteryandGuanghua Monasteryhave been refurbished.

Bailin Monastery was ruined long before 1949.In 1988, Jing Hui was persuaded to take over the Hebei Buddhist Association, and start rebuilding the Monastery.Jing Hui is a studentand dharma successorofHsu Yun,but has also adopted theHumanistic BuddhismofTaixu.

Guanghua Monasterywas restored beginning in 1979, when a six-year restoration program began under the supervision of then 70-year-old Venerable Master Yuanzhou ( viên chuyết lão pháp sư ). In 1983 the temple became one of the Chinese Buddhism Regional Temples ( hán tộc địa khu toàn quốc trọng điểm tự viện ) whilst 36-year-old Master Yiran ( nghị nhiên pháp sư ) became abbot. The same year, Venerable Master Yuanzhou funded the establishment of the new Fujian Buddhism Academy ( phúc kiến phật học viện ) on the site.

Taiwan

See also:TaiwanandBuddhism in Taiwan

Several Chinese Buddhist teachers left China during the Communist Revolution, and settled in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Sheng Yen(1930–2009) was the founder of theDharma Drum Mountain,a Buddhist organization based inTaiwan.During his time in Taiwan, Sheng Yen was well known as one of the progressive Buddhist teachers who sought to teach Buddhism in a modern and Western-influenced world. As such, Sheng yen published over 30 Chan texts in English.

Wei Chueh(1928–2016) was born inSichuan,China, and ordained in Taiwan. In 1982, he founded Lin Quan Temple in Taipei County and became known for his teaching onCh'anpractices by offering many lectures and seven-day Ch'an retreats. His order is calledChung Tai Shan.

Two additional traditions emerged in the 1960s, based their teaching onCh'anpractices.

Cheng Yen(born 1937), a Buddhistnun,founded theTzu Chi Foundationas a charity organization withBuddhistethics on May 14, 1966 inHualien,Taiwan.She was inspired by her master and mentor, the late Venerable MasterYin Shun(Ấn thuận đạo sư;Yìn Shùn dǎoshī) a proponent ofHumanistic Buddhism,who exhorted her to "work for Buddhism and for all sentient beings". The organisation began with a motto of "instructing the rich and saving the poor" as a group of thirtyhousewiveswho donated a small amount of money each day to care for needy families.

Hsing Yun(1927-2023), founded the Fo Guang Shan an internationalChinese Buddhistnew religious movementbased inTaiwanin 1967. The order promotesHumanistic Buddhism.Fo Guang Shan also calls itself the International Buddhist Progress Society. The headquarters of Fo Guang Shan, located inDashu District,Kaohsiung,is the largest Buddhist monastery in Taiwan. Hsing Yun's stated position within Fo Guang Shan is that it is an "amalgam of all Eight Schools of Chinese Buddhism" (Bát tông kiêm hoằng), including Chan. Fo Guang Shan is the most comprehensive of the major Buddhist organizations of Taiwan, focusing extensively on both social works and religious engagement.

In Taiwan, these four masters are popularly referred to as the "Four Heavenly Kings"of Taiwanese Buddhism, with their respective organizationsDharma Drum Mountain,Chung Tai Shan,Tzu Chi,andFo Guang Shanbeing referred to as the "Four Great Mountains".

Spread of Chan Buddhism in Asia

See also:Spread of Chan Buddhism in Asia

Thiền in Vietnam

See also:Vietnamese ThiềnandBuddhism in Vietnam

According to traditional accounts of Vietnam, in 580 an Indian monk namedVinītaruci(Vietnamese:Tì-ni-đa-lưu-chi) traveled to Vietnam after completing his studies withSengcan,the third patriarch of Chinese Chan. This, then, would be the first appearance ofThiền Buddhism.Other early Thiền schools included that ofWu Yantong(Chinese:Vô ngôn thông;Vietnamese:Vô Ngôn Thông), which was associated with the teachings of Mazu Daoyi, and the Thảo Đường (Caodong), which incorporatednianfochanting techniques; both were founded by Chinese monks.

Seon in Korea

See also:Korean SeonandKorean Buddhism

Seon was gradually transmitted into Korea during the lateSillaperiod (7th through 9th centuries) as Korean monks of predominantlyHwaeom(Korean:화엄종;Hanja:Hoa nghiêm tông) andEast Asian Yogācāra(Korean:유식종;Hanja:Duy thức tông) background began to travel to China to learn the newly developing tradition. Seon received its most significant impetus and consolidation from theGoryeomonkJinul( tri nột ) (1158–1210), who established a reform movement and introducedkōanpractice to Korea. Jinul established theSonggwangsa( tùng quảng tự ) as a new center of pure practice.

Zen in Japan

See also:Japanese Zen

Zenwas not introduced as a separate school in Japan until the 12th century whenEisaitraveled to China and returned to establish a Linji lineage, which is known in Japan as the Rinzai. In 1215,Dōgen,a younger contemporary of Eisai's, journeyed to China himself, where he became a disciple of the Caodong masterRujing.After his return,Dōgenestablished the Sōtō school, the Japanese branch of Caodong.

The schools of Zen that currently exist in Japan are the Sōtō, Rinzai andŌbaku.Of these, Sōtō is the largest and Ōbaku the smallest. Rinzai is itself divided into several subschools based on temple affiliation, includingMyōshin-ji,Nanzen-ji,Tenryū-ji,Daitoku-ji,andTōfuku-ji.

Chan in Indonesia

See also:Buddhism in IndonesiaandAshin Jinarakkhita

In the 20th century, during the First Buddhist revival, missionaries were sent to Indonesia and Malaysia.Ashin Jinarakkhita,who played a central role in the revival of Indonesian Buddhism, received ordination as a Chanśrāmaṇeraon July 29, 1953and received the name Ti Zheng (Te Cheng) frombhikṣuBen Qing.

Chan in the Western world

See also:Buddhism in the WestandJapanese Zen § Zen in the Western world

Chan has become especially popular in its Japanese form. Although it is difficult to trace when the West first became aware of Chan as a distinct form of Buddhism, the visit ofSoyen Shaku,a Japanese Zen monk, toChicagoduring the1893 Parliament of the World's Religionsis often pointed to as an event that enhanced its profile in the Western world. It was during the late 1950s and the early 1960s that the number of Westerners pursuing a serious interest in Zen, other than the descendants of Asian immigrants, reached a significant level.

Western Chan lineages

See also:Western Zen lineages

Covering over 480 acres of land and located inTalmage, California,theCity of Ten Thousand Buddhaswas founded by Hsuan Hua.

The first Chinese master to teach Westerners in North America wasHsuan Hua,who taught Chan and other traditions ofChinese BuddhisminSan Franciscoduring the early 1960s. He went on to found theCity Of Ten Thousand Buddhas,a monastery and retreat center located on a 237-acre (959,000 m²) property nearUkiah, California,and thus founding theDharma Realm Buddhist Association.Another Chinese Chan teacher with a Western following wasSheng Yen,a master trained in both the Caodong and Linji schools. He first visited the United States in 1978 under the sponsorship of theBuddhist Association of the United States,and subsequently founded the CMC Chan Meditation Center inQueens, New Yorkand theDharma Drum Retreat CenterinPine Bush, New York.

Doctrinal background

Main article:Doctrinal background of Zen

Though Zen-narrative states that it is a "special transmission outside scriptures" which "did not stand upon words",Zen does have a rich doctrinal background.

Polarities

Classical Chinese Chan is characterised by a set of polarities:absolute-relative,Buddha-nature – sunyata,sudden and gradual enlightenment,esoteric and exoteric transmission.

Absolute-relative

ThePrajnaparamitasutras andMadhyamakaemphasize the non-duality of form and emptiness: "form is emptiness, emptiness is form", as theHeart sutrasays.This was understood to mean that ultimate reality is not a transcendental realm, but equal to the daily world of relative reality. This idea is consistent with Chinese culture, which emphasized the mundane world and society. But this does not fully explain how the absolute is present in the relative world. This question is answered in such schemata as theFive Ranksof Tozan,theTen Bulls( "the Oxherding Pictures" ), andHakuin's Four ways of knowing.

The Madhyamakatwo truths doctrineand the Yogacarathree naturesandTrikayadoctrines also give depictions of the interplay between the absolute and the relative.

Buddha-nature and śūnyatā

When Buddhism was introduced in China it was understood in native terms. Various sects struggled to attain an understanding of the Indian texts. TheTathāgatagarbha sūtrasand the idea of theBuddha-naturewere endorsed because of the perceived similarities with theTao,which was understood as a transcendental reality underlying the world of appearances.Śūnyatāat first was understood as pointing to the Taoistwu.

The doctrine of the Buddha-nature asserts that allsentient beingshaveBuddha-nature(Skt.Buddhadhātu,"Buddha Element", "Buddha-Principle" ), the element from which awakening springs. TheTathāgatagarbha sutrasstate that every living being has the potential to realize awakening.Hence Buddhism offers salvation to everyone, not only to monks or those who have freed themselves almost completely from karma in previous lives.The Yogacara theory of theEight Consciousnessesexplains how sensory input and the mind create the world we experience, and obscure the alaya-jnana, which is equated to the Buddha-nature.

When this potential is realized, and the defilements have been eliminated, the Buddha-nature manifests as theDharmakaya,the absolute reality which pervades everything in the world.In this way, it is also the primordial reality from which phenomenal reality springs. When this understanding is idealized, it becomes a transcendental reality beneath the world of appearances.

Sunyata points to the "emptiness" or no- "thing" -ness of all "things". Though we perceive a world of concrete and discrete objects, designated by names, on close analysis the "thingness" dissolves, leaving them "empty" of inherent existence.TheHeart sutra,a text from the prajñaparamita sutras, articulates this in the following saying in which thefive skandhasare said to be "empty":

Yogacara explains this "emptiness" in an analysis of the way we perceive "things". Everything we conceive of is the result of the working of the five skandhas—results of perception, feeling, volition, and discrimination.The five skandhas together compose consciousness. The "things" we are conscious of are "mere concepts", notnoumenon.

It took Chinese Buddhism several centuries to recognize that śūnyatā is not identical to "wu",nor does Buddhism postulate a permanent soul.The influence of those various doctrinal and textual backgrounds is still discernible in Zen. Zen teachers still refer to Buddha-nature, but the Zen tradition also emphasizes that Buddha-natureisśūnyatā, the absence of an independent and substantial self.

Sudden and gradual enlightenment

Avalokiteśvarasitting in meditation

In Zen Buddhism two main views on the way to enlightenment are discernible, namelysuddenand gradual enlightenment.

Early Chan recognized the "transcendence of the body and mind", followed by "non-defilement [of] knowledge and perception", or sudden insight into the true nature (jiànxìng) followed by gradual purification of intentions.

In the 8th century, Chan history was effectively refashioned byShenhui,who created a dichotomy between the so-calledEast Mountain Teachingor "Northern School", led byYuquan Shenxiu,and his own line of teaching, which he called the "Southern school".Shenhui placedHuinenginto prominence as the sixth Chan-patriarch, and emphasizedsudden enlightenment,as opposed to the concurrent Northern School's allegedgradual enlightenment.According to thesudden enlightenmentpropagated by Shenhui, insight into true nature is sudden; thereafter there can be no misunderstanding anymore about this true nature.

In thePlatform Sutra,the dichotomy between sudden and gradual is reconciled.Guifeng Zongmi,fifth-generation successor to Shenhui, also softened the edge between sudden and gradual. In his analysis, sudden awakening points to seeing into one's true nature, but is to be followed by a gradual cultivation to attainBuddhahood.

This gradual cultivation is also recognized byDongshan Liangjie(JapaneseTōzan), who described the five ranks of enlightenment.

Esoteric and exoteric transmission

According to Borup the emphasis on 'mind to mind transmission' is a form of esoteric transmission, in which "the tradition and the enlightened mind is transmitted face to face".Metaphorically this can be described as the transmission from a flame from one candle to another candle,or the transmission from one vein to another.Exoteric transmission requires "direct access to the teaching through a personal discovery of one's self. This type of transmission and identification is symbolized by the discovery of a shining lantern, or a mirror."

Chan scripture

Main article:Zen and Sutras

Chan is deeply rooted in the teachings and doctrines of Mahāyāna Buddhism. What the Chan tradition emphasizes is that the enlightenment of the Buddha came not through intellectual reasoning, but rather through self-realization in Dharma practice and meditation. Therefore, it is held that it is primarily through Dharma practice and meditation that others may attain enlightenment and become Buddhas as well.

A review of the early historical documents and literature of early Chan masters clearly reveals that they were all well-versed in numerous Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtras. For example, in thePlatform Sūtra of the Sixth Patriarch,Huinengcites and explains theDiamond Sūtra,theLotus Sūtra(Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra), theVimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra,theŚūraṅgama Sūtra,and theLaṅkāvatāra Sūtra.

The Chan school had to develop a doctrinal tradition of its own to establish its position.Subsequently, the Chan tradition produced a rich corpus of written literature which has become a part of its practice and teaching. Among the earliest and most widely studied of the specifically Chan texts, dating to at least the 9th century CE, is thePlatform Sūtra of the Sixth Patriarch,attributed to Huineng. The most important Chan texts belong to the "encounter dialogue" genre, which developed into various collections ofkōans.

Teaching and practice

See also:Zen practice

Bodhisattva ideal

As a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, Chan draws many of its basic driving concepts from that tradition, such as theBodhisattvaideal.Karuṇāis the counterpart ofprajna.Avalokiteśvaraembodies the striving forKaruna,compassion.

Central to Chan practice is dhyana or meditation. In the Lin-ji (Rinzai) school this is supplemented with koan study.

Chan meditation

In meditation practice, the Chan tradition holds that the very notions of doctrine and teachings create various other notions and appearances (Skt.saṃjñā;Ch. Tương,xiāng) that obscure the transcendent wisdom of each being's Buddha-nature. Thus, Chan encourages its practitioners to distrust the very scripture or text being taught to them.The process of rediscovery goes under various terms such as "introspection", "a backward step", "turning-about" or "turning the eye inward".

Sitting meditation

Main article:Zazen

Sitting meditation is calledzuòchán( tọa thiền ),zazenin Japanese, both simply meaning "sittingdhyāna".During this sitting meditation, practitioners usually assume a position such as thelotus position,half-lotus, Burmese, orseizapostures. To regulate the mind, awareness is directed towards counting or watching the breath, or put in the energy center below the navel (see alsoanapanasati).Often, a square or round cushion placed on a padded mat is used to sit on; in some other cases, a chair may be used.

At the beginning of the Song dynasty, practice with the koan method became popular, whereas others practiced "silent illumination."This became the source of some differences in practice between the Linji and Caodong traditions.

Koan practice

Main article:Koan

A koan (literally "public case" ) is a story or dialogue, generally related to Chan or other Buddhist histories; the most typical form is an anecdote involving early Chinese Chan masters. These anecdotes involving famous Chan teachers are a practical demonstration of their wisdom, and can be used to test a student's progress in Chan practice. Koans often appear to beparadoxicalor linguistically meaningless dialogues or questions. But to Chan Buddhists, the koan is "the place and the time and the event where truth reveals itself"unobstructed by the oppositions and differentiation of language. Answering a koan requires a student to let go of conceptual thinking and of the logical way we order the world, so that, like creativity in art, the appropriate insight and response arises naturally and spontaneously in the mind.

Chan monasticism

Chan developed a distinct monastic system.

Emphasizing daily life

As the Chan school grew in China, the monastic discipline also became distinct, focusing on practice through all aspects of life. Temples began emphasizing labor and humility, expanding the training of Chan to include the mundane tasks of daily life. The Chinese Chan masterBaizhang(720–814CE) left behind a famous saying which had been the guiding principle of his life, "A day without work is a day without food".

Sinification of Buddhism in China

It was scholarD.T. Suzuki's contention that a spiritual awakening was always the goal of Chan's training, but that part of what distinguished the tradition as it developed through the centuries in China was a way of life radically different from that of Indian Buddhists. In Indian Buddhism, the tradition of themendicantprevailed, but Suzuki explained that in China social circumstances led to the development of a temple and training-center system in which the abbot and the monks all performed mundane tasks. These included food gardening or farming, carpentry, architecture, housekeeping, administration (or community direction), and the practice ofTraditional Chinese medicine.Consequently, the enlightenment sought in Chan had to stand up well to the demands and potential frustrations of everyday life.

See also

• Blue Cliff Record
• Hua Tou
• Buddhism
• Outline of Buddhism
• Timeline of Buddhism
• List of Buddhists
• Chinese Buddhism
• Japanese Zen
• Yiduan
• Putong Temple

Sources

Printed sources

• Blyth, R. H. (1966),Zen and Zen Classics, Volume 4,Tokyo: Hokuseido Press
• Borup, Jørn (2008),Japanese Rinzai Zen Buddhism: Myōshinji, a Living Religion,Brill
• Broughton, Jeffrey L. (1999),The Bodhidharma Anthology: The Earliest Records of Zen,Berkeley, CA: University of California Press,ISBN978-0-520-21972-4
• Brown Holt, Linda (1995),"From India to China: Transformations in Buddhist Philosophy",Qi: The Journal of Traditional Eastern Health & Fitness
• Buswell, Robert E. (1991), "The" Short-cut "Approach of K'an-hua Meditation: The Evolution of a Practical Subitism in Chinese Ch'an Buddhism", in Peter N. Gregory (ed.),Sudden and Gradual. Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought,Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited
• Buswell, Robert E (1993),Ch'an Hermeneutics: A Korean View. In: Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (ed.)(1993),Buddhist Hermeneutics,Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass
• Chang, Chung-Yuan (1967)."Ch'an Buddhism: Logical and Illogical".Philosophy East and West.17(1/4): 37–49.doi:10.2307/1397043.JSTOR1397043.Archived fromthe originalon 2011-05-24.Retrieved2011-12-13.
• Cheng Chien Bhikshu (1992), "Introduction",Sun-Face Buddha. The Teachings of Ma-tsu and the Hung-chou School of Ch'an,Asian Humanities Press
• Cleary, Thomas (2005),Classics of Buddhism and Zen: Volume One,Boston, MA: Shambhala publications,ISBN978-1-57062-831-3
• Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005a),Zen Buddhism: A History. Volume 1: India and China,World Wisdom Books,ISBN978-0-941532-89-1
• Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005b),Zen Buddhism: A History. Volume 2: Japan,World Wisdom Books,ISBN978-0-941532-90-7
• Dumoulin, Heinrich; Heisig, James W.; Knitter, Paul (2005).Zen Buddhism: A History (India and China).World Wisdom.ISBN0-941532-89-5.
• Faure, Bernard (1997),The Will to Orthodoxy: A Critical Genealogy of Northern Chan Buddhism,Stanford University Press
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• Feuchtwang, Stephen (2010),The Anthropology of Religion, Charisma and Ghosts: Chinese Lessons for Adequate Theory,Walter de Gruyter
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Further reading

Modern classics

• D.T. Suzuki,Essays in Zen Buddhism, 3 vols
• Thomas Cleary,Zen Mind, Buddha Mind
• J. C. Cleary,Swampland Flowers: The Letters and Lectures of Zen Master Ta Hui

Classic history

• Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005),Zen Buddhism: A History. Volume 1: India and China.World Wisdom Books.ISBN978-0-941532-89-1
• Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005),Zen Buddhism: A History. Volume 2: Japan.World Wisdom Books.ISBN978-0-941532-90-7

Critical Zen-studies

• Jeffrey Broughton,Zongmi on Chan.
• Sung Bae Park,Buddhist Faith and Sudden Enlightenment.

External links

Oversight

• Zen Buddhism WWW Virtual Library
• The Zen Site

Overview of Chan centers

• Zen centers of the world
• Zen centers

Specific Chan centers

• Western Ch'an Fellowship Official Website
• Dharma Drum Retreat Center (New York) Official Website. Established by Chan Master Sheng Yen.

Texts

• Sacred-text.com's collection of Zen texts
• Buddhanet's collection of Zen texts
• Shambhala Sun Zen ArticlesArchived2008-09-24 at theWayback Machine
• BookletsfromFo Guang Shan

History

• Buddhism and Confucianism in Chan Sudden Approach: A Cunning Cultural Paradigm
• History of Zen Buddhism
• Zen history
• Zen Quick Facts

Critical Chan Research

• Steven Heine (2007),A Critical Survey of Works on Zen since Yampolsky
• Homepage of Robert H. Sharf
• Zhi, Chuan (2019).Exploring Chán: An Introduction to the Religious and Mystical Tradition of Chinese Buddhism.Songlark Publishing. p. 472.ISBN978-1-73331-430-5.