Zen

Zen
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinChán
Wade–GilesCh'an2
IPA[ʈʂʰǎn]
Hakka
Pha̍k-fa-sṳSàm
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingSim4
Southern Min
Hokkien POJSiân
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinesedʑjen
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabetThiền
Chữ Hán
Korean name
Hangul
Hanja
Transcriptions
Revised RomanizationSeon
Japanese name
Kanji
Kanaぜん
Transcriptions
RomanizationZen

Zen (Japanese;[note 1] from Chinese: Chán; in Korean: Sŏn, and Vietnamese: Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty as the Chan School (禪宗, chánzōng, "meditation school") or the Buddha-mind school (佛心宗, fóxīnzōng),[1] and later developed into various sub-schools and branches. Zen was influenced by Taoism, especially Neo-Daoist thought, and developed as a distinguished school of Chinese Buddhism.[2] From China, Chán spread south to Vietnam and became Vietnamese Thiền, northeast to Korea to become Seon Buddhism, and east to Japan, becoming Japanese Zen.[3]

Zen emphasizes meditation practice, direct insight into one's own Buddha nature (見性, Ch. jiànxìng, Jp. kenshō), and the personal expression of this insight in daily life for the benefit of others.[4][5] Some Zen sources de-emphasize doctrinal study and traditional practices, favoring direct understanding through zazen and interaction with a master (Jp: rōshi, Ch: shīfu) who may be depicted as an iconoclastic and unconventional figure.[6][7][8][9][10][11] In spite of this, most Zen schools also promote traditional Buddhist practices like chanting, precepts, rituals, monasticism and scriptural study.[9][12]

With an emphasis on Buddha-nature thought, intrinsic enlightenment and sudden awakening, Zen teaching draws from numerous Buddhist sources, including Sarvāstivāda meditation, the Mahayana teachings on the bodhisattva, Yogachara and Tathāgatagarbha texts (like the Laṅkāvatāra), and the Huayan school.[13][14] The Prajñāpāramitā literature,[15] as well as Madhyamaka thought, have also been influential in the shaping of the apophatic and sometimes iconoclastic nature of Zen rhetoric.[16]


Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ Buswell & Lopez (2014), p. "foxin zong".
  2. ^ Wang 2017, p. 79.
  3. ^ Harvey 1995, p. 159–169.
  4. ^ Yoshizawa 2009, p. 41.
  5. ^ Sekida 1989.
  6. ^ Yampolski 2003a, p. 3.
  7. ^ Poceski n.d.
  8. ^ Borup 2008, p. 8.
  9. ^ a b Hori 2000, p. 280-312.
  10. ^ McRae 2003, pp. 119–120.
  11. ^ Gimello 1994.
  12. ^ McRae 2003, pp. 60, 119–120.
  13. ^ Dumoulin 2005a, p. 48.
  14. ^ Lievens 1981, p. 52–53.
  15. ^ Dumoulin 2005a, pp. 41–45.
  16. ^ Andre van der Braak (2011), Self Overcoming Without a Self, p.117