18 Facts About Zen Buddhism

Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School, and later developed into various sub-schools and branches.

Term Zen is derived from the Japanese pronunciation of the Middle Chinese word ?, an abbreviation of ??, which is a Chinese transliteration of the Sanskrit word ???? dhyana.

Zen Buddhism teaching draws from numerous sources of Sarvastivada meditation practice and Mahayana thought, especially Yogachara, the Tathagatagarbha sutras, the Lankavatara Sutra, and the Huayan school, with their emphasis on Buddha-nature, totality, and the Bodhisattva-ideal.

Actual Chinese term for the "Zen Buddhism school" is ??, while "Chan" just refers to the practice of meditation itself or the study of meditation though it is often used as an abbreviated form of Chanzong.

Zen Buddhism's works seemed to have exerted some influence on the earliest meditation manuals of the Chan school proper, an early work being the widely imitated and influential Tso-chan-i, which doesn't outline a vipassana practice which leads to wisdom, but only recoomends practicing samadhi which will lead to the discovery of inherent wisdom already present in the mind.

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The interaction with a teacher is central in Zen Buddhism, but makes Zen Buddhism practice vulnerable to misunderstanding and exploitation.

Various sets of precepts are taken in Zen Buddhism including the five precepts, "ten essential precepts", and the sixteen bodhisattva precepts.

One popular form of ritual in Japanese Zen Buddhism is Mizuko kuyo ceremonies, which are performed for those who have had a miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion.

Some Zen Buddhism temples perform esoteric rituals, such as the homa ritual, which is performed at the Soto temple of Eigen-ji.

Central in the doctrinal development of Chan Buddhism was the notion of Buddha-nature, the idea that the awakened mind of a Buddha is already present in each sentient being.

Intellectual understanding without practice is called yako-zen, "wild fox Zen Buddhism", but "one who has only experience without intellectual understanding is a zen temma, 'Zen Buddhism devil".

At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, by the time of the Fifth Patriarch Hongren, the Zen school became established as a separate school of Buddhism.

Subsequently, the Zen Buddhism tradition produced a rich corpus of written literature, which has become a part of its practice and teaching.

Zen Buddhism-tradition developed a rich textual tradition, based on the interpretation of the Buddhist teachings and the recorded sayings of Zen Buddhism-masters.

An external narrative is Nondualism, which claims Zen Buddhism to be a token of a universal nondualist essence of religions.

Zen Buddhism founded the Jogye Order, which remains the largest Seon tradition in Korea today.

Zen Buddhism was mostly suppressed during the strictly Confucian Joseon Dynasty, and the number of monasteries and clergy sharply declined.

Zen Buddhism was not introduced as a separate school until the 12th century, when Myoan Eisai traveled to China and returned to establish a Linji lineage, which eventually perished.