Chan / Zen Buddhism

(Skt.) dhyana "meditation"   >  (Ch.) chan(-na)  >  (J.) zen

Traditional Patriarchal (Ancestral) Lineage
   [Chart] (186 kb, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

Sakyamuni Buddha > Maha-Kasyapa > > >
> Bodhidharma / Damo / Daruma:   28th Indian / 1st Chinese Patriarch
> Hongren (600-674):   Fifth Patriarch
   [Shenxiu (d. 706):   Leader of “Northern School;” opposed by Shenhui (670-762)]
> Huineng (638-713):   Sixth Patriarch (according to Shenhui and Platform Sutra [c. 780])

Verse Attributed to Bodhidharma

A special transmission outside the teaching,
Not based on the written word;
Directly pointing to the human mind,
Achieving Buddhahood by seeing one's nature.

Major Schools

Linji / Rinzai:

• Founder: Linji Yixuan   (d. 866)
  
• gongan / koan:  "public case," also called huatou ("capping phrase")
  
• kanhua / kanna:   "introspecting the gongan"
  
• Song dynasty: Dahui Zonggao (1089-1163)
  
• Brought to Japan in 1191 by Myoan Eisai (1141-1215)

Cao-Dong / Soto:

• Founders: Caoshan Benjii (840-901) and
  Dongshan Liangjie (807-869)
  
• zuo-chan / zazen: sitting meditation
  
• shikan-taza : just sitting
  
• mo-zhao / mokusho: silent illumination
  
• Song dynasty: Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091-1157)
  
• Brought to Japan in 1227 by Dogen Kigen (1200-1253)
  

Other Terms

• laoshi / roshi : master, teacher
  
• wu / satori : enlightenment
  
• kensho : “seeing the nature;” first stage of enlightenment
  
  can-chan / sanzen (or du-can / dokusan): private interview with master
  

  jie-xin / sesshin : intensive meditation retreat
  

Zen Schools in Japan (1984)

Adapted from T. Griffith Foulk, “The Zen Institution in Modern Japan,” in Kenneth Kraft, ed., Zen: Tradition & Transition (New York: Grove Press, 1988), p. 158.