Chan

Chan can be variation of 陳 (Chen), a Chinese family name.

Chán is a major school of ChineseMahāyānaBuddhism. In Japanand the west, the school is known as Zen.

Stories of the origins of Chan (Chinese 禪) are varied. It is often said to be a Chinese adaptation of Indiandhyanameditationpractices, influenced by indigenous Chinese Taoism.

History

According to tradition, the school was founded by the semi-legendary Indianor Persianmonk Bodhidharmawho, according to the Anthology of the Patriarchal Hall (952 CE), arrived in China c. 527CE and taught at the Shaolin Monastery. Bodhidharma was believed in some versions of his legend to be the twenty-eighth patriarch in a lineage that extended all the way back to Shakyamuni Buddha. Bodhidharma is recorded as having come to China to teach a "separate transmission outside of the texts" which "did not rely upon textuality." His insight was then transmitted through a series of Chinese patriarchs, the most famous of whom was the Sixth Patriarch, Hui Neng.

Due to the conflicting stories of Bodhidharma that were recorded over the centuries, and the fact that none of the extant writings of the Shaolin temple from the time of the 6th-7th century CE mention him, modern theory suggests that Chan began to develop gradually in different regions of China as a grass-roots movement. According this view, Chan was a reaction to a perceived imbalance in Chinese Buddhism toward the blind pursuit of textual scholarship with a concomitant neglect of the original essence of Buddhist practice: meditation and the cultivation of right view.

Another view is that Chan bears the influence of TheravadaBuddhism, based on their shared emphasis on meditation and the similarity of their meditation practices.

After the time of Hui Neng (circa 700CE), Chan began to branch off into numerous different schools, each with their own special emphasis, but all of which kept the same basic focus on meditational practice, personal instruction and grounded personal experience. During the late Tangand the Song periods, the tradition truly flowered, as a wide number of eminent teachers, such as Mazu, Baizhang, Yunmen and Linji developed specialized teaching methods, which would become characteristic of each of the "five houses" of mature Chinese Chan. Later on, the teaching styles and words of these classical masters were recorded in such important Chan texts as the Biyan Lu; (Blue Cliff Record) and the Wumenguan; (Gateless Passage) which would be studied by later generations of students down to the present.

The Japanese Zenscholar D.T. Suzukimaintained that a Chan satori (Japanese for "understanding") has always been the goal of the training, but that what distinguished the Chan tradition as it developed in China, and as it then spread to Korea and Japan, was a way of life radically different from that of Indian Buddhists. In India, the tradition of the mendicant (holy beggar) prevailed, but 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, and the practice of folk medicine. Consequently, the enlightenment sought in Chan had to stand up well to the demands and potential frustrations of everyday life and self-support.

Chan continued to be influential as a religious force in China, although some energy was lost with the syncretist Neo-Confucianrevival of Confucianismstarting in the Song period. While traditionally distinct, Chan was taught alongside Pure Landin many Chinese Buddhist monasteries. In time, much of this distinction was lost, and many recent masters teach both Chan and Pure Land. Chan was severely repressed in China during the recent modern era with the appearance of the People's Republic, but has more recently been re-asserting itself on the mainland, and has a significant following in Taiwanand Hong Kongand among Overseas Chinese.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, Chan practice has been adopted by many westerners, particularly in Europeand the USA. Several lay practitioners there have received Dharma transmissionfrom Chan Master Sheng-yen, and are now teaching in their own centres.

See also

• Dhyana
• Zen(Japan)
• Seon(Korea)
• Thien(Vietnam)
• Buddhism in China
• Universal Dialectic
• Shaolin (martial arts)
• Kung Fu
• Dialectical monism
• Hsu Yun
• Yunmen Wenyande:Chan

fr:T'chan ja:禅ko:선pl:Chan (religia) zh:禅宗

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It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chan Wikipedia article Chan.