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 101: A Brief Introduction to Zen Buddhism
 Zen, Chinese Chan, Korean Sŏn, also spelled Seon
, meaning “meditation.” Central to Zen teaching is the belief that awakening can be achieved by
by a master. In modern times, Zen has been identified especially with the secular arts of medieval
 the modern non-Buddhist connotations of the word Zen have become so prominent that in many cases the term
as a label for phenomena that lack any relationship to Zen or are even antithetical to its teachings and practices.
offers an authoritative introduction to the origins and nature of Zen Buddhism. The work describes the Zen school as consisting
Bodhidharma to the present, each generation of the Zen lineage claimed to have attained the same spiritual awakening as
This genealogical ethos confers religious authority on present-day Zen teachers as the legitimate heirs and living representatives of all
 It also provides the context of belief for various Zen rituals, such as funeral services performed by Zen priests
 The Zen ethos that people in each new generation can and must
worship, and ritualized forms of meditation. Zen teachers typically assert rather that all of these practices must
of awakening, as exemplified by previous generations of Zen teachers. For this reason, the Records of the
and liturgy of the Chinese Buddhist monastic institution to early Zen patriarchs, even though there is no historical evidence to
these rules were frequently seen as unique expressions of Chinese Zen. In fact, however, the monks largely codified
of all authorized monasteries, whether affiliated with the Zen school or not.
 Zen monks and nuns typically study Buddhist scriptures, Chinese classics
, poetics, and Zen literature. Special emphasis traditionally has been placed on the
kōan), or accounts of episodes in which Zen patriarchs reportedly attained awakening or expressed their awakening in novel
legal precedents that are designed to guide the followers of Zen.
 Although Zen Buddhism in China is traditionally dated to the 5th century
Zhou dynasty (690–705), patronized Zen teachers as her court priests. After Empress Wuhou died
dynasty was restored to power, rival sects of Zen appeared whose members claimed to be more legitimate and more
 orthodox than the Zen teachers who had been associated with the discredited empress.
Song dynasty, when a more inclusive form of Zen became associated with almost all of the official state-
of Chinese Buddhism, the Song dynasty version of Zen subsequently spread to Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.
 During the reign of the Song, Zen mythology, Zen literature, and Zen forms of Buddhist
underwent important growth. Since that time, Zen teachings have skillfully combined the seemingly opposing elements of mythology
study of public cases became very sophisticated, as Zen monks arranged them into various categories, wrote verse commentaries
: Mumon kan) remain basic textbooks for Zen students to the present day. The public-case
disciplined senior monks. For this reason, Zen texts frequently assert that genuine awakening cannot be acquired through
but must be realized through the guidance of an authentic Zen teacher.
(roughly the 12th through 15th centuries), Zen monks played a major role in introducing the arts and
The Five Mountain (Japanese: Gozan) Zen temples, which were sponsored by the Japanese imperial family
and metaphysics. In this way, wealthy Zen monasteries, especially those located in the Japanese capital city
, and garden design—the so-called Zen arts, or (in China) Song-
Apart from the elite Five Mountain institutions, Japanese Zen monks and nuns founded many monasteries and temples in the
their urban counterparts, monks and nuns in rural Zen monasteries devoted more energy to religious matters than to Chinese
on worship ceremonies, ritual periods of “sitting Zen” (Japanese: zaZen) meditation, the
, warriors, and peasants. Rural Zen monks helped to popularize many Buddhist rituals now common in
in a widespread civil war, monks from rural Zen lineages came to dominate all Zen institutions in Japan,
(1603–1867) restored peace, Zen monasteries and all other religious institutions in Japan cooperated in
society. In this new political environment, Zen monks and other religious leaders taught a form of conventional
the government. Many Confucian teachers in turn adapted Zen Buddhist meditation techniques to “quiet sitting” 
these developments, the social and religious distinctions between Zen practice and Confucianism became blurred.
 in China began to collapse, many Chinese Zen monks sought refuge in Japan. Their arrival caused Japanese
 Zen monks to question whether their Japanese teachers or the new
buddhas and patriarchs. The resultant search for authentic Zen roots prompted the development of sectarianism, not just between
 Japanese and Chinese Zen leaders but also within the existing Japanese Zen community.
sectarian rivalry led to the emergence of three separate Japanese Zen lineages: Ōbaku (Chinese: Huanbo),
Sōtō, by far the largest of the Japanese Zen lineages, stressed the accomplishments of their patriarch Dōgen 
, a chief temple of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism in Kyōto, Japan. Frank Gualtieri (