Zen

Zen is an East Asian Buddhist tradition that emphasizes meditation and direct insight into awakening. It developed in China as Chan and spread to Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.

Zazen: Seated meditation practiced in Zen, commonly with attention to posture, breathing, and awareness. Zazen is Zen’s central formal practice and a direct setting for its emphasis on meditation.
Chan Buddhism: The Chinese Buddhist tradition from which Japanese Zen and related East Asian schools developed. Chan is Zen’s Chinese source and remains a living tradition with its own history.
Pure Land Buddhism: A Mahayana Buddhist tradition centered on devotion to Amitābha Buddha and rebirth in the Pure Land. Its devotional emphasis contrasts with Zen’s characteristic focus on meditation and direct insight.
Shikantaza: A Sōtō Zen practice of “just sitting,” without focusing on a particular object or pursuing a specific experience. Shikantaza is a distinctive form of zazen especially associated with Dōgen and Sōtō.
Kōan: A paradoxical or enigmatic question, story, or exchange used in Zen training to unsettle habitual reasoning. Kōan practice gives some Zen lineages a distinctive route toward insight beyond discursive thought.
Bodhidharma: A Buddhist monk traditionally regarded as the founder of Chan Buddhism in China. Zen origin stories trace the lineage of direct transmission back to Bodhidharma.
Tendai: A Japanese Mahayana Buddhist school drawing on a broad range of scriptures, rituals, and contemplative practices. Tendai’s inclusive system contrasts with Zen’s distinctive lineage-based identity and practice emphasis.
Sesshin: An intensive Zen meditation retreat structured around extended periods of zazen and communal practice. Sesshin concentrates Zen training into a sustained period of practice.
Satori: A Japanese term for a sudden experience or realization of insight in Zen Buddhism. Satori names the awakening insight that Zen practice is intended to realize.
Huineng: The influential sixth Chan patriarch associated with sudden awakening and the Platform Sutra. Huineng’s teachings helped shape the Chan ideas inherited by Zen.

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