Zen and Pure Land Buddhism

Ch'an/Zen

The phrases Ch'an in China and Zen in Japanese draw from the Sanskrit phrase 'dhyana' significance meditation. It's not astonishing that meditation is a major attribute of this school of Buddhism. The founder of Zen was Bodhidharma, an Indian monk who traveled to China in the sixth 100 years CE. The tales about Bodhidharma are bigger than life. One article has it that he slash off his eyelids to halt himself dropping slumbering in meditation! For Bodhidharma, the experiential dimension was the most significant so we find in Zen Buddhism a rejection of the scriptures for more ...