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67-779: East Asian forms of Buddhism all derive from sinicized Buddhist schools that developed during the Han dynasty and the Song dynasty , and therefore are influenced by Chinese culture and philosophy . The spread of Buddhism to East Asia was aided by the trade networks of the Silk Road and the missionary work of generations of Indian and Asian Buddhists. Some of the most influential East Asian traditions include Chan (Zen) , Nichiren Buddhism , Pure Land , Huayan , Tiantai , and Chinese Esoteric Buddhism . These schools developed new, uniquely East Asian interpretations of Buddhist texts and focused on

134-544: A classical Indian language . This language is Pāli , which serves as the school's sacred language and lingua franca . The different sects and groups in Theravāda often emphasize different aspects (or parts) of the Pāli canon and the later commentaries (especially the very influential Visuddhimagga ), or differ in the focus on and recommended way of practice. There are also significant differences in strictness or interpretation of

201-587: A Brahman king of South India" (c. 715 CE). Some traditions specifically describe Bodhidharma to be the third son of a Pallava king from Kanchipuram . The Long Scroll of the Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices written by Tan Lin (曇林; 506–574), contains teachings that are attributed to Bodhidharma. The text is known from the Dunhuang manuscripts . The two entrances to enlightenment are

268-530: A sign of transmission of the Dharma: a robe, a bowl, and a copy of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra . The transmission then passed to the second ancestral founder Dazu Huike, the third Sengcan, the fourth ancestral founder Dayi Daoxin, and the fifth ancestral founder Daman Hongren . With the fourth patriarch, Daoxin ( 道信 580–651), Chan began to take shape as a distinct school. The link between Huike and Sengcan, and

335-725: A third "school" of Indian Mahāyāna. This movement heavily influenced East Asian and Tibetan Mahayana schools such as the Dashabhumika , Huayan , Tiantai , Jonang , Nichiren and Zen sects, as did both Madhyamaka and Yogacara. East Asian Buddhism or East Asian Mahayana refers to the schools that developed in East Asia and use the Chinese Buddhist canon . It is a major religion in China, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. East Asian Buddhists constitute

402-580: A thousand years with the first woodblock printed edition being published in 983. A major modern edition of this canon is the Taishō Tripiṭaka , produced in Japan between 1924 and 1932. Besides sharing a canon of scripture, the various forms of East Asian Buddhism have also adapted East Asian values and practices which were not prominent in Indian Buddhism , such as Chinese ancestor veneration and

469-421: Is "without steps or gradations. One concentrates, understands, and is enlightened, all in one undifferentiated practice." Sharf notes that the notion of "Mind" came to be criticised by radical subitists, and was replaced by "No Mind," to avoid any reifications. A large group of students gathered at a permanent residence, and extreme asceticism became outdated. The period of Daoxin and Hongren came to be called

536-601: Is a Chinese school of Mahāyāna Buddhism . It developed in China from the 6th century CE onwards, becoming especially popular during the Tang and Song dynasties . Chan is the originating tradition of Zen Buddhism (the Japanese pronunciation of the same character , which is the most commonly used English name for the school). Chan Buddhism spread from China south to Vietnam as Thiền and north to Korea as Seon , and, in

603-616: Is associated with the East Mountain School . It is a method named "Maintaining the one without wavering" ( shou-i pu i, 守一不移), the one being the nature of mind , which is equated with Buddha-nature. In this practice, one turns the attention from the objects of experience, to the perceiving subject itself. According to McRae, this type of meditation resembles the methods of "virtually all schools of Mahayana Buddhism," but differs in that "no preparatory requirements, no moral prerequisites or preliminary exercises are given," and

670-683: Is extant, and subsequent accounts became layered with legend. There are three principal sources for Bodhidharma's biography: The Record of the Buddhist Monasteries of Luoyang by Yáng Xuànzhī's (楊衒之, 547), Tan Lin's preface to the Long Scroll of the Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices (6th century CE), and Dayi Daoxin 's Further Biographies of Eminent Monks (7th century CE). These sources vary in their account of Bodhidharma being either "from Persia" (547 CE), "a Brahman monk from South India" (645 CE), "the third son of

737-525: Is referred to as "The Blue-Eyed Barbarian " ( 碧眼胡 ; Bìyǎn hú ) in Chinese Chan texts. Only scarce historical information is available about him but his hagiography developed when the Chan tradition grew stronger and gained prominence in the early 8th century. By this time a lineage of the six ancestral founders of Chan in China was developed. Little contemporary biographical information on Bodhidharma

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804-444: Is threefold: Theravāda, Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna . In contemporary Buddhist studies , modern Buddhism is often divided into three major branches, traditions or categories: Another way of classifying the different forms of Buddhism is through the different monastic ordination traditions. There are three main traditions of monastic law ( Vinaya ) each corresponding to the first three categories outlined above: The terminology for

871-567: The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra . As a result, early masters of the Chan tradition were referred to as "Laṅkāvatāra masters". As the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra teaches the doctrine of the Ekayāna "One Vehicle", the early Chan school was sometimes referred to as the "One Vehicle School". In other early texts, the school that would later become known as Chan is sometimes even referred to as simply the "Laṅkāvatāra school" (Ch. 楞伽宗, Léngqié Zōng ). Accounts recording

938-658: The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra the Chinese supposed that the teaching of Buddha-nature was, as stated by that sutra, the final Buddhist teaching, and that there is an essential truth above sunyata and the two truths. When Buddhism came to China, there were three divisions of training: It was in this context that Buddhism entered into Chinese culture. Three types of teachers with expertise in each training practice developed: Monasteries and practice centers were created that tended to focus on either

1005-514: The Buddha's thirty-two Characteristics . Other important translators of meditation texts were Kumārajīva (334–413 CE), who translated The Sutra on the Concentration of Sitting Meditation , amongst many other texts; and Buddhabhadra . These Chinese translations of mostly Indian Sarvāstivāda Yogacara meditation manuals were the basis for the meditation techniques of Chinese Chan. Buddhism

1072-478: The East Mountain Teaching , due to the location of the residence of Hongren at Huangmei. The term was used by Yuquan Shenxiu (神秀 606?–706), the most important successor to Hongren. By this time the group had grown into a matured congregation that became significant enough to be reckoned with by the ruling forces. The East Mountain community was a specialized meditation training centre. Hongren

1139-668: The Gelug sect in Tibet. The other major school of Indian Mahayana was the Yogācāra ("yoga practice") school, also known as the Vijñānavāda ("the doctrine of consciousness"), Vijñaptivāda ("the doctrine of ideas or percepts"), or Cittamātra ("mind-only") school, founded by Asanga in the 4th century AD. Some scholars also note that the compilers of the Tathāgatagarbha texts constitute

1206-660: The Indian Buddhist monastic saṅgha split. They are also called the Nikaya Buddhist schools, Ezhuthupally , and in Mahayana Buddhism they are referred to either as the Śrāvaka (disciple) schools or Hinayana (inferior) schools. Most scholars now believe that the first schism was originally caused by differences in vinaya (monastic rule). Later splits were also due to doctrinal differences and geographical separation. The first schism separated

1273-552: The Japanese invasion of Korea in the 16th century, leading to a slow period of recovery that lasted into the 20th century. The Seon school, derived from Chinese Chan Buddhism , was introduced in the 7th century and grew to become the most widespread form of modern Korean Buddhism, with the Jogye Order and Taego Order as its two main branches. Bordering southern China, Buddhism may have first come to Vietnam as early as

1340-542: The Srimala Sutra , one of the Tathāgatagarbha sūtras , figures in the stories about Bodhidharma. Huike is regarded as the second Chan patriarch, appointed by Bodhidharma to succeed him. One of Huike's students, Sengcan , to whom is ascribed the Xinxin Ming , is regarded as the third patriarch. By the late 8th century, under the influence of Huineng's student Shenhui , the traditional list of patriarchs of

1407-514: The Tang dynasty to lend credibility to the growing Chan-school. Only scarce historical information is available about him, but his hagiography developed when the Chan tradition grew stronger and gained prominence in the early 8th century. By this time a lineage of the six ancestral founders of Chan in China was developed. The actual origins of Chan may lie in ascetic practitioners of Buddhism, who found refuge in forests and mountains. Huike , "a dhuta (extreme ascetic) who schooled others" and used

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1474-767: The Vinaya Pitaka , the Theravādin Vinaya followed by monastics of this tradition. The various divisions in Theravāda include: Mahāyāna (Great Vehicle) Buddhism is category of traditions which focus on the bodhisattva path and affirm texts known as Mahāyāna sutras . These texts are seen by modern scholars as dating as far back as the 1st century BCE. Unlike Theravada and other early schools, Mahāyāna schools generally hold that there are currently many Buddhas which are accessible, and that they are transcendental or supramundane beings. In India, there were two major traditions of Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy. The earliest

1541-567: The pudgala (person). Their tradition was founded by the elder Vātsīputra circa 3rd century BCE. The Vibhajyavādins were conservative Sthaviras who did not accept the doctrines of either the Sarvāstivāda or the Pudgalavāda. In Sri Lanka, a group of them became known as Theravada, the only one of these sects that survives to the present day. Another sect which arose from the Vibhajyavādins were

1608-478: The 13th century, east to Japan as Japanese Zen . The historical records required for a complete, accurate account of early Chan history no longer exist. The history of Chan in China can be divided into several periods. Zen, as we know it today, is the result of a long history, with many changes and contingent factors. Each period had different types of Zen, some of which remained influential, while others vanished. Andy Ferguson distinguishes three periods from

1675-535: The 3rd or 2nd century BCE from the Indian subcontinent or from China in the 1st or 2nd century CE. Vietnamese Buddhism was influenced by certain elements of Taoism , Chinese spirituality , and Vietnamese folk religion . Schools of Buddhism#Mahāyāna schools The schools of Buddhism are the various institutional and doctrinal divisions of Buddhism which are the teachings off buddhist texts. The schools of Buddhism have existed from ancient times up to

1742-488: The 5th century into the 13th century: Although John R. McRae has reservations about the division of Chan history in phases or periods, he nevertheless distinguishes four phases in the history of Chan: Neither Ferguson nor McRae gives a periodisation for Chinese Chan following the Song-dynasty, though McRae mentions When Buddhism came to China, it was adapted to the Chinese culture and understanding. Theories about

1809-612: The 8th century, the Chan school began to emerge, eventually becoming the most influential Buddhist school in East Asia and spreading throughout the region. Buddhism was officially introduced to Japan from China and Korea during the 5th and 6th centuries AD. In addition to developing their own versions of Chinese and Korean traditions (such as Zen , a Japanese form of Chan and Shingon , a form of Chinese Esoteric Buddhism), Japan developed their own indigenous traditions like Tendai , based on

1876-467: The Buddha was tired or ill. The Buddha silently held up and twirled a flower and his eyes twinkled; several of his disciples tried to interpret what this meant, though none of them were correct. One of the Buddha's disciples, Mahākāśyapa , gazed at the flower and smiled. The Buddha then acknowledged Mahākāśyapa's insight by saying the following: I possess the true Dharma eye, the marvelous mind of Nirvāṇa,

1943-484: The Chan lineage had been established: In later writings, this lineage was extended to include 28 Indian patriarchs. In the Song of Enlightenment (證道歌 Zhèngdào gē ) of Yongjia Xuanjue (永嘉玄覺, 665–713), one of the chief disciples of Huìnéng , it is written that Bodhidharma was the 28th patriarch in a line of descent from Mahākāśyapa, a disciple of Śākyamuni Buddha , and the first patriarch of Chan Buddhism. Mahākāśyapa

2010-587: The Chinese Tiantai , Nichiren , and Jōdo Shinshū (a Pure Land school). Buddhism was introduced to Korea from China during the 4th century, where it began to be practiced alongside indigenous shamanism. Following strong state support in the Goryeo era, Buddhism was suppressed during the Joseon period in favor of Neo-Confucianism . Suppression was finally ended due to Buddhist participation in repelling

2077-467: The Christian Era, this barbarian influence was infiltrating China just when it was least politically stable and more vulnerable to sedition. As the philosophy and practice infiltrated society, many traditionalists banded together to stop the foreign influence, not so much out of intolerance (an attitude flatly rejected by both Taoism and Confucianism), but because they felt that the Chinese worldview

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2144-979: The Confucian view of filial piety . East Asian Buddhist monastics generally follow the monastic rule known as the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya . One major exception is some schools of Japanese Buddhism where Buddhist clergy sometimes marry, without following the traditional monastic code or Vinaya . This developed during the Meiji Restoration , when a nationwide campaign against Buddhism forced certain Japanese Buddhist sects to change their practices. Buddhism in China has been characterized by complex interactions with China's indigenous religious traditions, Taoism and Confucianism , and varied between periods of institutional support and repression from governments and dynasties. Buddhism

2211-626: The Dharmaguptakas. This school was influential in spreading Buddhism to Central Asia and to China. Their Vinaya is still used in East Asian Buddhism. The Mahāsāṃghikas also split into various sub groups. One of these were the Lokottaravādins (Transcendentalists), so called because of their doctrine which saw every action of the Buddha, even mundane ones like eating, as being of a supramundane and transcendental nature. One of

2278-551: The Vinaya and training of monks or the teachings focused on one scripture or a small group of texts. Dhyāna ( Chan ) masters tended to practice in solitary hermitages, or to be associated with Vinaya training monasteries or the dharma teaching centers. The later naming of the Zen school has its origins in this view of the threefold division of training. McRae goes so far as to say: ... one important feature must not be overlooked: Chan

2345-570: The Yogacara meditation teachings of the Sarvāstivāda school of Kashmir circa 1st-4th centuries CE. The five main types of meditation in the Dhyana sutras are anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing); paṭikūlamanasikāra meditation, mindfulness of the impurities of the body; loving-kindness maitrī meditation; the contemplation on the twelve links of pratītyasamutpāda ; and the contemplation on

2412-1133: The classic scriptures, these esoteric works are known as the Buddhist Tantras . It includes practices that make use of mantras , dharanis , mudras , mandalas and the visualization of deities and Buddhas. Main Esoteric Buddhist traditions include: Various Buddhist new religious movements arose in the 20th century, including the following. Chan Buddhism The way The "goal" Background Chinese texts Classical Post-classical Contemporary Zen in Japan Seon in Korea Thiền in Vietnam Western Zen Chan ( traditional Chinese : 禪 ; simplified Chinese : 禅 ; pinyin : Chán ; abbr. of Chinese : 禪那 ; pinyin : chánnà ), from Sanskrit dhyāna (meaning " meditation " or "meditative state" ),

2479-983: The community into two groups, the Sthavira (Elders) Nikaya and the Mahāsāṃghika (Great Community). Most scholars hold that this probably occurred after the time of Ashoka. Out of these two main groups later arose many other sects or schools. From the Sthaviras arose the Sarvāstivāda sects, the Vibhajyavādins , the Theravadins, the Dharmaguptakas and the Pudgalavāda sects. The Sarvāstivāda school, popular in northwest India and Kashmir , focused on Abhidharma teachings. Their name means "the theory that all exists" which refers to one of their main doctrines,

2546-548: The concepts". Judging from the reception by the Han of the Hinayana works and from the early commentaries, it appears that Buddhism was being perceived and digested through the medium of religious Daoism (Taoism). Buddha was seen as a foreign immortal who had achieved some form of Daoist nondeath. The Buddhists' mindfulness of the breath was regarded as an extension of Daoist breathing exercises. The first Buddhist converts in China were Taoists. They developed high esteem for

2613-711: The doctrine that viewed all conditioned phenomena as being mere concepts (Skt. prajñapti ). According to the Indian philosopher Paramartha , a further split among the Mahāsāṃghika occurred with the arrival of the Mahayana sutras. Some sub-schools, such as the Kukkuṭikas , did not accept the Mahayana sutras as being word of the Buddha, whole others, like the Lokottaravādins, did accept them. Although there are differences in

2680-518: The entrance of principle and the entrance of practice: The entrance of principle is to become enlightened to the Truth on the basis of the teaching. One must have a profound faith in the fact that one and the same True Nature is possessed by all sentient beings, both ordinary and enlightened, and that this True Nature is only covered up and made imperceptible [in the case of ordinary people] by false sense impressions ". The entrance of practice includes

2747-630: The few Mahāsāṃghika texts which survive, the Mahāvastu , is from this school. Another sub-sect which emerged from the Mahāsāṃghika was called the Caitika . They were concentrated in Andhra Pradesh and in South India. Some scholars such as A.K. Warder hold that many important Mahayana sutras originated among these groups. Another Mahāsāṃghika sect was named Prajñaptivāda . They were known for

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2814-567: The following four increments: This text was used and studied by Huike and his students. The True Nature refers to the Buddha-nature . Bodhidharma settled in Northern Wei China. Shortly before his death, Bodhidharma appointed his disciple Dazu Huike to succeed him, making Huike the first Chinese-born ancestral founder and the second ancestral founder of Chan in China. Bodhidharma is said to have passed three items to Huike as

2881-409: The fourth patriarch Daoxin "is far from clear and remains tenuous". With Daoxin and his successor, the fifth patriarch Hongren ( 弘忍 601–674), there emerged a new style of teaching, which was inspired by the Chinese text Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana . According to McRae, the "first explicit statement of the sudden and direct approach that was to become the hallmark of Ch'an religious practice"

2948-600: The historical records as to the exact composition of the various schools of early Buddhism, a hypothetical combined list would be as follows: Theravāda is the only extant mainstream non-Mahayana school. They are derived from the Sri Lankan Mahāvihāra sect, which was a branch of the South Indian Vibhajjavādins. Theravāda bases its doctrine on the Pāli Canon , the only complete Buddhist canon surviving in

3015-553: The history of this early period are to be found in the Records of the Laṅkāvatāra Masters ( Chinese : 楞伽師資記 ). Bodhidharma is recorded as having come into China during the time of Southern and Northern Dynasties to teach a "special transmission outside scriptures" which "did not stand upon words". Throughout Buddhist art , Bodhidharma is depicted as a rather ill-tempered, profusely bearded and wide-eyed barbarian. He

3082-468: The ineffable Tao and Buddha-nature , and thus, rather than feeling bound to the abstract "wisdom of the sūtras", emphasized Buddha-nature to be found in "everyday" human life, just as the Tao. Chinese Buddhism absorbed Neo-Daoist concepts as well. Concepts such as T'i-yung (體用 Essence and Function) and Li-shih (理事 Noumenon and Phenomenon, or Principle and Practice) first appeared in Hua-yen Buddhism, which consequently influenced Chan deeply. On

3149-571: The influence of other schools in the evolution of Chan vary widely and are heavily reliant upon speculative correlation rather than on written records or histories. Numerous scholars have argued that Chan developed from the interaction between Mahāyāna Buddhism and Taoism . Buddhist meditation was practiced in China centuries before the rise of Chan, by people such as An Shigao (c. 148–180 CE) and his school, who translated various Dhyāna sutras (Chán-jing, 禪経, "meditation treatises"), which were influential early meditation texts mostly based on

3216-406: The major divisions of Buddhism can be confusing, as Buddhism is variously divided by scholars and practitioners according to geographic, historical, and philosophical criteria, with different terms often being used in different contexts. The following terms may be encountered in descriptions of the major Buddhist divisions: The early Buddhist schools or mainstream sects refers to the sects into which

3283-467: The modern framework of Buddhist studies , as well as comparative religion in Asia . Some factors in Buddhism appear to be consistent, such as the afterlife. From a largely English-language standpoint, and to some extent in most of Western academia, Buddhism is separated into two groups: Theravāda ( lit. 'the Teaching of the Elders' or 'the Ancient Teaching'), and Mahāyāna ( lit. 'the Great Vehicle'). The most common classification among scholars

3350-403: The newly introduced Buddhist meditational techniques, and blended them with Taoist meditation . Representatives of early Chinese Buddhism like Sengzhao and Tao Sheng were deeply influenced by the Taoist keystone works of Laozi and Zhuangzi . Against this background, especially the Taoist concept of naturalness was inherited by the early Chan disciples: they equated – to some extent –

3417-405: The numerically largest body of Buddhist traditions in the world, numbering over half of the world's Buddhists. East Asian Mahayana began to develop in China during the Han dynasty (when Buddhism was first introduced from Central Asia ). It is thus influenced by Chinese culture and philosophy . East Asian Mahayana developed new, uniquely Asian interpretations of Buddhist texts and focused on

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3484-399: The other hand, Taoists at first misunderstood sunyata to be akin to the Taoist non-being . The emerging Chinese Buddhism nevertheless had to compete with Taoism and Confucianism: Because Buddhism was a foreign influence, however, and everything "barbarian" was suspect, certain Chinese critics were jolted out of complacency by the spread of the dharma [...] In the first four centuries of

3551-428: The present. The classification and nature of various doctrinal , philosophical or cultural facets of the schools of Buddhism is vague and has been interpreted in many different ways, often due to the sheer number (perhaps thousands) of different sects, subsects, movements, etc. that have made up or currently make up the whole of Buddhist traditions. The sectarian and conceptual divisions of Buddhist thought are part of

3618-424: The primary religious texts for other countries in the region. Early Chinese Buddhism was influenced by translators from Central Asia who began the translation of large numbers of Tripitaka and commentarial texts from India and Central Asia into Chinese . Early efforts to organize and interpret the wide range of texts received gave rise to early Chinese Buddhist schools like the Huayan and Tiantai schools. In

3685-425: The rest of East Asia at large. Such religious transmissions were able to be afforded to enable the inexorable percolation of Buddhism into East Asia over a millennia due to the vibrant cultural exchanges that were able to be made at that time as a result of the Silk Road . Chinese Buddhism has strongly influenced the development of Buddhism in other East Asian countries, with the Chinese Buddhist Canon serving as

3752-406: The study of Mahayana sutras . According to Paul Williams, this emphasis on the study of the sutras contrasts with the Tibetan Buddhist attitude which sees the sutras as too difficult unless approached through the study of philosophical treatises ( shastras ). The texts of the Chinese Buddhist Canon began to be translated in the second century and the collection continued to evolve over a period of

3819-472: The study of sutras . East Asian Buddhist monastics generally follow the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya . Esoteric Buddhism, also known as Vajrayāna, Mantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Secret Mantra, and Tantric Buddhism is often placed in a separate category by scholars due to its unique tantric features and elements. Esoteric Buddhism arose and developed in medieval India among esoteric adepts known as Mahāsiddhas . Esoteric Buddhism maintains its own set of texts alongside

3886-400: The true form of the formless, the subtle Dharma gate that does not rest on words or letters but is a special transmission outside of the scriptures. This I entrust to Mahākāśyapa. Traditionally the origin of Chan in China is credited to Bodhidharma , an Iranian-language speaking Central Asian monk or an Indian monk. The story of his life, and of the Six Patriarchs, was constructed during

3953-540: The view that all dharmas exist in the past, present and in the future. This is an eternalist theory of time. Over time, the Sarvāstivādins became divided into various traditions, mainly the Vaibhāṣika (who defended the orthodox "all exists" doctrine in their Abhidharma compendium called the Mahāvibhāṣa Śāstra ), the Sautrāntika (who rejected the Vaibhāṣika orthodoxy) and the Mūlasarvāstivāda . The Pudgalavāda sects (also known as Vātsīputrīyas ) were another group of Sthaviras which were known for their unique doctrine of

4020-409: Was a plain meditation teacher, who taught students of "various religious interests", including "practitioners of the Lotus Sutra, students of Madhyamaka philosophy, or specialists in the monastic regulations of Buddhist Vinaya ". The school was typified by a "loose practice," aiming to make meditation accessible to a larger audience. Shenxiu used short formulas extracted from various sutras to package

4087-492: Was being turned upside down. One point of confusion for this new emerging Chinese Buddhism was the two truths doctrine . Chinese thinking took this to refer to two ontological truths : reality exists on two levels, a relative level and an absolute level. Taoists at first misunderstood sunyata to be akin to the Taoist non-being. In Indian Madhyamaka philosophy the two truths are two epistemological truths : two different ways to look at reality. Based on their understanding of

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4154-419: Was exposed to Confucian , Taoist and local Folk religious influences when it came to China. Goddard quotes D.T. Suzuki , calling Chan a "natural evolution of Buddhism under Taoist conditions". Buddhism was first identified to be "a barbarian variant of Taoism", and Taoist terminology was used to express Buddhist doctrines in the oldest translations of Buddhist texts, a practice termed ko-i , "matching

4221-445: Was first introduced to China during the Han dynasty , at a time when the Han empire expanded its nascent corresponding geopolitical influence into the reaches of Central Asia. Opportunities for vibrant cultural exchanges and trade contacts along the Silk Road and sea trade routes with the Indian subcontinent and maritime Southeast Asia made it inevitable that the percolation of Buddhism would penetrate into China and gradually into

4288-451: Was never any such thing as an institutionally separate Chan "school" at any time in Chinese Buddhist history (emphasis McRae). The Chan tradition ascribes the origins of Chan in India to the Flower Sermon , the earliest source for which comes from the 14th century. It is said that Gautama Buddha gathered his disciples one day for a Dharma talk . When they gathered together, the Buddha was completely silent and some speculated that perhaps

4355-475: Was not nearly as separate from these other types of Buddhist activities as one might think [...] [T]he monasteries of which Chan monks became abbots were comprehensive institutions, "public monasteries" that supported various types of Buddhist activities other than Chan-style meditation. The reader should bear this point in mind: In contrast to the independent denominations of Soto and Rinzai that emerged (largely by government fiat) in seventeenth-century Japan, there

4422-446: Was the Mādhyamaka ("Middle Way"), also known as the Śūnyavāda (" Emptiness ") school. This tradition followed the works of the philosopher Nāgārjuna ( c.  150 – c.  250 CE ). Two subsects of the Madhyamaka school that developed were the Svatantrika , founded by the 6th-century Indian philosopher Bhāviveka , and the Prasangika , founded by Chandrakirti and later advanced by Je Tsongkhapa , 14th-century founder of

4489-404: Was the first, leading the line of transmission; Twenty-eight Fathers followed him in the West; The Lamp was then brought over the sea to this country; And Bodhidharma became the First Father here: His mantle, as we all know, passed over six Fathers, And by them many minds came to see the Light. In its beginnings in China, Chan primarily referred to the Mahāyāna sūtras and especially to

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