Japanese Zen

Japanese Zen refers to the Japanese forms of Zen Buddhism, an originally Chinese Mahāyāna school of Buddhism that strongly emphasizes dhyāna, the meditative training of awareness and equanimity. This practice, according to Zen proponents, gives insight into one's true nature, or the emptiness of inherent existence, which opens the way to a liberated way of living.

According to tradition, Zen originated in ancient India, when Gautama Buddha held up a flower and Mahākāśyapa smiled. With this smile he showed that he had understood the wordless essence of the dharma. This way the dharma was transmitted to Mahākāśyapa, the second patriarch of Zen.

The term Zen is derived from the Japanese pronunciation of the Middle Chinese word 禪 (chán), an abbreviation of 禪那 (chánnà), which is a Chinese transliteration of the Sanskrit word of dhyāna ("meditation"). Buddhism was introduced from India to China in the first century AD. According to tradition, Chan was introduced around 500 C.E. by Bodhidharma, an Indian monk teaching dhyāna. He was the 28th Indian patriarch of Zen and the first Chinese patriarch.

Zen was first introduced into Japan as early as 653-656 C.E. in the Asuka period (538–710 C.E.), at the time when the set of Zen monastic regulations was still nonexistent and Chan masters were willing to instruct anyone regardless of buddhist ordination. Dōshō (道昭, 629–700 C.E.) went over to China in 653 C.E., where he learned Chan from the famed Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang (玄奘, 602 – 664 C.E.), and he studied more fully with a disciple of the second Chinese patriarch, Huike (慧可, 487–593 C.E.) . After returning home, Dōshō established the Hossō school, basing it on Yogācāra philosophy and built a Meditation Hall for the purpose of practising Zen in the Gangō-ji in Nara. In the Nara period (710 to 794 C.E.), the Chan master, Dao-xuan (道璿, 702-760 C.E.), arrived in Japan, he taught meditation techniques to the monk Gyōhyō (行表, 720–797 C.E.), who in turn was to instruct Saichō (最澄, 767-822 C.E.), founder of the Japanese Tendai sect of Buddhism. Saicho visited Tang China in 804 C.E. as part of an official embassy sent by Emperor Kammu (桓武天皇, 781-806 C.E.). There he studied four branches of Buddhism including Chan and Tiantai, which he was, by that time, already familiar with.

The first attempt of establishing Zen as an independent doctrine was in 815, when the Chinese monk Yikong (義空) visited Japan as the representative of Chan's Southern-school lineage, based on the teachings of the master Mazu Daoyi (馬祖道一, 709–788 C.E.), who was the mentor of Baizhang (百丈懐海, 720–814 C.E.), the supposed author of the initial set of Zen monastic regulations. Yikong arrived in 815 C.E. and tried unsuccessfully to transmit Zen systematically to the eastern nation. It is recorded in an inscription left at the famous Rashõmon gate protecting the southern entryway to Kyoto that, on leaving to return to China, Yikong said he was aware of the futility of his efforts due to hostility and opposition he experienced from the dominant Tendai Buddhist school. What existed of Zen in the Heian period (794-1185 C.E.) was incorporated into and subordinate to the Tendai tradition. The early phase of Japanese Zen has been labeled "syncretic" because Chan teachings and practices were initially combined with familiar Tendai and Shingon forms.

Zen found difficulties in establishing itself as a separate school in Japan until the 12th century, largely because of opposition, influence, power and criticism by the Tendai school. During the Kamakura period (1185–1333 C.E.), Nōnin established the first independent Zen school on Japanese soil, known as the short-lived and disapproved Daruma school. In 1189 Nōnin sent two students to China, to meet with Cho-an Te-kuang (1121–1203 C.E.), and ask for the recognition of Nōnin as a Zen-master. This recognition was granted.

In 1168 C.E., Eisai traveled to China, whereafter he studied Tendai for twenty years. In 1187 C.E. he went to China again, and returned to establish a local branch of the Linji school, which is known in Japan as the Rinzai school. Decades later, Nampo Jōmyō (南浦紹明) (1235–1308 C.E.) also studied Linji teachings in China before founding the Japanese Ōtōkan lineage, the most influential branch of Rinzai.

In 1215 C.E., Dōgen, a younger contemporary of Eisai's, journeyed to China himself, where he became a disciple of the Caodong master Rujing. After his return, Dōgen established the Sōtō school, the Japanese branch of Caodong.