Chan Buddhism

An image of the large Spring Temple Buddha located in Henan, China. China is the primary location of Chan Buddhism

Chan Buddhism is a school of Mahayana buddhism with a strong Taoist influence. Chan Buddhism developed in China in the 6th century CE, and is generally considered to have been started by the South Indian monk Bodhidharma. When Buddhism was introduced to China, it had to be adapted to the traditional Chinese cultures and teachings in order to take root in the area. Here it was exposed to the various Confucian and Taoist teachings prevalent in Chinese society. Additionally, many of the early Buddhist recruits were Taoist, providing an additional route for Taoist ideologies to be integrated into Chan Buddhism.

The defining characteristic of Chan Buddhism is the importance of meditation as the way to enlightenment and the awareness of the Four Noble Truths. Chan Buddhism placed particular focus on special meditation and training techniques, consisting of three divisions of training, each with a distinct type of master:

1. Training in discipline and virtue, taught by Vinayana masters

2. Training the mind through meditation, taught by Dhyana masters

3. Training in scripture and recorded teachings, taught by Dharma masters

Monasteries and practice centers were created with the purpose of training monks and / or studying singular scriptures or other small groups of texts. Individual practice has a greater emphasis with many Chan Masters practicing in solitude, although there were some associated with training monasteries or teaching centers.

One of the central features of Chan Buddhism was the practice of meditating on a set of four polarities. The four polarities are:

• Absolute - relative: the idea of an absolute reality vs the idea of a relative reality.

• Buddha-nature - sunyata: the doctrine that all sentient beings possess Buddha-nature vs. the emptiness and nothingness of all things which would suggest that beings cannot have an inherent nature.

• Sudden enlightenment - gradual enlightenment: sudden realization and understanding of the true nature vs. gradual discovery of the true nature.

• Esoteric transmission - exoteric transmission: transmission of enlightened wisdom occurring face to face vs. enlightenment and wisdom received through individual self-discovery.

The polarities were a set of paradoxes present within the Buddhist religion. The emphasis on these paradoxical ideas is one of the most prevalent examples of the influence of Taoism on Chan Buddhism. It was believed that meditation on these paradoxes was a way to attain spontaneous enlightenment.