Volume 8: 禪語錄 Seon Dialogues

The Chan movement had its origins in China from about the late seventh century. Unlike other Buddhist schools or movements, Chan did not base itself on doctrinal exegesis of the sutras but instead concentrated on meditation, a “contemplative analysis” of sutra passages in terms of the mind, and the importance of interaction with the teacher. Its basic assumptions were the existence in every person of a Buddha-nature, the potential to become a buddha or even to be literally “awake” and that this realization was possible in this lifetime, even midst everyday activities, by meditation and interaction with Chan masters. As a ploy to distinguish themselves from other schools and as a way of self-definition, Chan monks and their supporters asserted that the masters belonged to a lineage of patriarchal teachers stretching unbroken via Bodhidharma back to the Buddha Śākyamuni, with that enlightened mind transmitted like the light of a lamp.