Zen Buddhism

The advent of Buddhism in parts of India took place with the arrival of Xuanzang during the 7th century, a highly educated Buddhist monk who decided to travel all the way through the rugged landscapes and hard, unfavoring climate to the land west of his country, with an aim of collecting information he thought was missing from the local Buddhist manuscriptures, and answers to his questions he thought would only get from the land where Buddha lived and the religion itself originated. “I regretted the teachings [of Buddhism] were not complete, and the scriptures deficient in my own country. I have doubts in my mind, but I could find no one to solve them. That is why I decided to travel through the West”. Xuanzang set out for his journey with one of his most dedicated

It was found politically useful and harbored differences amongst different sects, without breeding conflicts. Increasing popularity beginning the 12th century reflected the two kinds of teachings concerning Amida Buddha (external source) and divine assistance; “Nirvana” and “Rebirth in pure land”. The former was later rejected by scholars. Later, however, Zen Buddhism became popular, which rejected the idea of external divine source such as Amida, and focused on a highly disciplined form of meditation known as Zazen, which valued less importance on religious texts and philosophical discussions. Transmission of teachings in an unbroken chain of succession from the master to the disciple, starting from the historic Buddha himself was emphasized under Zen form. Following are the important constituents of Zen, introduced by Dogen, who was among the first and most well known Japanese monks, who introduced Zen to their homelands

Samadhi demanded strenuous effort from the Zen followers. Dogen states:

“For all the Buddha dharma preserving Zen ancestors and Buddhas, sitting upright was the practice of self-actualization and the true path of