This article is about Chan/Zen Buddhism in China. For an overview of the school, see
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" in Buddhism), is a Mahāyāna Chinese Buddhist tradition. It developed in China from the 6th century CE onwards, becoming especially popular during the Tang and Song dynasties. By the Ming and Qing dynasties, it had become one of the most influential forms of Buddhism practiced in China. In contemporary times, it remains one of the most prominent traditions of Chinese Buddhist practice in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and overseas Chinese communities.
Chan is the originating tradition of several schools in the Sinosphere, each known by the Sino-Xenic loan forms of the Chinese character for Chan: 禅. It spread south as Thiền in Vietnamese, then north as Korean Seon, and, in the 13th century, east as Zen in Japanese.
A major part of Chan is the practice of meditation, direct insight into one's own Buddha-nature (見性, jianxing), and the personal expression of this insight in daily life for the benefit of others. Some common Chan techniques include the zuochan (meditation done in a sitting posture like the lotus position), contemplation of gong'ans and huatous as well as the nianfo (which usually involves chanting the phrase Namo Amituofo). Most Chan monasteries also typically partake in traditional Buddhist practices like chanting sutras and dharanis (mantras), the taking of Bodhisattva Precepts, walking meditation, rituals and ceremonies, monasticism, and scriptural study.
With an emphasis on Buddha-nature thought, original enlightenment, and sudden awakening, Chan teaching draws from numerous sources, including Sarvāstivāda meditation, the Mahayana teachings on the Bodhisattva path, Yogācāra, and the Tathāgatagarbha (Buddha-nature) as taught in the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra and the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, and the Huayan school. The Prajñāpāramitā literature, as well as Madhyamaka thought, have also been influential in the shaping of the apophatic and sometimes iconoclastic nature of Chan rhetoric.