A Parable for Silent Illumination An excerpt from Silent Illumination Natural awakening is inherent within everyone—it is not something produced through practice. Hongzhi eloquently described it as the “vacant and open field,” the “lucid lake,” our “original home.” The point of Chan practice, then, is to regain our original freedom by clearing away our emotional

The Works of Zen in the Song Dynasty     This is part of a series of articles on the arc of Zen thought, practice, and history, as presented in The Circle of the Way: A Concise History of Zen from the Buddha to the Modern World.  You can start at the beginning of this

The Works of the Chan & Zen Patriarchs     This is part of a series of articles on the arc of Zen thought, practice, and history, as presented in The Circle of the Way: A Concise History of Zen from the Buddha to the Modern World.  You can start at the beginning of this

The Works of Zen in the Tang Dynasty     This is part of a series of articles on the arc of Zen thought, practice, and history, as presented in The Circle of the Way: A Concise History of Zen from the Buddha to the Modern World.  You can start at the beginning of this

The Great Koan Collections     This is part of a series of articles on the arc of Zen thought, practice, and history, as presented in The Circle of the Way: A Concise History of Zen from the Buddha to the Modern World.  You can start at the beginning of this series or simply explore

Zen Buddhism: A Reader's Guide to the Great Works There have been surprisingly few clear introductions to the full range of the East Asian tradition of what is popularly commonly referred to, in its Japanese variant, as Zen Buddhism but also known as Chan, Soen, and Tien in original Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese.  All these

Taoist Influences on Ch’an Meditation An Excerpt from China Root Ch’an practice was not simply about cultivating an abstract understanding of Taoist ontology/cosmology and the nature of consciousness; it was about actually living that understanding as a matter of immediate experience. And at the center of Ch’an practice was meditation. Indeed, Ch’an (禪), a transliteration

Chan Master Sheng Yen (1930–2009) was a widely respected Taiwanese Chan (Chinese Zen) master who taught extensively in the West during the last thirty-one years of his life. He had numerous teaching centers throughout North America, as well throughout the world. He co-led retreats with the Dalai Lama, and he is the author of numerous

The Six Paramitas Learn More The Six Paramitas, or "Perfections," are a fundamental set of teachings for Mahayahana Buddhism Statue of Bodhisattva Guan Yin (Avalokiteshvara) The six paramitas, or transcendent perfections, are an essential concept in the practice of Mahayana Buddhism. They are so fundamental in fact that the “Vehicle of the Perfections” is a

The Heart Sutra: A Reader's Guide     This is part of a series of articles on the arc of Zen thought, practice, and history, as presented in The Circle of the Way: A Concise History of Zen from the Buddha to the Modern World.  You can start at the beginning of this series or