Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Chan


Chan is a Buddhist tradition that is found throughout East Asia (it is known as "Zen" in Japan, "Thien" in Vietnam, and Son in Korea), the distinctive form of which first took shape in China some fifteen hundred years ago. Like most schools of Mahayana Buddhism in East Asia, it affirms that every being is intrinsically endowed with the perfect illumination that Sakyamuni himself actualized when he became the Buddha or "enlightened one." Known as the "Buddha-nature," this power of illumination does not have to be acquired, reinstalled, or even rekindled. It is naturally so, and it has always been naturally so. Again, like most any Buddhist tradition, Chan purports to provide a "raft" to reach this "other shore" of enlightenment, a "finger" to point the direction of this "moon" of illumination.

---Dan Stevenson, in his Preface to Master Shen Yen's Hoofprint of the Ox---

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