◯
Zen
Direct pointing to the mind
China & Japan · Chan/Zen (~6th c. onward)
Before thought divides the world, there is only this — and it is already complete.
Core Teaching
Zen (Chan) is the meeting of Buddhism and Taoism — Mahayana practice stripped to its living core. It distrusts words and doctrine, insisting on direct experience: 'a special transmission outside the scriptures, pointing directly to the human mind, seeing into one's nature and becoming Buddha.' Through seated meditation and, in the Rinzai line, the koan — a question that cannot be solved by thought — the discriminating mind is exhausted until original nature reveals itself in the most ordinary act.
Key Concepts
Zazen
Just sitting — meditation as the direct expression of awakening, not a means to it.
Koan
A paradoxical case that starves the analytic mind and provokes direct insight.
Kensho / Satori
Seeing one's true nature — a glimpse, and its deepening into abiding realisation.
Mushin
No-mind — acting without the interference of self-conscious thought.
Shoshin
Beginner's mind — the open, unassuming attention in which all things are fresh.
Practices
Zazen
Upright, still sitting with the breath — shikantaza ('just sitting') in the Soto school.
Koan introspection
Holding a koan continuously until it resolves in direct seeing (Rinzai).
Samu
Mindful work — sweeping, cooking, gardening — as living meditation.
Key Texts
The Platform Sutra
Teachings of the Sixth Patriarch, Huineng.
The Gateless Gate (Mumonkan)
A classic collection of 48 koans.
Shobogenzo
Dogen's profound treasury of the true dharma eye.
Voices
Bodhidharma
The blue-eyed monk who brought Chan from India to China.
Dogen
13th-century founder of Japanese Soto Zen.
Shunryu Suzuki
Brought Soto Zen to America; author of 'Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind'.
“Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”
— Zen proverb
Resonant Raags
Raags whose mood meets this path — sit with one as you contemplate.