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As taken, nearly verbatim, from the Seeker's Glossary of Buddhism.

Chan is the same as Ch'an is the same as Zen. The word "Zen" comes from the Sanskrit word dhyana, which means meditation. The word "dhyana" was transcribed as Ch'an in Chinese and the latter word was transcribed as Zen in Japanese.

In the west, the word Ch'an is far better known by its Japanese name Zen.

It is said that one day Brahma, the Lord of Creation, offered the Buddha a flower and asked him to preach the Dharma. When the Buddha held up the flower, his audience was puzzled, except for Kashyapa, who smiled. This is how Zen began. And this is how it was transmitted: with a flower, with a rock wall, with a shout.

Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism in China founded by Bodhidharma (6th century). This school stresses the cultivation of intuitive wisdom. An extremely influential Buddhist school in East Asia.

A school which maintains that enlightenment is not to be found in the pursuit of doctrinal studies but only through the direct perception of one's own mind with the practice of meditation. Bodhidharma (6th century) is regarded as the founder of the Zen school. The Treatise on the Perception of the True Nature of the Mind, said to be the work of Bodhidharma but probably written by later disciples, describes Zen in these words: "A special transmission outside the sutras,/ Independent of word and writ,/ Pointing directly to the mind of man,/ Seeing one's true nature and attaining Buddhahood." According to this school, supreme enlightenment is wordlessly transmitted from mind to mind, and Shakyamuni Buddha is said to have transferred his true enlightenment in this way to his disciple Mahakashyapa. The lineage then passed to the second patriarch, Ananda, and then finally to the twenty-eighth Indian patriarch, Bodhidharma, who brought the "wordless tradition" to China where it became known as Ch'an (Chan) Buddhism, now far better known as Zen by its Japanese name). Thereafter, the teaching of Zen was transmitted to the second Chinese patriarch, Hui-k'o, the third, Seng-ts'an, the fourth, Tao-hsin, the fifth, Hung-jen, and the sixth patriarch, Hui-neng (638-713). In the days of Hui-neng, the sect divided into the Southern school of Zen, led by Hui-neng, and the Northern school of Zen, headed by Shen-hsiu. The Northern school rapidly declined, but the Southern school produced excellent disiples and became the Chan. (This southern school eventually subdivided itself into seven schools, of which the better known are the Rinzai (Lin-chi) and Soto (Ts'ao-tun)...

Seated meditation and Koan study... The practice of sitting meditation was carried out widely in ancient India and was incorporated into Buddhism by Shakyamuni himself, who sat in meditation when he attained his enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. This practice was introduced into China, where T'ien-t'ai taught it as part of an integrated system of disciplines to perceive the true nature of one's mind. The Ch'an (Zen, Chan) school attaches great importance to the practice of seated meditation... One of the greatest advantages of the half-lotus or the full-lotus sitting posture is that when the hands and feet are brought together in one point with the hands resting on the heels of the feet, pulse, blood pressure, metabolism, and other vital functions are at their quietest. It should be noted, however, that though these physiological functions are greatly quieted, the Zen meditator does not sink into a trance state, unresponsive to the world around him. Rather, electroencephalographic studies have shown that one doing concentrated Zen meditation responds immediately to external stimuli and, in fact, responds each time the same stimulus is repeated, whereas most people lose awareness of such repeated stimuli. It can be said,then, that the person seriously practicing Zen (Chan, Ch'an) meditation is fully aware of what is happening in the world around him, yet he does not cling to this awareness... In Yoga meditation, on the other hand, it was shown that the practitioner is, in a sense, tuned out from the world around him, and does not respond at all to external stimuli.

For an excellent introduction to meditation, see Master Chih-i's The Dharma Essentials for Cultivating Stopping and Contemplation and Sitting in Dhyana.

Ch'an masters recognize four levels of attainment in meditation, known as the four dhyanas.

To learn more about Ch'an, please visit or contact the Portland Buddhist Group. You may also wish to contact the DRBA, who host a week-long Beginner's Chan Session every year in August at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas (located in Northern California, about 14 hours driving distance south of Portland).

To learn more about Zen (Japanese Ch'an), please visit or contact the Dharma Rain Zen Center or the Zen Community of Oregon.

As taken, nearly verbatim, from the Seeker's Glossary of Buddhism.

Speak one sentence less of chatter,/Recite once more the Buddha's name./ Recite until your false thoughts die and/ Your Dharma Body will come to life... Develop the Supreme Bodhi Mind;/ Achieve singlemindedness;/ The Pure Land is yours.

Pureland comprises the schools of East Asia which emphasize aspects of Mahayana Buddhism stressing faith in Amida, meditation on and recitation of his name, and the religious goal of being reborn in his Pure Land or Western Paradise. The goal of those devoted to Amitabha and the Pure Land is to be reborn there and to attain englightenment (Buddhahood).

Pure Land Buddhism chiefly consists in hearing and reciting Amitabha Buddha's name wiht a faithful mind, but it does not exclude meditation (dhyana) and insight (vipasyana) through which one can visualise the Buddha. Obviously, meditation and insight are mainly practiced by monks, particularly by gifted persons, while hearing and reciting the name with faith are easily practised even by laymen and laywomen. Exposition of the higher practices of Amitabha worship appeared in the Pratyutpanna Samadhi Sutra. Later, Vasubandhu propounded the contemplation of Amitabha by samatha (concentration) practices. This, however, does not involve the concept of Amitabha as a meditation Buddha.

Given its popular appeal, Pure Land quickly became the object of the most dominant form of Buddhist devotion in East Asia... The Pure Land school is presently the school of Buddhism in China and Japan that has the most followers.

Given its popular appeal, Pure Land quickly became the object of the most dominant form of Buddhist devotion in East Asia... The Pure Land school is presently the school of Buddhism in China and Japan that has the most followers.

The goal espoused by all Buddhist schools is for the practitioner to achieve Buddhahood, i.e., to become an enlightened being. Thus, to practice Buddhism is to cultivate enlightenment, to attain Wisdom. Although there are many paths to reach this goal, they all involve severing greed (also lust), anger (also hatred), and delusion (also stupidity or ignorance), thus perfecting the qualities of the Mind (paramitas). Traditionally Buddhist sutras enumerate six or ten paramitas, but theymay be reduced to three: Discipline, Concentration, and Wisdom (the second, fifth, and sixth paramitas respectively). Pure Land, symbolized by the Buddha recitation method, is a Mahayana approach that employs, among other things, the techniques of meditation-visualization (of the Pure Land, Amitabha Buddha) and of the oral recitation of the Buddha's name to reach this paramitas (perfections). That is, when a practitioner is busy visualizing the Buddha or reciting the Buddha's name, he cannot commit transgressions or violate the Buddhist precepts. Therefore, he has effectively fulfilled the paramita of Discipline. Likewise, reciting the Buddha's name with a completely focussed mind is nothing less than fulfilling the paramita of Concentration. Once concentration is achieved, the practitioner's mind becomes empty and still, leading to the emergence of his innate wisdom...

To learn more about Pure Land Buddhism, please visit or contact either the Portland Buddhist Temple or the Kwan Yin Temple.

As taken, nearly verbatim, from the Venerable Master Hua's Dharma Propagation in Southern California.

The Venerable Master Hsuan Hua's three great aims are well known: Sutra translation, education, and Dharma propagation. These have been discussed at length, but not as much has been said about the Venerable Master's Dharma, because it is so unfathomably lofty and profound that it far exceeds our understanding, and we lack the virtue and ability to describe it... The Venerable Master composed a verse of advice for his disciples: Everything's a test/To see what you will do./If you don't recognize what's before your eyes,/You have to start anew. He also said: Truly recognize your own mistakes./Do not discuss the faults of others. /Others' faults are just my own./Identity in substance is called great compassion. Using this as the guideline, each person cultivated individually-suited Dharma-doors. Whether the person practiced fasting, recited the Great Compassion Mantra, the Shurangama Mantra, or the name of a Buddha or Bodhisattva, cultivated the Dharma of Avatamsaka or whater, if the person understood, then in all such practices he or she was investigating Chan. Furthermore, the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua instructed us to use the Avatamsaka Sutra and the Shurangama Sutra as checkpoints for our states in cultivation. If anyone departed from the Six Great Principles, and was inauthentic on the causal ground, so that the virtue of precepts was lost, then the result would be crooked. No one else could take on the inner pain and anguish for that person. But if the person could repent before the fourfold assembly and not repeat the offense, then the Venerable Master Hua out of kindness and compassion, with Venerable Upali as certifier, would open up the door of repentence and reform and perform a road for the cultivator.

To learn more about the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, please see visit or contact the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, or the Buddhist Text Translation Society.

As excerpted from page 638 of Volume 4, Chapter 3, of The Dharma Flower Sutra with the commentary by Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua, and published by the BTTS.

When Dharma Master Yin-kuang lectured in Nanking -- only one person was in the audience, night after night. Finally, he spoke with him and said, "So you find my Sutra lectures interesting, do you?"

The man replied, "I don't have any idea what you are talking about. I don't understand any of it."

"Then what are you doing here?" said Master Yin-kuang.

"I'm waiting for you to finish so I can put the chairs away," he said.

Master Yin-kuang's heart was pained. "I thought I had a real friend here when all the time there wasn't a single one!" Master Yin-kuang had a lot of Way virtue. He went into seclusion on Mount P-u-t'ou for eighteen years and saw no guests in all that time. What was he doing those eighteen years? Reading the Tripitaka. Later, he wrote many articles. They are extremely good because he developed his wisdom by reading the Tripitaka. He was the Thirteenth Patriarch of the Pure Land School. He had a lot of virtuous practice, yet no one listened to him lecture on the Sutras. Why not? Because he didn't do a lot of advertising or pressure people into coming. He never put ads in the paper.