Ch'an

(Chinese). The name of a major movement or school of Chinese Buddhism that literally means ‘the meditation school’. This school generally sees itself as eschewing doctrinal, textual, and ethical studies in favour of the cultivation of a direct realization of the Buddha's own enlightenment (bodhi) experience. The word ‘ch'an’ itself was originally part of a two-character compound written ‘ch'an-na’, and was an attempt to render the Sanskrit word dhyāna (meditation) phonetically. In time, the second character was dropped and it became known simply as ‘ch'an’. Its techniques for cultivation include the study of kōans and ‘silent illumination’ (Chinese, mo-chao Ch'an). The former involves the contemplation of a short story about past, enlightened masters, or enigmatic phrases that push the practitioner to the limits of rationality in an attempt to break through to a direct realization of reality. The latter, often promoted in opposition to the former, involves simply sitting with no particular mental form or content in order to realize that one's Buddhahood is already complete and perfect as it is. See also zen; Ch'an-Tsung.

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