The historical records required for a complete, accurate account of early Chan history no longer exist.
Periodisation The history of Chan in China can be divided into several periods. Chan, as we know it today, is the result of a long history, with many changes and contingent factors. Each period had different types of Chan, some of which remained influential, while others vanished. Andy Ferguson distinguishes three periods from the 5th century into the 13th century: • The
Legendary period, from
Bodhidharma in the late 5th century to the
An Lushan Rebellion around 765 CE, in the middle of the
Tang dynasty. Little written information is left from this period. It is the time of the Six Patriarchs, including Bodhidharma and
Huineng, and the legendary "split" between the Northern and the Southern School of Chan. • The
Classical period, from the end of the
An Lushan Rebellion around 765 CE to the beginning of the
Song dynasty around 950 CE. This is the time of the great masters of Chan, such as
Mazu Daoyi and
Linji Yixuan, and the creation of the
yü-lü genre, the recordings of the sayings and teachings of these great masters. • The
Literary period, from around 950 to 1250, which spans the era of the Song dynasty (960–1279). In this time, ''gong'an'' collections were compiled: collections of sayings and deeds by the famous masters, appended with poetry and commentary. This genre reflects the influence of
scholar-officials on the development of Chan. This period idealized the previous period as the "golden age" of Chan, producing the literature in which the spontaneity of the celebrated masters was portrayed. Although
John R. McRae (d. 2011) had reservations about the division of Chan history in phases or periods, he nevertheless distinguishes four phases in the history of Chan: •
Proto-Chan (c. 500–600),
Southern and Northern Dynasties (420 to 589) and
Sui dynasty (589–618). In this phase, Chan developed in multiple locations in northern China. It was based on the practice of
dhyana and is connected to the figures of Bodhidharma and Huike. Its principal text is the
Two Entrances and Four Practices, which is attributed to Bodhidharma. According to McRae, no known lineage theory existed in Proto-Chan, and the connection between it and the Early Chan tradition (consisting of the
East Mountain Teaching,
Heze School, and
Oxhead school) is unclear. •
Early Chan (c. 600–900),
Tang dynasty (618–907). In this phase, Chan took its first clear contours. Prime figures are the fifth patriarch,
Daman Hongren (601–674), his dharma-heir
Yuquan Shenxiu (606?–706), the sixth patriarch
Huineng (638–713, the protagonist of the quintessential
Platform Sutra), and
Shenhui (670–762), whose works elevated Huineng to the status of sixth patriarch. Prime factions are the East Mountain Teaching, Heze school, and Oxhead school. •
Middle Chan (c. 750–1000): from the
An Lushan rebellion (755–763) until the
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–960/979). In this phase, the well-known Chan of the iconoclastic masters developed. Prime figures are
Mazu Daoyi (709–788),
Shitou Xiqian (710–790),
Linji Yixuan (died 867), and
Xuefeng Yicun (822–908). Prime factions are the
Hongzhou school and the Hubei faction. An important text is the
Anthology of the Patriarchal Hall (952), which contains many "encounter-stories" and the canon genealogy of the Chan-school. •
Song dynasty Chan (c. 950–1300). In this phase, Chan took its definitive shape, including the picture of the "golden age" of the Chan of the Tang dynasty, and the use of gong'ans for individual study and meditation. Prime figures are
Dahui Zonggao (1089–1163) who introduced the huatou practice, and
Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091–1157) ,who emphasized
silent illumination. Prime factions are the
Linji school and the
Caodong school. The classic gong'an collections, such as the
Blue Cliff Record, were assembled in this period, which reflect the influence of the scholars. In this phase, Chan was transported to Japan and exerted a great influence on Seon in
Goryeo via
Jinul. Neither Ferguson nor McRae gives a periodisation for Chinese Chan following the Song dynasty, though McRae mentions :[5.] "at least a
postclassical phase or perhaps multiple phases".
Introduction of Buddhism in China (c. 200–500) Sinification of Buddhism and Taoist influences When Buddhism came to China, it was adapted to the Chinese culture and understanding. Theories about the influence of other schools on the evolution of Chan vary widely and rely heavily on speculative
correlation rather than on written records or histories. Numerous scholars have argued that Chan developed from the interaction between Mahāyāna Buddhism and
Daoism.
Buddhist meditation was practiced in China centuries before the rise of Chan, by people such as
An Shigao (c. 148–180 CE) and his school, who translated various
dhyāna sutras, which were influential early meditation texts mostly based on the meditation teachings of the
Kashmiri Sarvāstivādins (circa 1st–4th centuries). The five
main types of meditation in the Dhyana sutras are
anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing);
paṭikūlamanasikāra meditation, mindfulness of the impurities of the body;
maitri meditation; the contemplation on the twelve links of
pratītyasamutpāda; and the contemplation on
the Buddha's thirty-two Characteristics. Other important translators of meditation texts were
Kumārajīva (334–413), who translated
The Sutra on the Concentration of Sitting Meditation, amongst many other texts; and
Buddhabhadra. These Chinese translations of mostly Indian Sarvāstivādin Yogacara meditation manuals were the basis for the meditation techniques of Chinese Chan. Buddhism was exposed to
Confucian, Daoist and local
folk religious influences when it came to China. Goddard quotes
D.T. Suzuki, calling Chan a "natural evolution of Buddhism under Taoist conditions". Buddhism was first identified to be "a barbarian variant of Taoism", and Taoist terminology was used to express Buddhist doctrines in the oldest translations of Buddhist texts, a practice termed
geyi, "matching the concepts". The first local
converts were Daoists. They developed high esteem for the newly-introduced meditation techniques, and blended them with
neidan (Daoist meditation). Representatives of early Chinese Buddhism like
Sengzhao and
Tao Sheng were deeply influenced by the Daoist keystone works of
Laozi and
Zhuangzi. Against this background, especially the concept of
ziran (naturalness) was inherited by early Chan disciples: they equated – to some extent – the ineffable
Tao and Buddha-nature, and thus, rather than feeling bound to the abstract "wisdom of the sūtras", emphasized Buddha-nature to be found in "everyday" human life, just as the Dao. On the other hand, Daoists initially understood emptiness,
śūnyatā, to be akin to
wuwei (non-action). The emerging Chinese Buddhism nevertheless had to compete with Daoism and Confucianism: One point of confusion for this new emerging Chinese Buddhism was the
two truths doctrine. Chinese thinking took this to refer to two
ontological truths: reality exists on two levels, a relative level and an absolute level. In Indian
Madhyamaka philosophy the two truths are two
epistemological truths: two different ways to look at reality. Based on their understanding of the
Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, the Chinese supposed that the teaching of Buddha-nature was, as stated by that sutra, the final Buddhist teaching, and that there is an essential truth above sunyata and the two truths.
Divisions of training When Buddhism came to China, there were three divisions of training: • The training in virtue and discipline in the precepts (Skt.
śila), • The training in mind through meditation (Skt.
dhyāna) to attain a
luminous and non-reactive state of mind, and • The training in the recorded teachings (Skt.
Dharma). It was in this context that Buddhism entered into Chinese culture. Three types of teachers with expertise in each training practice developed: •
Vinaya masters specialized in all the rules of discipline for monks and nuns, • Dhyāna masters specialized in the practice of meditation, and •
Dharma masters specialized in the mastery of the Buddhist texts. Monasteries and practice centers were created that tended to focus on either the Vinaya and training of monks or the teachings focused on one scripture or a small group of texts. Dhyāna (
Chan) masters tended to practice in solitary hermitages, or to be associated with Vinaya training monasteries or the dharma teaching centers. The later naming of the Zen school has its origins in this view of the threefold division of training. McRae goes so far as to say:
Legendary or Proto-Chan (c. 500–600) Mahākāśyapa and the Flower Sermon The Chan tradition ascribes the origins of Chan in India to the
Flower Sermon, the earliest source for which comes from the 14th century. It is said that
Gautama Buddha gathered his disciples one day for a
Dharma talk. When they gathered together, the Buddha was completely silent and some speculated that perhaps the Buddha was tired or ill. The Buddha silently held up and twirled a flower and his eyes twinkled; several of his disciples tried to interpret what this meant, though none of them were correct. One of the Buddha's disciples,
Mahākāśyapa, gazed at the flower and smiled. The Buddha then acknowledged Mahākāśyapa's insight by saying the following:
First six patriarchs (c. 500 – early 8th century) Traditionally the origin of Chan in China is credited to
Bodhidharma, an
Iranian-language speaking Central Asian monk or an Indian monk. The story of his life, and of the Six Patriarchs, was constructed during the Tang to lend credibility to the growing school. Only scarce historical information is available about him, but his hagiography developed when the Chan tradition grew stronger and gained prominence in the early 8th century. By this time, a lineage of the six ancestral founders of Chan had developed. The actual origins of Chan may lie in Buddhist ascetics who lived in forests and mountains.
Huike, "a dhuta (extreme ascetic) who schooled others" and used the
Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra, one of the
Tathāgatagarbha sūtras, figures in the stories about Bodhidharma. Huike is regarded as the second Chan patriarch, appointed by Bodhidharma to succeed him. One of Huike's students,
Sengcan, to whom is ascribed the
Xinxin Ming, is regarded as the third patriarch. By the late 8th century, under the influence of Huineng's student
Shenhui, the traditional list of patriarchs of the Chan lineage had been established: As a result, early masters of the Chan tradition were referred to as "Laṅkāvatāra masters". As the
Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra teaches the doctrine of the
Ekayāna "One Vehicle", the early Chan school was sometimes referred to as the "One Vehicle School". In other early texts, the school that would later become known as Chan is sometimes even referred to as simply the "Laṅkāvatāra school" (Ch. 楞伽宗,
Léngqié Zōng). Accounts recording the history of this early period are to be found in the
Records of the Laṅkāvatāra Masters (). However, the amount of influence the sūtra actually had in the earliest years of Chan is debated. According to Lai, the Chan tradition used no single text as its scriptural basis until the time of the patriarch
Daoxin, who used the
Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana. When members of Daoxin's
East Mountain Teaching realized that the
Awakening of Faith was not a sūtra but a
sastra, or commentary, they shifted their scriptural basis to the
Awakening of Faith's main inspiration, the
Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, and altered the traditional founding narratives to portray the
Laṅkāvatāra as Chan's most essential scripture.
Bodhidharma , 15th century. Bodhidharma is recorded as having come into China during the time of the Southern and Northern dynasties to teach a "special transmission outside scriptures" which "did not stand upon words". Throughout Buddhist art, Bodhidharma is depicted as a rather ill-tempered, profusely bearded and wide-eyed barbarian. He is referred to as "The Blue-Eyed Barbarian" (
碧眼胡) in Chan texts. Only scarce historical information is available about him, but his hagiography developed when the Chan tradition grew stronger and gained prominence in the early 8th century. By this time, a lineage of the six ancestral founders of Chan in China had developed. Little contemporary biographical information on Bodhidharma is extant, and subsequent accounts became layered with legend.
The Record of the Buddhist Monasteries of Luoyang by Yang Xuanzhi (547), Tan Lin's preface to the
Two Entrances and Four Practices (6th century), and Dayi Daoxin's
Further Biographies of Eminent Monks (7th century). These sources vary in their account of Bodhidharma being either "from Persia" (547), "a
Brahman monk from
South India" (645), "the third son of a Brahman king of South India" (c. 715 CE). The
Long Scroll of the Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices, written by Tan Lin (506–574), contains teachings attributed to Bodhidharma. The text is known from the
Dunhuang manuscripts. The two entrances to
enlightenment are the entrance of principle and the entrance of practice: This text was used and studied by Huike and his students. The True Nature refers to the
Buddha-nature.
Huike Bodhidharma settled in
Northern Wei China. Shortly before his death, Bodhidharma appointed his disciple Dazu Huike to succeed him, making Huike the first Chinese-born ancestral founder and the second ancestral founder of Chan in China. Bodhidharma is said to have passed three items to Huike as a sign of transmission of the Dharma: a robe, a bowl, and a copy of the
Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra. The transmission then passed to the second ancestral founder Dazu Huike, the third Sengcan, the fourth ancestral founder Dayi Daoxin, and the fifth ancestral founder
Daman Hongren.
Early Chan in Tang China (c. 600–900) East Mountain Teachings With the fourth patriarch,
Daoxin ( 580–651), Chan began to take shape as a distinct school. The link between Huike and Sengcan, and the fourth patriarch Daoxin "is far from clear and remains tenuous". With Daoxin and his successor, the fifth patriarch
Hongren ( 601–674), there emerged a new style of teaching, which was inspired by the Chinese text
Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana. According to McRae, the "first explicit statement of the sudden and direct approach that was to become the hallmark of Ch'an religious practice" is associated with the
East Mountain School. It is a method named "Maintaining the one without wavering" (
shouyi puii, 守一不移),
the one being the
nature of mind, which is equated with Buddha-nature. In this practice, one turns the attention from the objects of experience, to the perceiving subject itself. According to McRae, this type of meditation resembles the methods of "virtually all schools of Mahayana Buddhism," but differs in that "no preparatory requirements, no moral prerequisites or preliminary exercises are given," and is "without steps or gradations. One concentrates, understands, and is enlightened, all in one undifferentiated practice." Sharf notes that the notion of "Mind" came to be criticised by radical subitists, and was replaced by "No Mind," to avoid any reifications. Concepts such as
Tiyong (體用, lit: "Essence and Function") and
Lishi (理事, lit: "Noumenon and Phenomenon" or "Principle and Practice") which first appeared in
Huayen Buddhism also consequently influenced Chan deeply. For instance, the concept of
tiyong appears in the Platform Sutra. A large group of students gathered at a permanent residence, and extreme asceticism became outdated. The period of Daoxin and Hongren came to be called the
East Mountain Teaching, due to the location of the residence of Hongren at Huangmei. The term was used by
Yuquan Shenxiu (神秀 606?–706), the most important successor to Hongren. By this time the group had grown into a matured congregation that became significant enough to be reckoned with by the ruling forces. The East Mountain community was a specialized meditation training centre. Hongren was a plain meditation teacher, who taught students of "various religious interests", including "practitioners of the
Lotus Sutra, students of
Madhyamaka philosophy, or specialists in the monastic regulations of Buddhist
Vinaya". The school was typified by a "loose practice," aiming to make meditation accessible to a larger audience. Shenxiu used short formulas extracted from various sutras to package the teachings, a style which is also used in the Platform Sutra. The establishment of a community in one location was a change from the wandering lives of Bodhidharma and Huike and their followers. In 701
Shenxiu was invited to the Imperial Court by Zhou Empress
Wu Zetian, who paid him due to imperial reverence. The first lineage documents were produced in this period: The transition from the East Mountain to the two capitals changed the character of Chan:
Southern School – Huineng and Shenhui tearing sutras According to tradition, the sixth and last ancestral founder,
Huineng (惠能; 638–713), was one of the giants of Chan history, and all surviving schools regard him as their ancestor. The dramatic story of Huineng's life tells that there was a controversy over his claim to the title of patriarch. After being chosen by Hongren, the fifth ancestral founder, Huineng had to flee by night to
Nanhua Temple in the south to avoid the wrath of Hongren's jealous senior disciples. Modern scholarship, however, has questioned this narrative. Historic research reveals that this story was created around the middle of the 8th century, as part of a campaign to win influence at the Imperial Court in 731 by a successor to Huineng called Shenhui. He claimed Huineng to be the successor of Hongren instead of Shenxiu, the recognized successor. According to Zongmi, Shenhui's approach was officially sanctioned in 796, when "an imperial commission determined that the Southern line of Chan represented the orthodox transmission and established Shen-hui as the seventh patriarch, placing an inscription to that effect in the Shen-lung temple". Doctrinally, Shenhui's "Southern School" is associated with the teaching that
enlightenment is sudden while the "Northern" or East Mountain school is associated with the teaching that enlightenment is gradual. This was a polemical exaggeration since both schools were derived from the same tradition, and the so-called Southern School incorporated many teachings of the more influential Northern School. There seems to have been disputes between them and Indian Buddhists, as exemplified by the
Samye debate. Many Tibetan Chan texts have been recovered from the caves at
Dunhuang, where Chan and Tantric Buddhists lived side by side and this led to
religious syncretism in some cases. Chan Buddhism survived in Tibet for several centuries, but had mostly been replaced by the 10th century developments in
Tibetan Buddhism. According to Sam Van Schaik: After the 'dark period', all visible influences of Chan were eliminated from Tibetan Buddhism, and Mahayoga and Chan were carefully distinguished from each other. This trend can already be observed in the tenth-century Lamp for the Eyes in Contemplation by the great central Tibetan scholar
Gnubs chen Sangs rgyas ye shes. This influential work represented a crucial step in the codification of Chan, Mahayoga and the Great Perfection as distinct vehicles to enlightenment. In comparison, our group of [Dunhuang] manuscripts exhibits remarkable freedom, blurring the lines between meditation systems that were elsewhere kept quite distinct. The system of practice set out in these manuscripts did not survive into the later Tibetan tradition. Indeed, this creative integration of meditation practices derived from both Indic and Chinese traditions could only have been possible during the earliest years of Tibetan Buddhism, when doctrinal categories were still forming, and in this sense, it represents an important stage in the Tibetan assimilation of Buddhism.
Hongzhou School The most important of these schools is the
Hongzhou school (洪州宗) of
Mazu, to which also belong
Dazhu Huihai,
Baizhang Huaihai,
Huangbo and
Linji (Rinzai). Linji is also regarded as the founder of one of the Five Houses. This school developed "shock techniques such as shouting, beating, and using irrational retorts to startle their students into realization". Some of these are common today, while others are found mostly in anecdotes. It is common in many Chan traditions today for Chan teachers to have a stick with them during formal ceremonies which is a symbol of authority and which can be also used to strike on the table during a talk. These shock techniques became part of the traditional and still popular image of Chan masters displaying irrational and strange behaviour to aid their students. Part of this image was due to later misinterpretations and translation errors, such as the loud belly shout known as
he (喝, Japanese:
katsu). "
He" means "to shout", which has sometimes been translated as "yelled 'katsu'" – which should mean "yelled a yell". A well-known story depicts Mazu practicing dhyana, but being rebuked by his teacher
Nanyue Huairang, comparing seated meditation with polishing a tile. According to Faure, the criticism is not about dhyana as such, but "the idea of "becoming a Buddha" by means of any practice, lowered to the standing of a "means" to achieve an "end"". The criticism of seated dhyana reflects a change in the role and position of monks in Tang society, who "undertook only pious works, reciting sacred texts and remaining seated in
dhyana". Nevertheless, seated dhyana remained an important part of the Chan tradition, also due to the influence of
Guifeng Zongmi, who tried to balance dhyana and insight. The Hung-chou school has been criticised for its radical
subitism. Guifeng Zongmi (圭峰 宗密) (780–841), an influential teacher-scholar who was a Patriarch of both the Chan and the
Huayan traditions, claimed that the Hongzhou school teaching led to a radical nondualism that denies the need for spiritual cultivation and moral discipline. While Zongmi acknowledged that the essence of Buddha-nature and its functioning in the day-to-day reality are but different aspects of the same reality, he insisted that there is a difference.
Shitou Xiqian Traditionally
Shitou Xiqian (Ch. 石頭希遷, c. 700 – c.790) is seen as the other great figure of this period. In the Chan lineages he is regarded as the predecessor of the
Caodong (
Sōtō) school. He is also regarded as the author of the
Cantongqi, a poem which formed the basis for the
Song of the Precious Mirror Samadhi of
Dongshan Liangjie (Jp. Tōzan Ryōkan) and the teaching of the
Five Ranks.
The Great Persecution During 845–846
Emperor Wuzong persecuted the Buddhist schools in China: This persecution was devastating for metropolitan Chan, but the Chan school of Mazu and his likes had survived, and took a leading role in the Chan of the later Tang.
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (907–960/979) After the fall of the
Tang dynasty, China was without effective central control during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. China was divided into several autonomous regions. Support for Buddhism was limited to a few areas. The
Huayan and
Tiantai schools suffered from the changing circumstances, since they had depended on imperial support. The collapse of Tang society also deprived the aristocratic classes of wealth and influence, which meant a further drawback for Buddhism. Shenxiu's Northern School and Henshui's Southern School didn't survive the changing circumstances. Nevertheless, Chan emerged as the dominant stream within Chinese Buddhism, but with various schools developing various emphasises in their teachings, due to the regional orientation of the period. The
Fayan school, named after
Fayan Wenyi (885–958) became the dominant school in the southern kingdoms of
Nan-Tang (
Jiangxi) and
Wuyue (
Zhejiang). Chan teachings were also synthesized together with the doctrines of the other traditions of Chinese Buddhism. A notable example during this period is the eminent Chan master and Pure Land Patriarch,
Yongming Yanshou, who held that scriptural study and Chan realization are not separate paths, and that Chan praxis was compatible with the study of scripture and Buddhist philosophy. Yanshou promoted a synthesis of the diverse teachings of the Chinese Buddhist schools of his time, including
Chan,
Tiantai,
Huayan,
Weishi, and
Pure Land, and was a famous advocate of the dual-practice of Chan and Pure Land (禪淨雙修, chanjing shuangxiu) in particular. Some of the techniques he taught includes chanting the
nianfo during
zuochan (sitting meditation) as well as when circumambulating a Buddha image. Yanshou saw Chan as encompassing all Mahayana practices, and quotes from numerous sources including various Chan patriarchs and texts, as well as the works of the
Huayan,
Tiantai,
Sanlun, and
Weishi schools in his teachings.
Literary Chan – Song dynasty (c. 960–1300) The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period was followed by the Song dynasty, which established a strong central government. During the Song dynasty, Chan (禪) was used by the government to strengthen its control over the country, and Chan grew to become the largest tradition in
Chinese Buddhism. An ideal picture of the Chan of the Tang period was produced, which served the legacy of this newly acquired status:
Five Houses of Chan During the Song the
Five Houses (Ch. 五家) of Chan, or five "schools", were recognized. These were not originally regarded as "schools" or "sects", but based on the various Chan-genealogies. Historically they have come to be understood as "schools". The Five Houses of Chan are: Records by the
Ming dynasty (1368-1644) historian
Song Lian state that the Five Mountains system was first established during the Jiading period (1208-1224) of the Southern Song by
Emperor Ningzong at the request of the official
Shi Miyuan (who was a follower of the eminent Chan master
Dahui Zonggao), although alternative accounts of the creation of the system exists in other records. The main Five Temples, known as
Wushan (五山), were selected around the then temporary Southern Song capital of
Lin'an (located around modern-day
Hangzhou in
Zhejiang), and high-ranking monks were appointed as abbots by imperial order on a rotating basis. Immediately below the five
Wushan temples are another ten called the
Shicha (十刹). This list of categorizations was continued in succeeding dynasties, and separate rankings exist for both the Chan Buddhist tradition and the scriptural Buddhist tradition (which broadly includes traditions like
Tiantai and
Huayan).
Gong'an-system The teaching styles and words of the classical masters were recorded in the so-called "encounter dialogues". Gong'an practice was prevalent in the Linji school, to which
Yuanwu and Dahui belonged, but it was also employed on a more limited basis by the Caodong school. The recorded encounter dialogues, and the
gong'an collections which derived from this genre, mark a shift from solitary practice to the interaction between master and student: This mutual enquiry of the meaning of the encounters of masters and students of the past gave students a role model: There were dangers involved in such a literary approach, such as fixing specific meanings to the cases.
Silent illumination The
Caodong tradition was the other school to survive into the Song period. Its main protagonist was
Hongzhi Zhengjue, a contemporary of Dahui Zonggao. It put emphasis on "silent illumination", or "just sitting". This approach was attacked by Dahui as being mere passivity, and lacking emphasis on gaining insight into one's true nature. Zhengjue in his turn criticized the emphasis on gong'an study.
Post-classical Chan (c. 1300–present) Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) The
Yuan dynasty was the empire established by
Kublai Khan, the leader of the
Borjigin clan, after the
Mongol Empire conquered the
Jin dynasty (1115–1234) and the
Southern Song dynasty. Chan continued to practiced alongside
Pure Land as in the teachings of
Zhongfeng Mingben (1263–1323). During this period, other Chan lineages, not necessarily connected with the original lineage, began to emerge with the 108th Chan Patriarch,
Dhyānabhadra active in both China and Korea.
Ming dynasty (1368–1644) Together with other Buddhist traditions such as
Tiantai, Chan Buddhism enjoyed a revival in the
Ming dynasty, with eminent teachers such as
Hanshan Deqing (憨山德清), who wrote and taught extensively on both Chan and Pure Land Buddhism;
Miyun Yuanwu (密雲圓悟), who came to be seen posthumously as the first patriarch of the
Ōbaku school of
Zen; as well as
Yunqi Zhuhong (雲棲祩宏), who integrated both Chan and Pure Land thought and who was a great monastic reformer who compiled and edited many influential liturgical and ritual texts. Chan was taught alongside other Buddhist traditions such as
Pure Land,
Huayan,
Tiantai and
Zhenyan Buddhism in many monasteries. In continuity with Buddhism in the previous dynasties, Buddhist masters taught integrated teachings from the various traditions as opposed to advocating for any sectarian delineation between the various schools of thought. This can be seen from how various prominent monastics of this period who were Chan practitioners also wrote various teachings and commentaries from the perspective of other Buddhist traditions, sometimes directly integrating teachings and practices from other traditions into Chan. One example is the eminent monk
Ouyi Zhixu (蕅益智旭), who was also a Patriarch of both the
Tiantai tradition as well as the
Chinese Pure Land tradition but who was also a Chan practitioner. With the downfall of the Ming, some Chan masters fled to Japan, founding the
Ōbaku school.
Qing dynasty (1644–1912) At the beginning of the
Qing dynasty, Chan was revitalized by the "revival of beating and shouting practices" by Miyun Yuanwu (1566–1642), and the publication of the
Wudeng yantong ("The strict transmission of the five Chan schools") by Feiyin Tongrong's (1593–1662), a dharma heir of Miyun Yuanwu. The book placed self-proclaimed Chan monks without proper Dharma transmission in the category of "lineage unknown" (
sifa weixiang), thereby excluding several prominent Caodong monks.
Modernisation 19th century (late Qing dynasty) Around 1900, Buddhists from other Asian countries showed a growing interest in Chinese Buddhism.
Anagarika Dharmapala visited Shanghai in 1893, intending "to make a tour of China, to arouse the Chinese Buddhists to send missionaries to India to restore Buddhism there, and then to start a propaganda throughout the whole world", but eventually limiting his stay to Shanghai.
People's Republic of China (1949–present) – Second Buddhist Revival Chan was repressed in China during the recent modern era in the early periods of the People's Republic, but subsequently has been re-asserting itself on the mainland, and has a significant following in
Taiwan and
Hong Kong as well as among
Overseas Chinese. Since the
reform and opening up of the 1970s, a new revival of Chinese Buddhism has been ongoing. Ancient Buddhist temples, such as
Bailin Monastery and
Guanghua Monastery have been refurbished. Bailin Monastery was ruined long before 1949. In 1988, Jing Hui was persuaded to take over the Hebei Buddhist Association, and start rebuilding the Monastery. Jing Hui is a student and dharma successor of
Hsu Yun, but has also adopted the
Humanistic Buddhism of
Taixu.
Guanghua Monastery was restored beginning in 1979, when a six-year restoration program began under the supervision of then 70-year-old Venerable Master Yuanzhou (圆拙老法师). In 1983 the temple became one of the Chinese Buddhism Regional Temples (汉族地区全国重点寺院) whilst 36-year-old Master Yiran (毅然法師) became abbot. The same year, Venerable Master Yuanzhou funded the establishment of the new Fujian Buddhism Academy (福建佛学院) on the site.
Taiwan Several Chinese Buddhist teachers left China during the Communist Revolution, and settled in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Sheng Yen (1930–2009) was the founder of the
Dharma Drum Mountain, a Buddhist organization based in
Taiwan. During his time in Taiwan, Sheng Yen was well known as one of the progressive Buddhist teachers who sought to teach Buddhism in a modern and Western-influenced world. Sheng yen published over 30 Chan texts in English.
Wei Chueh (1928–2016) was born in
Sichuan, China, and ordained in Taiwan. In 1982, he founded Lin Quan Temple in Taipei County and became known for his teaching on Chan practices by offering many lectures and seven-day Chan retreats. His order is called
Chung Tai Shan. Two additional traditions emerged in the 1960s, based their teaching on Chan practices.
Cheng Yen (born 1937), a Buddhist
nun, founded the
Tzu Chi Foundation as a charity organization with
Buddhist ethics on May 14, 1966 in
Hualien, Taiwan. She was inspired by her master and mentor, the late Venerable Master
Yin Shun () a proponent of
Humanistic Buddhism, who exhorted her to "work for Buddhism and for all sentient beings". The organisation began with a motto of "instructing the rich and saving the poor" as a group of thirty
housewives who donated a small amount of money each day to care for needy families.
Hsing Yun (1927-2023), founded the Fo Guang Shan an international
Chinese Buddhist new religious movement based in
Taiwan in 1967. The order promotes
Humanistic Buddhism. Fo Guang Shan also calls itself the International Buddhist Progress Society. The headquarters of Fo Guang Shan, located in
Dashu District,
Kaohsiung, is the largest Buddhist monastery in Taiwan. Hsing Yun's stated position within Fo Guang Shan is that it is an "amalgam of all Eight Schools of Chinese Buddhism" (), including Chan. Fo Guang Shan is the most comprehensive of the major Buddhist organizations of Taiwan, focusing extensively on both social works and religious engagement. In Taiwan, these four masters are popularly referred to as the "
Four Heavenly Kings" of Taiwanese Buddhism, with their respective organizations
Dharma Drum Mountain,
Chung Tai Shan,
Tzu Chi, and
Fo Guang Shan being referred to as the "
Four Great Mountains". ==Spread of Chan Buddhism in Asia==