The Spread of Buddhism

the spread of chan (zen) buddhism 455

Over the course of the centuries in Japan, there have been many
changes in the monastic institutions and practices associated with the
Zen schools, but the traditional Chan/Zen discourse about “dharma
transmission” and “lineage” has endured, providing a sense of iden-
tity and continuity with the past. In recent years, people in Europe
and America have become interested in Zen Buddhism and taken up
practices associated with it, such as sitting in meditation (zazen) and
kan study. A comparison of Zen training centres in the West with the
Japanese monasteries on which they are modeled reveals a great many
differences, both procedural and cultural, but there is one remarkably
consistent unifying thread: practitioners of Zen everywhere are con-
cerned with the lineage of their teachers, and the spiritual authority
bestowed by “dharma transmission.” That mode of discourse, in my
view, is the best marker for gauging the spread of Zen. It is quite
remarkable that a set of tropes  rst conceived in China more than a
thousand years ago still resonates so meaningfully today among people
from different cultures around the world.

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