The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2762 page)

(Jap.,
zenna
or
zenno
, from reading Chin.,
ch'an-na
or
ch'an
, a Chin. version of
dhy
na
). A coalition of related ways for attaining realization, even beyond enlightenment, of the true nature underlying all appearance including one's own—and above all, that there is no duality within appearances, but only the one buddha-nature (
buddhat
,
bussh
).
Ch’an emerged as part of the
Mah
y
na
development, though naturally it traces its lineage back to the
Buddha
kyamuni. Bodhidharma is recognized as the key figure in the transition to China. Conflict set in over the sixth patriarch, leading to the division into
Southern and Northern schools
, with the difference of emphasis summarized in the saying, ‘Suddenness of South, gradualness of North’. The Southern school developed into many independent schools, often in relation to other forms of Chinese Buddhism. Tsung-mi lists seven schools (though he includes the Northern school as one), but of these, only two developed important and continuing lines, those established by
Ma-tsu
Tao-i and by Shihtou Hsi-ch'ien, in the third generation after
Hui-neng
. Ma-tsu was dynamic and
k
an
-based); Shih-tou was quieter and more reflective. From these two derive the ‘Five Houses and Seven Schools’ (
goke-shichish
), replicating these differences of emphasis: from Shih-tou,
Tsao-tung
(Jap.,
S
t
),
Yün-men
(
Ummon
) and
Fa-yen
(
Hogen
); and from Ma-tsu,
Kueiyang
(Igyo) and
Lin-chi
(
Rinzai
); Lin-chi produced two further divisions (hence the ‘seven schools’), Yang-chi (
Y
g