Overview

After Gautama Buddha conducted his preaching around the fifth century B.C.E., numerous philosophies, religious practices and precepts derived from his teaching were accumulated over time, in addition to various collections of his discourses. The Buddha's message became increasingly standardized and ritualized, and covered with a multiplicity of concepts. A current of Buddhism that developed in China around the 6th century CE, and which took the name Ch'an, succeeded in ridding Buddhism of all the superstructures that had tarnished its original meaning. Ch'an, later spreading to Japan as well, took the name Zen; but it is in its early Chinese development that we must look for the elements of Zen's originality and extraordinary depth. Zen teaches us to see the world, and ourselves, without the mediation of concepts and emotional filters. It brings us to know our true nature, beyond the psychological characteristics and personal history with which we usually identify. The behavior and words of the ancient Zen masters often appear enigmatic and provocative. But the purpose of the masters was not to display cunning and extravagance, but to guide people out of the narrows of the mind and into the open space of freedom. If in the words of the ancient Zen masters we can sense the signs of genuine adherence to reality, we recognize that those words were spoken for us, and that they were spoken by us.

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