Chan Buddhism, known in Chinese as Chán and etymologically rooted in the Sanskrit term *dhyāna* (meditative absorption), is the original Chinese form of what later came to be called Zen. It arose in China as a distinctive Mahāyāna Buddhist school, traditionally associated with the Indian monk Bodhidharma, and developed from about the 6th–7th centuries. From this Chinese matrix it spread to Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, where it took on local names and expressions while preserving its essential orientation. At its heart, Chan is a path that orients the practitioner toward direct insight into reality and into one’s own Buddha-nature, rather than toward conceptual or purely scriptural understanding.

The school is often summarized by a famous fourfold formula: a special transmission outside the scriptures; not relying on words and letters; directly pointing to the human mind; seeing one’s nature and becoming Buddha. This encapsulates Chan’s characteristic emphasis on immediate, non-conceptual realization of the “original mind” or Buddha-nature. Scriptures and doctrines are not rejected, but they are treated as pointers rather than as the final authority. The living encounter between teacher and student, and the direct transmission of awakening, are regarded as central to the unfolding of the path.

In practice, Chan places great weight on meditation, especially seated meditation (zuòchán), which later became widely known under the Japanese term *zazen*. Alongside formal sitting, Chan employs methods such as *gong’an* (koan) study—paradoxical stories, questions, or dialogues that undermine habitual, dualistic thinking and invite a breakthrough into non-dual awareness. Everyday activities such as walking, eating, and working are treated as fields of practice, so that insight is not confined to the meditation hall but permeates the whole of life. This integration of contemplative discipline with ordinary conduct reflects a vision in which awakening is not apart from the world, but realized within it.

Philosophically, Chan is grounded in Mahāyāna teachings such as emptiness, non-duality, and Buddha-nature, and it developed in creative dialogue with Chinese culture and earlier Chinese Buddhist traditions. Within this framework, many Chan lineages came to stress sudden enlightenment, the direct seeing into one’s true nature, rather than a purely step-by-step, gradual accumulation of insight. The style that emerged is marked by spontaneity, naturalness, and a willingness to use unconventional means—sharp exchanges, silence, or seemingly illogical responses—to cut through conceptual entanglement. Through these elements, Chan presents itself as a path of radical simplicity and depth, inviting a return to what is most immediate and original in the mind.