Zen Buddhism is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism that arose in China as Chán and later spread to Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, its very name tracing back to the Sanskrit term *dhyāna*, meaning meditation. It orients itself around direct realization of one’s true nature, often spoken of as Buddha-nature, through immediate, lived experience rather than through conceptual understanding alone. This orientation gives Zen a distinctive flavor: it treats doctrinal formulations and scriptural study as supportive but ultimately secondary to the transformative encounter with mind as it is. The ideal is a “special transmission outside the scriptures,” a direct pointing that does not rely primarily on words and letters. Enlightenment, in this view, is not something distant or abstract, but something to be recognized in the very midst of ordinary life.

The heart of Zen practice is zazen, seated meditation, in which one simply sits and attends to mind and body without clinging. Different Zen lineages express this in varied ways: some emphasize *shikantaza*, “just sitting” without any specific object or goal, while others employ kōans, paradoxical questions or statements that undermine habitual patterns of thought. These methods aim at *kenshō* or *satori*, a direct, sometimes sudden, seeing into one’s own nature. Zen teachers may use unconventional means—silence, shouts, gestures, or paradox—to cut through conceptual elaboration and point directly to this insight. The same spirit extends into daily activities, where eating, walking, and working become fields of practice when approached with full awareness.

In relation to other Buddhist traditions, Zen stands out by the degree to which it prioritizes direct experience and meditation over systematic doctrine, ritual, or devotional practice. Theravāda Buddhism, for example, places strong emphasis on careful study of its scriptural canon and on gradual cultivation along a clearly articulated path, whereas Zen often highlights the possibility of sudden awakening even within a life that still unfolds gradually. Pure Land Buddhism focuses on faith in Amitābha Buddha and devotional recitation for rebirth in the Pure Land, while Zen stresses self-cultivation through meditation and insight in the present moment. Other Mahāyāna schools may develop intricate philosophical analyses of emptiness or consciousness, yet Zen tends to draw on such insights without dwelling on technical debate, preferring a more immediate, practice-centered approach.

What emerges from this constellation of emphases is a tradition that seeks to reveal the extraordinary within the ordinary, without relying heavily on elaborate doctrine or complex ritual structures. Scriptures, rituals, and philosophical systems are not rejected, but they are treated as fingers pointing to the moon rather than the moon itself. Zen thus invites practitioners to turn the light back on their own minds, to sit down in the midst of their lives, and to discover that the ground of awakening has never been elsewhere.