HISTORY OF ZEN IN CHINA


1. Origin of Zen in India.

To-day Zen as a living faith can be found in its pure form only among
the Japanese Buddhists. You cannot find it in the so-called Gospel
of Buddha anymore than you can find Unitarianism in the Pentateuch,
nor can you find it in China and India any more than you can find
life in fossils of bygone ages. It is beyond all doubt that it can
be traced back to Shakya Muni himself, nay, even to pre-Buddhistic
times, because Brahmanic teachers practised Dhyana, or
Meditation,[FN#15] from earliest times.


[FN#15] "If a wise man hold his body with its three parts (chest,
neck, and head) erect, and turn his senses with the mind towards the
heart, he will then in the boat of Brahman cross all the torrents
which cause fear.

"Compressing his breathings let him, who has subdued all motions,
breathe forth through the nose with the gentle breath. Let the wise
man without fail restrain his mind, that chariot yoked with vicious
horses.

"Let him perform his exercises in a place level, pure, free from
pebbles, fire, and dust, delightful by its sounds, its water, and
bowers; not painful to the eye, and full of shelters and eaves.