Zen: An Introduction

“Zen” has become a common trope in modern North American Culture but few people know what the term really means. This course will study Zen’s origins in Indian Perfection of Wisdom teachings, follow its meanderings through China from the legend of Bodhidharma through the Five Houses of Chan, and chart its arrival and developments in Japan and eventual transplanting to the West. We will focus on several important Zen teachers: Huineng and Linji in China, Dōgen, Bankei and Hakuin in Japan. We will also explore the essential technique of kôan meditation and the practice of “just sitting."