Zen Zen Zen (; ) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty as Chan Buddhism. It was strongly influenced by Taoism and developed as a distinct school of Chinese Buddhism. From China, Chan Buddhism spread south to Vietnam which became Vietnamese Thiền, northeast to Korea and east to Japan, where it became known as Seon Buddhism and Japanese Zen, respectively. The term Zen is derived from the Japanese pronunciation of the Middle Chinese word 禪 (Chan) which traces its roots to the Indian practice of Dhyāna ("meditation"). Zen emphasizes rigorous self-control, meditation-practice, insight into
Katsu (Zen) Katsu (Zen) Katsu (Japanese: 喝; Cantonese: "", Pinyin: "hè", Wade-Giles: "ho") is a shout that is described in Chán and Zen Buddhism encounter-stories, to expose the enlightened state (Japanese: "satori") of the Zen-master, and/or to induce initial enlightenment experience in a student. The shout is also sometimes used in the East Asian martial arts for a variety of purposes; in this context, "katsu" is very similar to the shout "kiai". The word in Chinese means literally "to yell" or "to shout". In Japanese it has also developed the meaning of "to browbeat", "to scold", and "hoarse". In the context of