Zen lineage charts 南浦紹明 (1235–1308), who received transmission in China from the monk Xutang Zhiyu 虚堂智愚 (Japanese "Kido Chigu," 1185–1269) in 1265, who then returned to Japan in 1267. It was then spread by his student Shuho Myocho (second generation) and Kanzan Egen (third generation), who made it an influential school. The two main schools today are Takujū and Inzan, which both descent from Hakuin. Although it is difficult to trace when the West first became aware of Zen as a distinct form of Buddhism, the visit of Soyen Shaku, a Japanese Zen monk, to Chicago during the World Parliament of Religions in
Japanese Zen Japanese Zen Zen is the Japanese variant of Chan Buddhism, a Mahayana school that strongly emphasizes dhyana, the meditative training of awareness and equanimity. This practice, according to Zen proponents, gives insight into one's true nature, or the emptiness of inherent existence, which opens the way to a liberated way of living. According to tradition, Zen originated in India, when Gautama Buddha held up a flower and Mahākāśyapa smiled. With this smile he showed that he had understood the wordless essence of the dharma. This way the dharma was transmitted to Mahākāśyapa, the second patriarch of Zen. The term Zen