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
An Introduction to Zen Buddhism after the 1927 publication of his book "Zen Essays", which he decided would be "too heavy" as an introduction to Zen for beginners. Suzuki intended the resultant volume, 1934's "An Introduction to Zen Buddhism", to be used as a companion with the contemporaneously published "Manual of Zen Buddhism". "An Introduction to Zen Buddhism" was published in 1934 in Kyoto by the Eastern Buddhist Society. The Marshall Jones Company of Boston oversaw first publication in the United States. The 1939 German language edition was published with a preface by Carl Jung. In 1949, the book was reprinted in London and New