Zen expected to become familiar with the classics of the Zen canon". A review of the early historical documents and literature of early Zen masters clearly reveals that they were well versed in numerous Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtras, including Madhyamaka. Especially the Lotus Sutra played a large role in the development of East Asian Buddhism, including Zen. Nevertheless, Zen is often pictured as anti-intellectual. This picture of Zen emerged during the Song Dynasty (960–1297), when Chán became the dominant form of Buddhism in China, and gained great popularity among the educated and literary classes of Chinese society. The use of koans, which
A Stranger in Tibet schools of Buddhism. A Stranger in Tibet A Stranger in Tibet is the story of Ekai Kawaguchi and his travels in Tibet and Nepal at the turn of the 20th century. Kawaguchi, a Zen Buddhist monk, was the first Japanese explorer to enter Nepal, in 1897, and Tibet, in 1900. His goal was to find ancient copies of sanskrit documents related to Buddhism. Since Tibet was closed to foreigners at that time, Kawaguchi travelled disguised as a Chinese monk. The book is a combination biography, travel book and history of the region, and also explains differences in the beliefs and