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 A review of the early historical documents and literature of early Zen masters clearly reveals that they were well versed in numerous Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtras, including Madhyamaka.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
Zen Group of Western Australia rental arrangement. The ZGWA started in 1983 with a small group of people sitting in a private home in Mt. Claremont, Perth. Over the years, the ZGWA's meeting place zendo has moved from private residences to an office building in Fremantle, and is currently situated at a church hall. Zen Group of Western Australia The Zen Group of Western Australia (ZGWA) is an organization of lay zen practitioners located in Perth, Western Australia. The ZGWA is formally affiliated with the Diamond Sangha tradition of Zen Buddhism, which was founded in Hawaii in 1959 by Robert Aitken Roshi. In keeping with