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 A review of the early historical documents and literature of early Zen masters clearly reveals that they were well versed in numerous Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtras, including Madhyamaka.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
Buddhism in Italy as an association with juridical figure and coordinates the 44 principal centers in Italy in the tradition Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana which hold the practice and the sharing of the traditional teaching. Between the most important Buddhist centers of Italy we can note the Soto Zen center "L'Arco", in Rome, the already citated Scaramuccia of Engaku Taino, in Orvieto; even in Rome, the lay association laica A.Me.Co for the practice of Theravada buddhism, founded and directed by the lay dharma teacher Corrado Pensa, and near to the theravada monastery of the Forest's Sangha; In Milan, the biggest zen center is the