Zen personal trouble or crisis. Though Zen-narrative states that it is a "special transmission outside scriptures" which "did not stand upon words", Zen does have a rich doctrinal background, which is firmly grounded in the Buddhist tradition. It was thoroughly influenced by the Chinese understanding of Yogacara and the Buddha-nature doctrine, Zen integrates both Yogacara and Madhyamaka and the influence of Madhyamaka can be discerned in the stress on non-conceptual insight and the paradoxical language of the koans. Most essential are "the most fundamental teaching that we are already originally enlightened", and the Bodhisattva ideal, which supplements insight with Karuṇā, compassion
Japanese 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"). Buddhism was introduced to China in the first century CE. According to tradition, Chan was introduced around 500 CE by Bodhidharma, an Indian monk teaching dhyāna. He was the 28th Indian patriarch of Zen and the first Chinese patriarch. Buddhism was introduced in Japan in the 8th century CE during the Nara period (710-794) and the Heian period (794–1185). Zen was not introduced as a separate school in Japan until the 12th century during the Kamakura