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 A review of the early historical documents and literature of early Zen masters clearly reveals that they were well versed in numerous Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtras, including Madhyamaka.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
Enlightenment in Buddhism "anicca", "dukkha" and "anatta". Insight leads to the four stages of enlightenment and Nirvana. In Mahayana Buddhism Prajna (Sanskrit) means "insight" or "wisdom", and entails insight into "sunyata". The attainment of this insight is often seen as the attainment of "enlightenment". "Kensho" and "Satori" are Japanese terms used in Zen traditions. "Kensho" means "seeing into one's true nature." "Ken" means "seeing", "sho" means "nature", "essence", c.q Buddha-nature. "Satori" (Japanese) is often used interchangeably with kensho, but refers to the "experience" of kensho. The Rinzai tradition sees "kensho" as essential to the attainment of Buddhahood, but considers further practice essential to