What Is The Chinese Term For Zen?

The word Zen comes from the Japanese "zen", taken from the Chinese "chan" meaning meditation, and derived from the Sanskrit "dhyati" meaning he meditates. It is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that holds and puts forward the belief that a person can achieve enlightenment through the course of meditation, intuition and self contemplation. It does not seek the path of devotion and faith like other forms of beliefs. The belief originated in Chan in China during the 6th century and broke up into two schools of thought. Both held that the enlightenment achieved by Gautama Buddha can be transmitted. The northern school believed in a gradual enlightenment whereas the southern school believed in a more rapid enlightenment. There have been six patriarchs of Zen including Bodhidharma, Huike, Sengcan, Daoxin, Hongren and Huineng.