A. Origins. Boddhidharma (called Daruma in Japan), 28th Patriarch of Buddhism (that is, 28th official leader of the sect, or `dharma successor', after Gautama Buddha himself. Supposedly he travelled from India to China as a missionary to carry the Bhuddhist message. The Dhyana (`meditation') (or Ch'an in Chinese and Zen in Japanese) sect was claimed to come from India. But it has borrowed much from traditional Chinese thought (especially `Taoism'). Boddhidharma is said to have arrived in China in 520 CE. Buddhism of other sects had existed at some level in China since 270 CE. Boddhidharma, (according to legend) spent 9 years sitting in a cave in China meditating before he took his first student. This is what he said  his message was:

• `Zen is a special transmission outside the scriptures'; (there is no sutra for these ideas)
• `No dependence upon words and characters'; (these cannot help but misrepresent the truth you seek)
• `Direct pointing at the soul of man' (no intermediary systems, such as `intellectualization')
• `Seeing into one's own nature and attainment of Buddhahood.' (Zen is for you and your salvation as an individual; it's not about your family) 

B. Classical Chinese Religions.

• Confucianism -Emphasis on social order and hierarchy, on honoring one's ancestors,and on the importance of mutual obligations between superiors (eg, fathers, lords and emperor) and inferiors (wives, children, lower lord's, etc).
• Confucius (Kung Fu-Tzu) lived around 600 BCE at the end of a long period of destructive wars. Zen Buddhism acquired many Confucian ideas, such as the primacy of loyalty to one's lord and/or teacher.
• Importance of serving Heaven via family duties.
• Rituals of piety, loyalty, hierarchy
• Heaven and salvation are/should be in this world
• Fulfilling one’s duty to honor our seniors and create descendants
• Perfecting the individual in society; and perfecting society to support individuals

 (supports responsible citizenship)
 
 
• Zen as Antidote to Confucianism  - ``One must not forget the social  context of Zen. It is primarily a way of liberation for those who have mastered the disciplines of social convention. Zen is a medicine for the ill effects of this conditioning, for the mental paralysis and anxiety which come from excessive self-consciousness.  It must be seen against  the background of societies regulated by the principles of Confucianism, with their heavy stress on propriety and punctilious ritual.''   - from Alan Watts (The Way of Zen, 1957, p142):

 
• Taoism - Founded around the same time as Confucianism. It offered a mystical view of life. The first line of the Tao Te Ching (look at my excerpts from it) has been translated as ``The Tao that can be spoken of is not the true Tao''. The original meaning of Tao is `path' but in this religion it can mean Truth, Nature, the Absolute or the Law, that is, `the way things really are'.
• (Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching) – relates man to all-pervading principle of life, the mystical Tao
• How to gain centering and serenity for the individual; goal of immortality
• Equal importance of tiny and great (the serf and the lord)
• Spirituality of the everyday; of nature (eg, peeling potatoes is as important as writing a book, painting a scroll or a swordfight with an enemy) All  are important and worth doing with spiritual intent.
• The Tao can be experienced, but not described in words.
• Truth can be reached only through the comprehension of opposites (eg, black and white, sound and silence, yin and yang).
• Nature just happens; don’t force it, follow it

 Zen is so greatly influenced by Taoism that it is sometimes said that it could be called `Japanese-Buddhist Taoism'.

1. Chinese interest was first in medicine and specific methods to prolong life
2. Acceptance took many hundred years. Objections were to vegetarianism; pleasure renunciation; head-shaving, clerical celibacy, etc.
3.  The optimistic, nirvana-oriented practice (re boddhisattvas) was more appealing than the 4 Noble Truths.

C. Religious Principles of Zen

1. Buddha nature is within you, but you have to find it. Meditation is essential to achieve this.
2. Sit, sit, sit. Learn how to be mentally empty. (Unlike other kinds of Buddhist meditation, don't focus on any `meditation object.') Attend to everything, but not to something. Do not try to `apprehend' the world or the mind, `mindlessness', `emptiness of mind'.
3. Spontaneous action, direct bodily and mental engagement with the world, simple acts (eg., chopping wood) are important and spiritual acts, almost as important as meditation. Hence Zen has suggestions for improving fighting skills.  A famous saying (of Yun-men): `In walking just walk. In sitting, just sit. Above all, don't wobble.'  Master Rinzai said ``When hungry, I eat. When tired I sleep. Fools laugh at me. The wise understand’
4. Maintain direct connection with everything around you, yet do not identify anything as `yours'. Be directly involved in the world. But your actions should just happen by themselves, without forethought or intention. Be cool and impassive yet be ready for anything.  A favorite image is the moon reflected from a river: the moon remains still on the water while the river beneath hurries steadily past. You be the moon, while the river is your life.

• Ceramics with earthy coloring and rough texture -- no garish colors and detailed lines. Overall simplicity and rusticness; A delight in primitive-looking, unpretentious pottery, not delicate tracery or shiny glazes found in many Chinese (and some kinds of Japanese) styles. Zen-influenced ceramics have been stylish in the US for the past 40 years.
• Gardens that are `artificially natural-looking' -- mossy, with curving walkways, irregular ponds (sometimes with a small bridge or two), mostly foliage rather than flowers, and decorated with natural rocks and sometimes gravel beds (a style also emulated in the US since WWII.). An absolute rejection of bilateral symmetry and straight lines.
• Painting focussing on monochrome ink with a minimal number of brush strokes.
• Calligraphy (that is, drawing written characters artistically with a brush) that is aggressive and bold presenting a careless, casual appearance (but demanding great amounts of practice and skill).
• Tea Ceremony. A stylized ritual for serving and drinking whisked tea - practiced by monks and nobles. The ritual space (the little tea house) is carefully specified. The actions and speech of the guests (3-4 people) and the host are almost completely `scripted'.  The great tea-master makes subtle choices about what scroll would be displayed (often a short poem in calligraphy), what the flower arrangement will be and which tea-bowls and other utinsels to use. Here is a description (with some pictures) of the tea ceremony.  Tea, native to China, became widespread in Japan starting around the year 1000 CE, initially in monasteries to help monks avoid slipping into sleep while meditating.
• In poetry too, they preferred short, simple epigrammatic poems that primarily create a vivid image - often a meloncholy one. The haiku form of 16 syllables was developed by a Zen monk (Bassho) in the 17th century. The form has 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second and 5 in the third.  This poem one may be the very first haiku - and certainly the most famous of them all.
 
Furu ike ya.                                 The old pond!
Kawazu tobikomu                       A frog jumps,
Mizu no oto                                 Splash of water.

On a withered branch
A crow is perched
In autumn evening.

A fallen flower
Returning to the branch?
It was a butterfly.

A long night
The sound of the water
Says what I think.

F. The Koan is a teaching device, like a riddle, a paradoxical use of language (much like the Tao Te-Ching).  See some examples on the Koan Page.  These were used as teaching devices for student monks in some Zen sects. The goal was to help the student to be enlightened, to `get it', perhaps in a sudden insight, and then convey that enlightenment to the master.  Such use of language (along with poetry) makes sense if you don't trust language to get anything right.

G. Language as a Source of Difficulty in Zen.  It was pointed out that linguistic description (and conscious thought as well) always schematize and simplify the world we describe.  You can never describe the world as it really is; but only describe a few things that you believe are relevant to the purposes at hand. Thus, the linguistic characterization will force you to miss things that might be important. Or it may force you to make a distinction that really isn't interesting or important (as in the following Zen joke).

 Zen Story:  Two monks were arguing about a flag. `The flag is flapping,’ said one. `No’ said the other, `The wind is flapping’. The argument went back and forth. The Master happened to be passing by. He told them ``Not the wind, not the flag. Your minds are flapping’.
[The point is that flap is just a word - so it doesn't matter how you use it. Pay attention to the real event in the world, not to how you may describe it.]

Conclusion.  Zen was heavily influenced by Chinese culture but adapted well to Japan.  In the US today, Zen is having a kind of renaiscance.  Since the 1930s, many Americans have found this style of religious practice attractive.  In fact, it seems that many ideas and esthetic tastes from Zen have become part of American culture now,  eg, in gardens, ceramics, modern poetry and  mystical ideas about ``the Force''.  It does not seem, though, that the Zen critique of language has found much fertile soil in the US, nor is there apparently any Americanization of the koan.