|
The history of Zen | ||
![]() |
||
The origins of Zen date back to Shakyamuni Buddha in India in the 6th century BC. These teachings eventually spread to China where they were known as Chan, and later to Japan, where they became Zen.
The history of Zen is closely linked with that of the masters who transmitted it through the centuries. |
||
![]() |
||
Shakyamuni Buddha | ||
![]() |
||
Born in the 9th century BC in a princely family, Siddharta Gautama grew up in lavish surroundings, protected from the harshness of the world. Legend has it that when he was born, fortune-tellers predicted that he would be a universal sovereign, a Buddha. His father who intended for him the life of a prince, who would succeed him as king, ordered that he be sheltered from everything unpleasant. | ||
|
||
![]() |
||
Bodhidharma, the first chinese patriarch. 5th century | ||
![]() |
||
![]() He arrived in the south of Canton around 470 AD, then settled in Luoyang at Shaolin temple where he meditated continuously for nine years. He had two deeply motivated disciples, Tao-yu and Houei-k’o (Eka in Japanese), who served him for ten years. According to the tradition Houei-k’o received the transmission from him and became thus the second Chinese patriarch. |
||
![]() |
||
Eihei Dôgen (1 200 – 1 253) | ||
![]() |
||
Dôgen was born on January 2nd , 1200 in Uji, near Kyoto in a family belonging to the Minamoto clan. His father died when Dôgen was only two and his mother when he was eight years old. When he saw the incense smoke rising up during his mother’s funerals, he had his first experience of awakening, realizing the impermanence of all things. | ||
|
||
![]() |
||
Taisen Deshimaru (1914 – 1982) | ||
![]() |
||
![]() In the 1970’s, his mission developed fully. He received the Dharma transmission from Master Yamada Reirin, Abbot of Eihei-ji and became kaikyosokan (head of the Japanese Sôtô zen in a country or on a continent) in Europe. He trained many disciples and at his instigation a great number of places of practice were created. He founded the AZI in 1970 and the Gendronnière Zen Temple in 1979. He died in 1982, leaving a well-established zen practice in Europe. |
||
![]() |