SO TO ZEN - Shasta Abbey

. Development in Zen 117Mahyna traditions. Many of the Mahyna s‰tras werepreached by the Buddha after he entered samdhi (meditation,consequently Zen). For example, Mahpraj–pramit S‰trawas preached while the Buddha was in the Saurdhi RajaSamadhi, Avatamsaka S‰tra in the Sagaramudra Samdhi,Saddharma Pundar−ka S‰tra in the Anata Nirdesa PratisthanaSamdhi, Mahparinivna S‰tra in the Acala Samdhi. Thereforewe might say that the whole of Mahyna Buddhism is theproduct of the meditation of the Buddha. Lastly, Tsung-mi liststhe Zen of the Highest Vehicle, which is the understanding andpractice of meditation transmitted by Bodhidharma. In theMeditation Schools, Scripture is not considered the finalauthority; these schools aim at the realization of the BuddhaHeart (Buddha Nature) within us. It was in order to achieve thisthat Bodhidharma advocated the practice of meditation.Of the first three Ancestors of the Zen School, followingBodhidharma, each had only one main disciple who succeededhim. They practiced the dh‰tas (J. zuda, austere religiousexercises), but exerted little influence on society in general.However, beginning with the fourth Ancestor, Tao-hsin(J. D‡shin) and the fifth Ancestor, Hung-jen (J. K‡nin), we findthem having a large number of disciples, totaling perhaps fivehundred or more, assembled on Mt. Shuang-feng (J. S‡b‡)leading a collective life. Zen then changed from a largely Indianschool to one which was more suited to Chinese ideals and