A blending of Buddhism from India with Taoism from China. It is predominately practiced in China and Japan. The spiritual meaning of Zen must be interpreted individually because it is not a simple answer to a question, and cannot be answered by any Zen master.It is difficult to comprehend Zen because those who are not enlightened have minds that make Zen’s meaning out to be much more difficult to understand than the true simplicity of the belief.

There are a lot of different ways to answer your question. I won't go into all of them, but here's a basic explanation: The Buddha lived about 2500 years ago; he focused his own life for many years on trying to understand the root causes of human suffering. After he solved that problem, he taught others for 45 years. The solution itself is actually very simple, but there are many different levels on which it can be understood and applied. This means there are many different ways to explain it, although they all tie back to the same basic root. The different sects of Buddhism tend to favor different aspects of this solution -- different approaches to applying it, basically. For example, Tibetan Buddhism places a lot of emphasis on philosophical study; reading the works of masters, etc. Zen is very Spartan by comparison: it attempts to take away all of the student's "mental toys" and have them study the solution in the simple context of their own life and mind -- by learning to observe their own experience with great precision and depth. This process is like digging around the roots of a weed (the source of one's own suffering) and pulling on it long and hard with the intent to extract it. You have to really study the weed carefully so your efforts aren't wasted and you don't just tear up your hands and back in futile struggle. Zen particularly emphasizes seated meditation as the primary practice for this weed-pulling. You could say Zen practice is 2/3 meditation and 1/3 everything else (talking, reading, etc.) In all forms of Buddhism including Zen, the teacher has a central role. The solution the Buddha taught cannot be reduced to concepts without losing it's essence, thus it can't be propagated from one generation to the next merely by being written down. The teacher/student relationship is a key aspect of transmitting the "Dharma" through time. Naturally, this limits the rate at which Buddhism can spread, because mass communication methods simply aren't effective for this kind of dissemination. Someone who learns Buddhism only from books always ends up with a distorted and idiosyncratic flavor of the teachings, because they miss the dimension which is contained in the ancestry of relationships going back through time. Because the Dharma cannot be adequately reduced to a fixed explanation, Buddhism in general and Zen in particular have a reputation for being "obscure and complicated", or perhaps even elitist and suspicious. Weird stories of training encounters between teachers and students propagate in popular literature and produce all sorts of odd myths about Zen, such as the false notion that it's about stopping all thoughts. All forms of Buddhism including Zen emphasize "awakening" as the result of practice and study: removing the weeds which cause suffering reveals something infinitely deep about the nature of being -- something which was obscured by the weeds. This nature of being is sometimes called "Buddha nature", "the Absolute", "original nature, or "true self". As the student progresses in their development, this true nature of being becomes increasingly visible to themselves and others: an inner lamp revealed by brushing away the obscuring soil of ignorance. The light from this lamp gradually transforms the life of the student, and touches the lives of others in passing.

Zen Buddhism is a sect of Buddhism originating in Japan, and was derived from a Chinese practice called "Chan". Both words, Chan and Zen, directly translate into English to mean "Meditation". Which is not too surprising, since for both systems of practice, meditation takes center stage. This is in contrast to something like Tibetan Buddhism where even though meditation is part of the practice, the central focus is on a "lama" or guru figure. Or, in the Theravada tradition where renunciation takes a more central role, but still also includes mediation as part of the practice. As far as I know, a unique characteristic of Zen Buddhism is the "koan". (rhymes with "go ann") A koan is a question that a student is given to meditate on. It has no answer that can be found using the dualistic logic of the reality you and I exist in. Only by viewing the question with an enlightened mind can a “correct” answer be found. I expect that the most well known koan is, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" There is a Zen tradition where a fading Master will hand over the position of leadership to a member of his monastery based on how that member answers a koan. And it's not always a monk that wins this “contest” either. There is an often told Zen tale about a groundskeeper who’s enlightened answer to a koan was so brilliant, that *he* was chosen as the next Master!

The original name for Japanese "Zen" was 《禅》and pronounced "Chan" in Mandarin Chinese as it was where the Japanese version of Chan was derived from. Buddhism is a teaching that ultimately takes the practitioner beyond the lower realms of thoughts/no-thoughts and consciousness/ no-consciousness, beyond life and death, beyond existence and non-existence. The practioner is therefore not able to delved into the ultimate state of understanding in order to achive complete enlightenment (or Buddhahood)to escape from the cyclic birth/death within Samsara (this reality) by relying completely on the relatively dead form of transmission that we've known as written languages. Written sutras are for introducing to the student the fundamental foundations of understanding of Buddhist concepts and terminology as taught by the Buddha but it is like teaching an Eskimo about rainforest but who has never set foot on any tropical parts of the world before by showing him a sketch of a rain forest. Words are doubly limited in that sense. One ground rule that should always be followed is the non taking of life, either directly or indirectly. Meat in our society is an indirect taking of lives and must not be eaten by Zen (Chan) monks or any other people that wishes to be freed from the "virtually" eternal hellish realms of Samsara. Do not buy into the false teachings of people that assume the guise of a Zen monk whilst eating meat. They are wasting their time being monks for after death they will end up in "Avici Hell" like all meat eaters do. If they are obstinate and do not change their evil ways whilst alive, there is little to save them after death. As per the Buddha's words, "meat-eaters will end up in Avici hell"(irrespective of what their religious or non-religious believes are). Even the Dalai Lama converted to a vegetarian and lucky him for doing so! Once the Buddha Dharma is captured into written words, it is like taking a snapshot of ultimate reality. A lot of information can not be transmitted by words and this is the limit to fully understand what the Buddha attempted to teach. To actually "see" that reality, this is what Chan, or Zen in Japanese comes into. I'm no Chan (Zen) monk to tell you more, (unlike someone on AB that used to openly claim himself as a Zen monk to mislead others) lest I unintentionally pass on the wrong knowledge, which would cause evil karma in the future. But you can download a for-free-distribution e-book from the link below which was written by the humble Venerable Jing Hui, a Chan master, which might help to answer your question much more fully and authoritatively. The second link is an e-book of the Surangama Sutra, which requires Chan practice in order to understand how the Buddha attempted to explain reality by breaking down the fabric of reality as we know it into its most fundamental aspects to prove their non-existence. PS: if you understand it beyond the intellectual level (eg, if you can walk on water, or split your body into doubles etc...), you're not human anymore :) Hope this helps. http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/gates_of_chan.pdf http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/surangama.pdf