mo-chao Chan

mo-chao Ch'an

mo-chao Ch'an. A Chinese term meaning ‘silent illumination Ch'an’. This term refers to a style and orientation of Ch'an practice as having no goal beyond itself. In seated meditation, one simply realizes that one was a fully enlightened Buddha all along, and that there is no goal to attain and nothing into which one need transform oneself. This was the dominant style of the Ts'ao-tung school of Ch'an, and was opposed to the ‘k'an-hua Ch'an’ (‘Ch'an that contemplates the words’) of the Lin-chi school, in which the latter phrase refers to the use of kōans in practice with a view to attaining the goal of enlightenment (bodhi). This distinction was carried forward by the Japanese inheritors of these traditions: the Sōtō school continued the practice of silent illumination (Jap., mokushō zen), while the Rinzai school continued to practise kōan contemplation (Jap., kanna zen).

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DAMIEN KEOWN. "mo-chao Ch'an." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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Mo-chao chʾan

Mo-chao chʾan (Chinese Chʾan/Zen master): see HUNG-CHIH CHENG-CHÜEH.

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JOHN BOWKER. "Mo-chao chʾan." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JOHN BOWKER. "Mo-chao chʾan." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Mochaochan.html

JOHN BOWKER. "Mo-chao chʾan." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Mochaochan.html

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