Chinese origins[edit]
Main articles: Buddhism in India, Buddhism in China, Chán and Bodhidharma
Mahakasyapa.jpg
According to tradition Zen originated in India, when the Buddha held up a flower and Kasyappa smiled. With this smile he showed that he had understood the wordless essence of the dharma. This way the dharma was transmitted to Kasyappa, the second patriarch of Zen.[1]
Buddhism was introduced to China in the first century CE. According to tradition Chán was introduced around 500 CE by Bodhidharma, an Indian monk teaching dhyana. He was the 28th Indian patriarch of Zen, and the first Chinese patriarch