The first one was the same. Both de

The first one was the same. Both denominations are part of Buddhism and is part of the Mahayana branch to another place. In Sanskrit, the word “vajra” means a diamond or a thunderbolt. And “Chan” is a translation into Chinese of the Sanskrit word “dhyana,” which simply means meditation. Vajrayana is best known from Tibet and Zen is best known from Japan, but it also historically spread to China and Japan. When Buddhism came to China, there were three kinds of Buddhist masters: (1) specialists in vinaya (rules for monks and nuns), (2) specialists in dhyana(meditation), and (3) specialists in Dharma (Buddhist texts). According to Vajrayana doctrine, there were three turnings of the Wheel of the Dharma, represented by the three main branches of Buddhism. According to Zen texts, when the Buddha was going to preach one day, he simply sat quietly. This was the start of the transmission of Zen Buddhism. The Buddha is said to have taught the wisdom that became Mahayana (the path of the bodhisattva), in which it was taught that enlightenment was a sudden event. In the process of enlightenment, a kind of direct “mind to mind” transmission was the ideal. As in other Mahayana groups, Chan practitioners take a vow to follow the path of the bodhisattva—to save all sentient beings from suffering and bring them to enlightenment. In Chan / Zen doctrine, each person is actually already enlightened within this life, but does not yet realize it. In Vajrayana, when we have realized that the Buddha-nature within us is the same as the all-encompassing Buddha-nature of the whole universe, then we have attained a kind of all-in-one unity but, in Zen teaching, the original mind was understood to be clean and to remain pure as well. There is no need to be concerned with trivial matters like keeping it clean—it is always clean, just as the Buddha-nature is always in us, ready to be awakened. And that which is mentioned in this article is a summary of the similarities and differences of Zen and Vajrayana.