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Hello, quote, if you meet the Buddha on the road to Enlightenment, kill him, unquote.

So said Linji, a teacher active in China in the 9th century AD.

Despite the somewhat contrary attitude expressed in the statement,

Linji was himself a Buddhist, an exponent of a branch of the religion

widely known in the West as Zen. Zen is a Japanese translation of Chan, the Chinese word for meditation.

It developed in China in the 6th century AD coming from 6th century BC India.

It emphasizes a monastic way of life, the practice of meditation, and the use of paradoxical

riddles to help follow a sidestep, rational thought and achieve a state of sudden

enlightenment.

It came to Japan in the Middle Ages and its strong impact

eventually spilled into the West especially in America in the 20th century. The religion

developed under particular historical circumstances and it's played a significant role in East Asian cultures and beyond.

With me to discuss Zern, Tim Barrett, a Marietist professor in the Department of the Study of Religions at Sowas, University of London,

Lucia Dulcher, Numato Reader in Japanese Buddhism, also at Sowas, University of London,

an Eric Green lecturer in East Asian religions at the University of Bristol.

Tim Barrett, Zern emerged in China in the 6th century AD.

Can you tell us how Buddhism came to China

and how it had existed up until that point.

Yes, we don't know exactly how Buddhism came to China,

but certainly by the middle of the second century AD,

...