The Five Houses of Chán (also called the Five Houses of Zen) were the five major schools of

Chan Buddhism Chan (; of ), from Sanskrit '' dhyāna'' (meaning "meditation" or "meditative state"), is a Chinese school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. It developed in China from the 6th century CE onwards, becoming especially popular during the Tang and So ...

that originated during

Tang China The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...

. Although at the time they were not considered formal

schools A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsor ...

sects A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political, or philosophical belief system, usually an offshoot of a larger group. Although the term was originally a classification for religious separated groups, it can now refer to any organization that b ...

of Buddhism, they are now regarded as important schools in the history of Chán Buddhism. Most Chán lineages throughout Asia and the rest of the world originally grew from or were heavily influenced by the original five houses of Chán.

East Mountain Teaching

The period of

Daoxin Dayi Daoxin (Chinese: 道信; Pinyin: ''Dàoxìn;'' Wade–Giles: ''Tao-hsin;'' Romanji: ''Dōshin''), who lived from 580–651, was the fourth Chán Buddhist Patriarch, following Jianzhi Sengcan (Chinese: 鑑智僧璨; Pīnyīn: ''Jiànzhì Sēn ...

( 580–651) and

Daman Hongren Hongren (, 601–674), posthumous name ''Daman'', was the 5th Patriarch of Chan Buddhism (Chinese: 禅宗五祖). Hongren is said to have received Dharma transmission from Dayi Daoxin and passed on the symbolic bowl and robe of transmission to Hu ...

( 601–674) came to be called the

East Mountain Teaching East Mountain Teaching () denotes the teachings of the Fourth Ancestor Dayi Daoxin, his student and heir the Fifth Ancestor Daman Hongren, and their students and lineage of Chan Buddhism. ''East Mountain Teaching'' gets its name from the East M ...

, due to the location of the residence of Hongren at Huamgmei. The term was used by

Shenxiu Yuquan Shenxiu (, 606?–706) was one of the most influential Chan masters of his day, a Patriarch of the East Mountain Teaching of Chan Buddhism. Shenxiu was Dharma heir of Daman Hongren (601–674), honoured by Wu Zetian (r. 690–705) of th ...

(神秀 606?–706), the most important successor to Hongren. In 701, Shenxiu was invited to the Imperial Court by Empress Wu, who paid him due imperial reverence. The first lineage documents were produced in this period. According to tradition, the sixth and last ancestral founder,

Huineng Dajian Huineng (); (February 27, 638 – August 28, 713), also commonly known as the Sixth Patriarch or Sixth Ancestor of Chan (traditional Chinese: 禪宗六祖), is a semi-legendary but central figure in the early history of Chinese Chan Buddhi ...

(惠能; 638–713), was one of the giants of Chán history, and all surviving schools regard him as their ancestor.

Shenhui Heze Shenhui (Chinese:菏泽神會/神会; Wade–Giles: Shen-hui; Japanese: Kataku Jinne, 684–758) was a Chinese Buddhist monk of the so-called "Southern School" of Zen, who "claimed to have studied under Huineng." Shenhui is notable for his s ...

, a successor to Huineng claimed Huineng to be the successor of Hongren's, instead of the then publicly recognized successor Shenxiu. The most prominent of the successors of Shenhui's lineage was

Guifeng Zongmi Guifeng Zongmi () (780–1 February 841) was a Tang dynasty Buddhist scholar and bhikkhu, installed as fifth patriarch of the Huayan school as well as a patriarch of the Heze school of Southern Chan Buddhism. He wrote a number of works on the ...

Shenhui's influence is traceable in the

Platform Sutra The ''Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch'' ( or simply: ''Tánjīng'') is a Chan Buddhist scripture that was composed in China during the 8th to 13th century. The "platform" (施法壇) refers to the podium on which a Buddhist teacher speak ...

, which gives a popular account of the story of Huineng, but also reconciles the antagonism created by Shenhui. Shenhui himself does not figure in the Platform Sutra; he was effectively written out of Chán-history. From the East Mountain Teachings descend the Five Houses of Chán, via various lineages.

The Five Houses

The five houses were each defined by a unique method of teaching. Each school's methods were significantly different from the others, though it was not unheard of for teachers from one school to use the methods of another.

Guiyang school

The Guiyang school (潙仰宗 Guíyáng, Jpn. Igyō) was the first established school of the Five Houses of Zen. Guiyang is named after master Guishan Lingyou (771–854) (Kuei-shan Ling-yu, Jpn. Isan Reiyū) and his student, Yangshan Huiji (807-883, or 813–890) (Yang-shan Hui-chi, Jpn. Kyōzan Ejaku). Guishan was a disciple of

Baizhang Huaihai Baizhang Huaihai (; pinyin: ''Bǎizhàng Huáihái''; Wade-Giles: ''Pai-chang Huai-hai''; ja, Hyakujō Ekai) (720–814) was a Zen master during the Tang Dynasty. A native of Fuzhou, he was a dharma transmission, dharma heir of Mazu Daoyi (Wade ...

, the Chinese Zen master whose disciples included

Huangbo Xiyun Huángbò Xīyùn (, ja, Ōbaku Kiun) (died 850) was an influential master of Zen Buddhism during the Tang dynasty. Huángbò was a disciple of Baizhang Huaihai (720–840), and the teacher of Linji Yixuan (died 866) (Wade–Giles: Lin-chi I- ...

(who in turn taught

Línjì Yìxuán Linji Yixuan (; ja, 臨済義玄 ''Rinzai Gigen''; died 866 CE) was the founder of the Linji school of Chan Buddhism during Tang Dynasty China. Línjì yǔlù Information on Linji is based on the ''Línjì yǔlù'' (臨濟語錄; Japanese: ' ...

, founder of the Linji School). After founding the Guiyang School, Yangshan moved his school to what is now modern

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

. The Guiyang school is distinct from the other schools due to its use of esoteric metaphors and imagery in the school's

kōan A (; , ; ko, 화두, ; vi, công án) is a story, dialogue, question, or statement which is used in Zen practice to provoke the "great doubt" and to practice or test a student's progress in Zen. Etymology The Japanese term is the Sino-Jap ...

s and other teachings. Over the course of Song Dynasty (960–1279), the Guiyang school, along with the Fayan and Yunmen schools were absorbed into the Linji school. Chán master

Hsu Yun Xuyun or Hsu Yun (; 5 September 1840? – 13 October 1959) was a renowned Chinese Chan Buddhist master and an influential Buddhist teacher of the 19th and 20th centuries. Early life Xuyun was purportedly born on 5 September 1840 in Fujian, Q ...

, however, attempted to revive absorbed lineages. The attempt was successful regarding the Guiyang school,

Hsuan Hua Hsuan Hua (; April 16, 1918 – June 7, 1995), also known as An Tzu, Tu Lun and Master Hua by his Western disciples, was a Chinese monk of Chan Buddhism and a contributing figure in bringing Chinese Buddhism to the United States in the lat ...

being its most known modern representative.

Linji school

The Linji () was named after Chán master Línjì Yìxuán, who was notable for teaching students in ways that included shouting and striking in an attempt to help students reach enlightenment. The Linji school is the predominant Chinese Chán school.

Caodong school

The Caodong school was founded by

Dongshan Liangjie Dongshan Liangjie (807–869) (; ) was a Chan Buddhist monk of the Tang dynasty. He founded the Caodong school (), which was transmitted to Japan in the thirteenth century (Song-Yuan era) by Dōgen and developed into the Sōtō school of Zen. Do ...

and his Dharma-heirs in the 9th century. Some attribute the name "Cáodòng" as a union of "Dongshan" and "Caoshan" from one of his Dharma-heirs, Caoshan Benji; however, the "Cao" could also have come from ''Cáoxī'' (曹溪), the "mountain-name" of

, the Sixth Ancestor of Chan. The sect emphasized sitting meditation, and later " silent illumination" techniques. In 826 Korean Seon Master Doui, a student of Sixth Ancestor of Chan Huineng, brought Chan/Seon (Korean Zen) to Korea and founded the "Nine Mountain Seon Monasteries" which adopted the name Jogye order. In 1227

Dōgen Zenji Dōgen Zenji (道元禅師; 26 January 1200 – 22 September 1253), also known as Dōgen Kigen (道元希玄), Eihei Dōgen (永平道元), Kōso Jōyō Daishi (高祖承陽大師), or Busshō Dentō Kokushi (仏性伝東国師), was a Ja ...

, a former

Tendai , also known as the Tendai Lotus School (天台法華宗 ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just "''hokke shū''") is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition (with significant esoteric elements) officially established in Japan in 806 by the Japanese m ...

student, studied Caodong Buddhism and returned to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

to establish the

Sōtō Sōtō Zen or is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (the others being Rinzai and Ōbaku). It is the Japanese line of the Chinese Cáodòng school, which was founded during the Tang dynasty by Dòngshān L ...

school. The Caodong school is still a respectable Chinese Chán school and is second only to Linji in number of monks and temples.

Fayan school

The Fayan school (法眼宗) was named after Chinese Chán Master

Fayan Wenyi Qingliang Wenyi (), Biography of the eminent monks of Song dynasty. Vol.13 also known as Fayan Wenyi ()Blue Cliff Records is a Chinese Buddhist monk in the early 10th century. Wenyi was born in Yuhang. His secular surname is Lu. Fayan school, one ...

(Fa-yen Wen-i), who lived from 885 to 958.

Yunmen school

The Yunmen school was named for

Yunmen Wenyan Yunmen Wenyan (; romaji: ''Ummon Bun'en''; 862 or 864 – 949 CE), was a major Chinese Chan master of the Tang dynasty. He was a dharma-heir of Xuefeng Yicunbr>} Yunmen founded the Yunmen school, one of the five major schools of Chán (Chinese ...

. The school thrived into the early

Song Dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

, with particular influence on the upper classes, and culminated in the final compilation of the ''

Blue Cliff Record The ''Blue Cliff Record'' () is a collection of Chan Buddhist kōans originally compiled in Song China in 1125, during the reign of Emperor Huizong, and then expanded into its present form by Chan master Yuanwu Keqin (1063–1135; ).K. Sekida, ...

''. Later during the Song Dynasty, the school was absorbed into the

Linji school The Línjì school () is a school of Chan Buddhism named after Linji Yixuan (d. 866). It took prominence in Song China (960–1279), spread to Japan as the Rinzai school and influenced the nine mountain schools of Korean Seon. History Song d ...

. The lived on into the modern era through Master

(1840–1959).

The Five Houses during the Song Dynasty

Over the course of

(960–1279), the Guiyang, Fayan, and Yunmen houses were gradually absorbed into the Linji house. Caodong was transmitted to Japan in the 13th century from Ven.

Rujing Tiāntóng Rújìng (天童如淨; Japanese: Tendō Nyojō) (1163-1228) was a Caodong Buddhist monk living in Qìngdé Temple (慶徳寺; Japanese: Keitoku-ji) on Tiāntóng Mountain (天童山; Japanese: Tendouzan) in Yinzhou District, Ningbo. He ...

of Tiantong Temple to Ven.

Dōgen Dōgen Zenji (道元禅師; 26 January 1200 – 22 September 1253), also known as Dōgen Kigen (道元希玄), Eihei Dōgen (永平道元), Kōso Jōyō Daishi (高祖承陽大師), or Busshō Dentō Kokushi (仏性伝東国師), was a Ja ...

leading to the creation of the

Zen school.

Chan during the Ming and Qing Dynasty

Chan in the modern era

Both Linji and Caodong are still practiced in China today. Ven. Sheng-yen is an example of a modern Linji and Caodong teacher. Ven.

revived the

Guiyang school The Guiyang school (, also read Weiyang School) is one of the sects of Chan Buddhism. History The Guiyang school was the first established house of the Five Houses of Chán. Guiyang is named after master Guishan Lingyou (771–854) and his disci ...

Fayan school The Fayan school, or Fayan House () was one of the Five Houses of Chán, the major schools of Chan Buddhism during the later Tang dynasty. History Origins The Fayan school was named after Chinese Zen Master Qingliang Wenyi (885–958). Via Xu ...

and the

Yunmen school Yunmen Wenyan (c. 860–949) was a Zen Buddhist master. Yunmen may also refer to: * Yunmen school of Chan Buddhism, named after Yunmen Wenyan *Yunmen, an acupuncture point on the lung meridian * Yunmen Subdistrict () of Hechuan District, Chongq ...