Examining the Development of Zen Buddhist Sources in the East Asian Buddhist Countries

It must be stated that there are not sufficient sources to study the theory and the practice of Zen Buddhism for the students and the teachers of Sri Lankan universities, who do their studies in Sinhala language. To fulfil this gap to some extent, this research is carried out. This tradition is named as “Dhyana” in Sanskrit, “Chan” in Chinese, “Son” in Korean, and “Zen” in Japanese. Though this isrecognized as a tradition that refuses books or scriptures, its great teachers have produced many books which are known as the primary sources of Zen Buddhism. The main subject discussed in these sources is the Buddhist meditation systems which developed as “Zen” Buddhism in the East-Asian countries such as China, Korea and Japan. Thus, these sources were written in Chinese, Korean and Japanese languages. One of the main characteristics of these sources is that they try to introduce the path of purification in a simple manner so that the followers can easily practice. This can be seen throughout the Zen Buddhist history, and that knowledge will help the readers to understand how to implement simple Zen Buddhist techniques in their busy day to day life. Hence, the objective of the research is to examine the Zen Buddhist sources and the meditation systems or techniques which are found in them.