Home›Sources›Seeing Through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan BuddhismSourcesSeeing Through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan BuddhismCitation FormatsGeneral ReferenceGeneral Reference Citation TextDivinity Atlas. "Seeing Through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/sources/seeing-through-zen-encounter-transformation-and-genealogy-in-chinese-chan-buddhism.Copy General ReferenceAPA StyleAPA Style Citation TextDivinity Atlas. (n.d.). Seeing Through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/sources/seeing-through-zen-encounter-transformation-and-genealogy-in-chinese-chan-buddhismCopy APA StyleBibTeXBibTeX Citation Text@misc{divinityatlas-seeing-through-zen-encounter-transformat, author = {Divinity Atlas}, title = {Seeing Through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism}, year = {2026}, url = {https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/sources/seeing-through-zen-encounter-transformation-and-genealogy-in-chinese-chan-buddhism}, note = {Accessed August 30, 2026} }Copy BibTeXJohn McRae was a specialist historian of Chinese Chan Buddhism, and this study works from close reading of Chan textual sources to treat lineage claims themselves as a genre with their own conventions and purposes, reading a Chan lineage genealogy as a documented rhetorical and religious construction rather than as literal transmission history, a critical method that is the book's real evidentiary contribution rather than a claim about its publisher's standing. That direct textual and genre based analysis is the study's real basis. Use it for established critical scholarly facts about how Chan lineage narratives were constructed and function within the tradition; a claim treating a specific lineage genealogy as literal historical transmission should be checked against this critique first, since that is the assumption this study specifically examines.FactsClaims Backed By This Source (184 claims)Comments (0)Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)FactsCitationAuthorWell-attestedJohn R. McRaePublisherWell-attestedUniversity of California PressPublication YearWell-attested2003URLWell-attestedhttps://archive.org/details/seeingthroughzen0000mcraSource TypeWell-attestedacademic monographAssessmentReliability TierWell-attested1John McRae's study treating Chan lineage claims as a documented rhetorical and religious genre with their own conventions, reading a lineage genealogy as a construction rather than as literal transmission history, a critical method that is the book's real contribution.NotesWell-attestedNo year given pending verification of the edition.Claims Backed By This Source (184 claims)This source backs 184 claims across the atlas. As facts: 122 well-attested, 4 scholarly debate, 1 popular myth - corrected. As cited relationships: 16 holds, 8 connected. Plus 33 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.Disposition By TopicArticles, 67 claims: 48 well-attested, 8 connected, 11 general references.Sacred Sites, 23 claims: 15 well-attested, 6 holds, 2 general references.Beliefs & Restrictions, 18 claims: 15 well-attested, 3 general references.Doctrines, 16 claims: 7 well-attested, 2 scholarly debate, 3 holds, 4 general references.Deities, 13 claims: 10 well-attested, 2 scholarly debate, 1 general references.Practices, 11 claims: 8 well-attested, 3 general references.Scriptures & Texts, 10 claims: 6 well-attested, 3 holds, 1 general references.Sources, 8 claims: 8 well-attested.Historical Figures, 7 claims: 4 well-attested, 3 general references.Denominations, 5 claims: 3 holds, 2 general references.Figures, 3 claims: 1 popular myth - corrected, 1 holds, 1 general references.Disciplines, 2 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 general references.Religious Roles & Titles, 1 claims: 1 general references.Well-attested122ArticlesA Mind Confirmed by Another MindA Presentation Historians Have RevisitedA Sermon That Became a SutraA Special TransmissionChan Buddhist sacred sitesDokusan and the Testing of a Claimed KenshoFrom Encounter to CurriculumFrom Song China to the Western ZendoFrom Tang Anecdote to Song Anthology, the Koan's Chinese OriginsHakuin's Graduated Curriculum of Koan IntrospectionHistory, Legend, and the Emblem of a LineageNo Merit at All: A Conversation That Did Not HappenOne Word Barriers: Yunmen's Method of TeachingRinzai and Soto, and What Sudden Does Not MeanSeeing One's True NatureThe Debate at Samye and the Path It Set Tibetan Buddhism OnThe First Patriarch of ChanThe Five Ranks: Mapping the Apparent and the RealThe Patriarch Who Never LeftThe Question That Has No AnswerThe Shout and the Record: How Linji's Teaching Became a TextTraining Under Huangbo Xiyun, and a Birth Year No Source RecordsTraining Under Muzhou Daoming and Xuefeng YicunWhat Textual Scholarship Found UnderneathWhat Transmission Certifies, and What It CannotWhere the Southern School Put Down Its RootBeliefs & RestrictionsKensho, seeing into one's own natureKoan introspection as the means of awakeningSudden enlightenment beyond words and scriptureDeitiesBodhidharmaDisciplinesZazenDoctrinesDharma TransmissionSudden and Gradual AwakeningHistorical FiguresDongshan LiangjieLinji YixuanYunmen WenyanPracticesKoan practiceSacred SitesNanhua Temple (Baolin Temple)Yunmen MonasteryScriptures & TextsPlatform SutraSourcesSeeing Through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan BuddhismScholarly debate4DeitiesBodhidharmaDoctrinesSatori and KenshoSudden and Gradual AwakeningPopular myth - corrected1FiguresEmperor Wu of LiangHolds16DenominationsZenDoctrinesBuddha-natureDharma TransmissionSudden and Gradual AwakeningFiguresEmperor Wu of LiangSacred SitesNanhua Temple (Baolin Temple)Yunmen MonasteryScriptures & TextsPlatform SutraConnected8ArticlesDokusan and the Testing of a Claimed KenshoFrom Tang Anecdote to Song Anthology, the Koan's Chinese OriginsHakuin's Graduated Curriculum of Koan IntrospectionOne Word Barriers: Yunmen's Method of TeachingThe Five Ranks: Mapping the Apparent and the RealThe Shout and the Record: How Linji's Teaching Became a TextTraining Under Huangbo Xiyun, and a Birth Year No Source RecordsTraining Under Muzhou Daoming and Xuefeng YicunGeneral References33ArticlesDokusan and the Testing of a Claimed KenshoFrom Tang Anecdote to Song Anthology, the Koan's Chinese OriginsHakuin's Graduated Curriculum of Koan IntrospectionOne Word Barriers: Yunmen's Method of TeachingThe Debate at Samye and the Path It Set Tibetan Buddhism OnThe Five Ranks: Mapping the Apparent and the RealThe Patriarch Who Never LeftThe Shout and the Record: How Linji's Teaching Became a TextTraining Under Huangbo Xiyun, and a Birth Year No Source RecordsTraining Under Muzhou Daoming and Xuefeng YicunWhere the Southern School Put Down Its RootBeliefs & RestrictionsKensho, seeing into one's own natureKoan introspection as the means of awakeningSudden enlightenment beyond words and scriptureDeitiesBodhidharmaDenominationsRinzaiZenDisciplinesZazenDoctrinesBuddha-natureDharma TransmissionSatori and KenshoSudden and Gradual AwakeningFiguresEmperor Wu of LiangHistorical FiguresDongshan LiangjieLinji YixuanYunmen WenyanPracticesKinhin (walking meditation)Koan practiceShikantaza (just sitting)Religious Roles & TitlesSenseiSacred SitesNanhua Temple (Baolin Temple)Yunmen MonasteryScriptures & TextsPlatform SutraComments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.View At A Past YearThe atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.Show This Year