Chan was first discovered by a prince named Siddhartha Gautama who was born in India about 2,500 years ago. After he became enlightened and was called a Buddha, he taught the method of Chan. This method was transmitted from India to China, and then to Japan. In India it was called dhyana, which is pronounced "Chan" in Chinese and "Zen" in Japanese; though all three terms are considered to be identical. The idea behind the Chan perspective is that one must eliminate “I” in their lives; “I” not just in terms of selfish things, but also in terms of the philosophical idea of “I” meaning “Truth”. In addition, Chan had universal and eternal existence therefore, there is no need to be taught by a teacher the practices of Chan, but rather the teacher simply shows you the methods in which you can practice to personally achieve Chan. “Thus an accomplished Chan practitioner never feels that any responsibility is a burden, nor does he feel the pressure that the conditions of life exert on people. He only feels that he is perpetually bringing the vitality of life into full activity. This is the expression of absolute freedom. Therefore the life of Chan is inevitably normal and positive, happy and open. The reason for this is that the practice of Chan will continually provide you with a means to excavate your precious mine of wisdom. The deeper the excavation, the higher the wisdom that is attained, until eventually you obtain all the wisdom of the entire universe. At that time, there is not a single thing in all of time and space that is not contained within the scope of your wisdom” (What Is Dhyana, Chan, Zen? A Chan Perspective).
In the following anecdote from The Blue Cliff Record, A monk asked Dongshan, “When cold and heat come, how can we avoid them?” Dongshan said, “Why not go where there is no cold or heat?” The monk said, “Where is there no cold or heat?” Dongshan said, “When it’s cold, it chills you thoroughly; when it’s hot, it heats you thoroughly. In summary,...