Early Chan

Chan

Early Chan

Branch of Chan

Early Chan encompasses the formative period from Bodhidharma's arrival in China (traditionally c. 520 CE) through the Sixth Patriarch Huineng and his immediate successors, before the tradition divided into distinct house lineages. This era includes the six patriarchs—Bodhidharma, Huike, Sengcan, Daoxin, Hongren, and Huineng—as well as precursor figures like Mahasattva Fu and independent lineages such as the Oxhead (Niutou) school and the Jingzhong school of Sichuan. The period's defining crisis was the Northern-Southern School controversy: Shenxiu's gradualist approach versus Huineng's sudden awakening, with Heze Shenhui's polemical advocacy eventually establishing the Southern School as orthodox. Huineng's Platform Sutra became the foundational text, and his two principal students—Qingyuan Xingsi and Nanyue Huairang—gave rise to the two great branches from which all subsequent Chan schools descend.