Zen Buddhism in China, the main sect of Chinese Buddhism, adapted to traditional Chinese culture, penetrated into folk society, and completed the process of Buddhist localization and worldliness by its key doctrinal features of inclusiveness, universality and compatibility. Meanwhile it brought negligible influence on China’s neighboring countries, like Korea, Vietnam or Japan, and became one of the most important medium for East Asian cultural exchanges.
This article was targeting readers finishing previous chapters of the plan book, interesting in the history of Zen Buddhism development in China, and trying to explore the history of its development overseas. Based on culture exchange history and followed the social network, this study elaborated the development, pedigree, and transformation of Zen Buddhism in Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Furthermore, it also attempted to indicate Zen Buddhism is a special approach for interaction and recognition between East Asian countries.
