Korean Seon

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Seon or Sŏn Buddhism (Korean: 선; Hanja: 禪; Korean pronunciation: [sʌn]) is the Korean name for Chan Buddhism, a branch of Mahāyāna Buddhism commonly known in English as Zen Buddhism. Seon is the Sino-Korean pronunciation of Chan (Chinese: 禪; pinyin: chán) an abbreviation of 禪那 (chánnà), which is a Chinese transliteration of the Sanskrit word of dhyāna ("meditation"). Seon Buddhism, represented chiefly by the Jogye and Taego orders, is the most common type of Buddhism found in Korea.

A main characteristic of Seon Buddhism is the use of the method of meditation, Ganhwa Seon. A Korean monk, Jinul accepted partially a meditative method of Chan Buddhism in 1205. In Chan Buddhism, hwadu (화두; 話頭) is a delivery of realising a natural state of the Awakening. Jinul addressed a doctrine of Sagyo Yiepseon (사교입선; 捨敎入禪) that monks should live an inborn life after learning and forgetting all creeds and theories. Within the doctrine of Jinul, hwadu is the witnessing of truthful meaning in everyday life.^[1]