According to tradition, Zen originated when Gautama or the Buddha, gathered his disciples around him and, without saying a word, held up a flower. His chief disciple, Mahakasyapa, recognised what his master was trying to convey and smiled.
Mahakasyapa then became the First Patriarch of Zen in the West (at that time India was regarded as the west, China as the east).
Now Gautama taught that attachment brings suffering, and, in particular, attachment to the idea of 'self'. To Gautama the idea of 'self' is an illusion.
There is a Zen koan, or meditation riddle, which reads
Where does the master go when the moon rises?
Here, the master represents 'self' and the moon, which shines with a light not it's own, represents 'non-self'.
Mahakasyapa, the First Patriarch of Zen in the west transmitted, according to legend, the Zen doctrine down several generations to Bodhi Dharma the Twenty-fourth Patriarch of Zen in the west who then traveled to China to become the First Patriarch of Zen in the east. He then transmitted the teaching to Hung-jan, the Fifth Patriarch.
Zen
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