The establishment of Zen is credited to Bodhidharma. The first documented school of Zen Buddhism in China was built in the 7th century. Zen spread from China to several places such as Vietnam, Korea, and Japan.
Zen emphasizes that all awoken beings have Buddha-Nature and that Buddha-Nature is nothing other than the nature of the mind. The objective of Zen practice is to become enlightened through meditation. Guided meditation is an alternative that can also relieve the symptoms of stress.
Zen is mainly known for the monk who once used to be an Indian prince, Bodhidharma. He settled in the kingdom of Wei with his two disciples Daoyu and Huike. His teachings became known as Chan not too long after he moved to China. Right before Bodhidharma passed away; and he asked Huike to take his place and continue to teach people about Zen practices.
While surviving several decades in a cave, Bodhidharma spent his time staring at the cavern walls, meditating. He took a three year trip to China and arrived in 520 C.E. The meaning of this journey was to spread Buddhism to Asia. He saw that China had already established Buddhism beliefs but they were very different.
Bodhidharma spent his time in China trying to change people's views on Buddhism because of their wrong view on the religion. While he was there he met Emperor Wu of Liang, who had a high interest in Buddhism and spent a lot of public wealth on funding Buddhist monasteries in China.
Much of Zen history comes from mythology. Scholars believe that http://www.medicinenet.com/yoga/article.htm Zen was used in yogic practices such as kammatthana and kasina. Kammatthana is the consideration of objects and kasina is the total fixation of the mind.
Buddhism was first introduced into China when Taoist faiths and Taoism in general were brought in. Buddhist scriptures were translated into Chinese using Taoism.
When Zen is explained in words it often gets misrepresented because there really aren't any words to describe it. In the beginning, Zen only applied to Mahayana and Lankavatara sutras.
There are many basic concepts of Zen that come directly from Mahayana Buddhism. Both share a grand amount of ideas coming from many different sutras, including https://plus.google.com/105409549757980149689/posts
