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Zen Buddhism traces its origins to the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, in India, around the 5th century BCE. From India, these teachings spread across Asia, but it was in China, during the 6th century, that Zen (known as Chan in China) began to evolve into its distinct form.
The journey of Zen in China is marked by the important figure of Bodhidharma, an Indian monk who introduced silent meditation as the heart of spiritual practice. Little is documented about his life, but he is revered as the 28th patriarch of Buddhism and the founder of Chan. Legend has it that Bodhidharma crossed the Himalayas into China, bringing with him the radical idea that awakening is achieved through personal experience rather than through reliance on scriptures or rituals.