We discussed Chan Buddhism.  The  timeline of the spread of Buddhism can be seen here.  There is a long entry in Stanford, but a much more accessible prospectus video from Wrexham University.  And this needed to be accessible: we are used to being presented with concepts and propositions to comprehend and analyse, but here we apparently have a lineage of revered teachers apparently preaching different ways of meditating to empty the mind!  We’ve heard of Karma and Nirvana, so how does this cohere?  The starting place for Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, was that life is suffering.  To avoid that suffering we must realise that there are no essences, only changing interactions.  Some sort of analogy in western thought can be found in Heraclites’ assertion that all is flux.  The Buddha’s enlightenment was that if we could grasp and feel this, then the suffering of life and its real pain and fears could be overcome.  That and pursuing one’s dharma (role and duties) would lead to a better karma (consequences) and eventually to Nirvana - a transcendent state in which there is neither suffering, desire, nor sense of self, and the subject is released from the effects of karma and the cycle of death and rebirth.  As Buddhism migrated east, and possibly through the influence of “The Way” of Daoism, the idea evolved that Nirvana could be attained here and now, with the right mindset, and the dharma became the duty to help others arrive at that state too.  So we are studying a philosophy to be practised to improve one’s life - and we have experienced practices related to meditation in hypnotherapy and creativity methods.