Created by Monkbot
Last edited January 2, 2021


Kaisan (開山) is a Japanese term used in reference to the founder of a school of Buddhism or the founding abbot of a Zen monastery, literally meaning "mountain founder" or "to open a mountain."[1] Ch'an monasteries of China and Japan have traditionally been built in mountainous regions, with the name of whatever mountain it has been built upon then fixed upon the monastery as well as the founding abbot.[2]

See also[edit | edit source]

Notes[edit | edit source]

  1. Baroni, 171-172
  2. Fischer-Schreiber, 168

References[edit | edit source]

  • Baroni, Helen J. (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Zen Buddhism. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. ISBN 0-8239-2240-5. OCLC 42680558.
  • Fischer-Schreiber, Ingrid; Schuhmacher, Stephan; Woerner, Gert (1994). The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Zen, Taoism. Shambhala Publications. ISBN 0-87773-980-3.