Zen as “something new”(Bill Porter)

Zen Baggage: A Pilgrimage to China

Bill Porter*1 Zen Baggage: A Pilgrimage to Chinaから。　
禅は印度の仏教と中国の道家との相互作用の裡に生まれたという説について；

I've never liked the idea. Over the years, I've combed through the biographies of hundreds of early Zen monks. Among those who had an affiliation prior to becoming monks, most were Confucians. Taoists were rare. But I would suggest that Zen didn't derive in whole or in part from Taoism or Confucianism, or even from Buddhism as it existed in China at the time. Zen was something new. Who else besides Zen masters delivered wordless lectures or offered sermons in a cup of tea―no Taoist or Confucian I've ever heard of, and no Buddhist prior to Bodhidhama*2. (p.308)

*1:See eg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Pine_(author) Roy Hamric “Dancing with the Words: Red Pine's Path into the Heart of Buddhism” http://www.kyotojournal.org/the-journal/fiction-poetry/dancing-with-words/ Tyrone Beason “Port Townsend translator turns love of Chinese poetry into life's work, way of life” http://old.seattletimes.com/html/books/2001845874_redpine29.html Mentioned in http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20100222/1266807846 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20110108/1294426541 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20110813/1313208109

*2:菩提達磨。