2026 · 9 Issues · 3 Quarters

Editorial Calendar

From "What is Chan?" to cross-cultural dialogue — nine issues tracing the living tradition of Chinese Zen, each with a main feature and a companion piece.

Five Series, One Path

📖

Text as Teacher

Close readings of foundational Chan texts — the Platform Sutra, Mazu's dialogues, the Blue Cliff Record.

🧘

Ordinary Mind

Finding Zen in daily life — commuting, washing dishes, the small moments where practice actually lives.

💥

Koan Lab

Working with classic koans — not as puzzles to solve, but as doors to walk through.

🌿

The Ten Thousand Things

Mindful attention to ordinary objects — a teacup, a broom — as gateways to awakening.

🗣️

Chan Encounters

Chan meets Western philosophy, science, and art — unexpected resonances across traditions.

🖌️

Ink & Silence

Chan through the lens of Chinese painting, calligraphy, and poetry.

🎙️

Living Masters

Conversations with contemporary Chan teachers keeping the tradition alive.

🪷

Chan Debates

Tackling hard questions — McMindfulness, cultural appropriation, the role of ethics in practice.

👤

Patriarch Profiles

In-depth portraits of the great Chan masters — their lives, teaching methods, and legacy.

🚶

Body First

Embodied practice — walking meditation, posture, breath, and the body as teacher.

Q1 · Jan–Mar

Foundations — What Is Chinese Zen?

Building the groundwork: the origins of Chan, its founding patriarch, and the radical idea that awakening is already here.

01
Main Feature Inaugural Essay

Why Chan Is Not Zen

The word "Zen" comes from Japanese. But the tradition began in China as Chan (禅). This opening essay draws the line — and explains why recovering the Chinese root matters for understanding the practice today.

Side Piece Ordinary Mind

The Commute

Rush hour as a meditation hall. How the daily commute — crowded, noisy, involuntary — becomes the perfect place to practice "just this."

02
Main Feature Text as Teacher

The Platform Sutra: Chapter on Practice

A guided reading of the Xingyou Pin (行由品) — Huineng's autobiography. The illiterate woodcutter, the poem contest, and the night of transmission.

Side Piece Koan Lab

Bodhidharma's Wall

"What is the highest meaning of the holy truths?" — "Vast emptiness, nothing holy." Working with the first koan of Chan.

03
Main Feature Patriarch Profiles

Huineng: The Sixth Patriarch

Born poor, unlettered, and far from the centers of power — yet Huineng transformed Chan forever. A portrait of the most consequential figure in Chinese Zen.

Side Piece The Ten Thousand Things

The Teacup

"Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water." And pour tea. A meditation on the vessel and the void.

Q2 · Apr–Jun

Deepening — Core Concepts & Practice

Moving from history to philosophy and embodiment: Chan's debates, its radical teachings, and the practice of presence in the body.

04
Main Feature Chan Debates

The McMindfulness Problem

When meditation is stripped of ethics and sold as stress relief, is it still Chan? A critical look at mindfulness capitalism — and what the tradition actually demands.

Side Piece Ordinary Mind

Washing Dishes

"When washing dishes, just wash dishes." A practice piece on the radical simplicity of full attention — and why it's harder than it sounds.

05
Main Feature Text as Teacher

Mazu: "Mind Is Buddha"

A close reading of Mazu Daoyi's most famous teaching — jixin jifo (即心即佛). What does it mean that your ordinary mind is the Buddha-mind?

Side Piece Koan Lab

Chop Wood, Carry Water

Before and after — the same actions, a different world. Unpacking the most quoted (and most misunderstood) Zen saying.

06
Main Feature Ink & Silence

Wang Wei: Painting Silence with Words

The Tang poet-painter who made Chan visible in landscape. How Wang Wei's empty mountains and still water became the aesthetic face of Chinese Zen.

Side Piece Body First

The Walking Meditation

Kinhin — the slow walk between sitting periods. How to turn each step into a complete practice, and why the body leads the mind.

Q3 · Jul–Sep

Dialogue — Culture & Cross-Culture

Chan in conversation — with Western philosophy, with living teachers, and with one of the greatest koan collections ever compiled.

07
Main Feature Chan Encounters

Heidegger & Chan

Heidegger never studied Chan — yet his concepts of Gelassenheit (releasement) and Lichtung (clearing) echo ancient Buddhist insights. A philosophical encounter across 2,000 years and 8,000 kilometers.

Side Piece The Ten Thousand Things

The Broom

"Sweeping the ground, the ground is already clean." A meditation on cleaning as practice — and the Zen master who refused to sweep.

08
Main Feature Living Masters

A Conversation with a Contemporary Chan Master

An in-depth interview with a teacher carrying Chan into the 21st century — on lineage, doubt, the role of monasteries, and what hasn't changed since Bodhidharma.

Side Piece Ordinary Mind

The Inbox

47 unread messages. Each one a koan. A practice guide for the most universal modern affliction: digital overwhelm.

09
Main Feature Text as Teacher

The Blue Cliff Record: Case 1

"Baizhang's Fox" — the monk who denied cause and effect, and was reborn as a fox for 500 years. The opening case of the Biyan Lu, unpacked line by line.

Side Piece Koan Lab

A Flower and a Smile

The Buddha held up a flower. Mahākāśyapa smiled. That's it — that's the whole koan. And it changed everything.

Continue Exploring

Dive deeper into Chinese Zen on YiqiDao.

Column Home

Chinese Zen Buddhism

History, teachings, schools, and the living tradition — the complete overview.

Koans

12 Classic Chan Koans

From Buddha's flower to Wumen's spring moon — the essential koans with original text, translation, and practice guidance.

Practice

Beginner's Guide to Chan Meditation

How to sit, how to breathe, how to work with thoughts — a practical starting point.

Reading List

Essential Chan Texts in English

The Platform Sutra, Blue Cliff Record, Gateless Gate — annotated recommendations.

Philosophy

Sudden vs. Gradual Enlightenment

The great debate that shaped Chan — and why it still matters today.

Culture

Chan in Art & Calligraphy

How Zen aesthetics shaped Chinese painting, ceramics, garden design, and ink wash art.

Community

Chan Temples Worth Visiting

From Shaolin to Nanputo — a traveler's guide to China's most important Zen monasteries.

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