"Chan" is short for "Channa", the Chinese transliteration of Jhāna (S. Dhyāna), meaning meditation or contemplation in tranquillity, also known as Chanding (Samādhi practice). This practice is to make the mind concentrate on one point of an object, and keep contemplating in order to become aware of the true nature of one's own mind. It is known as "Can Chan" in Chinese, so this school is called the Chan School, or Jhāna School. There are a number of types of "Chan", including Sāvaka Jhāna, Bodhisatta Jhāna, Step by Step Jhāna and Jhāna of Immediate Enlightenment. In Jhāna studies, there is a special Chinese subsect different from others, that is the Chan Sect, which claim "transmission of Dhamma without recourse to the scriptures". It is not the traditional gradual Jhāna, but the Jhāna of the Patriarch, which emphasizes "Direct pointing at the mind of the man, and the attainment of immediate enlightenment".
禪是禪那(Jhāna)的簡稱,漢譯為靜慮,是靜中思慮的意思,一般叫做禪定。此法是將心專注在一法境上一心參究,以期證悟本自心性,這叫參禪,所以名為禪宗。禪的種類很多,有聲聞禪、有菩薩禪、有次第禪、有頓超禪。禪學方面,在中國有一支異軍特起,那就是所謂“教外別傳”的禪宗。這個宗所傳習的,不是古來傳習的次第禪,而是直指心性的頓修頓悟的祖師禪。