This shelf gathers primary texts, practice literature, and historical studies concerning Chan and Zen lineages, meditation, discipline, philosophy, literature, and community life. Use Dōgen and Japanese Zen for the Japanese textual tradition and History, Philosophy, and Practice for broader historical surveys and interpretive works.

Historical translations and studies preserve the terminology and assumptions of their periods. They are useful witnesses, but they should be read beside current scholarship and sources from living Chan and Zen communities.