Siddhartha Gautama, the great Indian philosopher, is believed to have attained Enlightenment sometime in the middle of the 5th century BCE, while meditating under a Bodhi tree. From that time of Enlightenment until his death, he traveled by foot around the countryside of India, teaching others his philosophy of the Middle Path. The foundations of Buddhist tradition and practice are often called the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma (teachings), and the Sangha (community). These concepts eventually traveled from India to China, and then to Japan, and became distilled into the movement within the Buddhist faith known as Zen Buddhism.
Presented is a selection of the ancient texts which would follow the path of the Silk Road from India to China to Japan, and evolve into the school of thought known today as Zen Buddhism. The beginning student of Buddhism can therefore seek the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha in the re-telling of the verses and sutras which spread across the Silk Road.