In Chan Buddhism the worldly and the holy are one and the same, being unconfined by form, and in principle there is no need to codify the dharma in writing. Yet there are plenty of spoken records, and with the proliferation of sects over the centuries fixed rules have inevitably become established. Hence the diversity of teachings and multiplication of religious regulations.
禪，雖然凡聖一體，不拘形式，標舉不立文字，卻留下許多語錄，這看來有些弔詭，卻似乎也是現象上發展的不得不然，因為門眾愈多，為讓修行有依循的準則，乃樹立各種道場規範，及修行拈提，遂有五家七宗，規矩漸多。