In East Asia, zuochan is a distinctive form of meditation that has its early origins in Tiantai (as taught by Zhiyi 智顗) and which is further transformed in the course of the development of the East Asian meditation schools 禪宗 of Chan/Seon/Zen/Thien. In these schools, this form of meditation is held as distinct from the dhyāna or concentration that was considered to be one of the original 'three disciplines'  三學 taught in Indian Buddhism.

The Chinese Chan texts begin to develop this distinction in their description of the teachings of meditation practice attributed to their early patriarchs, starting from Bodhidharma 達磨 and continuing up to the sixth patriarch Huineng 慧能. As Chan literature develops in the Song, the notion of zuochan develops as more than just a physical act of sitting for meditation, referring to an attitude of mental nonabiding—a state of cessation of discriminatory thinking and a direct insight into reality, which may occur even when one is not formally engaged in seated meditation. The cultivation of this attitude is seen in the encounter dialogues of such legendary Chan monks as Mazu 馬祖, Baizhang 百丈, and Yunmen 雲門, as is recorded in their teaching records and gong'an 公案 collections.