separate transmission outside the sutras ［教外別伝］ ( kyōge-betsuden): A doctrine of the Zen school stating that the Buddha’s enlightenment and his true teaching have been transmitted apart from the sutras. This phrase is often accompanied by the phrase “independent of words or writing.” “Transmission from mind to mind” is a similar oft-quoted phrase. The Zen school asserts that the Buddha’s enlightenment has been wordlessly transmitted from mind to mind and in this way handed down from one Zen patriarch to the next. In referring to this tenet, sometimes the word “special” replaces “separate,” or “scriptures” replaces “sutras” in the above.