subordinate component of their practice from the
660s. In the mid-twelfth century, communication was
reopened with Song dynasty China, and Chan’s im-
portation was justified in terms of the powers of as-
cetic meditation and “natural wisdom.” Myoan Eisai
(1141–1215) introduced Linji (Japanese, Rinzai) as
part of Tendai, while Dainichi Nonin (ca. 1189) at-
tempted to establish an independent Zen assembly
without sanction of a Chinese master, based on “nat-
ural wisdom” or ORIGINAL ENLIGHTENMENT(HON-
GAKU). For this Nonin was attacked by Eisai and
DOGENKigen (1200–1253). But Eisai was attacked in
turn by Tendai prelates, and he retaliated by asserting
that Zen was the essence of Buddhism, and his pupils
founded independent Zen monasteries. The Japanese
saying, “Rinzai (for) shoguns, Soto(for) peasants,” re-
flects the social classes each school aimed at.
Soto.The Soto (Chinese, Caodong) school believed
that as one is already buddha, anybody can allow that
status to emerge by a “quietist” sitting in meditation,
without striving to become buddha. Dogen, venerated
as the founder of Soto, introduced the Caodong Chan
of Ruqing (1163–1228), but the practice soon became
more complex and added koanto its repertoire.
Dogen emphasized independence by ascetic med-
itation in the mountains away from the capitals,
bodhisattva-precepts ordinations apart from the
Tendai monopoly, and thorough Chan monastic rou-
tines. Receiving transmission in a Caodong lineage
from China, he advocated sitting in meditation only
(shikantaza) as the sole way to enlightenment, and he
misread the Nirvana Sutrato say “all being is enlight-
enment.” He attacked Zonggao, despised the memo-
rization of koanand dialectical formulae, and even
disparaged the notion of a Zen school (Zenshu). He
claimed that the only transmission of the “Storehouse
of the Eye of the True Dharma” (shobogenzo) came via
Shitou Xiqian, so he, Dogen, had brought the only true
Buddhism to Japan. Yet his own magnum opus, the
Shobogenzo,a masterpiece in Japanese and Chinese,
was ignored and not rehabilitated until the 1700s. The
Soto lineages derived from Dogen, however, spread
rapidly throughout rural Japan, the powers of medita-
tion and the precepts converting warriors and villagers
alike. Catering to their clients’ needs, Soto created
country-wide networks of over ten thousand monas-
teries. In doing so, much of Dogen’s “pure Zen” was
shed for the joint practice of Zen and esoteric Bud-
dhism. The arrival of the Chinese Obaku monks in the
1650s stimulated the revival of monastic rules and
Dogen’s teachings. Scholarship on Dogen Zen and dis-
putes over its interpretation continue today, with a
CRITICAL BUDDHISMscholarship even denying that
Zen and tathagatagarbha thought are Buddhist.Rinzai.Rinzai (Chinese, Linji) used the koanas the
primary means to attain enlightenment. Being more
active in the use of blows, shouts, and witty exchanges,
this “opportunist” Zen targeted the warrior class. Rin-
zai was restricted to the capitals and mixed with Tendai
and Shingon until Song-dynasty Chan was implanted
by Chinese monks fleeing the Mongols in the thir-
teenth century. Attracted by their Chinese culture and
their disciplined Zen, the warrior rulers invited them
to Kamakura. These monks brought the Chan of Zong-
gao and the Song as a whole package: language, koan,
discipline, and architecture. They also introduced neo-
Confucianism and the arts, and inspired the imitation
of the Five Mountains network (gozan) of Song China.
The Gozan network, which was ranked in three tiers,
was state-controlled and located in Kamakura and then
Kyoto, with provincial branches later. The warrior elite
and emperors patronized Rinzai, especially the Nanzen
Monastery, making Yishan Yining (1247–1317) and
MusoSoseki (1275–1351) abbots there. The main role
of the Gozan was cultural, as centers for the arts. These
centers were gradually secularized, weakening Zen
practice; wars in the 1460s ended their influence, al-
though a Nanzenji monk introduced Zen to the
RyukyuKingdom in the 1450s.
The Gozan were superseded by the Daitokuji and
Myoshinji lineages, which gained merchant support-
ers. These monasteries had been built with the aid of
Shuho Myocho (Daito kokushi, 1282–1337). Rinzai
assisted the Tokugawa state control of Buddhism and
the spread of neo-Confucianism, actions that weak-
ened it. But monks like Takuan Soho(1573–1645), the
last prominent member of the Daitokuji lineage, ex-
plained neo-Confucianism in terms of Zen and sword-
fighting as the removal of ego, ideas suitable to the
samurai. The Obaku influx stimulated a revival of the
Myoshinji lineage, with Bankei Yotaku (1622–1693)
teaching that koanare too artificial. However, Mujaku
Dochu(1653–1744) saw the Obaku as rivals, railed
against them, and pioneered Rinzai scholarship.
HAKUINEKAKU(1686–1768), the restorer of Rinzai, re-
acted against Yotaku and championed kanna(Chinese,
kanhua) Zen. Modern Rinzai largely derives from him.Obaku.This Ming-dynasty form of Chan was intro-
duced by Chinese monks fleeing Mount Huangbo in
Fujian before the Manchu invasion in 1647. AlthoughCHANSCHOOL