The Linji lineage was first transmitted to Japan by Myoan Eisai. He initially studied at the Tendai headquarters on Mount Hiei to the north of Kyoto, but in 1168, he embarked on a journey to China, which culminated in bringing Rinzai Zen Buddhism to Japan.
While the heart of the Soto school is based on the practice of Zazen, the heart of the Rinzai school focuses on the use of koan, a kind of absurd phrase or statement which is given by a teacher to a disciple to trigger Enlightenment.
- The Order of members was founded in 1983 and is a member of the Austrian Buddhist Religious Society. The Order follows the tradition of Rinzai Zen as taught by Kyozan Joshu Sasaki Roshi. As of March, 2012 Kigen Seigaku Osho has been the spiritual leader of the Bodhidharma Zendo and of the Austrian Rinzai.
- The spirit of Rinzai, and thus of Rinzai Zen, embodies a way of teaching called “Soshi Zen”—no verbal, intellectual understanding or explanation, just dynamic presentation; the other way of teaching is called “Nyorai Zen,” which is the more verbal, intellectual understanding of Buddhadharma.
Rinzai Zen is marked by the emphasis it places on kensho ('seeing one's true nature') as the gateway to authentic Buddhist practice. This means the elimination of egoism and self-preference. Since people's ingrained habits tend towards the idea of a separate 'I,' working with a clear-eyed teacher or community of peers is indispensable.
Rinzai Ji Zen Center
Zen teachers often recite and comment on koans, and some Zen practitioners concentrate on koans during Zazen meditation. Teachers may probe students about their practice by using koan “checking questions” to further validate their experiences of awakening.
Designed to force and shock the mind into awareness, the koans are used to test the student’s ability. While in the process of answering a koan, one comes to experience the koan as the mind itself, transcending dualistic thinking.
A student might work with one koan for several months or even years, returning to their teacher many times to comment on their koan. Some other students may require only a few seconds to understand the same koan. Neither way of working with a koan is better than the other.
Rinzai-ji
The most important thing about koans is its use as a tool to discover one’s own true mind. It is not necessary to pass through as many koans as possible.
The origin of these two traditions dates to about the 8th century in China, when many dynamic individual teachers began to put their various stamps on Zen practice. Sierra mac os. The Rinzai tradition is named for the Chinese Master of the same name in Japanese (Lin-chi, in Chinese), while Soto takes its name from the first two letters of Masters Sozan (Ts’ao-shan Pen-chi) and his teacher, Tozan (Tung-shan Liang-chieh). The Japanese Soto school was profoundly influenced by Masters Dogen, who brought the tradition from China in the 13th century and wrote about it extensively, and Keizan, who popularized it nearly 100 years later. The modern Japanese Rinzai tradition was profoundly influenced by Master Hakuin in the early 1700’s.
Rinzai
The primary differences between the two schools are in their approaches to realization and their practice methods. The two schools are not incompatible; their commonalities far outweigh their differences, and some Zen teachers combine both approaches, particularly those within the Harada-Yasutani lineage. The following is an oversimplification of their differences but can serve as an introduction.
The Rinzai tradition holds that the experience of realization (kensho, satori, awakening, enlightenment) is of central importance, for this experience is what ends suffering. Realization is primarily viewed as an event which one “has,” an event that represents or leads to a radical shift in one’s understanding about who they are and what reality is. It is recognized that there can be many levels of profundity of such an experience, so it is one which can be accurately evaluated and confirmed only by one who has also “had” this shift, i.e., one’s master. This experience is something that is seen, at least initially, as a goal of practice.
In addition to zazen, attention to daily life, and intellectual study, Rinzai employs the intense examination of koans as an important, perhaps the most important aspect of practice. In the formal sense, koans are cases of life-changing encounters between Zen masters and disciples in ancient China during the “golden age” of Zen. The two most famous collections are the Pi-yen-lu, the “Blue Cliff Record” and the Mumonkan, the “Gateless Gate.” Typically, a koan is assigned by a teacher to a student who then “works” on the koan until it is “solved” to the satisfaction of the teacher. Most teachers require that their students go through a curriculum of koans as part of their training before they are qualified to receive dharma transmission. This realization (in the sense of having an experience), completing a koan curriculum, or receiving dharma transmission is not a final goal in Rinzai, for one continues to practice, to do zazen, to deepen his or her realization, and to help others.
The Soto tradition does not deny that many people have special experiences of realization but does see the seeking of them to be problematic. It also recognized that some shift in one’s understanding is necessary, but that shift need not be dramatic or “special.” Soto holds that what is centrally important is ongoing actualization of realization. Rather than being a special event, awakening is seen primarily as an ongoing process, always and constantly occurring here and now, always exactly at the point of the interdependent encounter between “you” and “the universe” as it is experienced in your ever-changing awareness, here and now. Awakening, at least in part, is the experiential “waking up” to that fact and to this ongoing flow of your life, which will consist of both “special” and “ordinary” moments.
Rinzairuku
Rinzai Bell
The primary practice of Soto is zazen, but it is a zazen not aimed at accomplishing anything. It is zazen without a goal. Rather than being guided by trying to “get” or “attain” something, the practitioner is guided by the intention of simply being aware of what is actually occurring in the eternal “present moment.” This type of zazen is called shikantaza, which translates as “just sitting.” In addition to shikantaza zazen, Soto emphasizes what Dogen called genjokoan, the realization that everything we do is an expression of ultimate reality and an opportunity to awaken. These approaches are consistent with Dogen’s assertions of non-duality, such as “practice is realization” and “zazen itself is satori.” Tony’s teaching approach is within this shikantaza/genjokoan tradition of Soto Zen.
It may be helpful to consider that there are two basic definitions of the verb “realize.” One is “to grasp or understand clearly”; the other is “to make real.” Both are valid and each is necessary for a complete understanding of just what “realization” is. Rinzai emphasizes the first definition and Soto emphasizes the second, but each school acknowledges the validity of both.