What are the main Japanese Zen sects

Zen Buddhism was founded late in Japan to teach, but Zen has left a profound impact on the history of Japanese Buddhism, Japanese thought, Japanese culture, and the history of Japan as a whole. Japanese Zen Buddhism comes from China. When Zen reached its peak in its homeland, when it was at its richest and fullest, it naturally spread to its eastern neighbor, the island nation known as Fuso. Japanese Zen Buddhism was formed and gradually developed through the close interaction of Zen masters from China and Japan. The Japanese monk Mingan Eisai can be regarded as the founder of Japanese Zen. In the Song Dynasty, he came to China twice and received the Rinzai Mind Seal, and after returning home, he greatly developed the Rinzai Zen method, thus, the Rinzai Sect was born in Japan as the earliest sect of Japanese Zen Buddhism.

After Rinzai, his disciples made unremitting efforts to carry on the legacy of his master, and the results were manifested in two aspects: First, Xingyong, Rongzhao and his grandsons, Jueshen, etc., devoted themselves to the cause started by Rinzai, and further promoted and spread Rinzai Sect in Japan, so that Rinzai Sect's organization and rituals were continuously improved, and Rinzai Sect's power was thus greatly increased, and the momentum of the Rinzai Sect was far-reaching. Secondly, Rongxi's disciple Xixuan Daoyuan followed his teacher Mingquan to seek the Dharma in Song Dynasty, visited famous temples and great masters, and was finally enlightened by Tiantong Temple's Changweng Rujing, who taught him the secret essence and the top of the garment, and then returned to his country to vigorously propagate Cao-dong Sect, which created the Cao-dong Sect, another major school of Zen Buddhism in Japan. From then on, Linji and Caodong sects, as the two major sects of Japanese Zen, have been developing in parallel, with a long history, and have an important historical position in the history of Japanese Zen and Japanese Buddhism.

At the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty in China, there was a steep increase in the number of Chinese Zen monks who traveled to Fusan to avoid the war, which led to the rapid development of Zen in Japan, and for a while the Zen style was greatly revitalized, almost overpowering all the other sects of Buddhism. It is said that there were as many as twenty-four schools of Zen that reached Japan at that time. However, all of these schools actually developed in the two main lines of Rinzai and Cao-dong Zen. The Rinzai and Caodong sects developed and flourished through the Kamakura, Northern and Southern Dynasties, and the Muromachi period, when there were many famous masters. The two masters of the Rinzai Sect, Yumoto Kokushi and Daideng Kokushi, founded the "Five Mountains and Ten Shrines" school of governmental Zen, and the Daitokuji and Myoshinji schools, which were mainly spread among the people, and formed the two main threads in the development of Rinzai Sect in Japan. In contrast, Ying Shan Shao Jin of the Caodong Sect changed the dull style of Zen that had been emphasized only on meditation since the Dogen era, and absorbed into the Caodong Zen teachings some of the prayers and rituals that had been popular among the people, and devoted himself to the popularization of Zen, which became very popular among the people. Shaojin's disciples, Myeongbong Sogetsu and Esan Soshu, founded the Myeongbong School and Esan Five Schools, which taught Buddhism in the West, and the Cao Dong Sect flourished.

Japanese Zen Buddhism began to decline in the Edo period after the heyday of the Kamakura, Northern and Southern Dynasties and Muromachi. However, the arrival of the Chinese abbot of Phellodendron Bark, the Rinzai monk Hidden Gen Ryuqi, broke the silence of the Zen forests at that time. In Uji, Inamoto founded the Manpuku-ji Temple of Mount Phellodendron and established the Japanese Phellodendron Sect, which became a major event in the history of Buddhism in Japan. The emergence of the Phellodendron Sect as another independent sect of Japanese Zen Buddhism indicated that Japanese Zen Buddhism had completed the construction of its final religious organization. Ingen also brought to Japan the "Nenbutsu Zen", which was prevalent in China during the Ming Dynasty. This unique Zen method from China not only gained a foothold in Japan, but also greatly stimulated the stagnant Linji and Caodong sects. The two sects revitalized their styles, and finally the three schools of Zen in Japan flourished.

Japanese Zen was born in the Kamakura period. The Kamakura period was the beginning of the Shogunate's rule and the rule of the samurai. From the day of its emergence, Japanese Zen Buddhism had a close relationship with the shogunate. After the end of the Kamakura period, the Shogunate went through two periods, the Muromachi Shogunate and the Edo Shogunate. During the seven hundred years of Shogunate politics, Zen Buddhism was in harmony with the rise and fall of the Shogunate regimes of several generations. In general, however, it developed considerably with the support of the samurai, led by the Shogunate. Therefore, it is sometimes said that Japanese Zen is the religion of the samurai.

Japanese Zen, as the "religion of the samurai," appeared at that time in two main sects, the Rinzai and the Cao Dong sects. These two schools formed their own camps among the samurai of the Shogunate, i.e., the Rinzai Sect was mainly close to the upper echelons of the Shogunate, while the Caodong Sect focused on local development and was supported by the middle and lower samurai, such as the lords of the land, and other local lords. The popular saying of the time, "Rinzai shoguns, Caodong natives," sums up this characterization very well.

The founder of the Rinzai Sect, Eisai, was attacked by the Tendai Sect monks when he was promoting and introducing Zen Buddhism, so he wrote the "Essay on the Promotion of Zen and the Protection of the State," emphasizing that "the promotion of Zen" could "protect the state," which tightly linked Zen with the state, and for this reason, he gained the faith and support of the shogun, Minamoto no Yorinaga. The Minamoto no Yoritomo family not only built Kenshuji Temple in Kyoto for him, but also invited him to Kamakura, where he founded Shofukuji Temple. Eisai preached Zen Buddhism in Kansai and Kanto, all by virtue of the power of the Shogunate.

The development of the Rinzai sect after Eisai continued along these lines, with a number of famous Zen masters having close ties to the upper echelons of the shogunate and actively teaching Zen among the samurai. For example, the "Sacred One", Yuaner Chieh Yuan, went to the Song Dynasty to learn Zen from Wujun Normal, and after his return, he was honored by the regent, Kujo Michinaga, who created Tofukuji Temple in Kyoto especially for him. Afterwards, he was invited to teach the Bodhisattva precepts to the Shogunate's chief executive, Hojo Tokiyori, and to Emperor Saga, and his Zen teachings were very influential among the imperial court and the samurai. Another example is the Chinese Zen monk Rankei Daolong, who traveled east to promote Zen, and was welcomed by the Kamakura Shogunate upon his arrival in Japan. The ruling Hojo Tokiyori built the Kencho-ji Temple for him, which had a far-reaching influence on many Zen practitioners who came to attend the temple. The Chinese Zen monk Wuxue Zuyuan was also highly respected by the Shogunate, and Hojo Tokimune built the Enjo-ji Temple for him, and his Zen teachings had a great influence among the samurai. Another Zen monk of the Yuan Dynasty who went to Japan, Ichiyama Yining, was also honored by Hojo Tokimune, who invited him to live in Kenshodera and Yuanjueji, and later moved to live in the main Nanzenji Temple in Kyoto. So on and so forth, we can well say that the Rinzai sect in Japan relied to a considerable extent on the Kamakura Shogunate for its rise and gradual development.

During the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Muromachi period, the shoguns were dictatorial, the samurai were tyrannical, and there were frequent wars, social upheavals, and great suffering among the people. Against the background of the tendency for all schools of Buddhism to fall silent, Zen Buddhism flourished as a family, and this had a lot to do with the way Zen rested. In those turbulent times, people's hearts tended to be indifferent, and Zen Buddhism boasted of a clear mind, which was in line with the general mentality of the people, so it was popular at all levels of society. The Rinzai Sect at this time produced two masters, Mengwu Shushi and Zongfeng Miaochao. Yumemono was a learned and highly regarded master, and was greatly admired by Ashikaga Zun, the founder of the Muromachi Shogunate, who converted to his faith. In addition, Monk Window was honored by Emperor Daigo, and was admitted to the Imperial Palace with a special golden throne, and given the title of "Master of the Nation". As the "Imperial Teacher of the Seven Dynasties," Yumemori maneuvered between the imperial court and the Shogunate, and made great efforts to reconcile the contradictions between them. Yumemono's disciples gathered in the Gokusan Tokushakuji Temple, which was founded in the Muromachi period, and formed the "Gokusan Kokushakuji School of Zen". The system of "five mountains and ten temples" was originally formulated by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu of the Muromachi Shogunate, so the "five mountains of Zen monks" at that time became an important tool in the politics of the Muromachi Shogunate, and they often participated in the military and diplomatic affairs and drafted political and diplomatic documents for the Shogunate, and some of them also went to the neighboring countries as the national ambassadors. This historical and cultural background was naturally conducive to the flourishing of Zen Buddhism.

Even in the Edo period, Zen was in decline, but the Rinzai sect still had a close relationship with the shogunate, and thus maintained. For example, at the beginning of the Edo period, Eshin Shonin was trusted and utilized by Ieyasu Tokugawa and Hidetada Tokugawa, the two generations of the center of the Shogunate, and in addition to being invited to participate in military and diplomatic affairs, he was also appointed to formulate a series of important laws for the establishment of the Tokugawa regime, such as the "Monastery Laws," the "Forbidden House and Public House Laws" and the "Martial Law Laws," and so on. Sawan Sohonpon of the Daitokuji school, who came after him, was also converted by Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, and propagated the philosophy of budo in the context of Zen at that time.

The Caodong Sect, another major school of Zen in Japan, was also closely associated with the Shogunate samurai, but because of the different style of the sect, it was mainly spread among the lower and middle classes of the samurai.

The founder of the Cao Dong Sect, Dogen, was also revered by the imperial court and the shogunate when he first preached Cao Dong Zen, and Hojo Tokiyori, who had heard of his reputation, admired him so much that he asked him to come to Kamakura to teach the Great Precepts of the Bodhisattva and asked Dogen's first disciple, Genmei, to bring back a note for the land of the temple of Ei Myoji. However, Dogen was not fond of making friends with the rich and powerful and did not get close to the king's ministers, and he was so angry with Genmei for accepting Tokimitsu Yori's note in private that he drove him out of the mountain. He himself never took the initiative to make friends with those dignitaries, because the basic essence of the "silent illumination Zen" he preached was to sit in meditation in a secluded mountain forest, "disregarding all things, purely discerning the way.

After Dogen, another outstanding monk of the Cao Dong Sect was Ying Shan Shao Jin. He made great contributions to strengthening the Cao Dong sect and formulating the Cao Dong Qing rules, which led to the development of the Cao Dong Sect. In addition, Shaojin paid particular attention to the popularization of Zen. He changed Dogen's style of Zen, which emphasized only meditation, and made great efforts to educate the lower classes and popularize Zen among the general public, thus gaining the support of the middle and lower warriors, such as the local lords and landowners.

The development of Cao Dong Sect after Shao Jin basically followed the Zen style of Shao Jin, focusing on the expansion of Zen in the local area, and fully absorbing some of the prayer rituals and practice rituals that were prevalent in the folklore and in other religions, which made the way of spreading the teachings simpler, and had a great attraction for the lower class people in general. Therefore, by the time of the Muromachi Shogunate, Soto Sect was widely spread throughout Japan.

Even though the Phellodendron Sect, which was the latest to establish itself, had passed its golden age of Zen development in Japan because the Shogunate politics were drawing to a close, the Phellodendron Sect was still supported by the Tokugawa Shogunate. Ingen went to Japan, first stayed in Nagasaki and became known throughout Japan, and then was invited to preach Zen in foreign countries. He led his disciples to Edo, where he met with General Ietsuna of the Tokugawa Shogunate and planned to build a temple. In that year, Manpuku-ji Temple of Uji Berber Mountain in Kyoto was officially built with Ietsuna as the patron and Yumoto as the founder.

The reason why Zen Buddhism became so popular among the samurai and even became the "religion of the samurai", as mentioned earlier, was mainly related to its way of practicing Zen Buddhism as well as the social environment under the Shogunate rule. In addition, many of the religious qualities of Zen are considered to be particularly compatible with the spirit of Bushido. For example, the Zen monk's idea of treating death as the same as life and death had a great influence on the samurai's spirit of loyalty, filial piety, martial valor, and fearlessness of life and death. Another example is Zen Buddhism's aim to be low in desire and quality, requiring Zen monks to overcome the idea of selfishness and indulgence, which is also similar to the integrity advocated by the samurai. In addition, Zen transformed Buddhist teachings into concrete daily life, carrying firewood and water were all Buddhist deeds, without establishing literature, and transmitted the teachings from mind to mind, seeing the nature of the Dharma. This simple and easy method is more popular with the majority of warriors.

All in all, the virtues of Japanese Bushido are based on loyalty and filial piety, martial arts and courage, compassion, courtesy, diligence and thrift, and quality. And these contents, almost all can be said to be compatible with the teachings of Zen Buddhism, so Zen Buddhism since the introduction of China into Japan, further inspired the spirit of Japanese Bushido, widely popular among the samurai class, and even set as the basic method of completing the samurai personality cultivation. The samurai paid great attention to the practice of Zen, and the Zen monks were respected and adored by both the shogun and the samurai, whether they were "Rinzai Shoguns" or "Caodong Tumin". This is why Zen Buddhism was able to flourish during nearly seven hundred years of shogunate politics.

The influence of traditional Chinese culture has been enormous in Japan's history, and the channel of its spread to the island was precisely after the Sui and Tang dynasties, with the help of the missionary movement of the Buddhists, i.e., attached to the eastward movement of Buddhism.

The eastward spread of Chinese Zen was in the Song Dynasty; the establishment and prosperity of Japanese Zen was also in Kamakura and after, so from this time onwards (i.e., the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties in China), the spread of Chinese traditional culture in Japan is mainly dependent on the Zen monks in China and Japan. Zen Buddhism has a close relationship with Japanese culture.

The Song culture that spread to Japan from Zen Buddhism is nowhere more prominent than in Song science. The earliest exponent of this was the Japanese legal scholar Toshiyuki. He entered the Song in the tenth year of the Jianjiu era (1199) to study Tiantai, Zen, and the Ritual, and returned home in the first year of the Jianli era (1211), bringing back a large number of Buddhist and Confucian classics. After him, the founder of Tofukuji Temple, Yuan Er Dang Yuan, also brought back thousands of volumes of texts from Song in 1242, and personally wrote the Catalog of the Three Religions' Canonical Texts. These texts contributed greatly to the flourishing of Confucianism and poetry and literature in Gozan, Japan. In addition, the Chinese Zen monks Lanxi Daolong and Ilsan Yining also contributed greatly to the spread of Song Dynasty science. Dolong often borrowed ideas from the Four Books of Confucianism when he taught Zen, and through his Zen talks to monks, he blended the philosophy of Song Confucianism into Buddhist Zen. Yining was a learned man, and during his twenty years in Japan, in addition to revitalizing Zen, he also actively spread the Song school of Buddhism. Later, the famous Japanese pioneers of Song studies, such as Hu Guan Shi Lian and Yukimura Youmei, were his students.

In the Muromachi era, the Five Mountains and Ten Shrines were formally established. Gosan not only became the center of Zen Buddhism at that time, but also gradually took on the role of a center for Song studies. The "Gosan Edition", which was published by Haruya Myobaba, contained not only a large number of Zen books, but also many Confucian texts. Among the Zen monks of Wushan, many scholars who were well versed in Song studies emerged. Because of their efforts, Song studies spread widely among the Japanese intellectual class. It was not until the Edo period that Song studies, which was originally attached to the cultural form of Zen Buddhism, gradually left its own body and became an independent existence, becoming an important element of Japanese culture.

Besides this, because of the close interaction between Chinese and Japanese Zen, the traditional Chinese culture that came to Japan with Zen Buddhism can be said to be diverse in form and content. From Eisai's "Record of Eating Tea to Enhance Health", which introduced Chinese tea-eating customs and methods and became the "Tea Ancestor" of Japan, to the large number of paintings and calligraphies brought by Yin Yuan at the end of the Ming Dynasty, which made Mount Phellodendron a museum of Chinese paintings and calligraphy; from the top phase of the master brought back by Discriminating Circle, Shao Ming, and Daoyuan, etc. from China, to the "Three Strokes of Phellodendron", which appeared in the history of calligraphy in Edo Japan, and even to the literary works of Yidang Zhouxin, the poems of Jiekai Zhonglu, and the publishing business of Haruya Myouba. The influence of Zen on Japanese culture is both profound and extensive, resulting in the concept of "Zen culture" that has a special significance in Japan today." Zen culture" is a concept of Japanese culture that is both profound and extensive. Zen culture" is an important part of Japanese traditional culture, and it can be said to be a cultural form rich in connotations that has been formed on the basis of the introduction of Zen Buddhism into Japan, and its development and circulation in Japan. It is a product of the combination of Chinese culture and Japanese culture.

Indian Zen was introduced to China, and after development, there was Chinese Zen. Chinese Zen went east to Japan, and there was Japanese Zen. Japanese Zen Buddhism is not just a wholesale absorption of Chinese Zen Buddhism, not a simple replica. Because of the different historical clues and cultural backgrounds, Zen had to be developed in a new way in order to adapt to the political and cultural atmosphere of this island nation. This actually began when Eisai set up the Zen Buddhism Center and the Zen Buddhism Center in Kenrenji Temple, which housed the three sects of Zen, Zen Buddhism, and Tiantai, and fused the ideas of the three sects to form the Rinzai Sect in Japan. Therefore, although Japanese Zen originated from China, and the ideas and styles of the various schools have basically maintained the characteristics of Chinese Zen, it is a development of Chinese Zen, and has its own characteristics, both in terms of its system of thought and its methods of practice. Japanese Zen is an independent and complete religious system and is an important aspect of Japanese Buddhist culture.

It is significant that from Indian Zen to Chinese Zen, and from Chinese Zen to Japanese Zen, this is a step-by-step "eastward graduation" of Zen. However, after completing the construction of Japanese Zen from the idea to the organization, it returned to the "westward", contacted with the Western thought, and spread in the Western world - Europe and the United States, so that in recent years, Zen has been popular in Europe and the United States, which greatly affected the spiritual world and cultural life of the Westerners.

The westward movement of Zen began in the Meiji era and is still going on today. Among them, Sakyamuni, the head priest of Enkaku-ji Temple in Kamakura, was the "pioneer", and his disciple, Suzuki Daikoshi, made it his life's mission to introduce Zen to the West and to promote Zen in Europe and the United States.

If Chinese Zen bore fruit in its eastern neighbor, Japan, today Japanese Zen is shining in the Western world, which is another great development of Japanese Zen.