Sōtō and Rinzai Zen Practice

Abstract

Abstract This chapter explains the differences between the meditation methods of the Sōtō and Rinzai schools of Zen. It begins by tracing the methodological disputes between these two schools back to the twelfth century, when the Linji (Japanese: Rinzai) master Dahui, who advocated the use of kōans, criticized the “silent illumination” taught by Caodong (Japanese: Sōtō) masters such as Hongzhi. The chapter presents these methods as distinct yet compatible. It explains Dōgen’s Sōtō Zen practice of “just sitting” and “non-thinking” as a matter of awakening to an open field of nondual awareness. The latter sections of the chapter discuss the Rinzai Zen practice taught by Hakuin of working with kōans, the enigmatic stories, dialogues, sayings, or questions assigned as topics of meditation and used to trigger and test a student’s awakening experience of kenshō or “seeing into one’s true nature.”