Sōtō
The original Chinese version of Sōtō-shū, i.e. the Caodong-school (曹洞宗) was established by the Tang dynasty monk Dongshan Liangjie (洞山良价 Ja: Tōzan Ryōkai) in the ninth century.
[5][b] Perhaps more significantly for the Japanese brand of this sect, Dōgen among others advocated the reinterpretation that the "Cao" represents not Caoshan, but rather "Huineng of Caoxi temple" 曹渓慧能 (Sōkei Enō); zh:曹溪慧能).
石頭希遷, ca.700 – ca.790),[6] the attributed author of the poem Sandokai, which formed the basis of Song of the Precious Mirror Samadhi of Dongshan Liangjie (Jp.
[12]In 1243 Dōgen founded Eihei-ji,[13] one of the two head temples of Sōtō-shū today, choosing... ... to create new monastic institutions based on the Chinese model and risk incurring the open hostility and opposition of the established schools.
The Sōtō Zen style of group meditation on long platforms in a sangha hall, where the monks also took meals and slept at night, was the same as that prescribed in Indian Vinaya texts.
Following his stay there he studied Pure Land Buddhism under Shōkū, whereafter he joined the Daruma school of Nōnin by then led by Kakuan.,[18] and later Dōgen's community in 1234.
The recorded conversations emphasize the primacy of an austere Zen Buddhism, and resisted efforts from outside to incorporate other practices such as building Buddhist statues, or erecting new temples, and contrast with a different journal, the Goyuigon Kiroku (御遺言記録, "Record of Final Words [of the founder of Eiheiji]"), an apocraphyl journal attributed to Gikai.
[19] A large group from the Daruma-school under the leadership of Ekan joined the Dogen-school in 1241,[17] after severe conflicts with the Tendai and Rinzai schools.
Gikai introduced esoteric elements into the practice: [W]ith the premature death of Dōgen the group lost its focus and internal conflicts led to a split.
[20] Opposition arose again, and Gikai was forced to leave Eihei-ji, and exiled to Kaga Province, Daijō-ji (in Ishikawa Prefecture).
[28] Dogen is known as the "koso", where Keizan is known as the "taiso"; Both terms mean the original ancestor, that is, the founder of Japanese Sōtō Zen tradition.
[35] The presence of these Chinese monks also influenced the existing Zen-schools, spreading new ideas about monastic discipline and the rules for dharma transmission.
[37] A key factor in this growing emphasis on Dogen was Manzan's appeal to change the rules for dharma transmission, based on arguments derived from the Shōbōgenzō.
He maintained this view in the face of strong opposition, citing as authority the towering figure of Japanese Zen, Dōgen ...
Another reformation was implemented by Gentō Sokuchū (1729–1807), the 11th abbot of Eihei-ji, who tried to purify the Sōtō school, de-emphasizing the use of kōans.
[4] This growing status of Dōgen as textual authority also posed a problem for the Sōtō school: The Sōtō hierarchy, no doubt afraid of what other radical reformers might find in Dōgen's Shobo Genzo, a work open to a variety of interpretations, immediately took steps to restrict access to this traditional symbol of sectarian authority.
Acting at the request of the Sōtō prelates, in 1722 the government prohibited the copying or publication of any part of Shobo Genzo.
The memory of Dōgen was used to ensure Eihei-ji's central place in the Sōtō organisation, and "to cement closer ties with lay people".
[46] In a piece of advice to western practitioners, Kojun Kishigami Osho, a dharma heir of Kōdō Sawaki, writes: Every year, about 150 novices arrive.
Essentially what they are learning in these temples is the ability to officiate all kinds of ceremonies and rites practiced by the Sōtō School – the methods for fulfilling their role.
In Europe the Sanbo Kyodan has been influential via Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle, and via students of disgraced Zen monk Dennis Genpo Merzel,[47] especially in the Netherlands.
Another of Sawaki's students, Taisen Deshimaru,[48] travelled to France where he became Kaikyosokan (head of Japanese Soto Zen for a particular country or continent) in Europe.
[50][51] The larger majority of North American Sōtō priests[c] joined in 1996 to form the Soto Zen Buddhist Association.
While institutionally independent of the Japanese Sōtōshū, the Sōtō Zen Buddhist Association works closely with what most members see as their parent organization.
Female ancestors, dating back 2,500 years from India, China, and Japan, may now be included in the curriculum, ritual, and training offered to Western Zen students.
[web 5] In the Sōtō school of Zen, Shikantaza, meditation with no objects, anchors, or content, is the primary form of practice.
Considerable textual, philosophical, and phenomenological justification of this practice can be found throughout Dōgen's works: In the first works he wrote after his return to Japan, the Fukan zazengi (Principles for the universal promotion of zazen) and Bendōwa (Distinguishing the Way), he advocated zazen (seated meditation) as the supreme Buddhist practice for both monks and laypersons.
[4]Shih-t'ou Hsi-ch'ien's (Shitou Xiqien, Sekito Kisen, 700–790) poem "The Harmony of Difference and Sameness" is an important early expression of Zen Buddhism and is chanted in Sōtō temples to this day.
Other texts typically chanted in Sōtō Zen temples include the Heart Sutra (Hannyashingyō), and Dōgen's Fukanzazengi (Universally Recommended Instructions for Zazen).
By the end of the fifteenth century most of Dōgen's writings had been hidden from view in temple vaults where they became secret treasures ...
