Blackwell Reference Online

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[xxi] Meditation (dhyana; Chinese: Ch'an; Japanese: zen) [8: 87–92; 13; 36: 203–28, 240–1, 250–3; 37]. Meditating in the way of the historic Buddha (Gotama) first appeared as a formal practice in Japan in the 9th century, but made no headway until the priest Eisai (1141–1215) returned in 1191 from his second trip to China (see Japan, buddhism in). After trying to settle in Kyushu he was identified with an unpopular Kyoto Zen priest and ordered to cease. Eisai preached Lin-chi (Japanese: Rinzai) in Kyoto, then in Kamakura where he gained the support of the military ruler, moving into the Kennin-ji in Kyoto in 1202 and teaching a mixed form of esoteric Tendai and Zen. His Jufuku-ji temple in Kamakura was pure Zen. He stressed koan (paradoxical questions), tea-drinking and sudden enlightenment. Rinzai has appealed chiefly to the aristocracy. Soto Zen has become more popular, spread by the priest Dogen (1200–53), who had once studied under Eisai [29]. He introduced Ts'ao-tung (Japanese: Soto) in 1227 after a trip to China, and lived in Kyoto where he wrote Fukan Zazengi (General Teaching for Seated Meditation), an exposition of meditation practices free of other sectarian rituals. Tendai monks forced him to move and he settled in the Daibutsu-ji, a temple in Fukui prefecture, in 1244. The temple was renamed Eihei-ji and shares headquarters responsibilities with the Soji-ji, which was ... log in or subscribe to read full text