The Rinzai school (臨済宗; Japanese: Rinzai-shū, Chinese: línjì zōng) is one of the three Japanese Zen sects. Rinzai is the Japanese line of the Chinese Linji school, which was founded during the Tang Dynasty by Linji Yixuan (Japanese: Rinzai Gigen). Though there were several attempts to establish Rinzai lines in Japan, it first took root in a lasting way through the efforts of the monk Myōan Eisai, following his return from China in 1191. Eisai is ...
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The Rinzai school (臨済宗; Japanese: Rinzai-shū, Chinese: línjì zōng) is one of the three Japanese Zen sects. Rinzai is the Japanese line of the Chinese Linji school, which was founded during the Tang Dynasty by Linji Yixuan (Japanese: Rinzai Gigen). Though there were several attempts to establish Rinzai lines in Japan, it first took root in a lasting way through the efforts of the monk Myōan Eisai, following his return from China in 1191. Eisai is thus usually credited with the transmission of Rinzai to Japan. The school may be said to have truly flowered, and achieved a distinctly Japanese identity, with Shuho Myocho (Daito Kokushi, 1283-1337) and Musō Soseki (1275–1351), influential masters that did not travel to China to study.
Rinzai Zen is marked by the emphasis it places on kensho ("seeing one's true nature", or enlightenment) as the gateway to authentic Buddhist practice, and for its insistence on many years of exhaustive post-enlightenment training to embody the free functioning...
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