The Linji lineage was first transmitted to Japan by Myoan Eisai. He initially studied at the Tendai headquarters on Mount Hiei to the north of Kyoto, but in 1168, he embarked on a journey to China, which culminated in bringing Rinzai Zen Buddhism to Japan.
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Rinzai School Of Zen Buddhism
While the heart of the Soto school is based on the practice of Zazen, the heart of the Rinzai school focuses on the use of koan, a kind of absurd phrase or statement which is given by a teacher to a disciple to trigger Enlightenment.
Zen teachers often recite and comment on koans, and some Zen practitioners concentrate on koans during Zazen meditation. Teachers may probe students about their practice by using koan “checking questions” to further validate their experiences of awakening.
Designed to force and shock the mind into awareness, the koans are used to test the student’s ability. While in the process of answering a koan, one comes to experience the koan as the mind itself, transcending dualistic thinking.
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Rinzai Zen Buddhismus
He served the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism as the head priest of Daitoku-ji in Kyoto, starting in 1607, was exiled to Ideba in today’s Yamagata Prefecture in 1629, and became the founder of Tōkai-ji in 1638. A certified Zen master, Takuan gained popular acclaim as the teacher of the legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi (1584–1645). Rinzai, one of two major Zen Buddhist sects in Japan; it stresses the abrupt awakening of transcendental wisdom, or enlightenment. Among the methods it practices are shouts (katsu) or blows delivered by the master on the disciple, question-and-answer sessions (mondo), and meditation on paradoxical statements (koan), all intended to accelerate a breakthrough of the normal boundaries of.
Mysql community server download mac. A student might work with one koan for several months or even years, returning to their teacher many times to comment on their koan. Some other students may require only a few seconds to understand the same koan. Neither way of working with a koan is better than the other.
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The most important thing about koans is its use as a tool to discover one’s own true mind. It is not necessary to pass through as many koans as possible.