Two Schools of Zen Buddhism.

Soto and Rinzai are the two main branches of Zen Buddhism. Both the Rinzai and Soto schools of Zen study koans (paradoxical riddles used to provoke Enlightenment) and practice Zazen (sitting meditation). However, they disagree on just how much emphasis should be put on koans and on Zazen. Both of the schools of Zen are very direct, to the point, and down to earth.

Soto Zen (Soto-shu in Japanese)

Soto is the leading school of Zen Buddhism. It was initially founded in China as the Caodong lineage of the Chan school of Buddhism, and was later imported to Japan in the thirteenth century by Dogen Zenji, after which it was called Soto Zen.

In the Soto branch of Zen, Zazen, or sitting meditation, is the core of the practice. After all, Zazen was the vehicle of Buddha's Enlightenment. Shikantaza, or "just sitting" is the essence of Soto Zen. There is no goal to be attained beyond the practice itself.

Soto Zen practitioners do not actively seek Enlightenment or Satori (the Zen Buddhism term for enlightenment), but rather they seek to fully experience every moment; that is, to be fully aware of every action in the here and now. As Zen Master Taisen Deshimaru once said, "Zazen has no object, it is purposeless, it only brings us back to ourselves." One doesn't need to worry about Satori.

Even though Zazen is at the heart of Soto Zen, Soto Masters have never discarded the use of koans outside the practice of Zazen. Unlike the Rinzai koans that are very formal, Soto koans are more dynamic and sometimes represents the master's spontaneous answers to a question, instead of being a predetermined question or riddle. Everything can be a koan, not just a special question or a special phrase, but life itself.

Practitioners of Soto Zen believed that Rinzai koans had become a formal technique. They thought that by putting too much emphasis on koans, the students of Rinzai Zen would be distracted by the urge to find an "answer" to the riddles by using mental faculties or the intellect, which, they believed, was opposed to the intuitive nature of Zen.

Soto Zen's vision of Enlightenment, or Satori, is different than that of the Rinzai school. As opposed to what many people may think, in Soto Zen, Satori is not a special state of consciousness. It is simply a return to a human being's original condition. It can be compared to the consciousness of a newborn baby that has not been "contaminated" in any way; that is, consciousness that is pure and in full harmony with the cosmos and the universe.

Rinzai Zen (Rinzai-shu in Japanese)

The Linji lineage was first transmitted to Japan by Myosan 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 him bringing Rinzai Zen Buddhism to Japan.

While the heart of the Soto school is based on the practice of Zazen, the heart of the Rinzai school is based on the use of the koan, a kind of absurd phrase or statement which is given by a teacher to a disciple in order 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.

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.

The most important thing about koans is their use as a tool to discover one's own true mind. It is not necessary to pass through as many koans possible.