SO TO ZEN - Shasta Abbey

46 Sōtō Zenknown that the name S‡t‡ was already in use soon after thedeaths of S‡zan and Ungo and before the death of Ry‰ge.FunÕy‡ Zensh‡ (C. Fen-yang Shan-chao) refers to theschool as the T‡zan School or the T‡jo School. It thus wouldappear that the name S‡t‡ was not used by members of theschool, but rather by outsiders. T‡zan had many disciplesbesides S‡zan Honjaku. Therefore, the Zen of T‡zan was notonly transmitted through the line of S‡zan, but also through theline of another of his famous disciples, Ungo D‡y‡. The line ofS‡zan terminated after only four generations. The present-dayS‡t‡ school represents the line of Ungo. Therefore the S‡t‡School may also be called the Ungo Branch of Zen. It is notcorrect to limit the Zen of S‡t‡, then, merely to T‡zan andS‡zan as the name would imply.Another theory states that the S‡ in S‡t‡ refers not toS‡zan, but to the Sixth Ancestor, who is also known as S‡keiEn‡. S‡zan was a devout admirer of the Sixth Ancestor and asan expression of his admiration adopted the first character inthe name of the Sixth Ancestor for use in his own name. Thuseven if the S‡ in S‡t‡ refers to S‡zan, indirectly it still refersback to S‡kei, the Sixth Ancestor. There are those within theS‡t‡ School who reject the idea that S‡ indirectly points to theSixth Ancestor, steadfastly maintaining that the character S‡was chosen for the school name directly from the name of theSixth Ancestor without the intercession of S‡zan. This view is