SO TO ZEN - Shasta Abbey

58 Sōtō Zenadvocating a unified Buddhism to the point that he dislikedeven using the name Zen School. Insofar as he was enlightenedunder Ju-ching, we can say that his spiritual understanding andthat of Ju-ching were the same.D‡gen developed his own individuality with this traditionas a background:1. The essence of the teachings of D‡gen lies, first of all,in the correct Transmission of a unified Buddhism. If the ZenSchool forms its own system in contrast to those of otherschools, it is apt to become one-sided and biased. D‡gen, inrejecting the name Zen School as indicating something distinctfrom other schools, said, ÒThose who use the name Zen Schoolto describe the great Way of the Buddha and the Ancestorshave not yet seen the Way of the Buddha. The establishment ofthe five schools of Zen is nothing other than the destruction ofthe unity of Buddhism. It is the product of shallow thinking.ÓD‡gen sought to restore sectarian Sung Dynasty Zen to themain road of Buddhism from which it had strayed and to enableChinese Buddhism which had deviated from the main course tofind itself again.Great Master Keizan also rejected the sectarian conceptof five schools of Zen by declaring in his Denk‡roku: ÒPeopleneed not debate about the five or seven schools of Zen, butrather should merely brighten their own hearts. This is the correctteaching of all the Buddhas. Why do people always engage