ABSTRACT
Enlightenment may be either sudden or gradual, a difference between the main schools of Zen, Rinzai and Sōtō. The first is named for Rinzai Gigen (d. 867), or Lin-chi, who advocated sudden enlightenment. The second, Sōtō (Tsao-tung in Chinese), was introduced into Japan by Dōgen. Sōtō does not use koan and follows less dramatic methods of enlightenment which, it teaches, should be gradual. It is Rinzai Zen which has caught the imagination of most western students.
