ABSTRACT
The history of almost all religious movements includes periods of vitality, periods of consolidation and periods of decline: during these last, the great truths are no longer the objects of earnest belief, no longer felt on the pulse. This pattern is evident in the history of the Rinzai (C: Linji [Lin-chi]) school of Zen. The Japanese school traces its lineage ultimately back to Nampo Jomyo (1235–1309) and his successors Daito Kokushi (1282–1338) and Kanzan Egen (1277–1377). This school flourished and became dominant over the rival Soto school (cf. the essay on Dogen) during the Kamakura period (1185–1333). As time passed, however, this dominance led to complacency and complacency to stagnation. Rinzai Zen came to be associated more with artistic and literary life than with the urgent, dedicated pursuit of religious truth, and this was the state of affairs at the beginning of the Tokugawa period (1603–1867). Hakuin earned his place in history by reversing this decline. He revived Rinzai Zen both by his own example and by means of his many written works. He and his heirs 1 codified koan practice, and devised a monastic rule or system which has lasted until the present day. Nor was his concern restricted to the life of the monks in his charge: he wrote at length to advise eminent lay-believers, and had in addition a genuine regard for the simple and unlettered labourers, whose lot was hard to endure. He often went to the fields near his monastery to talk to them, giving such consolation as it was in his power to give.
