Sōtō Zen
Sōtō Zen (曹洞宗, Sōtō-shū) is one of the two main schools of Japanese Zen Buddhism, alongside Rinzai. It continues the Chan lineage born in China — transmitted according to tradition by Bodhidharma — and was established in Japan in the 13th century by Eihei Dōgen.
History
Dōgen (1200–1253) was born in Kyoto into an aristocratic family. Orphaned at a young age and deeply affected by impermanence, he entered Mount Hiei and later traveled to China in 1223 to study. There, he met his master Tendō Nyojō (1163–1228) and experienced awakening upon hearing the words: "the dropping off of body and mind" (shinjin datsuraku, 身心脫落). Returning to Japan in 1227, he taught shikantaza — "just sitting" — and founded in 1244, in the mountains of Fukui, the monastery that would become Eiheiji. There, he wrote the core of the Shōbōgenzō.
Keizan Jōkin (1268–1325), of the third generation, founded Sōjiji and widely opened the teaching to lay practitioners. Considered the "second founder" of the school, he is the author of the Denkōroku, a chronicle of the transmission of awakening from ancestor to ancestor. Under his impetus, Sōtō spread throughout Japan.
Practice
At the heart of Sōtō practice is zazen, seated meditation, in its most stripped-down form: shikantaza, "just sitting," without object or goal — the sitting itself is awakening, not a means to achieve it. The zendō structures the day: zazen, samu (communal work), ritual meals, chanting of sūtras, sewing and wearing of the kesa. Practice is inseparable from ordinary life — eating, walking, washing one's bowls.
Today
The Sōtō school is the largest Zen Buddhist school in Japan, with nearly fifteen thousand temples. It was established in the West in the 20th century: in Europe by Taisen Deshimaru, in the United States by Shunryū Suzuki and Hakuyū Taizan Maezumi, among others.
Explore the Site
Practice — zazen, samu, kesa, sūtras, and a map of practice places in Europe (over one hundred dojos).
Masters — from Bodhidharma to Dōgen and Keizan, an unbroken lineage; each biography situates the master within the Denkōroku.
Texts — the Shōbōgenzō (95 fascicles), the Denkōroku (53 cases), foundational poems (Sandōkai, Hōkyō Zanmai, Shinjinmei), collections of kōans, and Indian texts.
Zen Guide — an assistant available on every text page, contextualized with the displayed content. Contact — question, suggestion, or error to report.