History of Rinzai

History & overview · every faith gets one

The kōan school — awakening arrives like a shout.

The Zen line brought to Japan by Eisai: koan practice under a demanding teacher, driving the reasoning mind to exhaustion so that insight breaks through suddenly.

The founding

Its founding is bound to Eisai — 1191 CE.

What it holds

The divine. None — no god at the center.

Death and after. Rebirth, until awakening.

The line

descent is public here — where it came from, what left it

Vedic Religion — c. 1500 BCE Buddhism — c. 480 BCE Mahāyāna — 100 CE Zen — 520 CE Rinzai — 1191 CE

Keep going

Back to the overview — the living page: elements, discussion, the web The Belief room — the claims themselves, with sources and context Branch Rinzai — inherit everything, change what you must