Five schools of Zen
five schools of Zen
五家 (Jpn go-ke )
A generic term for the branches of the Southern school of Zen (Ch'an) Buddhism in China. The five are the Lin-chi (Jpn Rinzai), Kuei-yang (Igyo), Ts'ao-tung (Soto), Yyn-men (Ummon), and Fa-yen (Hogen) schools. The five plus the Huang-lung (Oryu) and Yang-ch'i (Yogi) schools, both of which broke away from the Lin-chi school, are together called the seven schools. All of the Southern Zen schools trace their lineage to Huineng (638-713), the sixth of the Chinese Zen patriarchs, who received the transmission from Hung-jen. Huineng propagated Zen in the southern part of China; therefore his lineage is called the Southern school of Zen. Another of Hung-jen's disciples, Shen-hsiu (606-706), spread Zen Buddhism in northern China. His lineage came to be called the Northern school.
See also; Zen school.
