SO TO ZEN - Shasta Abbey

34 Sōtō ZenZen of Hung-chih teaches that meditation and wisdom areinseparable and that practice and enlightenment are identical.But one misstep and the entire religious practice becomes aslifeless as a withered tree and falls into quietism. The SungDynasty was marked by a tendency to synthesize Confucianism,Buddhism and Taoism. This syncretic tendency also madeitself felt in Buddhist monasteries by movements toward theunification of Zen practice and Chinese philosophy and of Zenand Pure Land thought, which resulted in the decline of Zen.Fortunately, however, before this decline set in, Zen had beentransplanted in Japan where it stimulated a unique culturalgrowth which may be aptly termed Zen Culture.