About 三根坐禪說
Japan · by 瑩山撰
436 · about 1 min
The "Three Roots of Zazen" is an important Zen text composed by Keizan Jōkin, the founding patriarch of the Japanese Sōtō school. It was written during the late Kamakura period, a time when Zen Buddhism was being transmitted from China and taking root in Japan. Inheriting the teachings of Zen Master Dōgen, Keizan systematically expounded the methods and essential points of zazen for practitioners of superior, middling, and inferior capacities, emphasizing the practice of "just sitting." Its content presents profound Zen principles in an accessible manner, making them available to followers of varying aptitudes and thereby promoting the widespread dissemination of the Sōtō school among the Japanese populace. This work is one of the fundamental scriptures of Japanese Sōtō Zen, holding equal importance with Dōgen's "Shōbōgenzō." It established the theoretical foundation for the practical system of Japanese Sōtō Zen and has exerted a profound influence on the development of Zen in Japan.