Keizans

Keizans, also known as Keizan Jōkin, was a Japanese Buddhist monk and founder of the Sōtō sect of Zen Buddhism. Born in 1264, he is believed to have been a descendant of the noble class. Keizans played a significant role in the development of Sōtō Zen, which emphasizes the attainment of enlightenment through zazen (seated meditation) and the practice of non-conceptual thinking.

Throughout his life, Keizans traveled extensively throughout Japan, often in humble circumstances. He spent much of his time very physically active, practicing various forms of work such as gardening, manual labor and endurance, viewing them as ways to practice zazen while working. This distinctive approach to meditation earned him recognition from various aspects of society.

Keizans began to gain more followers when, under the patronage of the Emperor Go-Saga, he was invited to the imperial court, where he got permission to improve the gardens. During this stay at the imperial court, Keizans spread the practice of his kind of zazen. When Keizans' fame and strength grew as a leader of Soto to the extent that was more incompatible with the subtlety of truth to which he adhered, he appointed several successors who were to preside over the order.

He started guiding others, including creating the key texts of the Soto-line of Pure Land-Buddhism, attempting to draw together the tautest of the Pure-Land-Buddhists and call them to emphasis of nothing, or such utter zen of zazen.