RujingTiāntóng Rújìng (天童如淨; Japanese: Tendō Nyojō) (1163-1228) was a Caodong Buddhist monk living in Qìngdé Temple (慶徳寺; Japanese: Keitoku-ji) on Tiāntóng Mountain (天童山; Japanese: Tendouzan) in Yinzhou District, Ningbo. He taught and gave dharma transmission to Sōtō Zen founder Dōgen as well as early Sōtō monk Jakuen (寂円 Jìyuán). His teacher was Xuedou Zhijian (雪竇智鑑, 1105–1192), who was the sixteenth-generation dharma descendant of Huineng. According to Keizan, when Ruijing became a leader, he didn't put himself above the other monks.
Sandai sōronThe sandai sōron (三代相論), or third-generation differentiation, was a putative dispute over the orthodoxy and succession of Sōtō Zen Buddhism. The major figures involved were Jakuen, Gikai, Gien, and Giin, all of whom claimed the right to serve as abbot of Eihei-ji. The story of the sandai sōron does not appear until 150 years after it supposedly occurred, suggesting its authenticity is dubious. It seems to have been used as a just-so story to explain how Jakuen's line eventually wound up in control of Eihei-ji.
Sōji-jiis one of two daihonzan of the Sōtō school of Zen Buddhism. The other is Eihei-ji temple in Fukui Prefecture. Fodor's calls it "one of the largest and busiest Buddhist institutions in Japan". The temple was founded in 740 as a Shingon Buddhist temple. Keizan, later known as Sōtō's great patriarch Taiso Jōsai Daishi, founded the present temple in 1321, when he renamed it Sōji-ji with the help and patronage of Emperor Go-Daigo. The temple has about twelve buildings in Tsurumi, part of the port city of Yokohama, one designed by the architect Itō Chūta.
SubitismThe term subitism points to sudden awakening, the idea that insight into Buddha-nature, or the nature of mind, is "sudden," c.q. "in one glance," "uncovered all together," or "together, completely, simultaneously," in contrast to "successively or being uncovered one after the other." It may be posited as opposite to gradualism, the original Buddhist approach which says that following the dharma can be achieved only step by step, through an arduous practice.
