Mokushō Zen Jap. (Chin. , mo-chao ch’an), lit. “the Zen of silent enlightenment”; an expression that came into being during the lifetime of the Chinese Ch’an (Zen) master Hung-chih Cheng-chueh (Jap., Wanshi Shōgaku, 1091-1157) to distinguish the style of meditative practice favored by the Sōtō school from the “Zen of the contemplation of words” (kanna Zen) that at the same time became the practice typical of the Rinzai school. Mokushō Zen stresses primarily the practice of zazen with out the support of such means as kōans; i.e., it stresses that form of practice later called shikantaza by the great Japanese Zen master Dōgen Zenji.
Although kanna Zen was associated with the Zen of the Rinzai school and mokushō Zen with that of the Sōtō school, the Sōtō school also uses kōans and the practice of the Rinzai school always contains elements of mokushō Zen.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Books on Mokushō Zen
External links