Juo Sohitsu

Juo Sohitsu was a Rinzai Zen master who contributed to the tradition's continuity in Japan. He maintained the school's emphasis on koan practice and trained students in the methods established by Hakuin and refined through subsequent generations of Rinzai teachers.

Sohitsu's teaching continued the Rinzai tradition's insistence on direct personal experience as the foundation of genuine understanding. The school refuses to accept intellectual comprehension or behavioral conformity as substitutes for the breakthrough experience of kensho, and teachers like Sohitsu maintained this standard with care.