Kanna Zen (A Style Of Zazen [Sitting Meditation]) (看話禅)

"Kanna Zen" (also called "Kanwa Zen") is a style of "zazen" (sitting meditation) which is practiced in the Zen Sect of Buddhism. It refers to zazen that aims to reach "taigo" (also called "satori," which means "enlightenment") through emphasizing, digging into, and grasping "koan" (a story, question, problem, or statement generally inaccessible to rational understanding, yet which may be accessible to intuition).

The Rinzai Zen Sect has practiced this training method, which was developed during the Southern Sung dynasty in China, and which puts more emphasis on digging into and grasping koan than on increasing "Joriki" (the power that is inherent in 'zenjo' [dhyana, the quiet and balanced state of one's spirit and body that can be reached through concentrated zazen]). Originally, Soto Zen Sect used the term "Kanna Zen" for the training method that the Rinzai Zen Sect tended to take mistakenly.

[Original Japanese]