Buddhism in Japan movement to eradicate Buddhism and bring Shinto to ascendancy arose throughout the country due to the strong connections of Buddhism to the Shōguns. During the Meiji period (1868–1912), after a coup in 1868, Japan abandoned its feudal system and opened up to Western modernism. Shinto became the state religion. Within the Buddhist establishment the Western world was seen as a threat as well as a challenge to stand up to. Buddhist institutions had a simple choice: adapt or perish. Rinzai and Soto Zen chose to adapt, trying to modernize Zen in accord with Western insights, while simultaneously maintaining a Japanese
Rochester Zen Center the Center to form the Springwater Center, located an hour south of Rochester. The Rochester Zen Center has also contributed to the intellectual development of American Zen, through Philip Kapleau's books, "The Zen of Living and Dying", "Zen Merging of East and West", "To Cherish All Life", and the recent "Awakening to Zen" and the writings of its members and its decennial anniversary conferences. In 1986, the 20th Anniversary Conference focused on "Buddhism and Nonviolence," and the 1996 Thirtieth Anniversary explored "Buddhism in America." Since 1986 the head abbot at Rochester Zen Center has been Bodhin Kjolhede, who was sanctioned