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
Zen Narratives "grand saga" of Zen appears not to be an accurate historical documentation, but a skillfully created narrative, meant to lend authority to the Zen school. The consequences of this critical narrative seem hardly to be recognized in the Western world. The romantic notion of enlightenment as a timeless insight into a transcendental essence has been thoroughly criticized. According to critics it doesn't contribute to a real insight into Buddhism: The introduction of Zen in the West has been accompanied by problems which seem to be connected to this "grand saga". The teacher scandals which have occurred in Western Zen have