Buddhism Zen Buddhism is divided into two main schools: Rinzai (臨済宗) and Sōtō (曹洞宗), the former greatly favouring the use in meditation on the koan (公案, a meditative riddle or puzzle) as a device for spiritual break-through, and the latter (while certainly employing koans) focusing more on "shikantaza" or "just sitting". Zen Buddhism is primarily found in Japan, with some presence in South Korea and Vietnam. The scholars of Japanese Soto Zen tradition in recent times have critiqued the mainstream Japanese Buddhism for "dhatu-vada", that is assuming things have substantiality, a view they assert to be non-Buddhist and "out of tune
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones (Mahamudra) organisation, notes that the practice starts with studying and pondering the dharma, where-after the practice of meditation commences. The "Vigyan Bhairav Tantra" is a chapter from the "Rudrayamala Tantra". It was introduced to the west by Paul Reps, a student of Lakshman Joo. Reps brought the text to wider attention by including an English translation in his popular book "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones". Cast as a discourse between the god Shiva and his consort Devi or Shakti, it briefly presents 112 meditation methods or centering techniques ("dharana"s). Zen Flesh, Zen Bones Zen Flesh, Zen Bones is a 1957 publication