Dhyāna in Buddhism the Japanese Rinzai school, but it also occurs in other schools or branches of Zen depending on the teaching line. The Zen student's mastery of a given kōan is presented to the teacher in a private interview (referred to in Japanese as "dokusan" (独参), "daisan" (代参), or "sanzen" (参禅)). While there is no unique answer to a kōan, practitioners are expected to demonstrate their understanding of the kōan and of Zen through their responses. The teacher may approve or disapprove of the answer and guide the student in the right direction. The interaction with a Zen teacher is central in
Buddhism in the United States (1927), he became a visible expositor of Zen Buddhism and its unofficial ambassador to Western readers. In 1951, Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki returned to the United States to take a visiting professorship at Columbia University, where his open lectures attracted many members of the literary, artistic, and cultural elite. In the mid-1950s, writers associated with the Beat Generation took a serious interest in Zen, including Gary Snyder, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Kenneth Rexroth, which increased its visibility. Prior to that, Philip Whalen had interest as early as 1946, and D. T. Suzuki began lecturing on Buddhism at Columbia in 1950.