The biographies of Seosan and his four major disciples are similar in many respects, and these similarities are emblematic of the typical lifestyle of Seon monks of the late Goryeo and Joseon periods. Most of them began by engaging in Confucian and Daoist studies. Turning to Seon, they pursued a markedly itinerant lifestyle, wandering through the mountain monasteries. At this stage, they were initiated to the central component of Seon practice, the "gong'an", or "gwanhwa" meditation. This "gwanhwa" meditation, unlike Zen traditions, did not consist of contemplation on a lengthy, graduated series of kōans. In contrast, the typical Korean approach was that "all "gong'an" are contained in one" and therefore it was, and still is, quite common for the practitioner to remain with one "hwadu" during his whole meditational career, most often Zhaozhou Congshen's ""mu.""