The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (468 page)

sh
, is socially (as
S
ka Gakkai
) and politically (as the K
mei Party) highly visible in present-day Japan. As Korea has tried to reduce the number of lineages, so Japan has allowed them to proliferate. Nearly 170 lineages, divided amongst 14 major groupings, are currently listed by the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs.
Vietnam received lineages from the rest of SE Asia around 1st cent. CE and from China between the 6th and 17th centuries. The SE Asian lineages have formed a H
nay
na base for Vietnamese Buddhist practice supporting a superstructure of Chinese Mah
y
na, chiefly Zen (Vietnamese
Thi
n
). The
Tha'o-Du'ò'ng
lineage, a form of the Chinese Sung Dynasty synthesis imported in the 11th cent., had great influence on the character of Vietnamese Buddhism as a harmony of Zen (emphasizing wisdom) and Pure Land (emphasizing compassion). An indigenous form of Lin-chi (Vietnamese,
Lâm-T
) was founded by Li
u-Quán (d. 1743) and became the dominant lineage. All lineages were merged into the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (Vietnamese,
Vi
t-Nam Ph
t-Giáo Th
ng-Nh
t Giáo-H
i