A review by radahldo
How Zen Became Zen: The Dispute Over Enlightenment and the Formation of Chan Buddhism in Song-Dynasty China by Morten Schlütter

5.0

This book gives a good amount of context on Zen. Particularly interesting, are the chapters elaborating on the Doctrinal disputes between Linji and Caodong (equivalent to the rinzai and soto schools), through the perspectives of Dahui Zonggao and Hongzhi, two men that are respectively very significant representatives of these schools.

Additionally, the economic and political realities of Zen are talked of in a way that's very informative.

This book is pretty coherent without previous familiarity of the figures discussed, but obviously this is pretty academic take that assumes certain understandings