宗

Ancestors, ancestral; clan; class, category. kind; school, sect; (sa) siddhānta, summary, main doctrine, syllogism, proposition, conclusion, realization. Sects are of two kinds:

(1) those founded on principles having historic continuity, as the twenty sects of the Hīnayāna, the thirteen sects of China, and the fourteen sects of Japan:

(2) those arising from an individual interpretation of the general teaching of Buddhism, as the sub-sects founded by Yongming [lang id =1028]永明 (d. 975), [lang id =1028]法相宗, [lang id =1028]法性宗, [lang id =1028]破相宗, or those based on a peculiar interpretation of one of the recognized sects, as the Jōdo-shinshū [lang id =1028]淨土真宗 found by Shinran-shōnin. There are also divisions of five, six, and ten, which have reference to specific doctrinal differences. Cf. [lang id =1028]宗派.