All the Soto believers in Japan are not Zen students. But they know somehow who is a good teacher and who is not.
And they believe in him rather than believe in his
teaching, or Buddha's teaching, or teaching of Dogen, or Shobogenzo. They
just believe in his way or his character. In this way, Soto
developed. This is
the characteristic of Soto school. -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-24 as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC