Obaku Zen may be understood as a Ming‑style Chan tradition transplanted to Japan that consciously holds together two great currents of East Asian Buddhism: Zen and Pure Land. At its core, it preserves a Rinzai‑like emphasis on seated meditation and kōan‑style inquiry, rooted in Chinese Chan texts and methods, while at the same time giving full place to devotional practices. Zazen, kōan contemplation, and the recognition of inherent Buddha‑nature remain central, yet they are not treated as the sole or exclusive means to awakening. Rather than drawing a sharp line between meditative insight and devotional faith, Obaku presents them as different expressions of the same mind and the same non‑dual reality.

Within this framework, the recitation of Amitābha Buddha’s name (nembutsu) is elevated to a central practice, not as a substitute for meditation but as a complementary path. Chanting “Namu Amida Butsu” is undertaken with meditative concentration, and in some strands is treated as a kind of living kōan—an inquiry into the nature of the one who recites. Faith in Amitābha’s vow and aspiration for rebirth in the Pure Land are accepted alongside zazen, with visualization and contemplation of Amitābha regarded as legitimate means of cultivation. This creates a synthesis of self‑power and other‑power, in which personal effort and Amitābha’s compassionate activity are seen as working together rather than standing in opposition.

Obaku Zen also maintains a strong Chinese monastic and ritual character. Monastic discipline follows a strict Vinaya‑based pattern transmitted from late Ming China, with careful attention to ethical conduct, communal rules, and formal etiquette as integral aspects of the path. Daily life is structured around chanting, sutra recitation, dhāraṇī, and nembutsu in a distinctly Chinese liturgical style, and ritual is treated as a serious vehicle of practice rather than mere ornament. Scriptural study includes both Chan/Zen classics and Pure Land sutras, not as purely academic pursuits but as supports for meditation and devotion.

Taken together, these features yield a distinctive vision in which meditation, nembutsu, ritual, and ethical discipline are regarded as mutually illuminating. Enlightenment is understood as the realization that one’s own nature is not separate from Buddha, and in this light both faith and effort are seen as functions of the same awakened mind. Obaku Zen thus offers a flexible yet integrated approach, allowing different temperaments to lean toward contemplative silence, devotional recitation, or ritual observance, while affirming that all these practices ultimately converge in the realization of Buddha‑nature.