Wind Bell: Their feeling was that Zen should not be sectarian, that, as Yasutani Roshi suggested, "Ancient Chinese Zen should be our model."

Suzuki explained to students later: In China the Zen schools were formed by the disciples and descendants of the Sixth Patriarch. These disciples and descendants knew each other and considered themselves dharma brothers and would advise their students to leave them and go study with another of the Sixth Patriarch's disciples and descendants. Most of them came back to their teacher, but some did not. It is a good idea to give students freedom to study whatever teaching they want.