Caodong school
This Caodong school became regarded as one of the Five Houses of Zen. At the time, they were just considered schools led by individualistic masters with distinct styles and personalities; in reality, the fact that they were all—with the exception of Linji—located in close geographic proximity to each other and that they all were at the height of their teaching around the same time, established a custom among students to routinely visit the other masters.