釈宗演
On April 8, 1895 (on "Vesak"), when Aizo was 19, he was ordained as a monk and was given the Dharma name Nyogen at a "Soto Zen" temple. The word Nyogen means "Like a dream, like a fantasy" in Japanese and came from the concluding verse of Diamond Sutra. Nyogen says he would have preferred to be ordained at a Rinzai temple, but there was none in his area. The next year Nyogen went to Kamakura to Engaku-ji where he studied Zen under Rinzai master Soyen Shaku.