The ''Five Ranks'' (; ) is a poem consisting of five
stanzas describing the stages of realization in the practice of
Zen Buddhism
Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), an ...
. It expresses the interplay of
absolute and relative truth and the fundamental
non-dualism
Nondualism, also called nonduality and nondual awareness, is a fuzzy concept originating in Indian philosophy and religion for which many definitions can be found, including: nondual awareness, the nonduality of seer and seen or nondiffe ...
of Buddhist teaching.
Origins
The ranks are referenced in the
Song of the Precious Mirror Samadhi
The ''Song of the Precious Mirror Samadhi'' (; ; also translated as ''Song of the Jeweled Mirror Samadhi'' and ''Sacred Mirror Samadhi'') is a Zen poem in Classical Chinese that appeared during the Song Dynasty. The work is often attributed to Do ...
. This work is attributed to the Chinese monk
Dongshan Liangjie
Dongshan Liangjie (807–869) (; ) was a Chan Buddhist monk of the Tang dynasty. He founded the Caodong school (), which was transmitted to Japan in the thirteenth century (Song-Yuan era) by Dōgen and developed into the Sōtō school of Zen. ...
(Japanese: Tōzan Ryōkan), who lived during the end of
Tang Dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...
, as well as two sets of verse commentaries by him. The teachings of the Five Ranks may be inspired by the
Sandokai
The Sandōkai () is a poem by the eighth Chinese Zen ancestor Shitou Xiqian (Sekito Kisen, 700–790) and a fundamental text of the Sōtō school of Zen, chanted daily in temples throughout the world.
Title
The poem's title, "參同契", is pro ...
, a poem attributed to
Shitou Xiqian
Shítóu Xīqiān (700-790) () was an 8th-century Chinese Chán (Zen) Buddhist teacher and author. All existing branches of Zen throughout the world are said to descend either from Shitou Xiqian or from his contemporary Mazu Daoyi.
Biography
Lif ...
(traditional Chinese: 石頭希遷).
The work is highly significant in both the
Caodong
Caodong school () is a Chinese Chan Buddhist sect and one of the Five Houses of Chán.
Etymology
The key figure in the Caodong school was founder Dongshan Liangjie (807-869, 洞山良价 or Jpn. Tozan Ryokai). Some attribute the name "Cáodòng" ...
/
Sōtō
Sōtō Zen or is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (the others being Rinzai and Ōbaku). It is the Japanese line of the Chinese Cáodòng school, which was founded during the Tang dynasty by Dòngsh� ...
and
Linji/
Rinzai
The Rinzai school ( ja, , Rinzai-shū, zh, t=臨濟宗, s=临济宗, p=Línjì zōng) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (along with Sōtō and Ōbaku). The Chinese Linji school of Chan was first transmitted to Japan by Myōan ...
schools of Zen that exist today.
Eihei Dogen, the founder of the Japanese Sōtō School, references the Five Ranks in the first paragraph of one of his most widely studied works,
Genjōkōan
''Genjōkōan'' (現成公按), translated by Tanahashi as ''Actualizing the Fundamental Point'', is an influential essay written by Dōgen, the founder of Zen Buddhism's Sōtō school in Japan. It is considered one of the most popular essays in '' ...
.
Hakuin
was one of the most influential figures in Japanese Zen Buddhism. He is regarded as the reviver of the Rinzai school from a moribund period of stagnation, focusing on rigorous training methods integrating meditation and koan practice.
Biograp ...
integrated the Five Ranks in his system of
koan-teaching.
Ranks
The Five Ranks are listed below with two translations of the original poem, one by Miura and Sasaki on the left, and the other by Thomas Cleary on the right, followed by commentary and analysis:
I: The Relative within the Absolute
This rank describes the Absolute,
insight
Insight is the understanding of a specific cause and effect within a particular context. The term insight can have several related meanings:
*a piece of information
*the act or result of understanding the inner nature of things or of seeing intui ...
into the
empty nature or not-"thing"-ness of everything. The scholar
Heinrich Dumoulin
Heinrich Dumoulin, S.J. (31 May 1905 – 21 July 1995) was a Jesuit theologian, a widely published author on Zen, and a professor of philosophy and history at Sophia University in Tokyo, where he was Professor Emeritus. He was the foun ...
describes the first rank as the realization that "all diverse things and events are in their essence the same, formless and empty. Emptiness is undisturbed by any subjective element". According to
Hakuin
was one of the most influential figures in Japanese Zen Buddhism. He is regarded as the reviver of the Rinzai school from a moribund period of stagnation, focusing on rigorous training methods integrating meditation and koan practice.
Biograp ...
, this rank is only the beginning of Zen insight, but it can become a trapping for people who take the absolute to be the end-station: "Although inside and out may be perfectly clear as long as you are hidden away in an unfrequented place where there is absolute quiet and nothing to do, yet you are powerless as soon as perception touches upon different worldly situations, with all their clamor and emotion, and you are beset by a plethora of miseries".
II: The Absolute within the Relative
The second rank describes the recognition of the Absolute within "the midst of the variety of different situations in action; you see everything before your eyes as your own original true clean face, just as if you were looking at your face in the mirror". That is, unlike the insight of the first rank, which can be easily disturbed, the second rank has greater constancy in the face of distractions. However, seeing the absolute within the relative does not extend to one's behavior towards others. Hakuin describes that at this point one "is neither conversant with the deportment of the
bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood.
In the Early Buddhist schools ...
, nor does he understand the causal conditions for a
Buddha-land. Although he has a clear understanding of the Universal and True Wisdom, he cannot cause to shine forth the Marvelous Wisdom that comprehends the unobstructed interpenetration of the manifold dharmas."
[Hakuin's commentary on the Five Ranks, first published in ''The Zen Koan'' (1965) by Isshu Miura and Ruth Fuller Sasaki]
III: Coming from within the Absolute
This rank describes enlightened behaviour: "Enlightened beings do not dwell in the state of result they have realized; from the ocean of effortlessness, they radiate unconditional compassion".
IV: Arrival at Mutual Integration
The fourth rank describes "the bodhisattva of indomitable spirit"
who "
go into the marketplace extending their hands, acting for others". It is powerful enlightened behaviour. "This is what is called being on the road without leaving home, leaving home without being on the road. Is this an ordinary person? Is this a sage? Demons and outsiders cannot discern such a person; even Buddhas and Zen masters can do nothing". But even this "cannot be considered the place to sit in peace
..You must know there is another rank, attainment in both".
V: Unity Attained
The fifth rank describes "the mellow maturity of consciousness". According to Sekida, this rank is described in case 13 of the Mumonkan:
Interplay of Absolute and Relative
When Buddhism was introduced to China, the Two Truths doctrine was a point of confusion. Chinese thinking took this to refer to two ''ontological truths'': reality exists of two modalities. The doctrines of
Buddha-nature and
Sunyata were understood as akin to
Dao and the Taoist non-being. It was centuries later that Chinese Buddhism took Sunyata to mean the underlying unchanging essence of reality, the non-duality of being and non-being.
In Madhyamaka the Two Truths are two ''epistemological truths'': two different ways to look at reality, a relative truth and an ultimate truth. The
Prajnaparamita-sutras and
Madhyamaka
Mādhyamaka ("middle way" or "centrism"; ; Tibetan: དབུ་མ་པ ; ''dbu ma pa''), otherwise known as Śūnyavāda ("the emptiness doctrine") and Niḥsvabhāvavāda ("the no ''svabhāva'' doctrine"), refers to a tradition of Buddhi ...
emphasized the non-duality of form and emptiness: form is emptiness, emptiness is form, as the
heart sutra says. The ultimate truth in Madhyamaka is the truth that everything is empty (
Sunyata), that which is an underlying unchanging essence. Sunyata itself is also "empty," 'the emptiness of emptiness', which means that ''Sunyata'' itself does not constitute a higher or ultimate "essence" or "reality."
Based on their understanding of the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra the Chinese supposed that the teaching of the Buddha-nature was, as stated by that sutra, the final Buddhist teaching, and that there is an essential truth above Sunyata and the Two Truths. The idea that ultimate reality is present within the daily world of relative reality melded well with Chinese culture, which emphasized the mundane world and society. But this does not tell how the absolute is present in the relative world:
This question is answered in such schemata as the Five Ranks and the
Oxherding Pictures. Various terms are used for "absolute" and "relative."
See also
*
Ten Bulls
*
Four ways of knowing
*
Lamrim
Lamrim (Tibetan: "stages of the path") is a Tibetan Buddhist textual form for presenting the stages in the complete path to enlightenment as taught by Buddha. In Tibetan Buddhist history there have been many different versions of ''lamrim'', pres ...
*
Four stages of enlightenment
The four stages of awakening in Early Buddhism and Theravada
are four progressive stages culminating in full awakening (''Bodhi'') as an Arahant (SN 22.122).
These four stages are Sotāpanna, Sakadāgāmi, Anāgāmi, and Arahant. The oldest ...
*
Bodhisattva Stages
*
Enlightenment in Buddhism
*
Subitism
*
Essence-Function
Notes
References
Sources
Printed sources
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Web-sources
Further reading
* {{Citation , last =Bolleter , first =Ross , year = 2014 , title =Dongshan's Five Ranks: Keys to Enlightenment , publisher =Simon and Schuster
External links
The Five Ranks of TozanTeisho on The Five Ranks by Shunryu SuzukiDale Verkuilen: Dogen and the Five Ranks
Soto Zen
Stage theories
Nondualism
Kōan