posted February 18, 2008 04:53 PM         

THE FIVE DEGREES OF TOZAN

The Five Degrees of Tozan, also known as the Five Ranks of Tozan, are different levels of Realization formulated by Zen master Tozan Ryokai, known as Tung-shan Liang-chieh in Chinese (806-869).

The Apparent within the Real:
Coming within the Absolute
[sho-chu-hen]

The Real within the Apparent:
Arriving within the Relative
[hen-chu-sho]

The Coming from within the Real:
The Relative within the Absolute
[sho-chu-rai]

The Arrival at Mutual Integration:
The Absolute within the Relative
[ken-chu-shi] (see)

Unity Attained:
Arrival within Both at the Once
[ken-chu-to] (see)

I. The Apparent within the Real:

Coming within the Absolute [sho-chu-hen]

The rank of "The Apparent within the Real" denotes the rank of the Absolute, the rank in which one experiences the Great Death, shouts "KA!" sees Tao, and enters into the Principle. When the true practitioner, filled with power from his secret study, meritorious achievements, and hidden practices, suddenly bursts through into this rank, " the empty sky vanishes and the iron mountain crumbles." "Above, there is not a tile to cover his head; below, there is not an inch of ground for him to stand on." The delusive passions are non-existent, Enlightenment is non-existent, Samsara is non-existent, Nirvana is non-existent. This is the state of total empty solidity, without sound and without odor, like a bottomless clear pool. It is as if every fleck of cloud had been wiped from the vast sky. Too often the disciple, considering that his attainment of this rank is the end of the Great Matter and his discernment of the Buddha-way complete, clings to it to the death and will not let go of it. Such as this is called it stagnant water " Zen; such a man is called " an evil spirit who keeps watch over the corpse in the coffin." Even though he remains absorbed in this state for thirty or forty years, he will never get out of the cave of the self-complacency and inferior fruits of the Pratyeka-buddha. Therefore it is said: "He whose activity does not leave this rank sinks into the poisonous sea." He is the man that Shakyamuni Buddha called " the fool who gets his realization in the rank of the Real." Therefore, though as long as he remains in this hiding place of quietude, passivity and vacantness, inside and outside are transparent and his understanding perfectly clear, the moment the bright insight [he has thus far gained through his practice] comes into contact with differentiation's defiling conditions of turmoil and confusion, agitation and vexation, love and hate, he will find himself utterly helpless before them, and all the miseries of existence will press in upon him. It was in order to save him from this serious illness that the rank of " The Real within the Apparent " was established as an expedient.

II. The Real within the Apparent:

Arriving within the Relative [hen-chu-sho]

If the disciple had remained in the rank of "The Apparent within the Real," his judgment would always have been vacillating and his view prejudiced. Therefore, the bodhisattva of superior capacity invariably leads his daily life in the realm of the [six] dusts, the realm of all kinds of ever-changing differentiation. All the myriad phenomena before his eyes-the old and the young, the honorable and the base, halls and pavilions, verandahs and corridors, plants and trees, mountains and rivers-he regards as his own original, true, and pure aspect. It is just like looking into a bright mirror and seeing his own face in it. If he continues for a long time to observe everything everywhere with this radiant insight, all appearances of themselves become the jeweled mirror of his own house, and he becomes the jeweled mirror of their houses as well. Dogen Zenji has said: "The experiencing of the manifold dharmas through using oneself is delusion; the experiencing of oneself through the coming of the manifold dharmas is Satori." This is just what I have been saying. This is the state of " mind and body discarded, discarded mind and body." It is like two mirrors mutually reflecting one another without even the shadow of an image between. Mind and the objects of mind are one and the same; things and oneself are not two. " A white horse enters the reed flowers snow is piled up in a silver bowl." This is what is known as the jeweled-mirror Samadhi. This is what the Nirvana Sutra is speaking about when it says: "The Tathagata sees the Buddha-nature with his own eyes." When you have entered this samadhi," though you push the great white ox, he does not go away"; the Universal Nature Wisdom manifests itself before your very eyes. This is what is meant by the expressions, "There exists only one Vehicle," "the Middle Path," " the True Form," " the Supreme Truth." But, if the student, having reached this state, were to be satisfied with it, then, as before, he would be living in the deep pit of " fixation in a lesser rank of bodhisattvahood." Why is this so? Because he is neither conversant with the deportment of the bodhisattva, 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. The patriarchs, in order to save him from this calamity, have provided the rank of "The Coming from within the Real."

III. The Coming from within the Real:

The Relative within the Absolute [sho-chu-rai]

In this rank, the Mahayana bodhisattva does not remain in the state of attainment that he has realized, but from the midst of the sea of effortlessness he lets his great uncaused compassion shine forth. Standing upon the Four Bodhisattva Vows, he lashes forward the Dharma-wheel of " seeking Bodhi above and saving sentient beings below." This is the so-called "coming-from within the going-to, the going-to within the coming-from." Moreover, he must know the moment of [the meeting of] the paired opposites, brightness and darkness. Therefore the rank of " The Arrival at Mutual Integration " has been set up.

IV. The Arrival at Mutual Integration:

The Absolute within the Relative [ken-chu-shi]

In this rank, the bodhisattva of indomitable spirit turns the Dharma-wheel of the non-duality of brightness and darkness, hence Dark Luminosity. He stands in the midst of the filth of the world, "his head covered with dust and his face streaked with dirt." He moves through the confusion of sound and sensual pleasure, buffeted this way and buffeted that. He is like the fire-blooming lotus, that, on encountering the flames, becomes still brighter in color and purer in fragrance. " He enters the market place with empty hands," yet others receive benefit from him. This is what is called to be on the road, yet not to have left the house; to have left the house, yet not to be on the road." Is he an ordinary man? Is he a sage? The evil ones and the heretics cannot discern him. Even the buddhas and the patriarchs cannot lay their hands upon him. Were anyone to try to indicate his mind, [it would be no more there than] the horns of a rabbit or the hairs of a tortoise that have gone beyond the farthest mountain. Still, he must not consider this state to be his final resting-place. Therefore it is said, "Such a man has in and of himself a heaven-soaring spirit." What must he do in the end? He must know that there is one more rank, the rank of " Unity Attained."

Caoshan (Sôzan Honjaku, also: Ts'ao Shan Pen Chi, 840-901) called the Relative the world of myriad forms and the Absolute the realm of emptiness; the relative is also called the phenomenal, and the absolute the principle. The Third Rank, Relative within the Absolute, is realization of the emptiness of mind, whereby all things are emptied - thus it is the relative absolute containing the absolute relative. The Absolute within the Relative, the Fourth Rank, is the mirror awareness which is revealed by cleaning and polishing the mind by cessation and emptiness; at this point, the focus of concentration can make anything fill the universe, or make the universe into one point of awareness. Relative and absolute depend on each other, so two elements make three, adding their mutual intermingling, the source of the two. The absolute is always being expressed in the relative - this is the true absolute, but it is not always seen. Perfect comprehension of the relative grounded on experience of the absolute culminates in simultaneous realization of knowledge and complete peace and calm. At this point, Dongshan (Dong Shan Liang Chieh, also: Tozan Ryokai, 806-869) said:

"One 'comes back to sit among the ashes/ living this life as a wayfarer, expressing one's solidarity with the world in the vow to realize perfect Enlightenment with all beings. The five flavored herb and diamond thunderbolt are images of five in one; these so-called ranks or positions, the set of five being the ultimate paradigm of dialectic and an illustration of meditational stages, are all from the same source, hence the association of five in one."

Above quotes translated by Thomas Cleary in Timeless Spring: A Soto Zen Anthology

V. Unity Attained:

Arrival within Both at the Once [ken-chu-to]

The Master's verse-comment says:

How many times has Tokuun, the idle old gimlet,
Not come down from the Marvelous Peak!
He hires foolish wise men to bring snow,
And he and they together fill up the well.

The student who wishes to pass through Tozan's rank of " Unity Attained " should first study this verse.

It is of the utmost importance to study and pass through the Five Ranks, to attain penetrating insight into them, and to be totally without fixation or hesitation. But, though your own personal study of the Five Ranks comes to an end, the Buddha-way stretches endlessly and there are no tarrying places on it. The Gates of Dharma are manifold.

posted February 18, 2008 04:55 PM         

1. BONPU (practice without religious motivation)
The first type is called bompu or 'ordinary' Zen which, while teaching people how to concentrate and control their mind, is unable to shake the ordinary person's delusory belief that they are distinctly other than the Cosmos. Consequently, it cannot bring liberation from the existential anxiety that arises from such a belief.

2. GEDO (religious practice outside of Buddhist teachings)
The second type of Zen is called gedo, or 'outside way,' which implies, from the Buddhist point of view, religious or philosophical teachings other than Buddhist.

3. SHOJO (Hinayana zen directed towards one's own inner peace)
The third type of Zen is called shojo, or 'Small Vehicle' [Hinayana].

4. DAIJO (Mahayana zen; actualization of the 'great way' of Buddhism)
The fourth class of is called daijo or 'Great Vehicle' [Mahayana], which has Kensho as its goal, the seeing into one's essential nature and manifesting the Tao in one's daily life. This is the mode of Zen taught by the Buddha to those wishing to "experience absolute, undifferentiated Reality" (jijimuge).

5. SAIJOJO (shikantaza; realization of the buddha-nature of all beings)
The highest vehicle is saijojo Zen is also called Shikantaza, a practice wherein means and ends merge. Daijo and saijojo Zen complement each other, and both major Zen sects in Japan employ them with differing emphasis (i.e., Zazen and/or the practice of Koan study.

Regardless of all the levels and subtle nuances people are always coming up with, carving up the infinite is still carving up the infinite. For those who may be so interested there is also what is called the Transmission of Spiritual Power or Transmission of the Mind as practiced by Zen master Huang Po (circa 770 - 850) in classical times and more recently Alfred Pulyan in modern times, and usually divided into three subgroups and called Marges. There is a fourth marge NOT usually mentioned called APARKA MARG (sannyasa-vidvat) that is INSTANT. In simile it goes like:

"Suppose there is a sweet and ripe fruit at the top of a tree. To enjoy the taste of the fruit the ripe fruit falls to the ground just at the EXACT time as an unsuspecting hungry-being is there. Aparka Marg is the way Realization falls upon the Self."