Ts'ao-tung

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions | 1997 | 683 words | Copyright

Ts'ao-tung (Jap., Sōtō). Ch'an/Zen school of Buddhism, the name being derived from the graphs of the two founders, Tung-shan Liang-chieh and Ts'ao-shan Pen-chi, who in turn received their names from the mountains of their monasteries. In its Chinese form, it is also known as ‘The Five Ranks’, from its fivefold approach to recognizing the identity of the absolute and the relative, the one and the many. The stanzas of the Five Ranks are now regarded as the consummation of the kōan process. See further GO-I. Ts'ao-tung is one of the Five Houses of Ch'an Buddhism in the period of the Five Dynasties; but its future lay in Japan as Sōtō.

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

JOHN BOWKER. "Ts'ao-tung." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JOHN BOWKER. "Ts'ao-tung." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Tsaotung.html

JOHN BOWKER. "Ts'ao-tung." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Tsaotung.html

Learn more about citation styles