Tsao-shan Pen-chi

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Ts'ao-shan Pen-chi (Jap., Sōzan Honjaku; 840–901). Co-founder, with his teacher (of whom he was dharma-successor, hassu) Tung-shan Liang-chieh, of Ts'ao-tung. He stayed with him only three years or so, but perfectly understood what Tung-shan was attempting to say, eventually expressed in the Five Ranks (see also GO-I). The histories list nineteen disciples, but within four generations his line ended. His true succession lies in Sōtō.