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Five Ranks (of Ts'ao-tung)
Five Ranks (of Ts'ao-tung). This is a classic statement of the nature of reality first formulated by the founder of the Ts'ao-tung school of Chinese Ch'an, Tung-shan Liang-chieh (807–69), and passed down through the Ts'ao-tung school to its Japanese successor, the Sōtō school as the central understanding of this line of Ch'an. Using a series of five verses composed by Tung-shan, it presents five different ways of viewing the nature of ultimate reality as it manifests in particular phenomena. (1) The Absolute is seen in the identity of all differentiated phenomena in so far as they all share in the ultimate nature of emptiness, (2) The Absolute is seen in each and every individual phenomenon considered separately, since the nature of all things is complete and sufficient in itself, (3) The Absolute contains within itself the potential to manifest all particular phenomena, even those that are opposite or contrary to one another, (4) Despite their identity in terms of their ultimate nature, all phenomena are distinct and unconfused. In fact, it is only in their real differentiation that their relationality to each other and to the Absolute can be seen—for example, both fire and ice arise from the Absolute and share the same fundamental nature, but fire is not ice and ice is not fire, (5) The enlightened mind directly perceives the active and dynamic interplay between the Absolute and individual phenomena, and between one phenomenon and another.
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Cite this article
DAMIEN KEOWN. "Five Ranks (of Ts'ao-tung)." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. DAMIEN KEOWN. "Five Ranks (of Ts'ao-tung)." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O108-FiveRanksofTsaotung.html DAMIEN KEOWN. "Five Ranks (of Ts'ao-tung)." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O108-FiveRanksofTsaotung.html |
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Five Ranks
Five Ranks (school of Chʾan/Zen Buddhism): see TSʾAO-TUNG.
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Cite this article
JOHN BOWKER. "Five Ranks." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN BOWKER. "Five Ranks." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-FiveRanks.html JOHN BOWKER. "Five Ranks." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-FiveRanks.html |
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