The Five Ranks of Zen: Tozan's Path of Being, Nonbeing, and Compassion

(Paperback)

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A comprehensive and accessible guide to the Five Ranks, the pinnacle teaching of Zen Buddhism pointing to the path to true freedom. A comprehensive and accessible guide to the Five Ranks, the pinnacle teaching of Zen Buddhism pointing to the path to true freedom. The great Japanese Zen master Hakuin exclaimed, "How priceless is the merit gained through the step-by-step practice of the Five Ranks of Master Tozan!" Hakuin here refers to a teaching created by the Chinese Buddhist master Dongshan, known in Japanese as Zen Master Tozan, which is honored and studied in both Soto and Rinzai schools of Zen and is a gem of the classical Zen tradition. The ranks-pithy, provocative titles followed by Tozan's brief poetic commentaries-serve as guides to a radical exploration of the experience of relative and absolute reality, the interpenetrating "Two Truths" of Mahayana Buddhism. In The Five Ranks of Zen, American Zen teacher Shishin Wick offers an accessible entry point to each of the ranks, which Tozan created in two formulations- the first and better-known is the Five Ranks of the Relative and the Absolute; while the second set, called the Sequence of Merit, is an abbreviated form of the Ten Oxherding Pictures, a traditional formulation of the Zen spiritual journey. Wick presents multiple translations and offers commentary on the ranks' titles and on Tozan's renowned verses, as well as offering guidance on these teachings' application in contemporary life and Zen practice. He emphasizes that, to truly plumb the depths of Tozan's teachings, you must treat these teachings as Zen koans and make a thorough investigation using your entire body.

Reviews

This marvelous book is a clear and brilliant unfolding of a key teaching in Zen on the nature of reality.
Roshi Joan Halifax, abbot of Upaya Zen Center

I feel grateful to have this book. . . . If you are a Zen practitioner of some experience, you will appreciate it as I do, as if an eloquent and heart-felt personal letter from an old friend about an urgent matter of concern to you bothand you will find yourself going back to it again and again. If you are new to Zen, you will appreciate having a clear and realistic map to orient you to what lies ahead.
from the foreword by Norman Fischer

At the very summit of Zen training are the Five Ranks of Tozan. These are usually examined only at the very end of koan study because they are the ultimate challenge: the final barrier. I am grateful to Shishin Roshi for such an accessible analysis of this profound teaching.
David Loy, author of Nonduality: In Buddhism and Beyond

This book is a gem. In an articulate and lucid manner, Roshi Shishin Wick opens up one of the most difficult aspects of spiritual experience: the complete identity and ceaseless interplay of the relativethe truth of each unique moment and individual life, of separateness and irreplaceabilitywith the absolutethe never-divided oneness of all that everlastingly is.
Roshi Jan Chozen Bays, abbot of Great Vow Zen Monastery

If you want to know the heart of Zen, here you are! This book is a wonderful and wise companion for anyone walking the intimate way. Gerry Shishin Wick walks us through Tozans five ranks, points us faithfully toward the deeper invitation, and guides us as we make our own way. This is a guide book for spiritual life. It reveals the intimate way as mysterious and beautiful and right in front of us. This belongs in the library of anyone who wants to understand Zen. And, more, it should be read. And then read again. A wonderful book.
James Ishmael Ford, author of The Intimate Way of Zen: Effort, Surrender, and Awakening on the Spiritual Journey

"My Dharma brother Shishin offers up this sparkling, faceted jewel after decades of Zen study and training. In the true spirit of Master Tozans Five Ranks, his exposition is at once direct and expansive, conceptual and intimate, vital and mysterious. Please accept this open-handed invitation and sink deeply into the mystery.
Roshi Wendy Egyoku Nakao, Abbot Emerita, Zen Center of Los Angeles

Author Bio

GERRY SHISHIN WICK ROSHI is a Dharma Successor of Taizan Maezumi Roshi. A student of both major lineages of Zen, Wick received transmission from Maezumi Roshi in 1990 after 24 years of Zen training under Maezumi, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, and Sochu Suzuki Roshi. Shishin Roshi received a PhD in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1967, and has worked as a university professor, science writer, journalist, oceanographer, software developer, and technical manager. He is the author of The Book of Equanimity, My American Zen Life, and coauthor of The Great Heart Way with Ilia Shinko Perez.