The Five Ranks, by Chinese Soto (Caodong

Caodong

Cáodòng is a Chinese Zen Buddhist sect founded by Dongshan Liangjie and his Dharma-heirs in the 9th century. Some attribute the name "Cáodòng" as a union of "Dongshan" and "Caoshan" from one of his Dharma-heirs, Caoshan Benji; however, the "Cao" much more likely came from Cáoxī , the...

) master Tung-shan

Tung-shan

Liang-chieh of Tung-shan , often referred to simply as Tung-Shan or Dongshan Liangjie , was a Ch'an master of 9th century China. Along with his pupil Ts'ao-shan Pen-chi, he is best known for founding the Ts'ao-tung, or later Sōtō, school of Ch'an...

, are fundamental to Sōtō

Soto

Sōtō Zen , or is, with Rinzai and Ōbaku, one of the three most populous sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism.The Sōtō sect was first established as the Caodong sect during the Tang Dynasty in China by Dongshan Liangjie in the 9th century, which Dōgen Zenji then brought to Japan in the 13th century...

 and Rinzai Zen teaching, expressing the fundamental non-dualism of Buddhist teaching, which rejects the duality of dualism and non-dualism. The ranks are based on a translation of five stanzas from a poem attributed to Tung-shan, who may have received it from his master before him:

1. The Apparent within the Real/The Actual within the Ideal
2. The Real within the Apparent/The Ideal within the Actual
3. The Coming from within the Real
4. The Arrival at Mutual Integration
5. Unity Attained