dharma<\/a> is the Five Ranks of oneness and differentiation.\u201d<\/p>\nFair enough. Let\u2019s hope that Dongshan\u2019s buddhadharma \u2013 and all of ours \u2013 is not limited to one way of seeing. An old friend, for example, saw all of life in terms of the Myers-Briggs Types Inventory. Of course, there is more to life than fits in that box \u2026 and yet it\u2019s interesting to bring up from time to time and reflect on self and other in the Myers-Briggs light. Just not in every conversation about anything. Get\u2019s tiresome.<\/p>\n
Just so, there is more to the buddhadharma than the Dongshan\u2019s Five Ranks.<\/p>\n
And yet, when the Five Ranks are brought into the koan curriculum (in the Harada-Yasutani system, after the first koan and dozens of checking questions, dozens more miscellaneous koans, and then several classic collections), it seems like time to look at it all again from the Five Ranks\u2019 perspective. At this point, the ranks are not about armchair buddhadharma but cure an ailment of koan introspection \u2013 the ailment of over koaning.<\/p>\n
But, goodness, what a digression! Back to Bolleter. Let me give you a couple passages that I think are among the most lovely in the lovely book. The first is about the beginning of the process, working with our first koan, cracking open the first rank. The second passage is Bolleter\u2019s summary of the whole process:<\/p>\n
1. When we work with the first koan, we find that our most deeply embedded concepts of self and other, and of existence and nonexistence\u2014vital for making sense of, and for making sense in, the world\u2014are exposed as insubstantial. After a time, we are no longer aware of the soft avalanche of notions we once held dear. Eventually we reach a place where we are blocked, and can neither advance nor retreat. In that place, we just renew our questioning. It\u2019s like being in a dark ravine, a mysterious valley. It\u2019s as if we are pregnant, but we can\u2019t give birth. Everything waits, in a dark pause, aching to be breathed out into life. We feel edgeless, looking into a mirror that reflects only darkness. The night moves on little feet, or big feet, depending. <\/em><\/p>\nOver time, waiting wears itself out. We come to expect nothing. It is like walking out on a long jetty at night without being able to see hand in front of face, and hearing the sound of water lapping in the darkness. The deeper into a koan we go, the more we leave behind; the more we leave behind, the deeper in we go. This goes on beyond reason. The Way gathers in darkness; it gathers as we struggle to return to our koan, with sleep closing in. For the most part, we don\u2019t notice it gathering. Most of the time we feel a bit desperate, and we may even wonder why we\u2019ve undertaken such an unreasonable, impossible practice. If we\u2019re questioned concerning our koan, we don\u2019t know. When we aren\u2019t being questioned, we still don\u2019t know. It\u2019s important to settle into that not knowing, which should not be confused with the dumb blankness of ignorance. Rather, it is a profound mystery that has not found its tongue. In its own good time, the moon rises and reflects in the water. Meanwhile, we come up to the gate a thousand times. When our time is ripe, under cover of darkness, we go through.<\/em><\/p>\n2. Through the five modes of essential and contingent we have discovered that, although we awaken in very individual ways, we can broadly discern staging posts on the path. As we have explored these matters up to this point, we can say that, initially, we experience emptiness, and begin a lifetime\u2019s work of embodying it. We awaken to our intimate connection to all that is, realize the subtlety of words, and then letting go of any preoccupation with hidden understandings, we awaken ourselves, and others, in the thick of the world and its suffering. Finally, we emerge transformed, but find it difficult to say where we have been, or how we have traveled. We live our life\u2014with its give and take, joy and sorrow, increase and decline\u2014as the Way.<\/em><\/p>\nHappy Trails!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ross Bolleter, a Zen teacher in the Aitken-Tarrant line who teaches mainly in Australia, has a fine new book on Dongshan\u2019s Five Ranks. This book will be the constant companion of students who take up the Five Ranks (or Five Modes if you prefer the less hierarchical language) deep in koan introspection or really anyone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Five Fat Ranks for What Ails Us<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ross Bolleter, a Zen teacher in the Aitken-Tarrant line who teaches mainly in Australia, has a fine new book on Dongshan's Five Ranks. This book will be\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/05\/five-fat-ranks-for-what-ails-us.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Five Fat Ranks for What Ails Us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ross Bolleter, a Zen teacher in the Aitken-Tarrant line who teaches mainly in Australia, has a fine new book on Dongshan's Five Ranks. This book will be\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/05\/five-fat-ranks-for-what-ails-us.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wild Fox Zen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dosho.port\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-24T18:06:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/files\/2014\/05\/dongshans-five-ranks-9780861715305_lg1-199x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dosho Port\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dosho Port\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/05\/five-fat-ranks-for-what-ails-us.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/05\/five-fat-ranks-for-what-ails-us.html\",\"name\":\"Five Fat Ranks for What Ails Us\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-24T18:06:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-24T18:06:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd\"},\"description\":\"Ross Bolleter, a Zen teacher in the Aitken-Tarrant line who teaches mainly in Australia, has a fine new book on Dongshan's Five Ranks. This book will be\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/05\/five-fat-ranks-for-what-ails-us.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/05\/five-fat-ranks-for-what-ails-us.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/05\/five-fat-ranks-for-what-ails-us.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Five Fat Ranks for What Ails Us\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/\",\"name\":\"Wild Fox Zen\",\"description\":\"Living the Dream\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd\",\"name\":\"Dosho Port\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b9712e98924dea6c08d55890403352f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b9712e98924dea6c08d55890403352f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dosho Port\"},\"description\":\"Dosho Port began practicing Zen in 1977 and now co-teachers with his wife, Tetsugan Zummach, with the Vine of Obstacles Zen. Dosho received dharma transmission from Dainin Katagiri Roshi and inka shomei from James Myoun Ford Roshi in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. He is the author of \\\"Keep Me In Your Heart Awhile: The Haunting Zen of Dainin Katagiri,\\\" \\\"The Record of Empty Hall: One Hundred Classic Koans,\\\" and \\\"Going Through the Mystery's One Hundred Questions.\\\"\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.vineobstacleszen.com\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dosho.port\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/author\/doshoport\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Five Fat Ranks for What Ails Us","description":"Ross Bolleter, a Zen teacher in the Aitken-Tarrant line who teaches mainly in Australia, has a fine new book on Dongshan's Five Ranks. This book will be","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/05\/five-fat-ranks-for-what-ails-us.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Five Fat Ranks for What Ails Us","og_description":"Ross Bolleter, a Zen teacher in the Aitken-Tarrant line who teaches mainly in Australia, has a fine new book on Dongshan's Five Ranks. This book will be","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/05\/five-fat-ranks-for-what-ails-us.html","og_site_name":"Wild Fox Zen","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dosho.port","article_published_time":"2014-05-24T18:06:36+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/files\/2014\/05\/dongshans-five-ranks-9780861715305_lg1-199x300.jpg"}],"author":"Dosho Port","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dosho Port","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/05\/five-fat-ranks-for-what-ails-us.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/05\/five-fat-ranks-for-what-ails-us.html","name":"Five Fat Ranks for What Ails Us","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-05-24T18:06:36+00:00","dateModified":"2014-05-24T18:06:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd"},"description":"Ross Bolleter, a Zen teacher in the Aitken-Tarrant line who teaches mainly in Australia, has a fine new book on Dongshan's Five Ranks. This book will be","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/05\/five-fat-ranks-for-what-ails-us.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/05\/five-fat-ranks-for-what-ails-us.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/05\/five-fat-ranks-for-what-ails-us.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Five Fat Ranks for What Ails Us"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/","name":"Wild Fox Zen","description":"Living the Dream","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd","name":"Dosho Port","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b9712e98924dea6c08d55890403352f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b9712e98924dea6c08d55890403352f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dosho Port"},"description":"Dosho Port began practicing Zen in 1977 and now co-teachers with his wife, Tetsugan Zummach, with the Vine of Obstacles Zen. Dosho received dharma transmission from Dainin Katagiri Roshi and inka shomei from James Myoun Ford Roshi in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. He is the author of \"Keep Me In Your Heart Awhile: The Haunting Zen of Dainin Katagiri,\" \"The Record of Empty Hall: One Hundred Classic Koans,\" and \"Going Through the Mystery's One Hundred Questions.\"","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.vineobstacleszen.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dosho.port"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/author\/doshoport"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2407\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/88\/2014\/05\/dongshans-five-ranks-9780861715305_lg1.jpg\" "\\"dongshans-five-ranks-9780861715305_lg\\"")
<\/a>Ross Bolleter, a Zen teacher in the Aitken-Tarrant line who teaches mainly in Australia, has a fine new book on Dongshan\u2019s Five Ranks.<\/p>\n