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

Established students of Zen practice will find this book to be an engaging, perhaps challenging text. Wick (My American Zen Life) presents an explication of Tozan’s Five Ranks of Zen, a teaching by the Chinese Buddhist master Dongshan that explores core concepts of Zen practice and the process of enlightenment. In this book, each rank is presented via multiple English translations, followed by a line-by-line explanation of the meaning behind each phrase. Wick also presents a number of other Zen koans and cases designed to illuminate the featured concepts. Much of the text focuses on the interplay of the real and absolute as well as the way these concepts are recognized and synthesized by advanced Zen practitioners. Chapters end with questions designed to provoke reflection on how the insights of each rank might apply to the readers’ practice.