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From it's beginnings, [[Soto|Soto Zen]] has laid a strong emphasis on the right lineage and dharma transmission.{{sfn|Dumoulin|2005-B}} In time, dharma transmission became synonym with the transmission of temple ownership.{{sfn|Tetsuo|2003}}
Soto-Zen has two ranking systems, ''hokai'' (four dharma ranks) and ''sokai'' (eight priest ranks).<ref name=Antaiji3 group=web />
===Hokai===
====Ordination====
Becoming a Soto-Zen priest starts with ''shukke tokudo''.<ref name=Antaiji1 group=web>[[http://antaiji.dogen-zen.de/eng/201003.shtml What does it take to become a full-fledged Soto-shu priest and is it really worth the whole deal? Part 1]</ref> In this ceremony, the novice receives his outfit ("inner and outer robes, belts, o-kesa, rakusu, kechimyaku (transmission chart) and eating bowls"<ref name=Antaiji1 group=web />) and takes the precepts. This gives the rank of ''joza'', except for children under ten years old, who are called ''sami''.<ref name=Antaiji1 group=web />
====Risshin and hossenshiki====
The next step,after one has been a monk for at least three years, is ''risshin'' and ''hossenshiki'' (Dharma combat ceremony), while acting as a ''susho'', headmonk, during a retreat. Risshin is "To raise one's body into a standing position":
{{quote|It means to gain physical stability. Confidence in oneself and one's role as a monk. The ability to express oneself and share a wider perspective, not restricted to one's own needs only. He starts to function like a pillar that supports the sangha.<ref name=Antaiji1 group=web />}}
Hosseshiki is a ceremony in which questions and answers are exchanged. After this ceremony, one is promoted to the rank of ''zagen''.<ref name=Antaiji1 group=web />
====Dharma transmission====
The third step is ''shiho'', or ''denpo'', [[dharma transmission]].<ref name=Antaiji2 group=web>[http://antaiji.dogen-zen.de/eng/201005.shtml Ten points to keep in mind about dharma transmission]</ref> Dharma transmission is...
{{quote|...the recognition of the transmission that took place long before the ceremony itself. In fact, it has nothing to do at all with the paper, with philosophy or with mystical experience. The 24 hours of the daily life shared by teacher and student are the content of the transmission, and nothing else [...] In Antaiji, when you receive shiho after, say, eight or nine years, you will have sat for 15.000 hours of zazen with your teacher. Not only that, you also shared many thousands of meals with him, worked together in the fields for thousands of hours, spread manure, cut grass and wood together, side by side, you sweat together in the summer and froze together in the winter. You cooked for him and filled the bath tub for him, you know how he likes the temperature both of his soup and the bathing water. You also shared many drinks, probabaly. In each of these activities, the dharma is transmitted. None should be left out.<ref name=Antaiji2 group=web />}}
Shiho is done "one-to-one in the abbot's quarters (hojo)".<ref name=Antaiji2 group=web /> Three handwritten documents certify the dharma transmission;
{{quote|a) Shisho (the scripture of transmission, the names of the anscestors arranged in a circle - the dharma has passed on from to Shakyamuni to yourself, and now you give it back to Shakyamuni. There is a small piece of papaer, propably originally written by Sawaki Roshi, with some comments. This paper is also copied by the student when doing dharma transmission at Antaiji.)
b) Daiji (the great matter, a cryptic symbolization of the content of the teaching. Again, there is a small extra sheet of paper that explains about the meaning of the symbols.)
c) Kechimyaku (the blood lineage, looks quite similar to the blood line transmission that you already wrote at the time of ordination)
d) Actually, in the lineage of Sawaki Roshi (and maybe other lineages as well) a student is told to write a fourth document on an extra sheet of paper, which is called Hisho (the secret document, which is encoded, but the code for decyphering is on the same paper, so once you hold it in your hands it is not so "secret" anymore.)<ref name=Antaiji2 group=web />}}
The procedure has to take place only once in one's life, and binds the student to the teacher forever:
{{quote|Dharma transmission can happen once, and only once, or never at all. Multiple dharma transmission is nonsense. If you receive dharma transmission from one teacher, from then on that is your one and only teacher, your real teacher (jap. hon-shi). The multiple lineage holders that you hear of in the West are bullshit. Therefore it is important that both sides, but especially the student, make sure that this is the right time for them to make this important step.<ref name =Antaiji2 group=web />}}
If a students does not have the feeling he wants to be tied to this teacher for the rest of his life, he may refuse to take dharma transmission from this particular teacher.<ref name=Antaiji2 group=web /> Since the time of Manzan Dokahu (1636-1714), multiple dharma transmissions are impossible in Soto Zen.<ref name=Antaiji2 group=web />{{sfn|Dumoulin|2005-B}}
Dharma transmission is not the end of the road; on the contrary, it marks the beginning of the real learning:
{{quote|Dharma transmission is not the last and final step in a student's practice. Quite the opposite, one might call it the real first step on the way of practice. The way has just begun, but now the student has decided which exact way he wants to follow to the end. But all the real hardships still lay ahead of him. To use the example of boy-meets-girl again: At this point of time they have decided that they are made for each other, so to speak, they want to get married and have kids. Hopefully, that does not mean that the romance is over. It just means that both are prepared for the real struggle to begin.<ref name =Antaiji2 group=web />{{refn|group=lower-alpha|This is reflected by the [[Five Ranks|Five ranks of enlightenment]]. The same notion can be found within the Rinzai-tradition. See [[Linji#Expressing the inexpressible|Three mysterious Gates]], and the [[Hakuin#Four ways of knowing|Four Ways of Knowing]]}}}}
====Becoming a teacher====
To become an ''osho'', teacher, two mote steps are to be taken, ''ten-e'' and ''zuise''.<ref name=Antaiji3 group=web>[http://antaiji.dogen-zen.de/eng/201007.shtml Ten-e and some words about Zui-se]</ref>
''Ten-e'' means means "to turn the robe":<ref name=Antaiji3 group=web />
{{quote|Unsui (training monks) are allowed to wear only black robes and black o-kesa [...] [T]en-e is the point in the carrier of a Soto monk when you are finally allowed to wear a yellow-brown robe.<ref name=Antaiji3 group=web />}}
After ''zuise'' one becomes an ''osho'', whereafter one may become the resident priest in one's own temple.<ref name=Antaiji3 group=web /> Hereby one can gain the highest rank:
{{quote|After you become the head priest at your own temple and hold a practice period there for the first time (with one student acting as the shuso), you will finally reach the highest rank of dai-osho.<ref name=Antaiji3 group=web />}}
===Sokai===
''Sokai''-promotion depends on school education and amount of time spend in monastery training.<ref name=Antaiji3 group=web /> There are eight ranks:
# 3rd rank
# 2nd rank
# 1st rank
# sei-kyoshi
# gon-daikyoshi
# daikyoshi
# gon-daikyojo
# daikyojos
==Rinzai==
Line 51 ⟶ 99:
* [[Dharma transmission]]
* [[Zen master]]
==Notes==
* {{reflist|group=lower-alpha|2}}
==References==
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