...Like Zen koans, The Five Ranks is one way that this wisdom is transmitted. True Zen expressions are direct expressions of wisdom, which can only be realized by wisdom. When we take up a koan, we are taking up specific wisdom, realized and expressed by the buddha-mind. When we have become intimate with the koan, that is, when its wisdom is realized in us and has become our wisdom, transmission has occurred.

Learned audience, although a great amount of wisdom can sometimes be transmitted by a single expression, it nevertheless takes many expressions and realizations to transmit the vast store of the wisdom of the buddhas and Zen ancestors. We, as human beings, have the extraordinary opportunity to receive this transmission.

...each of the five ranks, like each koan, is unique; each expression transmits a particular aspect of wisdom. For those who would set out to realize authentic Zen practice and enlightenment, wholehearted dedication and long-term commitment is necessary. The resolution of the one great matter of life and death is no easy task; yet, there is no task as worthwhile.

Learned audience, as electricity will not transfer without a ground, so Zen cannot be transmitted without a receiver. As soon as a ground is provided, however, electricity flows. As soon as you become a receiver, Zen transmits.

Dogen frequently points out that this transmission only occurs from Buddha to Buddha. For, if we do not receive it with our buddha-mind, we do not receive it at all. Zen expression comes from buddha-mind and goes to buddha-mind. Buddha expresses Buddha, and thereby realizes Buddha. Buddha awakens Buddha. One meaning of "Buddha" is "awake." Hence, we can say, Buddha Buddhas Buddha.

The teaching I expound has been transmitted by the sages of all time, and though I have also expressed what had not yet been expressed, it was not devised by me. Those who wish to attain liberation should first learn to cease conceptualization. Then your own true nature will be immediately apparent and all doubts will fall away just as happened to all of the sages of the past. Once you have accomplished this initial step, the subtle and profound teachings of the sages and Zen masters will become discernible, and you will discover that all things are constantly expounding the Treasury of the True Dharma-Eye.

~The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing

Good friends, all of the great masters urged their hearers to illumine the teachings of sages and actualize the wisdom of reality through observation meditation. Having awakened to the innate function of nonthinking through the realization of cessation, we can now apply ourselves to observation.

Observation meditation consists of observing the sacred teachings as well as the everyday world of sensation, perception, mental formulation, and consciousness seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and thinking through and with the enlightened awareness of nonthinking. This is taking up and letting go without the notions of ‘taking up' and ‘letting go.' The Zen path of practice and enlightenment is the continuous and ongoing practice and enlightenment beyond all ideas and concepts of practice and enlightenment.

~The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing