What I find most significant about this system of ecclesiastical grades
is that dharma transmission provides access to only a relatively low
grade. It is listed as a requirement for the very lowest ecclesiastical
status, that of an instructor third class (santo kyoshi). Thus, in
present day Soto Zen, dharma transmission constitutes a preliminary
step, after which one’s real development begins. The relatively low
status of dharma transmission means that in and of itself it does not
qualify one to accept students or to train disciples. According to the
regulations, Zen students should be supervised only by a teacher who has
attained supervisory certification (i.e., sanzen dojo shike status),
that is, someone who in the popular literature might be called a Zen
master. To attain supervisory certification requires not just high
ecclesiastical grades and dharma seniority but also at least three
years’ experience as an assistant supervisor at a specially designated
training hall (tokubetsu sodo), during which time one undergoes an
apprenticeship. This monastic apprenticeship agrees with the popular
image of Zen Buddhism as a form of extreme asceticism. The popular
image, however, reflects only a limited view of Zen life. These training
halls are found at only about one hundred of the nearly 14,000 temples
that constitute the modern Soto school. The vast majority of Soto Zen
religious activities occur not at the training halls but at the local
temples. - William Bodiford
Thanks Dosho Mike Port
