Lineage (Buddhism)

Mahasiddha

Lineages in the Mahasiddha tradition do not necessarily originate from Gautama Buddha, but are ultimately grounded, like all Buddhist lineages, in the Adi-Buddha.

Chan and Zen lineages

Construction of lineages

The idea of a patriarchal lineage in Chan Buddhism dates back to the epitaph for Fărú (法如 638–689), a disciple of the 5th patriarch, Hóngrĕn (弘忍 601–674). In the Long Scroll of the Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices and the Continued Biographies of Eminent Monks, Daoyu and Huike are the only explicitly identified disciples of Bodhidharma. The epitaph gives a line of descent identifying Bodhidharma as the first patriarch.

In the 6th century biographies of famous monks were collected. From this genre the typical Chan-lineage was developed:

These famous biographies were non-sectarian. The Ch'an biographical works, however, aimed to establish Ch'an as a legitimate school of Buddhism traceable to its Indian origins, and at the same time championed a particular form of Ch'an. Historical accuracy was of little concern to the compilers; old legends were repeated, new stories were invented and reiterated until they too became legends.

D. T. Suzuki contends that Chan's growth in popularity during the 7th and 8th centuries attracted criticism that it had "no authorized records of its direct transmission from the founder of Buddhism" and that Chan historians made Bodhidharma the 28th patriarch of Buddhism in response to such attacks.

Six patriarchs

The earliest lineages described the lineage from Bodhidharma to Huineng. There is no generally accepted 7th Chinese Patriarch.

The principle teachers of the Chan, Zen and Seon traditions are commonly known in English translations as "Patriarchs". However, the more precise terminology would be "Ancestors" or "Founders" (Chinese: 祖; pinyin: zǔ) and "Ancestral Masters" or "Founding Masters" (Chinese: 祖師), as the commonly used Chinese terms are gender neutral. Various records of different authors are known, which give a variation of transmission lines:

Continuous lineage from Gautama Buddha

Eventually these descriptions of the lineage evolved into a continuous lineage from Gautama Buddha to Bodhidharma. The idea of a line of descent from Gautama is the basis for the distinctive lineage tradition of Chan.

According to the Song of Enlightenment (證道歌 Zhèngdào gē) attributed to Yǒngjiā Xuánjué (665–713), who was one of the chief disciples of Huineng, Bodhidharma was the 28th Patriarch of Buddhism in a line of descent from Gautama Buddha through his disciple Mahākāśyapa:

Mahakashyapa was the first, leading the line of transmission;

Twenty-eight Fathers followed him in the West;
The Lamp was then brought over the sea to this country;
And Bodhidharma became the First Father here
His mantle, as we all know, passed over six Fathers,

And by them many minds came to see the Light.

The Denkoroku gives 28 patriarchs in this transmission, and 53 overall:

Transmission to Japan

Twenty-four different Zen lineages are recorded to be transmitted to Japan. Only three survived until today. Sōtō was transmitted to Japan by Dōgen, who travelled to China for Chan training in the 13th century. After receiving Dharma transmission in the Caodong school, he returned to Japan and established the lineage there, where it is called the Sōtō.

The Linji school was also transmitted to Japan several times, where it is the Rinzai school.

Pure Land Buddhism

Unlike the other Buddhist lineages, Pure Land Buddhism does not maintain a strict linear line of succession based on direct master-disciple relationship. Instead, various Pure Land Buddhist authors have developed lists of important Pure Land masters who have been acknowledged throughout history as having furthered the Pure Land tradition either through new insights, or by spreading of the teachings. Such teachers rarely lived at the same time as other "patriarchs" in the list. Nevertheless, their writings and contributions are considered to form a single continuum of Pure Land teaching and practice.

Chinese

Chinese Buddhism commonly relies on the following list of Pure Land patriarchs:

1. Lushan Huiyuan (334-416)
2. Shandao (613-681)
3. Chengyuan (承遠, 712-802)
4. Fazhao (法照, dates unknown)
5. Shaokang (少康, d. 805)
6. Yongming Yanshou (永明延壽, 904-975)
7. Shengchang (省常, 959–1020)
8. Yunqi Zhuhong (雲棲袾宏1535-1615)
9. Ouyi Zhixu (蕅益智旭1599–1655)
10. Xingce (行策, 1628–1682)
11. Shixian (實賢, 1686–1734)
12. Jixing Chewu (際醒徹悟, 1741–1810)
13. Shi Yinguang (釋印光, c. 1861–1940)

Japanese

In Jōdo Shinshū and Jōdo Shū Buddhist traditions, "Patriarch" refers to seven Indian, Chinese and Japanese masters leading up to the founder of their respective schools. Both traditions agree with the list of patriarchs up to Genshin.

The Japanese patriarchal listing is as follows:

Tibetan Buddhism

The 14th Dalai Lama, in the foreword to Karmapa: The Sacred Prophecy states:

Within the context of Tibetan Buddhism, the importance of lineage extends far beyond the ordinary sense of a particular line of inheritance or descent. Lineage is a sacred trust through which the integrity of Buddha's teachings is preserved intact as it is transmitted from one generation to the next. The vital link through which the spiritual tradition is nourished and maintained is the profound connection between an enlightened master and perfectly devoted disciple. The master-disciple relationship is considered extremely sacred by all the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

Karma Kagyu

Possession of lineage

Wallace renders into English a citation of Karma Chagme (Wylie: karma chags med, fl. 17th century) that contains an embedded quotation attributed to Nāropā (956–1041 CE):

The crucial, primary qualification of a spiritual mentor is stated by Naropa, "The qualification of a spiritual mentor is that he possesses the lineage."
The Single Meaning of the Vajra Speech [Wylie: rDo rje'i gsungs dgongs pa gcig pa] states, "There is great profundity in the connection within the lineage of the holy Dharma." The real lineage of the realization of this Dharma, which transfer blessings, is the unbroken rosary of Buddhas...".

Preservation of lineages

Gyatrul (b. 1924), in a purport to Karma Chagme, conveys Dilgo Khyentse's 'samaya', diligence and humility in receiving Vajrayana empowerment, lineal Dharma transmission and rlung, as rendered into English by Wallace (Chagmé et al., 1998: p. 21):

With respect to oral transmission, even if the lineage is impure, it is not a problem. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche often sought out and received any oral transmission he thought was on the verge of disappearing. It made no difference who was giving it. He would receive it and, in turn, pass it on to make sure that the lineage remained unbroken.

Chöd

Chöd is an advanced spiritual practice known as "Cutting Through the Ego." This practice, based on the Prajnaparamita sutra, uses specific meditations and tantric ritual.

There are several hagiographic accounts of how chöd came to Tibet. One namtar (hagiography) asserts that shortly after Kamalaśīla won his famous debate with Moheyan as to whether Tibet should adopt the "sudden" route to enlightenment or his own "gradual" route, Kamalaśīla enacted phowa, transferring his mindstream to animate a corpse polluted with contagion in order to safely move the hazard it presented. As the mindstream of Kamalaśīla was otherwise engaged, a mahasiddha named Dampa Sangye came across the vacant kuten or "physical basis" of Kamalaśīla. Dampa Sangye was not karmically blessed with an aesthetic corporeal form, and upon finding the very handsome and healthy empty body of Kamalaśīla, which he assumed to be a newly dead fresh corpse, used phowa to transfer his own mindstream into Kamalaśīla's body. Dampa Sangye's mindstream in Kamalaśīla's body continued the ascent to the Himalaya and thereby transmitted the Pacification of Suffering teachings and the Indian form of Chöd which contributed to the Mahamudra Chöd of Machig Labdrön. The mindstream of Kamalaśīla was unable to return to his own kuten and so was forced to enter the vacant body of Dampa Sangye.