The broken link of the Zen lineage

Going at a back of Zens well review veil, most notably a delivery literature such as Record of a Transmission of a Lamp (Ching-te ch'uan teng lu) compiled in 1004, you sense especially which this elaborate work was, in a nutshell, an try to legitimize Zens (C., Chan) authority. What must have been an impressive document at a single time, a Record of a Transmission of a Lamp shows a lineal period commencement when a Dharma-eye of a Buddha is transmitted or entrusted to Mahakashyapa who then entrusts it to Ananda who after entrusts it to Shanavasa, as well as so upon down a line where this eye in a future finds a way to China through Bodhidharma.

Such a lineage, however, is usually as clever as a weakest link. First of all, there is no discuss of such a origin in a Pali criterion which is utterly old. We review in a Gopakamoggallana Sutta (M. iii. 7) which after a Buddha died (i.e., passed in to parinirvana) a brahman Gopak-Moggallana asked Ananda a following question:

"Is there even a single monk, Ananda, who is hexed in each way as well as in each partial of all those things of which a good Gotama, polished one, entirely Self-Awakened One, was possessed?"

Here is Ananda's reply which is utterly interesting in light of Zen's origin claims.

"There is not even a single monk, brahman, who is hexed in each way as well as in each partial of all those things of which a Lord was possessed, polished one, entirely Self-Awakened One."

Adding to this, Mahakashyapa is not exactly a estimable devout heir accoding to a Avatamsaka Sutra who Zennists hold was a initial chairman a Buddha transmitted to.

We sense from a Avatamsaka Sutra (I am regulating Cleary's translation, The Flower Ornament Scripture, page 1146) which good disciples similar to Shariputra, Mahakashyapa as well as others, did not see a transformation of a Buddha in a Jeta grove, a adornments of a Buddha, a sovereignty of a Buddha, a freedom of a Buddha, a magic of a Buddha, a pois! e of a B uddha, a spectacle achieved by a Buddha, a light of a Buddha, a power of a Buddha, or a Buddha's purification of a land...

The chairman these good disciples saw in a Jeta timber was not a transfigured Buddha with his Mind radiant, similar to an invisible sun. Who they saw you can say was a grumpy aged dude!

They had collected in a Jeta timber as well as were sitting there, in front of, behind, as well as to a left as well as right of a Buddha, in his presence, yet they did not see a miracles of a Buddha in a Jeta timber (p. 1147).

Why these good disciples couldnt see all this is since they lacked roots of goodness; moreover, their emancipation was which of hearers (sravaka) (p. 1147). Had these good disciples accumulated a correct roots of integrity they would have seen a transformation of a Buddha. In which case, they would have been estimable to carry upon a Buddha lineage. But since of this notable lack, "they were not able of perpetuating a origin of buddhas" (p. 1146). Whoops! There goes Zens lineage.

We can usually theory which in compiling as well as fabricating a Record of a Transmission of a Lamp a little Zennist didnt do a thorough reading of a Avatamasakain other words, he goofed. But this doesnt meant which you should live with this error. The usually thing which counts in Zen as well as for which matter Buddhism is awakening to pure Mind. We all have a capacity to do this. Awakening to Mind is a true Mind to Mind delivery of Zen. It doesn't depend upon well review fiction.