Editing Dharma transmission (section)

==History==
{{see also|Chinese Chan|Bodhidharma}}

The notion and practice of Dharma Transmission developed early in the history of Chan, as a means to gain credibility{{sfn|McRae|2003}} and to foster institutional ties among the members of the Chan community.{{sfn|Bodiford|2008}} Charts of dharma-lineages were developed, which represented the continuity of the Buddhist dharma. Originally these lineages only included the Chinese Patriarchs, but they were later extended to twenty-eight Indian Patriarchs and seven Buddhas.{{sfn|Dumoulin|2005}}

===Chan lineage===
{{See also|Zen lineage charts}}

The Chan tradition developed from the established tradition of "Canonical Buddhism",{{sfn|Chappell|1993|p=177}} which "remained normative for all later Chinese Buddhism".{{sfn|Chappell|1993|p=177}} It was established by the end of the sixth century, as a result of the Chinese developing understanding of Buddhism in the previous centuries.{{sfn|Chappell|1993|p=177-184}}{{sfn|Lai|1985}}

One of the inventions of this Canonical Buddhism were transmission lists, a literary device to establish a lineage. Both [[Tiantai]] and Chan took over this literary device, to lend authority to those developing traditions, and guarantee its authenticity:{{sfn|Chappell|1993|p=181}}{{sfn|McRae|2003|p=2-9}}
{{quote|Chan texts present the school as Buddhism itself, or as ''the'' central teaching of Buddhism, which has been transmitted from the seven Buddhas of the past to the twenty-eight patriarchs, and all the generations of Chinese and Japanese Chan and Zen masters that follow.{{sfn|McRae|2003|p=4}}}}

The concept of dharma transmission took shape during the Tang period, when establishing the right teachings became important, to safeguard the authority of specific schools.{{sfn|Ford|2006|pp=22-25}} The emerging Zen-tradition developed the ''Transmission of the Lamp''-genre, in which lineages from Shakyamuni Buddha up to their own times were described.{{sfn|McRae|2003}}

Another literary device for establishing those traditions was given by the ''Kao-seng-chuan'' (Biographies of Eminent Monks), compiled around 530.{{sfn|Chappell|1993|p=181}} The Chan-tradition developed its own corpus in this genre, with works such as ''Anthology of the Patriarchal Hall'' (952) and the ''[[Transmission of the Lamp|Jingde Records of the Transmission of the Lamp]]'' (published 1004). McRae considers Dumoulin's ''A History of Zen'' to be a modern example of this genre, disguised as scientific history.{{sfn|McRae|2003}}

===Chinese patriarchs===
[[File:Bodhidharma.and.Huike-Sesshu.Toyo.jpg|thumb|right|[[Dazu Huike]] offering his arm to [[Bodhidharma]]. Ink painting by [[Sesshū Tōyō]], 1496, [[Muromachi period]], Japan.]]
The Chan lineages picture the semi-legendary monk [[Bodhidharma]] as the patriarch who brought Chan to China. Only scarce historical information is available about him, but his hagiography developed when the Chan tradition grew stronger and gained prominence in the early 8th century.

According to McRae, it is not clear that the practitioners surrounding Bodhidharma and his disciple Huike considered themselves as belonging to a unified movement or group, such as a "Chan school," nor did they have any sense of sharing any continuity with the later tradition. He says even the name "proto-Chan" is not really reflective of their activities.{{sfn|McRae|2003|p=15}}

====Six Chinese patriarchs====
By the late eighth century, a lineage of the six ancestral founders of Chan in China had developed.{{sfn|McRae|2003}} Due to the influence of Huineng's student [[Shenhui]], the traditional form of this lineage had been established:{{sfn|McRae|2003}}
# [[Bodhidharma]] ({{lang|zh|達摩}}) ca. 440 – ca. 528
# [[Huike]] ({{lang|zh|慧可}}) 487–593
# [[Sengcan]] ({{lang|zh|僧燦}}) ?–606
# [[Daoxin]] ({{lang|zh|道信}}) 580–651
# [[Daman Hongren|Hongren]] ({{lang|zh|弘忍}}) 601–674
# [[Huineng]] ({{lang|zh|慧能}}) 638–713

[[File:Huineng-tearing-sutras.svg|thumb|left|200px|Huineng tearing sutras]]

However, certain questions remain. Regarding the connection between the second and third patriarchs, on the one hand, and the fourth patriarch, on the other; Whalen Lai points out, "Huike was a ''dhuta'' (extreme ascetic) who schooled others, and one of his disciples was Sengzan (d. 606). However, the link between this pair and Daoxin (580–651, now deemed the fourth Chan patriarch) is far from clear and remains tenuous."{{sfn|Lai|2003|p=17}}

According to Wendi Adamek: 

<blockquote>There was no 'Chan school' in existence during the time of the six Chinese patriarchs—it cannot even be said to have begun with Shenhui, the one who yoked six names to a powerfully generative idea. However, once the imaginary line had been drawn in the sands of the past, it began to sprout real branches. It continues to put forth new shoots even today.{{sfn|Adamek|2011|pp=23-24}}</blockquote>

====Shenhui and Huineng====
According to tradition, the sixth and last ancestral founder, [[Huineng]] (惠能; 638–713), was one of the giants of Chan history, and all surviving schools regard him as their ancestor. The dramatic story of Huineng's life tells that there was a controversy over his claim to the title of patriarch. After being chosen by [[Daman Hongren|Hongren]], the fifth ancestral founder, Huineng had to flee by night to [[Nanhua Temple]] in the south to avoid the wrath of Hongren's jealous senior disciples.

Modern scholarship, however, has questioned this [[Zen#Narratives|narrative]]. Historic research reveals that this story was created around the middle of the 8th century, beginning in 731 by [[Shenhui]], a successor to Huineng, to win influence at the Imperial Court. He claimed Huineng to be the successor of Hongren instead of the then publicly recognized successor Shenxiu.{{sfn|McRae|2003}} In 745 Shenhui was invited to take up residence in the Ho-tse temple in [[Luoyang]]. In 753 he fell out of grace and had to leave the capital to go into exile. The most prominent of the successors of his lineage was [[Guifeng Zongmi]]{{sfn|Yampolski|2003|p=9}} According to [[Guifeng Zongmi|Zongmi]], Shenhui's approach was officially sanctioned in 796, when "an imperial commission determined that the Southern line of Chan represented the orthodox transmission and established Shen-hui as the seventh patriarch, placing an inscription to that effect in the Shen-lung temple".{{sfn|Gregory|1991|p=279}}

Doctrinally the Southern School is associated with the teaching that [[Subitism|enlightenment is sudden]], while the [[Northern School]] is associated with the teaching that enlightenment is gradual. This was a polemical exaggeration, since both schools were derived from the same tradition, and the so-called Southern School incorporated many teachings of the more influential Northern School.{{sfn|McRae|2003}} Eventually both schools died out, but the influence of Shenhui was so immense that all later Chan schools traced their origin to Huineng, and "sudden enlightenment" became a standard doctrine of Chan.{{sfn|McRae|2003}}

===Indian patriarchs===
In later writings this lineage was extended to include twenty-eight Indian patriarchs. In the ''[[Song of Enlightenment]]'' (證道歌 ''Zhèngdào gē'') of [[Yongjia Xuanjue]] (永嘉玄覺, 665–713), one of the chief disciples of [[Huineng|Huìnéng]], it is written that Bodhidharma was the 28th patriarch in a line of descent from Mahākāśyapa, a disciple of [[Gautama Buddha|Śākyamuni Buddha]], and the first patriarch of Chán Buddhism.{{sfn|Chang|1967}}

====Twenty-eight Indian patriarchs====
[[Keizan]]'s ''Transmission of the Light'' gives twenty-eight patriarchs up to and including Bodhidharma in this transmission:{{sfn|Keizan|2003}}{{sfn|Diener|1991|p=266}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|For narratives in English of most patriarchs see Houn Jiyu (Peggy Teresa Nancy Kennett), 1999, ''Zen is Eternal Life'' (''Selling Water by the River''), Mount Shasta, California: Shasta Abbey Press.}}

{{Zen Lineage 28 Patriarchs}}

====Mahākāśyapa====
[[File:China, Hebei province, Southern Xiangtangshan caves, Northern Qi dynasty - Standing Disciple Mahakasyapa Holding a Cylindrical Reliquary - 1972.166 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif|Mahākāśyapa holding a reliquary, sixth century, [[Hebei province]], China |alt=Monk holding cylinder-shaped object. Monk is depicted with aura-like shape around the head |thumb]]
According to the traditional Chan accounts, the first Dharma transmission occurred as described in the [[Flower Sermon]]. The Buddha held up a golden [[lotus (plant)|lotus]] flower before an assembly of "gods and men". None who were in attendance showed any sign of understanding except his disciple [[Mahākāśyapa]], who offered only a smile. The Buddha then said, 

{{quote|I have the right Dharma Eye Treasury, the wondrous mind of nirvana, the reality beyond appearance. The Dharma-door of mind to mind transmission has been entrusted to Kāśyapa.{{sfn|Epstein|2003|p=130}}
}}

Epstein comments, "Thus Mahākāśyapa received the transmission of Dharma and became the first Buddhist patriarch."{{sfn|Epstein|2003|p=130}}