3.3 (a): The Origin of the Transmission (of Enlightenment in India)

[Full title: 3.3: The Transmission of Enlightenment in India (a): The Origin of the Transmission]

As the Buddha said in the Diamond Sūtra, he did not have any fixed Dharma to teach, for his doctrine consisted solely in wiping out all thoughts which stirred the mind so that the latter could be still and that the wisdom, inherent in every man, could manifest itself and perceive the self-nature for attainment of Buddhahood. However, since men were of different aptitudes to absorb the truth, He was compelled to teach Hīnayāna to those who were capable of digesting only the incomplete truth and Mahāyāna to disciples who were ready for the final teaching. This is what we call the expedient method of the teaching school by means of sūtras or discourses. It was, however, impossible to reveal the absolute reality by means of words and speeches for in spite of His revelation of the mind in the sūtras, His disciple did not understand it. Finally the World Honoured One picked up a flower and showed it to His disciples to probe their abilities to comprehend the ultimate aim of His teaching. Only Mahākāśyapa understood it and acknowledged it with a broad smile.

Thereupon, the Buddha declared to him:

“I have the treasury of the right Dharma eye, Nirvāṇa’s wonderful mind and the immaterial reality which I now transmit to you.”^[1]

A Gāthā uttered by Buddha in the presence of Mahākāśyapa runs as follows:

The Dharma a is ultimately no Dharma;
The Dharrna which is no-Dharma, is also a Dharma
As I now hand this ‘no Dharma’ over to thee,
What we call the Dharma, where, after all, is the Dharma? ^[2]

Mahākāśyapa then uttered a Gāthā to match with the above.

Pure and immaculate is the nature of all sentient things;
From the very beginning there is no birth, no death;
This body, this, mind–a phantom creation it is;

And in phantom transformation there are neither sins nor merits.^[3] This was the beginning of the Ch’an lineage of twenty-eight Indian and five Chinese Patriarchs.^[4]

From Mahākāśyapa, this knowledge was handed to Ānanda, and this transmission is traditionally recorded to have taken place in the following manner:

Ānanda asked Mahākāśyapa: “What was it that you have received from Buddha besides the robe and the bowl?”

Mahākāśyapa called: “O, Ānanda.”

“Yes” replied Ānanda.

Thereupon Mahākāśyapa said: “Will you take down the flag-pole at the gate?”^[5]

On receiving this command, a spiritual illumination came over the mind of Ānanda, and the “Seal of Buddha Heart” was handed over by Mahākāśyapa to this favourite pupil.

The Dhyāna School acknowledges the following twenty-eight patriarchs after Buddha who successfully transmitted the “Seal of Buddha Heart” down to Bodhidharma, who also became the first patriarch of the school in China.

The twenty-eight patriarchs are listed below:^[6]

1. Mahākāśyapa;
2. Ānanda;
3. Saṇavāsa [Śāṇakavāsa?];
4. Upagupta;
5. Dhṛtaka;
6. Micchaka;
7. Vasumitra;
8. Buddhananda;
9. Buddhamitra;
10. Parsva;
11. Puṇyayaśas;
12. Aśvaghoṣa;
13. Kapirnala;
14. Nāgārjuna;
15. Kāṇadeva;
16. Rahurata;
17. Saṅghānanda;
18. Kayasata;
19. Kumārata;
20. Jayata;
21. Vasubandhu;
22. Manura;
23. Haklena;
24. Simha;
25. Bhagasita;
26. Puṇyamitra;
27. Prajñatara;
28. Boddhidharma.

Among these, the most famous were Asvaghosa, (4^th century B.C.), Nāgārjuna (3^rd century B.C.) and Vasubandhu (5^th century A.D.), the 12^th, 14^th and 21^st patriarchs respectively. Because his knowledge was intuitive and dependent not on scriptures but on an awakening of the; mind, the method of transmission was that of silent understanding between one patriarch and the next. It is said that these Indian patriarchs kept the matter secret and continued to conform outwardly to the ordinary Buddhist traditions, until the time of Bodhidharma, who brought the teaching to China and openly taught the Chinese people. This shortly is the origin of the dhyāna Buddhism in China.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

See Lu K’uan Yū. (trans.) & (ed.) Cha’n and Zen Teaching, London: Rider & Company, 1961, p. 9.

[2]:

See Chou Hsiang-Kuang. Dhyana Buddhism in China: Its History and Teaching, Allahabab: Indo-Chinese Literature Publications, 1960, pp.17-8.

[3]:

Ibid., pp. 17-8.

[4]:

If Bodhidharnia is counted as the first Chinese Patriarch, there are twenty–seven Indian and six Chinese Patriarchs.

[5]:

Quoted from Dhyāna Buddhism in China: Its History and Teaching, p. 18.

[6]:

Ibid.