When we look at the history of Zen that begins with Zen literature of the Song dynasty, there is a genealogy of transmission, namely, the Records of the Transmission of the Lamp (published 1004). On the other hand, this genealogy is not developed in the documents found in the caves of Dunhuang—a much older Zen. Because of this, we learn that the idea of a teacher to student transmission and, hence the requirement of a Zen teacher, is not taken up in the way we might expect. For example, this is how the Sixth Patriarch looks at the matter (his Platform Sutra is from the caves of Dunhuang being pre-Song).
And what do I mean by 'truly good friend' [kalyana-mitra]? Someone who understands the teaching of the Supreme Vehicle and who points directly to the true path is a truly good friend, a great intermediary, a guide who helps people see their nature. All good teachings can only come about due to truly good friends. The buddhas of the Three Periods and the twelve divisions of the Canon are fully present in this nature of yours. If you can't realize this by yourselves, you need to find a good friend to show you how to see your nature. But if you realize this by yourselves, you don't need to look for a good friend somewhere else. And if someone insists that you have to find a good friend somewhere else before you attain liberation, that place doesn't exist. You will attain liberation when you meet the good friend inside of your own mind. But as long as your mind is full of confusion, delusion, and mistaken views, even the instruction of an external good friend won't be able to save you (tr. Red Pine Sec. 31 | brackets are mine).
Hui-neng is not telling us it is first necessary to find a Zen teacher. The present day need to find a Zen teacher by which to get transmitted so one might become a reputable member of the Zen lineage is not fully developed and implemented until the Song dynasty. On the same track, this is probably what prompted Dogen to go to China. He needed to obtain what is technically called an “inheritance certificate” without which he had no future in Japan with regard to Zen. As it turns out, Dogen's transmission document proved to be a medieval forgery (Steven Heine, Japanese Journal of Religious studies 30.102 [Spring 2003], p. 32).
Yes, Zen is about seeing one’s true nature but finding a Zen master is not required. I found a truly good friend when I found Bishop Nippo Shaku (1910–1991), a Nichiren Bishop! No certificate is required. You are fully certified when you first see the luminous Mind.
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