One thing I found to be of interest in Holmes Welch’s book, The Practice of Chinese Buddhism 1900-1950, which is an important source of information on 20th century Zen history in China, is the so-called “dharma transmission” which during that time had become a mere convention.
“A few days later a time was fixed to hold a simple ceremony for dharma transmission in the dharma hall. The three retired abbots—Ts’ung-shan, Ta-pei and Chih-k’uan—mounted the dais and handed dharma scrolls to us four. In actuality this kind of “dharma transmission” has become a formality in the Ch’an sect. It is a million miles away from the dharma transmission by the direct imprint of mind upon mind. This kind of dharma transmission is simply a traditional formality of genealogical succession” (p. 165).
For those who believe that dharma transmission means the transmission of Buddhahood rather than consisting of a necessary and important formality for keeping some Zen center going, with its many members who have spent not a few years attending, are sadly mistaken. They are confusing the ideal with pragmatic reality.
One cannot read Holmes Welch’s book and not see the “mind to mind transmission” (Ch., i hsin chuan hsin; J., ishin denshin), which is the direct imprint of mind upon mind, to be wholly spiritual. It does not depend upon written words. Nor should it be confused with the dharma transmission as a formality described in Holmes Welch’s book. (Jeffrey L. Broughton mentions that a Zen encyclopedia published in Japan in 1979 contains a lineage chart of almost fifty pages.)
If anything, the dharma transmission might be something of a “secret transmission” (mi-shou), modeled on the transmission from the fifth to the sixth patriarch in which only the participants are present but no one else. (pp. 163–64). But more likely this has also fallen into a mere formality.
What I know as a fact, is that when one awakens to Mind (which can be quite powerful) it is very easy to transmit dharma or the same, imprint mind upon mind. One senses a powerful light entering them. Asked to describe it the adept cannot yet he or she knows, absolutely, it is present. That is your basic dharma transmission 101.
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