One question I've always asked myself, regarding "authority," and "gurus,"
and "no transmission outside the lineage," is this:
WHO GAVE THE BUDDHA TRANSMISSION?
Once you answer that question, you penetrate the diamond.
I have sat zazen with many groups over the years (some of whom are led by
ladies and gentlemen that claim dharma transmissions from famous roshis and
rinpoches), and I haven't locked eyebrows with anyone YET that I would call
enlightened, in the way that you can actually grok the enlightenent of
(merely by reading texts of their words and exchanges) hoary old foxes like
Huang-Po, Dogen, Hui-Neng, Ryokwan, and Hakuin, to name a few.
You can reach across centuries with these texts, and know that they were
actualised there in the mind point.
So I question who has the authority to grant or not grant
mind-transmission, or certify enlightenment, when Shakyamuni himself
achieved it by himself. (My apologies to the Tricycle and Snow Lion weekend
workshop and bbring your plastic crowd.)
Gassho.
>Well just to flog this horse until it evaporates into thin air (we
>should be so lucky !) it seems that a thread running through this
>discussion is Nelson's assertion that the only way Zen (or presumably
>any Buddhist sect) can survive is if a proper authority (e.g. a teacher
> in a lineage) is available to judge the attainment of students. While I
>basically agree, the thread that I've been struggling with, rather
>inarticulately, is that by painting this in such a black and white
>fashion, I think Nelson is unfairly tarring people who explore the
>subtleties of authority in Buddhism as typical, sloppy failed American
>wannabes and I disagree with that. I think the dharma casts a wide net
>and any drop of compassion or wisdom that results is a treasure (after
>all how many eons, as described in the jataka tales, did it take the
>Buddha to get it ?). I think Riley was saying something like this but
>more succinctly and eloquently. To me Buddhism is about a lot more than
>personal achievement (though it is no doubt a great event when anyone
>achieves true understanding).
>
>Ok, I quit, I promise; I'm crawling back into my hole (and thanks for
>all the patience and great points; meanderings like this can be painful
>and pull trolls like me out of their holes but on balance I think it's a
>great thing)
>
>-- Karl
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