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Dharma transmission ( or Chan Buddhism of a student's awakening. This one-to-one transmission is said to trace back over 2,500 years to Gautama Buddha when he gave dharma transmission to his disciple Mahakasyapa , who is regarded as the first patriarch of Zen in India. It is described by Reginald Ray as the recognition that a student has achieved awakening, realizing his or her true Buddha Nature . Since an awakened Buddha realizes the connectedness inherent in all things, it is not "giving" something from the teacher to the student. Instead, it is a recognition that the student has cast off delusion. In addition to acknowledgment of realization, which also occurs in other contexts (for instance the Harada-Yasutani school for many years had a ceremony acknowledging one's first Kensho , which was an acknowledgment of realization but not Dharma transmission) Dharma transmission also includes permission or acknowledgment by the teacher that her or his student has now become a teacher, as well. According to James Ford in his "Zen Master Who?" in Japanese Soto Dharma transmission is connected to Ordination . But Japanese Rinzai and the Harada-Yasutani line, as well as Chinese , Vietnamese , and Korean Zen do not connect Dharma transmission to the ordination rituals. ZEN MASTER Philip Yampolksy, in his book "The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch," states that "Once Ch'an began to be organized into an independent sect, it required a history and tradition which could provide it with the respectability already possessed by the longer-established Buddhist schools. In the manufacture of this history, accuracy was not a consideration; a tradition traceable to the Indian Patriarchs was the objective. At the same time that Ch'an was providing itself with a past which accommodated itself to Buddhism as a whole, various competing Ch'an Masters, each with his own disciples and methods of teaching, strove to establish themselves. Throughout the eighth century a two-fold movement took place: the attempt to establish Ch'an as a sect within the Buddhist teaching in general, and the attempt to gain acceptance for a particular school of Ch'an within the Chinese society in which it existed." Yampolsky goes on from there, but the three most important themes are these: (1) the idea of "lineage" is not something unique to Zen, but is rather a more general principle that operates within many different Buddhist schools, (2) regardless of whether or not it was "manufacture {Link without Title} ", and regardless of its "accuracy", it was in China during the eighth century that the history of Zen, as this history is understood within the Zen tradition itself, began to take shape, and (3) lineage serves to both legitimize Zen with respect to other Buddhist schools, and also as the primary criterion for legitimacy within Zen itself. Despite the skeptical attitude expressed in the quotation, Yampolsky (who died in 1996) was not hostile to the Zen tradition or Buddhism in general. Yampolsky has been described {Link without Title} as an "active member of a group of Beat generation scholars and writers studying Zen." He worked with such writers as Gary Snyder and Burton Watson . "Transmission of Light" (Japanese: Denkoroku) by Zen Master Keizan is a series of "transmission stories" that trace the lineage of the Japanese Soto school from Dogen back to Shakyamuni. It is available in at least two English translations. "The Zen Teachings of Bodhidharma" is a modern book (by some guy who calls himself "Red Pine") that contains translations of texts that are attributed to Bodhidharma - the most pivotal figure in the history of Zen "transmission". Often two levels of "Teacher" are recognized in Zen. The lower level corresponds to the English phrase "Zen Teacher", while the phrase "Zen Master" is normally reserved for a higher level. The roughly corresponding Japanese terms would be " Sensei " and " Roshi ". To make things more confusing different terms are used to describe the process by which someone becomes a Zen Teacher/Master. If someone has "received Dharma Transmission " this usually, but perhaps not always, refers to the higher level of "Master". Sometimes the related term " Inka " (or "inga") is used as a synonym for Dharma Transmission, but sometimes it is used to refer to the lower level of Zen Teacher as distinct from "Master". A Zen Master will often give transmission to multiple students, who thereby become Zen Masters themselves. Sometimes one of these students is designated as a kind of primary Dharma Heir. Some Masters colloquially refer to such an heir as their "number one son", a somewhat tongue in cheek reference to the practice of Primogeniture in which the eldest son inherits all of the father's wealth. If Zen can be said to have begun with Bodhidharma , then there have been women Zen Masters from the beginning of Zen. According to tradition, Bodhidharma gave transmission to a nun named Dharani (although Bodhidharma's primary Dharma Heir was the famous monk Huike). The nun Dharani is also referred to as "the Bhikshuni Tsung-Ch'ih". In addition to the semi-legendary Dharani, there are others. Layman Pang is a famous teacher from the "Golden Age" of Zen during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) - and according to many traditional stories his wife and daughter were both enlightened. Pang's daughter, Ling Zhao, is sometimes credited with teaching her father a thing or two {Link without Title} . During the Sung Dynasty (960 - 1279) the famous Zen Master Ta Hui (aka Dahui Zanggao) not only gave transmission to the nun Miao-tao, but he also designated her as his primary Dharma Heir. Ta Hui wasn't just any "famous Zen Master". His teacher had been Yuan Lu, the author of the Blue Cliff Record , one of the most important texts of Zen teaching. According to Zen tradition, Miao-tao is not the first woman Zen Master - but she is the first one that is historically documented. Miriam Levering {Link without Title} has done groundbreaking research on Miao-tao and on the role of women in Chinese Zen in general. Dogen (1200 - 1253), the founder of the Japanese Soto school of Zen was outspoken on the matter of women as Zen teachers. Although he did not give transmission to any of his women students, he was clear in his teaching that men and women have equal spiritual capacities - and that women can serve as teachers, and that women teachers can teach both men and women. One of Dogens's successors, Zen Master Keizan (1268 - 1325), put Dogen's ideas into practice and a number of Keizan's women students became fully authorized Zen Masters. {Link without Title} SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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