Dharma Wheel

Ven Guojun, Master Shengyen's youngest dharma heir, will be giving a free 2-hr public talk on Chan Buddhism on November 7th, 2012, 7pm-9pm, at Manhattan's New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) Auditorium, on Broadway and between 61st and 62nd St.

After receiving Dharma transmission (伝法) and verification of attainment (印可) from Master Shengyen in the Linji (临济) and Caodong (曹洞) traditions in 2005, Ven Guo Jun served as the Abbot of Dharma Drum Retreat Center (Pine Bush, NY) for 3 years.

In 2009, Ven Guo Jun also received transmission and obtained verification in the Xianshou (贤首, also known as Huayan 華嚴 or Avatamsaka) and Ci-en (慈恩, Xuanzang's transmission of Chinese Yogacara) lineages of Chinese Buddhism from Master Qinyin of Fuhui Monastery (Taipei, Taiwan).

For more info, please go to http://www.cbcausa.org/event/heartofchan.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Venue:
NYIT Auditorium
1871 Broadway, New York, NY 10023
Date/Time:
November 7th, 2012. 7pm – 9pm
Admission:
Free
Scope:
Heart of Chan,in four sections:

The Nature of the World (Samsāra)
The Nature of Enlightenment (Nirvāṇa)
What Chan practice is (Mārga)
Bringing Chan to life (Phāla)

I wonder what kind of transmission is there in Huayan and Faxiang...

Astus wrote:I wonder what kind of transmission is there in Huayan and Faxiang...

Actually I am not sure. I think it is just lineage transmission, in that one is qualified as a teacher for those lineages? Being that these were established schools way back then, there ought be some sort of institutional process for transmitting teachings.

I doubt that there is any lineage from the Tang dynasty or from as late as the Qing. Even in Chan they had to reinvent the lineage several times and fill in the gaps of missing generations.

Astus wrote:I doubt that there is any lineage from the Tang dynasty or from as late as the Qing. Even in Chan they had to reinvent the lineage several times and fill in the gaps of missing generations.

I can't say for sure if that is the case. China is a huge country and at least for Chan, being that the transmission of lineage holders are not one-to-one, but rather one-to-many, it is unlikely that once successful lineages would die out completely.

I have a lot of reading to catch up on Chan - do you have any recommendations on good books that studies this case of lineage transmission?

Here are some studies on Chan lineage history:
* highly recommended

*John R. McRae: Seeing through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism
Albert Welter: Monks, Rulers, and Literati: The Political Ascendancy of Chan Buddhism
John R. McRae: The Northern School and the formation of early Chʻan Buddhism
Wendi Leigh Adamek: The Mystique of Transmission: On an Early Chan History and Its Contexts
*Morten Schlütter: How Zen Became Zen: The Dispute Over Enlightenment and the Formation of Chan Buddhism in Song-Dynasty China
Elizabeth A. Morrison: The Power of Patriarchs: Qisong and Lineage in Chinese Buddhism
*Jiang Wu: Enlightenment in Dispute: The Reinvention of Chan Buddhism in Seventeenth-Century China

And two extras not strictly on lineage:

Robert H. Sharf: Coming to Terms With Chinese Buddhism: A Reading of the Treasure Store Treatise
Albert Welter: The Linji Lu and the Creation of Chan Orthodoxy: The Development of Chan's Records of Sayings Literature

Astus wrote:Here are some studies on Chan lineage history:
* highly recommended

*John R. McRae: Seeing through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism
Albert Welter: Monks, Rulers, and Literati: The Political Ascendancy of Chan Buddhism
John R. McRae: The Northern School and the formation of early Chʻan Buddhism
Wendi Leigh Adamek: The Mystique of Transmission: On an Early Chan History and Its Contexts
*Morten Schlütter: How Zen Became Zen: The Dispute Over Enlightenment and the Formation of Chan Buddhism in Song-Dynasty China
Elizabeth A. Morrison: The Power of Patriarchs: Qisong and Lineage in Chinese Buddhism
*Jiang Wu: Enlightenment in Dispute: The Reinvention of Chan Buddhism in Seventeenth-Century China

And two extras not strictly on lineage:

Robert H. Sharf: Coming to Terms With Chinese Buddhism: A Reading of the Treasure Store Treatise
Albert Welter: The Linji Lu and the Creation of Chan Orthodoxy: The Development of Chan's Records of Sayings Literature

Read parts of McRae's The Northern School and the formation of early Chʻan Buddhism and going through it again. Excellent read, especially the part about Hungjen's Xiuxinyaolun.