The Ch'an Patriarch Lineage.

[Shi Da Dao]

Presented below is information gathered from two very important Chinese Buddhist works. The photographs of the Patriarchs are courtesy of the authot Mr Wong Mou-lam, and taken from his 1929 book entitled 'The Sutra of Hui Neng'. This remarkable book is considered the first example of the Patriarch's Alter Sutra being translated into English. Me edition contains a Foreword by Mr Christmas Humphreys dated 'December 1952'.

This book is in two parts, with one part containing photographs of the Lord Buddha, and the subsequent 33 Patriarchs of Ch'an, together with their 'transmission gathas', or 'enlightened poems in the Chinese written language. The sutra appears in English and in Chinese, but the gathas themselves remain untranslated.

For the translation of the 'transmission gathas', I have referenced Charles Luk's Ch'an And Zen Teaching Second Series - and have quoted from the section entitled 'Forty Transmission Gathas'. Luk has taken for his English translation a section of the Chinese text entitled 'Transmission of the Lamp - Ching Te Ch'uan Teng Lu'. This translation contains no photographs.

Taken together, both books provide a comprehensive over-view in the English language of the Ch'an transmission. A word of clarity is required at this point. Wong's book contains 34 photographs - 33 of which are of the Ch'an Patriarch, and the 34th of the Lord Buddha himself. In the transmission of the Lamp however, there are recorded 6 Buddhas who lived prior to our Shakyamuni Buddha. I have included there important gathas, even though there are no pictures for them.

May all beings attain Release!

Shi Da Dao - Sutton 2010.

[Shi Da Dao]

(A) The Three Buddhas of the Glorious Aeon (Alamkarakakalpa)

1

Vipasyin Buddha, the 998th of the Glorious Aeon.

Gatha chanted When transmitting the Dharma to Sikhin Buddha:

The body is created out of nothing
A dream like product of illusion.
Once illusory mind and thought were not,
So dread of nature are both weal and wor.

2

Sikhin Buddha, the 999th of the Glorious Aeon.

Gatha chanted when translating the Dharma to Visvabhu Buddha

Good Dharmas arise and evil karma too,
Yet both are but illusions.
The body is like foam, like wind and mind;
Illusion has no base and no reality.

3

Visvabhu Buddha, the 1000th of the Glorious Aeon.

Gathat chanted when translating the Dharma to Krakucchanda Buddha:

When uncreated mind is tied to body,
It works with things and so exists through them.
When objects disappear, so does mind.
Weal and woe arise and vanish like illusions.

(B) The Four Buddhas of the Virtuous Aeon (Bhadrakalpa)

4

Krakucchanda Buddha, the first of the Virtuous Aeon.

Gatha translated when transmitting the Dharma to Kana kamuni Buddha:

To see the body as unreal is to see the Body of the Buddha.
To know the mind as an illusion is to know the Illusion of the Buddha.
If a man sees clearly that the mind and body are not real
How does he differ from the Buddha.

5

Kamakamuni Buddha, the second of the Virtuous Aeon.

Gatha chanted by Kama kamuni Buddha when transmitting the Dharma to Kasyapa Buddha:

The real Buddha has a body that no one can perceive,
There is no other Buddha for him who knows himself.
The sage who knows that woe is devoid of nature
Lives at ease and fears not birth and death.

6

Kasyapa Buddha, the third of the Virtuous Aeon.

Gatha chanted when transmitting the Dharma to Shakyamuni Buddha:

Pure and clean is the nature of all living beings.
Since it never was created, it cannot be destroyed.
Body and mind are from an illusion.
In this changing shadow there is neither weal or woe.

[Shi Da Dao]

7



Shakyamuni Buddha, the fourth of the Virtuous Aeon.

Gatha chanted when transmitting the Dharma to the 1st Ch'an Patriarch Mahakasyapa:

The Dharma's fundamental Dharma has no Dharma,
The Dharma of no-Dharma is Dharma too.
Now that the Dharma of no-Dharma is transmitted,
Has there ever been a Dharma?

[Shi Da Dao]

1



The Twenty-seven Indian Patriarchs

The First Indian Patriarch Mahakasyapa

Gatha chanted when transmitting the Dharma to the second Patriarch Ananda:

The fundamental Dharma of all Dharma
Is beyond the Dharmas that are false and real.
Why in the one Dharma should
There be Dharma and Not-Dharma?

[Shi Da Dao]

2



The Second Indian Patriarch Ananda

Gatha chanted when transmitting the Dharma to the Third Patriarch Sanakavasa:

At first there was a Dharma to transmit,
Transmitted it became that of No-Dharma.
Each man should realise the nature of his self,
And then there is not (even) a No-Dharma.

[Shi Da Dao]

3



The Third Indian Patriarch Sanakavasa

Gatha chanted when transmitting the Dharma to the fourth Patriarch Upagupta:

Dharma and Mind have no (reality)
For there is neither Mind nor Dharma.
When this Mind-Dharma is expounded,
This Dharma is not the Dharma of the Mind.

[Shi Da Dao]

4



The Fourth Indian Patriarch Upagupta

Gatha chanted when transmitting the Dharma to the Fifth Patriarch Dhrtaka:

Mind is the primal mind
Which is devoid of Dharma.
If Dharma and primal mind exist,
Both mind and primal Dharma will be false.

[Shi Da Dao]

5



The Fifth Indian Patriarch Dhrtaka

Gatha chanted when transmitting the Dharma to the Sixth Partriarch Miccaka:

When the Dharma of primal mind is really understood,
Neither Dharma nor Not-Dharma can remain.
(After) enlightenment it is the same as it was (before),
For there is neither mind nor Dharma.

[Shi Da Dao]

6



The Sixth Indian Patriarch Miccaka

Gatha chanted when transmitting the Dharma to the Seventh Patriarch Vasumutra:

There is neither mind nor realisation,
While that which can be realised is not Dharma.
Only when mind is seen to be unreal
Can the Dharma of all minds be truly understood.

[Shi Da Dao]

7



The Seventh Indian Patriarch Vasumitra

Gatha chanted when transmitting the Dharma to the Eight Patriarch Buddhanandi:

Mind and the vault of space are just the same,
The Dharma, spanning space, is now expounded.
When space is realised as such,
There is no Dharma, whether false or real.

[Shi Da Dao]

8



The Eighth Indian Patriarch Buddhanandi

Gatha chanted when transmitting the Dharma to the Ninth Patriarch Buddhamitra:

Space and Dharma of the mind
Have naught within nor aught without.
If space is truly understood,
The principle of Suchness will be learnt.

[Shi Da Dao]

9



The Ninth Indian Patriarch Buddhamitra

Gatha chanted when transmitting the Dharma to the Tenth Patriarch Parsva:

Truth in essence has no name,
Yet now because of name it can be known.
Whoever can receive the Dharma-truth
Will know that it is neither truth nor lies.

[Shi Da Dao]

10



The Tenth Indian Patriarch Parsva

Gatha chanted when transmitting the Dharma to the Eleventh Patriarch Punyayasas:

The real body is reality existing by itself,
Because of it we can expound the fundamental law.
The apprehension of the Dharma of reality
Is beyond all change and changelessness.

[Shi Da Dao]

11



The Eleventh Indian Patriarch Punyayasas

Gatha chanted when transmitting the Dharma to the Twelfth Patriarch Asvaghosa:

Delusion and enlightenment are concealing and revealing,
(Like) light and darkness they depend upon each other.
This Dharma that I know transmit
Is neither one nor two.

[Shi Da Dao]

12



The Twelfth Indian Patriarch Asvaghosa

Gatha chanted when transmitting the Dharma to the Thirteenth
Patriarch Kapimala:

Concealing and revealing are themselves the Dharma,
In essence light and darkness are non-dual.
The Dharma of enlightenment that I now transmit
Cannot be grasped nor can it be understood.