..续本文上一页ithin the context of shared understanding—seems to be an indelible feature of Zen.

　　5. Lineage and Teacher

　　A key Zen story, shared by all the schools: Once Buddha was giving a talk on Vulture Peak. In the middle of the talk he paused and held up a flower. Everyone was silent. Only Mahakasyapa broke into a smile. Buddha then said, "I have the Treasury of the True Dharma Eye, the ineffable mind of Nirvana, the real form of No Form, the flawless gate of the Teaching. Not dependent on words, it is a special transmission outside tradition. I now entrust it to Mahakasyapa."

　　This story, however historically unverifiable, represents the beginning of the Zen transmission, said to start directly with the Buddha. The story tells us two things: first, although the Buddha taught many true and useful teachings and techniques, the essence of what he taught is simple and ineffable. Holding up a flower is one expression of this essence. Second, the very simplicity and ineffability of this essential teaching requires that it be handed on from master to disciple in mutual wordless understanding. There can”t be a Zen training program with exams and certifications, with objectives, goals and demonstrable, measurable mastery.

　　While wordless understanding seems a bit mystical and precious, it may not be as strange as it seems. We are all familiar with the transformation that takes place in apprenticeship and mentorship relationships, processes that involve a wordless give and take between inpiduals, and in which something quite hard to define is passed on. My own teacher once made me a calligraphy that read, "I have nothing to give you but my Zen spirit." Although the "Zen spirit" may be hard to define, measure and explicitly verify, it can be appreciated when you feel it.

　　I referred to "dharma families" in Zen. These are lineage families, and lineage is a key element in Zen training. While Zen practice can be done without benefit of a teacher, having a teacher is important, and, in the end, crucial if one is to realize the depth of Zen practice and make it completely one”s own.

　　Although the Zen teacher must embody Zen and express it in all his or her words and deeds, a Zen teacher is not exactly a guru, a Buddha archetype at the center of a student”s practice. To be sure, respect for and confidence in the teacher is essential if one is to undergo the transformation in consciousness that Zen promises. But the Zen teacher is also an ordinary, conditioned human being, simply a person, however much he or she has realized of Zen. This paradox—that the teacher is to be appreciated as a realized spiritual adept and at the same time as an ordinary inpidual with rough edges and personality quirks—seems to go to the heart of Zen”s uniqueness. Through the relationship to the teacher, the student comes to embrace all beings, including himself or herself, in this way.

　　In Asia, lineages through the generations tended to be separate and usually opposing congregations. It was typical in the early days of the transmission of Zen to the West for teachers of different lineages to be scornful of each other. There were centuries of tradition behind this prodigious failure to communicate. Thankfully, in the West there is now much more sharing between the various lineages. In recent years in America, two organizations have been created to promote warm communication between the Zen lineages: the American Zen Teachers Association, which includes teachers from all lineages, and the Soto Zen Buddhist Association, that is made up of teachers of the various lineages of Soto Zen, the largest Zen tradition in the West.

　　6. Taking the Path of Zen in the West

　　I”ve said that Zen is essentially monastic and depends on the intensive practice of sitting meditation. In the Wes…

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