The Second Dharma Transmission

[Anthony]

According to Zen tradition, Shakyamuni Buddha transmitted the dharma to his disciple Mahakashyapa by holding up a single flower and smiling. Scholars can debate about the historicity of this, but that's how the tradition goes.

According to the Zen lineage charts, Mahakashyapa transmitted the dharma to Ananda, the Buddha's attendant. I was wondering if there are any accounts in the tradition about this transmission? It seems like a pretty monumental event, given it's the first transmission from someone other than THE Buddha.

Just curious!

Gassho,
Anthony stalag

[Jundo]

Oh, yes. Here from Master Keizan's Record of the Transmission of the Lamp (Denkoroku), which is based on earlier "Lamp" compilations by others (trans. Cook). If you have a question about anything there, please ask and I will offer what I can.

Of course, the Zen Lineage record going back about 1500 years from today, more or less, is pretty well documented and historical. Before that, for the first 1000, it folds into legend and fog more. One might consider it a work of pure mythology at many points, although we know that the story represents countless many people known and unknown who kept the flames of Buddhism burning for that 1000 years ...

Gassho, J
stlah

~~~

ANANDA

Case
The second patriarch was the Venerable Ananda. He asked the Venerable Kashyapa, “Elder Dharma brother, did the World-honored One transmit anything else to you besides the gold brocade robe?” Kashyapa called, “Ananda!” Ananda replied. Kashyapa said, “Knock down the flag pole in front of the gate.” Ananda was greatly awakened.15

Circumstances
The Venerable Ananda was from Rajagriha and came from a Kshatriya family.16 His father was King Dronodana. Actually, he was the World-honored One’s cousin. In Sanskrit his name was Ananda, which in our country means “Joy.” He was born on the night the Tathagata achieved the Way. He was respectable and proper in appearance, and no one in the sixteen great kingdoms [of India] was his equal. Everyone who saw him was filled with joy, hence his name. He was foremost of those who had heard much [of the Buddha’s teaching], and he was wise, with vast learning.17

He was the Buddha’s attendant for twenty years and proclaimed everything the Buddha taught, and he studied the Buddha’s deportment. At the same time the World-honored One entrusted the Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma to Kashyapa, he likewise entrusted it to Ananda, saying, “Help transmit it.” For this reason, he also followed Kashyapa for twenty years, and cannot at all be said to have not understood the Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma.

Teisho
This should be evidence that the Way of the patriarchal teachers is not the same as that of other traditions [outside Zen]. Since Ananda was foremost among those who had heard much and had vast learning, the Buddha musthave personally approved him greatly. However, he still did not transmit the True Dharma, nor did he open up and clarify the mind-ground. When Kashyapa was assembling the teachings left by the Buddha at a meeting at the Vipula Cave, Ananda was not allowed to enter since he had not yet acquired the fruit [of being an arhat].18

At that time, Ananda secretly entered samadhi and promptly acquired the fruit of being an arhat. When he was about to enter the cave, Kashyapa said, “If you have acquired the fruit, enter by exhibiting paranormal power.” Ananda made himself very small and entered the room through the keyhole. The disciples said, “Ananda has heard much as the Buddha’s assistant, and his learning is extensive. Just as water is passed from one container to another without a drop being spilled, [so Ananda possesses all the Buddha’s teachings]. We pray that you will ask Ananda to repeat the teachings.” Kashyapa said to Ananda, “The monks choose you, so ascend to your seat and repeat what the Buddha said.”

At the time, Ananda had secretly retained the Buddha’s entrustment within him. Receiving this request from Kashyapa, he stood, bowed at the feet of the assembled monks, and ascended to his seat where he proclaimed, “Thus I have heard. At one time the Buddha was at….” He [gradually] repeated all the holy teaching of the [Buddha’s] lifetime.19 Kashyapa asked the disciples, “Is this different from what the Tathagata preached?” The disciples said, “It does not differ by as much as a word from what the Tathagata preached.” The disciples were great arhats who possessed the three kinds of spiritual knowledge and the six paranormal powers, and they did not miss hearing anything.20 With one voice, they said, “We don’t know whether the Tathagata has returned or whether this was spoken by Ananda.” They praised him, saying, “The great ocean of the Buddhadharma has flowed into Ananda! What Ananda has spoken is the flowing right now of what the Tathagata has spoken.”

We understand that this is evidence that this Way does not rely on much hearing or on realizing the fruit [of being an arhat]. Moreover, for twenty years [Ananda] followed Kashyapa and was greatly awakened for the first time on the occasion of this story [recounted in the main case]. Since he was born on the night the Tathagata achieved the Way, he had not heard the Avatamsaka Sutra or other scriptures [spoken right after the enlightenment]. Still, he acquired the samadhi of the perfect knowledge of a Buddha and proclaimed what he had never heard. However, as for not entering the Way of the patriarchal teachers, [his inability] is the same as our not entering [when we rely on erudition and intellectual understanding].

Ananda had put forth the thought of the highest, perfect, complete enlightenment at the same time the Buddha did ages and ages ago at the time of the Buddha named “King of the Empty [Eon].” However, Ananda was fond of much hearing and therefore had still not achieved perfect enlightenment. Shakyamuni practiced diligently and consequently achieved perfect enlightenment. Truly, much hearing is an obstacle to the Way, and this is the evidence. Therefore, the Avatamsaka Sutra says, “Much hearing is like a poor person who counts another’s treasure and hasn’t a halfpenny of his own.” If you want to be settled intimately in the Way, don’t be fond of much hearing but just be courageous and diligent at once. Ananda persisted in thinking that something was transmitted besides the robe. He asked, “Elder Dharma brother, was anything else transmitted to you by the World-honored One besides the gold brocade robe?” At that time, Kashyapa realized that [Ananda] had arrived [at a crucial stage] and called Ananda.” Ananda responded. Kashyapa replied [immediately], “Knock down the flagpole in front of the gate.” Responding to the sound, Ananda was greatly awakened and the Buddha’s robe spontaneously came down over his head. That robe was the one correctly transmitted by the seven past Buddhas.

There are three explanations concerning this robe. One is that the Tathagata [was born] bearing it from the maternal womb. Another explanation is that he received it from the Celestials of the Pure Abode.21 Another is that he received it from a hunter [right after making his home departure from the palace]. There are also other Buddha robes. The robe transmitted to Caoxi [i.e., Huineng, the sixth patriarch in China] from Bodhidharma was a blue-black cotton robe with a blue lining. The lining was added after the robe arrived in China. At present it is stored in the Sixth Patriarch’s temple and it is considered an important national treasure. In the Da Zhi Du Lun it says that “the Tathagata wore a coarse sanghati [large robe],” and this is the same one. That gold brocade robe is a wool robe with gold threads [added]. A sutra says, “The Buddha’s aunt with her own hands made awool robe with gold threads added and presented it to the Buddha.” These are a few of a number of items.

With regard to supernatural experiences, there are a number of stories in the scriptures. Long ago, the Venerable Vasasita encountered difficulties with a wicked king. He threw the Buddha’s robe into a fire where it emanated rays of f ive colors. When the fire went out, the Buddha’s robe was unharmed, and so the king had faith that it was the Buddha’s robe. It is the one to be transmitted to Maitreya [at the time when he appears in the world].

The Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma was not transmitted to two men. Only one person, Kashyapa, received the transmission from the Tathagata. Ananda served Kashyapa for twenty years and [then] held and transmitted the True Dharma. Thus, you should understand that our [Zen] tradition is transmitted apart from the scriptural teachings. However, in recent times, the two are carelessly thought to be identical. If they are identical, how could the Venerable Ananda, who was an arhat with the three kinds of spiritual knowledge and six paranormal powers, receive the Tathagata’s transmission and be called the second patriarch?

Could anyone at present surpass Ananda in understanding the sutras? If anyone does surpass Ananda, then we must acknowledge the identity [of the sutra’s meaning and the patriarchal teachers’ meaning]. If it can simply be said that they are identical, then why did he serve with so much trouble for twenty years and now clarify [the mind-ground] on [hearing the words] “Knock down the flagpole”? You must understand that the meaning of the sutras and treatises are not to be considered as fundamentally the Way of the patriarchal teachers.

It is not that a Buddha is not a Buddha. Even though [Ananda] served [the Buddha] and acted as his attendant, since he did not penetrate to the Buddha Mind [which he possessed innately] how could he transmit the Mind Seal? You must understand that it does not depend on much hearing and extensive learning. Even though you can hear and retain all ordinary writings and sacred teachings because you are bright and have sharp ears, if you fail to penetrate them [to the essential meaning], you are like someone counting a neighbor’s wealth. Regretfully, it is not that this Mind does not exist in the sutra teachings but that Ananda did not penetrate to it. How much more do people in Chinaand Japan depend on words for the meaning and fail to acquire the essence of the sutras.

You must understand that you should not make light of the [experience of the] Buddha Way. Ananda, thoroughly versed in the holy teachings of the Buddha’s whole lifetime, repeated them as the Buddha’s disciple, so who would not go along with him? However, you must understand that he followed Kashyapa and served him. After he became greatly enlightened, he proclaimed the teachings again. It was like fire uniting with fire. Clearly, if you want to investigate the True Way, abandon the [false] view of a self, old emotions, pride, and egotism. Turn your original Mind to acquiring Buddha knowledge.

With regard to this present story, [Ananda] thought that the transmission of the gold cloth robe [to Kashyapa] meant that outside of being a disciple of the Buddha [symbolized by the robe], there was nothing else [to be transmitted]. However, after following Kashyapa and taking care of him so intimately, he thought that something was communicated [between master and disciple]. Kashyapa, knowing that the time was ripe, called “Ananda,” and like an echo following a sound, Ananda responded. It was like a spark flying from a piece of flint.

Though [Kashyapa] called “Ananda,” he was not calling Ananda, and the response was not an answer. As for the matter of knocking down the flagpole, in India when the Buddha’s disciples and non-Buddhists had a debate, both sides put up a flag. When one side was defeated [in debate] their flag was taken down. Defeat was indicated without sounding drums and bells. In the present story, also, it is as if Kashyapa and Ananda had lined up [for debate] and set up their flags. If Ananda wins, Kashyapa should roll up his flag. One comes forth, the other disappears. However, this is not the case in the present story. If Kashyapa and Ananda are flagpoles, the principle [of the original face] is not revealed. When a flagpole is knocked down, a flagpole will be revealed.

When Kashyapa instructed him to knock down the flagpole, Ananda was greatly awakened because master and disciple had become one in the Way. After this great awakening, Kashyapa was also knocked down, and mountains and rivers were all also demolished. As a result, the Buddha’s robes spontaneously came down over Ananda’s head. However, you should not stop at standing like a ten-thousand-foot cliff in this lump of red flesh. Do not getstuck in purity. You should go further and understand the existence of the echo. All Buddhas have appeared one after another in the world, and patriarchal teachers have indicated it generation after generation. There is only this. Mind is transmitted by Mind, but no one understands this at all.

Even though the revealed lumps of red flesh, Kashyapa and Ananda, are That Person revealed in the world as one or two faces, do not think that Kashyapa and Ananda [alone] are That Person. You monks right now are each the ten-thousand-foot cliff, the thousand changes, and ten thousand transformations of That Person. If you understand That Person, you will all disappear at once. If that is so, do not look for the knocked-down flagpole outside of yourselves.

Verse

Today, this descendent of Daijo [i.e., Keizan, successor of Tettsu Gikai] would also like to add a few words. Would you like to hear them?

Wisteria withered, trees fallen, mountains crumbled
— Valley streams gush forth, and sparks pour out [from the stones].

[Onkai]

Gassho Onkai
Sat lah

[Anthony]

Oh, yes. Here from Master Keizan's Record of the Transmission of the Lamp (Denkoroku), which is based on earlier "Lamp" compilations by others (trans. Cook). If you have a question about anything there, please ask and I will offer what I can.

Of course, the Zen Lineage record going back about 1500 years from today, more or less, is pretty well documented and historical. Before that, for the first 1000, it folds into legend and fog more. One might consider it a work of pure mythology at many points, although we know that the story represents countless many people known and unknown who kept the flames of Buddhism burning for that 1000 years ...

Gassho, J
stlah

Thanks so much for sharing this Jundo! I knew about the Denkoroku, but for some reason it never crossed my mind that the earliest ancestors would be in there as well. I should give it a read.

gassho, Anthony satlah

[Jundo]

Thanks so much for sharing this Jundo! I knew about the Denkoroku, but for some reason it never crossed my mind that the earliest ancestors would be in there as well. I should give it a read.

gassho, Anthony satlah

Just know that it is a cross between history and fable, a religious work filled with great Truths even if many of the stories are more legend than true event. That is true especially the farther back one goes from about 1000 years ago. It is a bit like reading a cross between a college 'A History of Britain' and 'Game of Thrones' (without so much sex and violence, of course! )

Gassho, Jundo
stlah

[Anthony]

Just know that it is a cross between history and fable, a religious work filled with great Truths even many of the stories are more legend than true event. That is true especially the farther back one goes from about 1000 years ago. It is a bit like reading a cross between a college 'A History of Britain' and 'Game of Thrones' (without so much sex and violence, of course! )

Gassho, Jundo
stlah

I'm with you there. I'm of the opinion that even if events or stories and myths arent' *literally* true, they may be true in some rich moral way.

gassho,
Anthony
satlah