From the Fall 2012 Buddhadharma magazine: “Three Levels of Transmission”

A dharma transmission ceremony has many aspects, writes Lewis Richmond in "Three Levels of Transmission," but lineage and precepts are paramount. As he studied these aspects, he found it useful to understand them as having three aspects: outer, inner, and innermost.

"Lineage means a succession of generations. Lineage was particularly important for the emerging Zen tradition of seventh-century China, which gained credibility with the more established Buddhist sects of the time by tracing an unbroken line of 'mind to mind transmission' back to Buddha. This is the outer aspect of lineage, and in Zen we have a list of over ninety names, going back through Japan, China, and India, that define this succession."

Richmond's commentary is now online in its entirety; you can read it here. You can browse the rest of the Fall Buddhadharma magazine here.

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