''The Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp'' (), often referred to as ''The Transmission of the Lamp'', is a 30 volume work consisting of putative biographies of the

Chan Buddhist Chan (; of ), from Sanskrit ''dhyāna in Buddhism, dhyāna'' (meaning "meditation" or "meditative state"), is a Chinese school of Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhism. It developed in China from the 6th century Common Era, CE onwards, becoming e ...

and

Zen Buddhist Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

patriarchs and other prominent Buddhist monks. It was produced in the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

by Shi Daoyuan (). Other than the ''

Anthology of the Patriarchal Hall The ''Anthology of the Patriarchal Hall'' () is a Chinese text compiled by two Chinese Buddhist monks in 952 during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It is the oldest existing collection of Chan encounter dialogues, dating from abou ...

'', it represents the first appearance of "encounter dialogues" in the Chan tradition, which in turn are the antecedents of the famous

kōan A (; , ; ko, 화두, ; vi, công án) is a story, dialogue, question, or statement which is used in Zen practice to provoke the "great doubt" and to practice or test a student's progress in Zen. Etymology The Japanese term is the Sino-Jap ...

stories. The word ''Jingde'' (景德), the first two characters of the title, refers to the Song dynasty reign name, which dates the work to between 1004 and 1007 CE. It is a primary source of information for the history of Chan Buddhism in China, although most scholars interpret the biographies as largely

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies migh ...

. The lives of the Zen masters and disciples are systematically listed, beginning with the first seven buddhas (

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...

is seventh in this list). The "Lamp" in the title refers to the "

Dharma Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for '' ...

", the teachings of the Buddhism. A total of 1701 biographies are listed in the book. Volumes 1 to 3 are devoted to the history of

Indian Buddhism Buddhism is an ancient Indian religion, which arose in and around the ancient Kingdom of Magadha (now in Bihar, India), and is based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha who was deemed a "Buddha" ("Awakened One"), although Buddhist doctrine ...

, and the history of

Buddhism in China Chinese Buddhism or Han Buddhism ( zh, s=汉传佛教, t=漢傳佛教, p=Hànchuán Fójiào) is a Chinese form of Mahayana Buddhism which has shaped Chinese culture in a wide variety of areas including art, politics, literature, philosophy, m ...

starts in chapter 4 with

Bodhidharma Bodhidharma was a semi-legendary Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th or 6th century CE. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Chan Buddhism to China, and regarded as its first Chinese patriarch. According to a 17th century apo ...

. Volume 29 is a collection of

gatha ''Gāthā'' is a Sanskrit term for 'song' or 'verse', especially referring to any poetic metre which is used in legends, and is not part of the Vedas but peculiar to either Epic Sanskrit or to Prakrit. The word is originally derived from the Sansk ...

s, and volume 30 is a collection of songs and other devotional material.

List of Patriarchs

The Seven Buddhas

# Vipashin Buddha # Shikhin Buddha # Vessabhu/Vishvabhu Buddha # Krakucchsnda/Kakusandha Buddha # Kanakamuni/Konagamana Buddha # Kasyapa Buddha #

Gotama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...

The Twenty-Eight Indian Patriarchs

# Mahakasyapa # Ananda # Sanakavasa #

Upagupta Upagupta (c. 3rd Century BC) was a Buddhist monk. According to some stories in the Sanskrit text Ashokavadana, he was the spiritual teacher of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka. In the Sarvāstivādin tradition he is the fifth patriarch after Mahākaś ...

# Dhritaka # Michaka #

Vasumitra Vasumitra (or Sumitra, according to the ''d'' manuscript of the ''Matsya Purana'') (; died 124 BCE), was the fourth ruler of the Shunga Empire of North India. He was the son of Agnimitra by his queen Dharini and brother or half-brother of Vasujye ...

# Buddhanandi #

Buddhamitra Buddhamitrā (born c. 60) was a Buddhist nun from India during the Kushan Empire. She is remembered because of dated inscriptions on images of bodhisattvas and the Buddha that she erected in three cities near the Ganges river. They mark her succ ...

# Parsva # Punyayasas # Ashvaghosa # Kapimala #

Nagarjuna Nāgārjuna . 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)was an Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist thinker, scholar-saint and philosopher. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of ...

# Kanadeva # Rahulata # Sanghanandi # Gayasata # Kumorata # Jayata #

Vasubandhu Vasubandhu (; Tibetan: དབྱིག་གཉེན་ ; floruit, fl. 4th to 5th century CE) was an influential bhikkhu, Buddhist monk and scholar from ''Puruṣapura'' in ancient India, modern day Peshawar, Pakistan. He was a philosopher who ...

# Manorhita # Haklena # Aryasimha # Bashyashita #

Punyamitra Punyamitra was the 26th Indian Patriarch of Chan Buddhism. A legendary figure, little information about him exists outside of Buddhist hagiographic A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by exte ...

Prajnatara Prajñātārā, also known as Keyura, Prajnadhara, or Hannyatara, was the twenty-seventh patriarch of Indian Buddhism according to Chan Buddhism, and the teacher of Bodhidharma. Life According to The Transmission of the Lamp Little independent ...

Six Chinese Patriarchs

Huike Dazu Huike (487–593; ) is considered the Second Patriarch of Chan Buddhism and the twenty-ninth since Gautama Buddha. The successor to Bodhidharma. Biography Sources As with most of the early Chán patriarchs, very little firm data is availabl ...

Sengcan Jianzhi Sengcan (; Pīnyīn: ''Jiànzhì Sēngcàn''; Wade–Giles: ; Romanji: ) is known as the Third Chinese Patriarch of Chán after Bodhidharma and thirtieth Patriarch after Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha. He is considered to be the Dharma suc ...

Daoxin Dayi Daoxin (Chinese: 道信; Pinyin: ''Dàoxìn;'' Wade–Giles: ''Tao-hsin;'' Romanji: ''Dōshin''), who lived from 580–651, was the fourth Chán Buddhist Patriarch, following Jianzhi Sengcan (Chinese: 鑑智僧璨; Pīnyīn: ''Jiànzhì Sēn ...

# Hongren #

Huineng Dajian Huineng (); (February 27, 638 – August 28, 713), also commonly known as the Sixth Patriarch or Sixth Ancestor of Chan (traditional Chinese: 禪宗六祖), is a semi-legendary but central figure in the early history of Chinese Chan Buddhi ...

In addition to the acknowledged Chan patriarchs, the Transmission of the Lamp includes biographies or anecdotes involving a number of other figures known in the Chan/Zen tradition, including members of the

Oxhead school The Oxhead school (''Niu-t'ou zong'') was a short lived tradition of Chinese Chan Buddhism founded by Fa-jung (Niutou Farong, 牛頭法融, 594–657), who was a Dharma heir of the Fourth Patriarch Tao-hsin (580-651). Their main temple was locate ...

, Layman Pang, and influential disciples of Chinese masters who were not recognized as patriarchs.

References

External links

The complete text (in simplified Chinese) of the
Transmission of the Lamp
' is available from Beijing Guoxue (北京国学). {{Zen 11th-century Buddhism Zen texts Zen patriarchs Chan Buddhism Chinese Buddhist texts Song dynasty literature 11th-century Chinese books