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From: sari@ren.glaci.com (Trinlay Khadro)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.buddhism,alt.zen,alt.buddha.short.fat.guy,alt.philosophy.zen
Subject: Re: Zen Master Speaks
Followup-To: talk.religion.buddhism,alt.zen,alt.buddha.short.fat.guy,alt.philosophy.zen
Date: 9 Apr 1996 12:39:48 GMT
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Pen Ting (bodhi@norfolk.infi.net) wrote:
: Chris Christian wrote:
:  
: > On Mon, 8 Apr 1996, Joe Harkness wrote:

: > > Hey Pen, who transmitted the dharma to Mr. Thompsom?

: T'weren't me.

Ahem! Pen! don't you recognize "The Damn Lineage Question" when
you see it?

	If a teacher doesn't have a lineage, and the students have
no idea where he got transmission from... it is a VERY bad sign 
for the validity of that person as a Buddhist Teacher.

(that's something at least that all the Mahayana schools agree on,
and I'd be very very surprised if the Therevada don't.)

Lineage is probably the first question we ask about ANY teacher.
Not only to determine "validity" but also to get some idea of that
teacher's "style", what direction he or she is coming from.

	If there isn't a lineage going back to Buddha, it is
probably NOT Buddhism... But rather some newage concoction, with
possibly some Buddhist influence, mislabled Buddhism.

	Lineage is a can with the original lable on it, if it says
"Cream of Mushroom" you can be sure that that is what is in the can.
	without lineage, someone has ripped off the lables for a 
school projects and relabled them with magic marker.
	"Chicken Soup" could just as well be "Cream of celery"