La transmisión del Dharma – Fundadores y patriarcas de las corrientes budistas

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Una línea de transmisión en el budismo es una línea de transmisión de las enseñanzas budistas que «teóricamente se remonta al propio Buda».

Los sucesores de las enseñanzas del Buda

El reconocimiento de la transmisión puede ser oral o estar certificado en documentos.

Varias ramas del budismo, incluyendo el Chan (que abarca el Zen y el Seon) y el budismo tibetano, mantienen registros de sus maestros históricos.

Estos registros sirven como una validación para los exponentes vivos de la tradición.

En el budismo Chan y Zen, la transmisión del dharma es una costumbre en la que una persona es establecida como «sucesor en una línea ininterrumpida de maestros y discípulos, una ‘sangre espiritual’ (kechimyaku) que teóricamente se remonta al propio Buda».

La línea del dharma refleja la importancia de las estructuras familiares en la antigua China y forma una recreación simbólica y ritual de este sistema para la «familia» monástica.

Linajes en el contexto del budismo tibetano

Dentro del contexto del budismo tibetano, la importancia del linaje se extiende mucho más allá del sentido ordinario de una línea particular de herencia o descendencia.

El linaje es un sagrado fideicomiso a través del cual se preserva intacta la integridad de las enseñanzas del Buda a medida que se transmiten de una generación a la siguiente.

El vínculo vital a través del cual se nutre y se mantiene la tradición espiritual es la profunda conexión entre un maestro iluminado y un discípulo perfectamente devoto.

La relación maestro-discípulo es considerada extremadamente sagrada por todas las principales escuelas del budismo tibetano.

Lista de fundadores y patriarcas

Esta es una lista no exhaustiva de fundadores y patriarcas de algunas corrientes budistas influyentes.

Padmasambhava

Padmasambhava (Tib.: Guru Rinpoche) es el fundador indio del budismo tántrico en el Tíbet. En el siglo XI, con el surgimiento de la tradición del Tesoro Revelado (Tib.: terma), el culto a Padmasambhava adquirió un estatus de culto. Se crearon cientos de nuevas formas de deidades de Padmasambhava que representan todos los aspectos de la iconografía y la actividad tántrica; pacífica, colérica, masculina, femenina, riqueza, poder, sanación, etc.

Nagarjuna

Nāgārjuna es ampliamente considerado uno de los filósofos budistas más importantes. Junto con su discípulo Āryadeva, se le considera el fundador de la escuela Madhyamaka del budismo Mahāyāna. A Nāgārjuna también se le atribuye el desarrollo de la filosofía de los sūtras de Prajñāpāramitā y, en algunas fuentes, se dice que reveló estas escrituras al mundo, habiéndolas recuperado de los nāgas. Además, se supone tradicionalmente que escribió varios tratados sobre rasayana y que ocupó un cargo como jefe de Nālandā.

Milarepa

Jetsun Milarepa fue un siddha tibetano, conocido famosamente como un asesino cuando era joven, antes de convertirse al budismo y convertirse en un discípulo budista altamente realizado. Se le considera generalmente uno de los yoguis y poetas espirituales más famosos de Tíbet, cuyas enseñanzas son conocidas entre varias escuelas del budismo tibetano. Fue estudiante de Marpa Lotsawa y una figura importante en la historia de la escuela Kagyu del budismo tibetano. También es famoso por la hazaña de escalar el Monte Kailash.

Je Tsongkhapa

Tsongkhapa, generalmente entendido como «el Hombre del Valle de Cebollas», nacido en Amdo, fue un famoso maestro del budismo tibetano cuyas actividades llevaron a la formación de la escuela Gelug del budismo tibetano. También es conocido por su nombre ordenado Losang Drakpa o simplemente como «Je Rinpoche». Además, es conocido en chino como Zongkapa Lobsang Zhaba. Fue el hijo de un líder tribal Longben tibetano que también sirvió una vez como funcionario de la Dinastía Yuan de China.

Marpa Lotsawa

Marpa Lotsawa, a veces conocido completamente como Marpa Chokyi Lodro o comúnmente como Marpa el Traductor, fue un maestro budista tibetano acreditado con la transmisión de muchas enseñanzas del Vajrayana desde India, incluyendo las enseñanzas y linajes de Mahamudra. Debido a esto, la línea Kagyu, que él fundó, a menudo se llama Marpa Kagyu en su honor.

Atiśa

Atiśa Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna fue un líder religioso y maestro budista bengalí del subcontinente indio. Fue una de las figuras principales en la difusión del budismo Mahayana y Vajrayana del siglo XI en Asia e inspiró el pensamiento budista desde el Tíbet hasta Sumatra. En el año 1013 d.C., viajó al reino de Srivijaya y permaneció allí durante 12 años antes de regresar a India. Es reconocido como una de las figuras más grandes del budismo clásico, y el principal discípulo de Atisa, Dromtön, fue el fundador de la Escuela Kadam, una de las escuelas de Nueva Traducción del budismo tibetano, que más tarde fue suplantada por la tradición Geluk en el siglo XIV, adoptando su enseñanza y absorbiendo sus monasterios.

Kūkai

Kūkai (空海), también conocido póstumamente como Kōbō-Daishi, 774–835, fue un monje budista japonés, funcionario civil, erudito, poeta y artista que fundó la escuela de Budismo Esotérico Shingon o «mantra». Los seguidores de Shingon generalmente se refieren a él con el título honorífico de Odaishisama (お大師様) y el nombre religioso de Henjō-Kongō (遍照金剛).

Nichiren

Nichiren fue un sacerdote budista japonés que vivió durante el período Kamakura (1185–1333) y desarrolló las enseñanzas que ahora se consideran el budismo Nichiren, una escuela rama del budismo Mahayana.

Kangan Giin

Kangan Giin was a disciple of Dōgen and the founder of the Higo school of Sōtō Zen Buddhism. It has been claimed that his father was Emperor Go-Toba or Emperor Juntoku. He did much evangelization work in Kyūshū, where he founded Daiji-ji (大慈寺) in Kumamoto. Before practicing with Dōgen, Giin started his Buddhist path as a Tendai monk. He later abandoned that school and became a member of Daruma School under Kakuzen Ekan. Along with his fellow students Tettsū Gikai and Gien, Giin became a student of Dōgen when Giin’s teacher Ekan himself became a student of Dōgen. Dōgen died without giving dharma transmission to Giin, but he received it later from Dōgen’s primary disciple, Koun Ejō.

Kakuban

Kakuban, known posthumously as Kōgyō-Daishi was a priest of the Shingon sect of Buddhism in Japan and credited as a reformer, though his efforts also led to a schism between Kogi Shingon-shū and Shingi Shingon-shū .

Kakuban is also famous for his introduction of the «esoteric nembutsu».

Nōnin

Dainichibō Nōnin (大日房能忍) was a Japanese Buddhist monk who started the first Zen school in Japan.

Mazu Daoyi

Mazu Daoyi (709–788) was an influential abbot of Chan Buddhism during the Tang dynasty. The earliest recorded use of the term «Chan school» is from his Extensive Records. Master Ma’s teaching style of «strange words and extraordinary actions» became paradigmatic Zen lore.

Kuiji

Kuījī, also known as Ji, an exponent of Yogācāra, was a Chinese monk and a prominent disciple of Xuanzang. His posthumous name was Cí’ēn dàshī, The Great Teacher of Cien Monastery, after the Daci’en Temple or Great Monastery of Compassionate Grace, which was located in Chang’an, the main capital of the Tang Dynasty. The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda was built in Daci’en Temple in 652. According to biographies, he was sent to the imperial translation bureau headed by Xuanzang, from whom he later would learn Sanskrit, Abhidharma, and Yogācāra.

Jianzhen

Jianzhen, or Ganjin in Japanese, was a Chinese monk who helped to propagate Buddhism in Japan. In the eleven years from 743 to 754, Jianzhen attempted to visit Japan some six times. Ganjin finally came to Japan in the year 753 and founded Tōshōdai-ji in Nara. When he finally succeeded on his sixth attempt he had lost his eyesight as a result of an infection acquired during his journey. Jianzhen’s life story and voyage are described in the scroll, «The Sea Journey to the East of a Great Bonze from the Tang Dynasty.»

Daoxuan

Daoxuan was an eminent Tang dynasty Chinese Buddhist monk. He is perhaps best known as the patriarch of the Four-part Vinaya school. Daoxuan wrote both the Continued Biographies of Eminent Monks and the Standard Design for Buddhist Temple Construction. Legends retold in his biographies also associate him to a relic of the Buddha which came to be called Daoxuan’s tooth, one of the four tooth relics enshrined in the capital of Chang’an during the Tang dynasty. He is said to have received the relic from Nezha, a divinity associated with Indra.

Dōgen

Dōgen Zenji, also known as Dōgen Kigen (道元希玄), Eihei Dōgen (永平道元), Kōso Jōyō Daishi (高祖承陽大師), or Busshō Dentō Kokushi (仏性伝東国師), was a Japanese Buddhist priest, writer, poet, philosopher, and founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan.

Dushun

Dushun (557–640) was the First Patriarch in the Huayan School of Chinese Buddhism, which has the Indian Avatamsaka Sutra as its central scripture.

Jinul

Jinul Puril Bojo Daesa, often called Jinul or Chinul for short, was a Korean monk of the Goryeo period, who is considered to be the most influential figure in the formation of Korean Seon (Zen) Buddhism. He is credited as the founder of the Jogye Order, by working to unify the disparate sects in Korean Buddhism into a cohesive organization.

Shinran

Shinran was a Japanese Buddhist monk, who was born in Hino at the turbulent close of the Heian Period and lived during the Kamakura Period. Shinran was a pupil of Hōnen and the founder of what ultimately became the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Japanese Buddhism.

Saichō

Saichō was a Japanese Buddhist monk credited with founding the Tendai school of Buddhism based on the Chinese Tiantai school he was exposed to during his trip to Tang China beginning in 804. He founded the temple and headquarters of Tendai at Enryaku-ji on Mount Hiei near Kyoto. He is also said to have been the first to bring tea to Japan. After his death, he was awarded the posthumous title of Dengyō Daishi (伝教大師).

Doshin So

Doshin So , (1911–1980) was a Japanese soldier and martial artist. He is most known as the creator and founder of Shorinji Kempo and the doctrine Kongo Zen . Practitioners of Shorinji Kempo refer to him as Kaiso, Japanese for «the founder».

Mugaku Sogen

Mugaku Sogen (無学祖元), also known as Bukko Kokushi was a prominent Zen Buddhist monk of the 13th century in Japan, an emigre from Song dynasty China. He was adviser to Japan’s most powerful ruler of the day, the regent of the shōgun (Shikken) Hōjō Tokimune. He founded the Zen temple Engaku-ji in Kamakura, one of Japan’s five most important Zen temples.

Mongkut

Mongkut was the fourth monarch of Siam (Thailand) under the House of Chakri, titled Rama IV. He ruled from 1851 to 1868.

In 1809, Prince Isarasundhorn was crowned as Buddha Loetla Nabhalai (later styled King Rama II.)

In 1824, Mongkut became a Buddhist monk (ordination name Vajirayan; Pali Vajirañāṇo), following a Siamese tradition that men aged 20 should become monks for a time.

In 1835 he began a reform movement reinforcing the vinaya law that evolved into the Dhammayuttika Nikaya, or Thammayut sect.

Eisai

Myōan Eisai/Yōsai was a Japanese Buddhist priest, credited with founding the Japanese line of the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism. In 1191, he introduced this Zen approach to Japan, following his trip to China from 1187 to 1191, during which he was initiated into the Linji school by the master Hsü an. It is also said that he popularized green tea in Japan, following this same trip. He was also the founding abbot of Japan’s first Zen temple Shōfuku-ji and Kennin-ji. He is often known simply as Eisai/Yōsai Zenji (栄西禅師), literally «Zen master Eisai».

Enchin

Enchin (円珍) (814–891) was a Japanese Buddhist monk who founded of the Jimon school of Tendai Buddhism and Chief Abbot of Mii-dera at the foot of Mount Hiei. After succeeding to the post of Tendai zasu , in 873, a strong rivalry developed between his followers and those of Ennin’s at Enryaku-ji.

Hōnen

Hōnen was the religious reformer and founder of the first independent branch of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism called Jōdo-shū . He is also considered the Seventh Jōdo Shinshū Patriarch.

Mahadeva (Buddhism)

Mahādeva is a controversial figure who appears in various roles in the histories of the early Buddhist schools.

Lanxi Daolong

Lanxi Daolong, born in Sichuan Province, China in 1213 A.D., was a famous Chinese Buddhist monk, calligrapher, idealist philosopher, and is the founder of the Kenchō-ji sect, which is a branch of the Rinzai school.

Ippen

Ippen Shōnin was a Japanese Buddhist itinerant preacher (hijiri) who founded the Ji-shū branch of Pure Land Buddhism.

Bodhidharma

Bodhidharma was a semi-legendary Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th or 6th century. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Buddhism to China, and regarded as its first Chinese patriarch. According to a debunked 17th century apocryphal story found in a manual called Yijin Jing, he began the physical training of the monks of Shaolin Monastery that led to the creation of Shaolin kungfu. He is known as Dámó in China and as Daruma in Japan. His name means «dharma of awakening (bodhi)» in Sanskrit.

Shōkū

Shōkū , sometimes called Seizan (西山), was a disciple of Hōnen, founder of the Jōdo-shū Buddhist sect. Shōkū later succeeded Jōhen, another disciple of Hōnen, as the head of a former Shingon Buddhist temple, Eikandō, established a separate branch of Jōdo-shū called the Seizan branch, and completed the transition of Eikandō from a Shingon temple into a Jōdo shū one.