crisis where traditional approaches no longer worked.
Such doctrines often served to renew rather than
weaken Buddhism.
History as seamless transmission and as
comprehensive vision
In China, Buddhist texts of various schools often em-
phasize LINEAGE, the linear succession of patriarch
teachers from S ́akyamuni to the present. The case of
the CHAN SCHOOLis particularly instructive. Although
its texts contain divergent lineage charts and a wide va-
riety of stories connecting teachers and disciples, one
story line in particular has been popularized: In the
sixth century the Indian patriarch BODHIDHARMA
brings the correct understanding of the dharma to
China—a nonverbal understanding achieved through
sitting MEDITATIONand enlightenment, with no place
for scriptural study. Bodhidharma’s robe, symbolizing
the direct transmission of mind from S ́akyamuni Bud-
dha through the generations, is passed to his succes-
sors one at a time when they too realize this ineffable
truth. The sixth patriarch HUINENG(ca. 638–713) rec-
ognizes several successors, and their lineages eventu-
ally form the five houses of Chan and later the seven
schools. Teachers in the two extant schools, Linji
(Japanese, Rinzai) and Caodong (Soto), can therefore
trace their lineage to Tang China and back to S ́akya-
muni himself; what the “true dharma eye” sees is re-
tained in an unbroken history.
The research of modern scholars demonstrates that
this story line is largely a fabrication that served to le-
gitimize the teachings and practices of a particular
group, or to secure its place in a society of competing
interests. Taken together, early DUNHUANGchronicles,
Song-period lamp histories,and other texts present a
far more complicated picture of lineages, schools, ri-
valries, and projections into the past. One might see
the lineage charts as evidence of the lack of historical
consciousness, insofar as they flatten time into a “con-
tinuous expression of a golden moment of the past”
(McRae, p. 353) where the primordial event of en-
lightenment can be ever repeated. Another interpreta-
tion understands the lineage charts as proof-texts that
the school has transmitted a thread of truth through
history and in the midst of a chaotic world.
Be that as it may, there is ample evidence of Chi-
nese Buddhist historical writing in other records that
extend beyond biographies of the Buddha and the pa-
triarchs. Beginning in the fifth century, accounts mod-
eled after dynastic and secular histories tried to
demonstrate that Buddhism was truly Chinese and did
in effect help to make it so. In the Song and Yuan eras,
universal historiesrecounted developments of Bud-
dhism over long periods, usually culminating in a par-
ticular school such as Tiantai that deemed itself
superior because it included but surpassed all previous
teachings. Occasionally these histories tested the relia-
bility of their sources and their chronologies. Though
these texts often mix realistic geography with mythical
COSMOLOGY, they show that Buddhists in China also
incorporated critical methods in composing history as
a comprehensive vision.History as regeneration of a
cosmological order
Buddhist Tibet is distinguished by its layers of historical
writing. According to one group of popular stories, Ti-
bet is converted to Buddhism in the eighth century when
the great Indian master, PADMASAMBHAVA, wields his
magical powers to subdue local spirits and demons and
persuades them to take an oath to protect the dharma
from then on. He establishes Tibet’s first monastery at
BSAM YAS(SAMYE). His ability to see the future as well
as the past inspires him to hide certain “treasures,” in-
cluding texts imparting ancient or even timeless wisdom
that will be discovered in future times when they are
needed and can be understood. Many stories celebrate
great lamas through the centuries as treasure discover-
ers. Chronicles about the Tibetan empire, from 650 to
the early 800s C.E., also tell of the introduction of Bud-
dhism from China. The very first emperors marry Chi-
nese princesses who bring the new religion to the land.
Then about 760 Khri srong lde btsam (Tri Songdetsen)
expands the empire into rival China and patronizes In-
dian Buddhism; it is he who invites Padmasambhava and
establishes the first monastery. About 850 the last em-
peror persecutes Buddhism and initiates the dark ages
lasting a century, until Buddhism is revived. Tibet ap-
pears as a field of samsara ripe for the salvific work of
numerous bodhisattvas, many appearing as rulers. Their
dominion, in some accounts, is like that of the Buddha
Vairocana in his own realm.
Modern scholarship reads these accounts as em-
bellished legends recorded centuries later and meant
to associate the unification of Tibet with the arrival and
flourishing of Buddhism. The later chronicles, along
with numerous genealogies and sectarian histories,
were composed to ensure political continuity and
preservation of a tradition. The “treasure” texts are
apocryphal revelations that link a later time to the im-
perial period. Like the rich tradition of various lamas’
autobiographies, they show an awareness of the devel-HISTORY