Tambiah, H. W. Principles of Ceylon Law.Colombo, Sri Lanka:
H. W. Cave, 1972.
REBECCAFRENCHLIBERATION. SeeBodhi (Awakening); Nirvana; Path
LINEAGE
Lineage formation permeates religious traditions. Lin-
eages are commonly found outside of religious tradi-
tions as well, to note the roles played in the origin and
development of various kinds of institutions. In Bud-
dhism, lineage serves as an important organizational
framework for connecting members of specific schools,
factions, or institutions. It is the natural outcome of
the recognition of authority, especially given the de-
velopment of sectarian differences. In Buddhism, when
individual sectarian groups compiled lineages, they did
so retroactively in an attempt to shape past history in
ways that would enhance group status. The most com-
mon practice was to link their teachings to past au-
thorities and ultimately to the founder of Buddhism,
S ́akyamuni himself, thus legitimizing their own prin-
ciples and practices and shielding them from accusa-
tions of unorthodoxy. In this way, lineage in the
Buddhist context was associated with such notions as
identity, legitimacy, and orthodoxy. As a result, the
formation and promotion of sectarian lineages must
be interpreted in accordance with the contemporary
aims of the sponsoring groups; lineage formation was
a means to sanction their cause, and not a literal ac-
count of the actual historical record.
Concern for lineage emerged early in Buddhism.
According to Étienne Lamotte, the formation of Bud-
dhist schools in India was due mainly to the geo-
graphical extension of the community over the entire
Indian territory (History of Indian Buddhism,p. 519).
Given this geographical dispersion, individual Bud-
dhist communities developed unique interests and
were confronted by particular problems. One of the
results of geographical fragmentation was the rise of
sectarian leaders representing the interests of particu-
lar communities. The authority of the sect was usu-
ally based on a professed doctrine linked to a
well-known, but often fictitious, founder, whose doc-
trines were in turn traced to immediate DISCIPLES OF
THEBUDDHA. In this way, the Sthavras traced them-
selves to MAHAKAS ́YAPA, and the MAHASAMGHIKAS
traced themselves to Baspa. The Sarvastivadins
(Kas ́yapa, ANANDA, Madhyantika, S ́anavasin, UP-
AGUPTA, Purna, Mecaka, Katyayanputra) and Vatspu-
tryas (S ́ARIPUTRA, RAHULA, Vatsputra) also developed
lineages based on this premise (Lamotte, p. 521). As a
result, lineage formation may be deemed a feature of
Buddhist sectarianism from its outset in India, where it
was a function of sectarian quests for authority and
legitimacy.
Lineage was particularly important in East Asian
Buddhism, where it served as the primary means of
ascribing identity by linking and grouping individuals
on the basis of their affiliations, whether as master-
disciple, as patriarchs of a particular school, or as a
succession of monastery abbots. As a mechanism for
conferring legitimacy, lineages were frequently con-
structed to assert the claims of contemporary practi-
tioners by assuming the authority or antiquity of
presumed ANCESTORS. This practice had broad reso-
nance throughout East Asian cultures, predicated on
domestic reverence for ancestors and biological lin-
eages. The formation of Buddhist sectarian-based
dharma genealogies has structural parallels with this
propensity for honoring ancestors and maintaining
clan solidarity.Lineage and ancestor veneration
The genesis of East Asian reverence for ancestors is re-
vealed in the Chinese term zong,which informs the es-
teem placed on clan and lineage in both the broader
cultural and specifically Buddhist contexts. The term
zongis difficult to translate because it allows for a va-
riety of connotations and nuances, depending on the
context. Encyclopedic dictionaries of the Chinese lan-
guage, such as the Ci yuan(The Roots of Words), pro-
vide several meanings for zong,including “ancestral
hall” (zu miao), “ancestor” (zuxian,literally “patriarch-
predecessor”), “clan” (zongzu), “origin” (benyuan), and
“honor” or “respect” (zunchong). The character zong
originally depicted an ancestral hall, where a clan’s an-
cestor or ancestors were honored. The character is
composed of two parts: The upper part depicts a roof,
and the lower part depicts “a tablet for the deceased,”
indicating the term’s original meaning of a hall where
the tablets of ancestors are kept.
The term zongappears frequently in posthumous ti-
tles for Chinese emperors, as in Gaozong (High An-
cestor) or Taizong (Great Ancestor), and one of the
term’s primary meanings in ancient China was as the
progenitor of a specific clan. Zongeventually took onLINEAGE