[lz]
"the particular term such Chinese scholars used to refer to these different schools: jia 家, which literally means “family.” (…)
[They] knew very well that they were not using the term “family” in a literal sense. One did not have to be related by blood in order to be part of such intellectual “families,” nor did one even have to have studied with the founder or progenitor of such a group, so “lineage” even in the loose sense is not required. One had to be a “relative” in a more figurative sense, a kind of intellectual brother or cousin. It is also quite clear that such intellectual families did not share any well-defined or essential set of principles. There was no checklist of beliefs required for inclusion and no committee that determined membership in such groups; the relationship was rather one of family resemblance" {Ivanhoe 2016: Three Streams: Confucian Reflections on Learning and the Moral Heart-Mind in China, Korea, and Japan, S. 20-21}.[/lz]
Diese Vorstellung einer "losen Familie" ohne Checkliste und Treueschwur findet sich meiner Ansicht nach auch im Zen in Form der "losen Linie". Nachfolgend ein paar Zitate von Brose.
[lz]
"These sources [i.e., Zanning's Song Biographies and Daoyuan's Transmission of the Flame plus non-monastic sources] make it clear that although Chan transmission lineages became increasingly important as markers of authority and efficacy during this period, lineage identities did not coincide with particular constellations of practice or doctrine... although Chan lineages are often characterized by distinctive “house styles” — the Guiyang lineage's use of circle and squares, for instance, or the Hongzhou school's use of slaps and blows — in Wuyue, lineage seems to have functioned less as a vehicle for transmitting particular kinds of knowledge and techniques than as a means of conferring authority and establishing orthodoxy" (90-91).
"Griffith Foulk has argued, “The Ch'an claim to transmit the one mind that is the source of everything ... was readily interpreted to mean that the Ch'an lineage transmitted all doctrines and practices, or, to state the converse, that it had no particular doctrines or practices that it transmitted to the exclusion of any others” (104-105).
"lineage relationships do not necessarily indicate a period of meaningful apprenticeship whereby a master trained a disciple over time, transmitting particular sets of skills. No doubt this did happen, but inclusion in a Chan lineage family could also — and perhaps more often did — mean that a junior monk had been vetted by a cleric in a position of senioritv and power... Among the forty-nine monks listed as Deshao's disciples in the Transmission of the Flame, there is little to indicate that many spent extended time under his tutelage or collectively championed his particular school of thought or style of practice" {Brose 2015: Patrons and Patriarchs: Regional Rulers and Chan Monks during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, S. 112}.[/lz]
Das, was Zen ist, ist hier nicht eine bestimmte Doktrin, noch nicht einmal eine bestimmte Praxis, sondern eher ein erkanntes Erwachtsein (S. 3).
Der Familienbegriff wird auch ausgedrückt durch den Begriff Tor/Tür 門. Dies bezieht sich auf das Eingangstor zum Familienwesen, wo man durch das Durchschreiten in die Familie "eintritt". Es kann natürlich auch ein Tempel sein mit seinem Dreitor/Bergtor. Aber die Wanderjahre in der Geschichtserzählung der Zen-Mönche zeigen auch, dass dies auch ein Kommen und Gehen war mit losem Verweilen.
