Zen lineage

A traversable map of dharma transmission across 2,500 years of Chan, Sŏn, Thiền, and Zen. Each line connects a teacher to a student through whom the teaching passed. The graph descends from Shakyamuni Buddha through Bodhidharma into the major regional and sectarian branches.

Click any node to focus that master’s neighborhood, or jump straight to a school below.

This atlas charts the ancestral lineage up to the teachers who carried these traditions out of Asia. Their living successors continue a living tradition we do not attempt to chart here.

Branches

• Chan — Chan
• Indian Patriarchs — Zen
• Other — Zen
• Sanbo-Zen — Zen