Zen Lineage

Gandhara stone relief depicting Buddhist monks and devotees

Zen

Indian Patriarchs

Top-level school branch

The twenty-eight Indian patriarchs form the traditional lineage from Shakyamuni Buddha to Bodhidharma, tracing the mind-to-mind transmission of awakening across roughly a thousand years of Indian Buddhism. The lineage begins with the Flower Sermon: the Buddha held up a flower before the assembly on Vulture Peak, and only Mahakashyapa smiled in understanding. This wordless exchange is regarded as the origin of the entire Chan/Zen transmission. The chain passes through major figures in Indian Buddhist history—including Nagarjuna, Ashvaghosha, and Vasubandhu—before reaching Prajnatara, who recognized Bodhidharma and sent him east to China. While modern historians question the historical accuracy of this lineage as a literal chain of teacher-student relationships, the tradition treats it as a sacred genealogy affirming that the awakening transmitted in Zen is identical to the Buddha's own realization.

Masters in this branch

Shakyamuni Buddhac. 563 BCE – c. 483 BCE
Mahakashyapa5th c. BCE – c. 400 BCE
Shanakavasa5th c. BCE – c. 300 BCE
Ananda5th c. BCE – c. 400 BCE
Upagupta3rd c. BCE – ?
Dhritaka3rd c. BCE – ?
Michaka3rd c. BCE – ?
Buddhamitra2nd c. BCE – ?
Buddhanandi2nd c. BCE – ?
Vasumitra2nd c. BCE – ?
Punyayashas1st c. BCE – ?
Parshva1st c. BCE – ?
Ashvaghoshac. 80 – c. 150
Kapimala2nd c. – ?
Nagarjunac. 150 – c. 250
Aryadevac. 170 – c. 270
Gayashata3rd c. – ?
Rahulata3rd c. – ?
Sanghanandi3rd c. – ?
Vasubandhuc. 316 – c. 396
Haklena4th c. – ?
Manorhita4th c. – ?
Kumarata4th c. – ?
Jayata4th c. – ?
Punyamitra5th c. – ?
Prajnatara5th c. – ?
Vasasita5th c. – ?
Simha5th c. – ?

Sources in use

Zen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation

Image: Gandhara relief, World History Encyclopedia · Public Domain / CC (Wikimedia)