SO TO ZEN - Shasta Abbey

68 Sōtō Zenpersonalities of master and disciple are fused into one; the spiritbeing handed on from one person to the next is without interruption.This Transmission is not based on historical studies,but stands firmly on deep faith.Buddhism which lives in faith must necessarily have itsbasis in strength derived from personality. The life of theTathagata (Buddha) is preserved in fact only when there is anuninterrupted union of personalities between Gautama, thehistoric Buddha, and the unbroken line of Ancestors. ThisTransmission resembles the pouring of water from one vesselto another in that the true spirit of the Buddha is passed on to thenext Ancestor without increasing nor decreasing. The wholecharacter of the Buddha as it is becomes the character of theAncestor suited to the time and place of that Ancestor. This isthe reason, therefore, that the successive Ancestors all live inthe character of the Buddha. It is therefore said, ÒYour(obvious) face is not your real one. The real one is transmittedfrom the Buddha.Ó When the false self dies within us, we findour life in that of the Buddha. The Buddha and those who live inhis spirit are identical no matter how many centuries or generationsmay separate them. In this way the life of the Buddhacontinues throughout history, adapting itself to time and place.To return to the source of Buddhism also means to projectoneself into the future. Real traditions which live throughouthistory are continuously developing.