A Roadmap of Buddhist Traditions,

Lineages, and Practices

Following Shakyamuni Buddha’s passing some 2500 years ago, his teachings
about how to live a worthwhile human life and train one’s mind through
meditation practices spread widely. At one time or another, the Buddhist
world encompassed countries from Japan and China in the east, Sri Lanka
and Indonesia in the south, Afghanistan in the west, and Korea and Mongolia
in the north. The traditions we have today stem from particular teachings
given by the Buddha at various times and places, later influenced by the
characteristics and temperaments of people in the different Buddhist
countries.

In the past, if you were interested in meditation or learning about the

Buddha’s teachings (the dharma, in Sanskrit), you simply went to the
monastery nearest your village. Nowadays, thanks to the internet, easy
communications, and travel, we have many choices that can feel confusing
or overwhelming at the beginning. So many lineages! so many foreign
words! This simplified view of the different Buddhist traditions alive today—a
roadmap of sorts—may help.

The Theravada Lineage

Following his enlightenment at Bodhgaya in India, the Buddha first taught at
Sarnath, near modern Varanasi. These teachings—covering topics such as
suffering, its cause, its cessation, and the path to cessation (the Four Noble
Truths); interdependence; self-liberation from suffering; and so on—
comprise the First Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma.

At one time, more than twenty different schools focused on these teachings,
but today only the Theravada lineage (found in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand,
Lao, Cambodia, and Vietnam) survives as an independent philosophical
school. (Two other lineages survive as the monastic lineages practiced in
Mahayana traditions, but not as independent schools.) These are often
called the ‘Hinayana’ schools. Literally the word means ‘lesser’—
understood in the sense that their teachings focus on individuals liberating
themselves from the world of suffering (samsara), which can be contrasted
with other schools that emphasize liberating others.
The Theravada scriptures (the Tripitaka) are written in the Pali language,
one of many Indian vernaculars of the time, and because Theravada
practitioners naturally do not believe that they are doing anything ‘lesser’,
recently scholars have introduced the term Pali Buddhism to distinguish
this school from others called Sanskrit Buddhism because their Tripitakas
were first written in Sanskrit before being translated into local languages.

The Dhammapada, Dhammasangani, and the Visuddhimagga (Path of

Purification) are widely known Pali texts.

Mahayana Lineages
In the Second Turning of the Wheel of Dharma, taught at Rajgir in India
and elsewhere, the Buddha emphasized that both people and phenomena
lack any solid, independent existence or self. These are the teachings on
emptiness (shunyata) and form the philosophical basis for the Mahayana
schools. Along with the view of emptiness, these schools emphasize
cultivating an outlook of compassion for all beings and working for the
benefit of others. The term ‘Mahayana’ means ‘Great Vehicle’—again,
‘great’ in the sense that compassionate activity to benefit others is of larger
scope than concern only with oneself.

Mahayana lineages spread in Afghanistan, Indonesia, and other countries,

and today are found in Bhutan, China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Nepal, Tibet,
and Vietnam. The Zen lineages (called Ch’an in China) of Soto and Rinzai
are the most widely known Mahayana lineages in the West, but there are
others as well.

The Lotus Sutra, the Lankavatara Sutra, and the Prajnaparamita Sutras are
widely known Mahayana texts.

Vajrayana Lineages
Describing reality as suffering—the Hinayana view—is true and accurate, but
perhaps incomplete. Describing it as empty is more complete and profound
because it is a more subtle description of how things really are—without
independent existence. The teachings of the Third Turning of the Wheel
of Dharma are still more subtle, examining the enlightened essence
(buddha-nature, tathagatagarbha) that is spontaneously present in all
sentient beings. True, all beings lack a self, but they also spontaneously
possess all the qualities of enlightened beings once their confusion is
clarified. Buddha-nature is discussed at length in Mahayana contexts, but
assumes an even greater importance as the philosophical basis for the third
broad group of Buddhist schools: the Vajrayana, or Tantrayana.

Having flourished for hundreds of years in India, following the demise of the
dharma there, Vajrayana lineages survived in Bhutan, China, Japan (the
Shingon school), Mongolia, Nepal, Tibet, and parts of northern India.

Vajrayana lineages often describe themselves as operating within the

broader Mahayana context but employing additional skillful means. Because
buddha-nature is inherent in all beings and in all experience, anything
whatsoever could become a means towards experiencing a profound
moment of awakening. This accounts for the colorful aspects of the Tibetan
tradition—where music, dance, costumes, and food are used within the
context of meditation practices—that seem so outlandish when contrasted
with the simplicity of the Theravada.

The Uttaratantra (Highest Continuum) is a widely known third-turning text.

For the Multitude of Sentient Beings, a Variety of Skillful

Means Are Shown
Looking at Shakyamuni Buddha’s teaching career through the perspective of
the three turnings of the wheel of dharma is one way of making sense of the
different lineages that have arisen since his passing. The different schools
described above each have their own sets of scriptures, or Tripitaka, which
they regard as complete and authentic. The Tripitaka in turn is divided into
three sections: the Vinaya (the rules of behavior for monks and nuns), the
Sutra (meditation advice), and the Abhidharma (how an enlightened
person experiences the world). The Tibetan tradition also includes another
class of literature, the Tantras, considered a fourth pitaka.

Each of these schools includes sub-schools and particular lineages within

those. This is most clearly the case in Tibet, where the four best-known
present-day schools (Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya, and Geluk) quickly branch
out into numerous sub-schools and lineages. But even within the Theravada
lineage, it is not the case that every teacher communicates the dharma in
the same way, and particular lineages of meditation certainly have their own
styles and emphases.
Why Should Lineage Matter?
Shakyamuni Buddha said clearly that his attainment, though from one point
of view an extraordinary achievement, was possible for all human beings
regardless of wealth, position, sex, or caste. Nevertheless, the path of
meditation can be a subtle one, and it is difficult to judge one’s progress for
oneself.

Therefore since the time of Shakyamuni himself, Buddhists have placed

great value on lineage: that one fully realized master (a lineage holder)
instructs students who then attain the same understanding, which the
master is in a position to verify. Thus, the experience of the dharma always
remains up-to-date but complete from one generation of practitioners to the
next. All the schools described here trace their lineages back to the Buddha.

Traditionally one does not set oneself up as a teacher, but begins teaching
only after being told to by one’s own master. Such authorization by a
lineage holder becomes a guarantee of sorts for students: as long as new
teachers work within the limits of their understanding and the authorization
given by their teachers, the unbroken lineage has been maintained and new
students can trust the quality of their instruction.