傳法正宗記 7.3

7.3

Preface: When the orthodox lineage reached the Sixth Patriarch, Chan Master Dajian, his Dharma became increasingly widespread. Masters and disciples no longer transmitted it exclusively one to one; thus later generations each came to form their own houses. Furthermore, those who received the style of their house and became practitioners grew ever more numerous in subsequent generations, spreading throughout the realm. The origins and details of these matters have already been set forth fully in the two records—the Chuandeng lu and the Guangdeng lu—and the Song Gaoseng zhuan; I do not list them again here. What I record here merely arranges the lineage of their descent in order. Therefore, the biographies of the branch houses begin with Dajian and end with Zhida, numbering 1,304 persons in all.