persecution.   This  view  not  only  validates  the
　　   survivors' tradition (now in possession of the field
　　   by default, as it were), but also provides  a way to
　　   deal with the well-attested  phenomenon of "survival
　　   guilt" associated with those who do survive such a
　　   holocaust.(8)  Thus  Bodhidharma,  the  Founder,  is
　　   portrayed   as  wandering   from  place   to  place,
　　   eventually  reaching  the cewter of Imperial  power,
　　   fearlessly  preaching the fruitlessness  of building
　　   temples  and  reciting  sutras...   preaching  those
　　   activities  whose " fruitlessness  " was revealed by
　　   the terrible persecution.
　　　　   The practice  of seated meditation  is basic to
　　   any form of monastic Buddhism whatsoever.  Likewise,
　　   any monastic  establishment  would  include  persons
　　   responsible   for  teaching   and  overseeing   this
　　   practice.  Such  people  would  be dhyana  "masters"
　　   (i.e; teachers of meditation practice), in both name
　　   and function. In such a monastery, the dharma master
　　   might  or might  not be the same person  responsible
　　   for dhyana  instruction.  It seems plausible  that a
　　   person  known to be a dhyana  instructor  in a given
　　   monastery would not necessarily be the preserver and
　　   transmitter  of  a distinctive  sectarian  tradition
　　   (although  he would, of course, be the preserver and
　　   transmitter  of a tradition  about  the practice  of
　　   seated meditation).  This would explain a succession
　　   of  teachers  (dhyana  masters,  in  Chinese,  Ch'an
　　   masters) who need not be
 
 
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　　   representatives  of a separate, sectarian tradition.
　　   It  is this  phenomenon, I suggest, which  underlies
　　   the traditions  about  a pre-  T'ang  Dynasty  Ch'an
　　   "patriarchate, "  and  which   also   explains   the
　　   confusion  between the Ch'an patriarchate  and those
　　   of other sects, especially Hua-yen, There is nothing
　　   unique about Ch'an doctrine;  it is an eclectic form
　　   of Mahayana philosophy. So there is no contradiction
　　   involved  in  a  tradition  of  meditation  practice
　　   co-existing  with  the  sectarian  docrtines  of the
　　   various  sects of Chinese  Buddhism.  Masters  whose
　　   names appear  in the succession-lists  of both Ch'an
　　   and another sectarian tradition would simply be both
　　   dharma-   and  dhyana-masters  in  their  respective
　　   monasteries.