Spiritual Lineage, my teacher, his teacher, their teacher's teacher, etc., seems to have gained more popularity in recent years. With most of them claiming Ramana Maharshi as the beginning of their lineage. I feel quite sure that if Ramana knew what was going on in his name, he would cringe.
Of course, Lineage is not something new; it has been around for ages. Does it serve a purpose? In some fields, it might, but does it serve any useful purpose when it comes to spiritual Enlightenment? If one sees all the history we carry around in our heads about who and what we are and how that keeps one from awakening, then how could lineage be given any legitimacy? Isn't lineage just more mental baggage we carry? I know there will be people who argue the merits of lineage and their tradition. There is no good argument to support it, at least to me. However, I am open-minded and will listen to what anyone has to say on this subject.
When it comes to Enlightenment, if a teacher is truly awake he (or she) will not need lineage to lean on. No matter how wonderful his/her teachers may have been, when the truths spoken is attempted to be transmitted by someone who does not have the real experience behind him, it becomes a distortion. The Truth is a living presence, not a dead memory of someone's words or teaching, no matter how Enlightened that teacher may have been.
It seems to me that lineage becomes a crutch for teachers who are not sure of their own understanding. This does not mean these teachers can't be helpful for some people at a certain time in their search for answers. It seems that most of them mean well and want to help, but they can only go so far.
Most, if not all, of the lineage pushers come from the Advaita camp. Although Advaita is a non-dualistic teaching, it has overtones of religion. In its purest form, it is a powerful teaching, but all too often, it has a lot of superstition and other nonsense mixed in. Just as all religions do. If one sees clearly, Awakens, it is understood that all forms of religion are nonsense. Tradition plays a major role in Advaita in India and to a lesser degree in the west. Lineage from that perspective seems right to them, but it is still a crutch. Tradition itself is an ego crutch.
To realize that Life is One and that you are not separate from that Life is all you need to awaken to. You need no lineage, no traditions, no concepts or beliefs. Before you awaken, all sorts of things will seem important to you, but after awakening, a very different world is seen. One in which only direct seeing has meaning. Then you will see the nonsense of all the conditioning you have been subjected to and find yourself free for the first time in your life. In that freedom you can fearlessly question all beliefs, superstitions, religious teachings, gods, saviors and gurus to see what is real and what is an illusion. Lineage is an illusion. Who cares what others have had to say after you are awake? And before you are awake, who can accept something someone else said, who’s teaching is being translated by someone who may not be awake? And if your teacher is leaning on lineage, -perhaps we should call it leanage- should you not question the depth of his/her own experience? .
Ego will, as has often been said, lean on anything that gives it some sense of security. This goes for gurus as well as beginners. If we talk about, and accept, the belief in the importance of lineage, we are just making the ego feel a bit more comfortable about its dream. You may get high from that belief, but that will not be awakening. In time, you will find yourself back where you began, an insecure ego mind too afraid to question your teachers or drop all beliefs. Be fearless! You have nothing real to lose.
If your teacher says, my teacher had this and that to say, ask the teacher if that is also directly from his or her own experience. If it isn't, ask them why. If they are truly awake, they will not back down from such questions. If they have no answer, that will tell you a lot about that teacher. No matter how well meaning a teacher is, they need to deeply understand from their own experience. Otherwise just go read a book.
I know there are some very good teachers who happen to belong to a tradition, which holds lineage as important, such as true Zen Buddhists, but this should still be looked at with an open mind. Too many of the newer teachers seem to be of the Leanage type.
