truth has no lineage

Truth has no lineage

I am often asked what is my lineage. But I would say that question shows a deep misunderstanding about the nature of existence and enlightenment. Existence is totally interconnected. And whilst enlightenment leads us to the same place within ourselves as everyone else, everything leading up to that enlightenment is unique for every individual. So for me there can be no question of lineage. In practical terms too, I’ve learnt from many masters, many of the ones who were enlightened before me. And not just masters: I have learnt from people who are unenlightened, seeing their suffering, the unnecessary anguish, the folly. Of course, in myself I have seen these things too, and learnt therefrom.

I have not just learnt from people. My greatest teachers have been the trees, whose wisdom is far more profound than we can know. I have learnt from the mountains and the lakes, the forests, the deserts, the oceans. All these spaces have been my greatest teachers. So where is my lineage? My lineage is the whole of existence.

Once upon a time, thousands of years ago, life was rather different for us humans. If we wanted to hear a teaching, we had to go in person to the master. There were no telecommunications. There were no video or audio recordings. In fact, thousands of years ago there were not even written recordings. The only way of preserving a teaching was to listen to it, to memorise it and reproduce it verbatim. In those days, in order that great teachings might be preserved, it was natural for some people to pass on the teachings undistorted, as best they could, in this oral tradition. Furthermore, in those days, if one were lucky enough to have reached a master, to be able to receive the teachings first-hand, it was natural to stay there and spend some years with that teacher. Then of course, one’s understanding would be very heavily influenced by that one master. So in such times, lineage had some meaning.

In today’s world we are fortunate in some ways. Without moving from our sitting room, we can have access to the teachings of hundreds of masters, through books, through the internet, through recordings. Travelling around the world no longer takes months of hardship, but a few hours in an aeroplane. We can come and go. We can spend time with one master and a few days later be with another. We live in fortunate times in this regard. With this, the whole concept of lineage loses its significance, and it is good that it is so, for truth itself has no lineage.

Truth itself is found only in the moment. It is always changing, flowing, as existence itself is changing. So if we are seeking truth, we are foolish to believe that we will find it in one place, with one master, one teacher. The truth is found within oneself in the moment, and we cannot hold onto it, we cannot grasp it, we cannot fix it. Truth itself is ever changing, ever new. It is something that is felt directly in the moment, when all one’s awareness and presence is focused on the here and now. Truth is a living thing and it has no lineage.