Understanding Transmission
Hello, first time poster here. A bit about myself first, as it might help understand the context I come from. I'm currently irreligious/agnostic, and I've been reading a lot of Buddhism, and I do find it quite interesting and many aspects of the lifestyle resonate well within me. I've been practicing mindfulness meditation for a while now (guided via the Headspace app, though I'm slowly outgrowing it) and I actually practice the shakuhachi flute, which was used by the komuso monks of Fuke sect of Buddhism, which is an offshoot of the Rinzai school of Zen, for meditation/enlightenment. My playing of this is strictly musical in nature, even though I'm learning various honkyoku pieces of the komuso monks.
Now, in my exploration to understand Buddhism a bit better, I've been reading a lot, and I fell on this post about What is the difference between Zen and Secular Buddhism? on this subreddit. It was quite an interesting read, but something stood out to me, and I've been trying to understand a bit more, specifically this statement:
I think direct transmission is important. Having teachers that have received their authorization from within the continuous lineage of the Buddha.
This was in regards to Secular Buddhism not having a direct transmission from the Dharma (to my understanding). I'm trying to understand as to why this is so important. I ironically know the idea through the shakuhachi, as my teacher/master has a direct link, even here in French Canada, to Kinko Kurosawa who was the founder of the Kinko school. So I understand the idea behind the transmission, just not the reasoning as to why it's important. The komuso monks didn't have a teacher to teach them the flute, they came to that conclusion on their own. The Buddha didn't have a teacher, but still came to the deep insights he had, through practice (I imagine?) and his past experiences. Engineering school for me was the same (ish), teachers weren't really there to teach so it was mostly me reading the raw equations/ideas and through practice and past experiences, to come to an "enlightened" conclusion of the equations/ideas. Maybe it's a false comparison, as one deals with the physical world and the other the spiritual.
Regardless, why is it important to have this direct transmission, and why would it invalidate the folks from Secular Buddhism? What makes Secular Buddhism less valid in that regards than other branches? I hope I'm not overstepping my bounds here with this question, I'm just trying to understand and not cause any dissent/fights.
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