Mumun states:
But care should be taken before applying that definition to Golden Wind or Five Mountain. Their inka certifications could convey entirely different authority and expectations.
Thanks for clarifying further these standards for Kwan Um. As a former student of Seung Sahn and Kwan Um, I can vouch for them generally. The point is that Jibong split and started his own school, but with no discernible change in any structure or terminology. Most here are probably aware of the letter (widely posted online) from 2008 allegedly from Jibong Moore saying that Lynch had received 'inka', and that this inka was NOT Dharma transmission, that Lynch was just a JDPSN, and that his teaching privileges in that capacity under Moore had been revoked and no one should consider him authorized by him whatsoever going forward. In other words, totally in line with Kwan Um, and Seung Shan's standards.
Lynch claims that Moore didn't write this, but that "a senior student" of Moore wrote this - but it makes no difference, it's just so much squid ink, because Lynch doesn't deny the central claims. He acknowledges that there was some sort of schism, but says its "private" and only his "students" are privileged to it. Adam Tebbe from Sweeping Zen says that Lynch possesses some letter promising some future final transmission; not only is this odd, but its irrelevant. That's why there are two stages to full transmission. Stuff comes up in the process - karma ripens. Maybe you need more time to be ready, or the teacher sees a change of course in your training. That is the teacher's call.
So Lynch says he plays fully and totally by the rules of the Seung Sahn game of zen. This is how he markets himself, this is how he authorizes himself, this is how he in every instance defines himself. It is exactly his failure to maintain the integrity of his own stated criteria that makes him so questionable. He clearly got itchy to be one of the "great masters" he's spent a lifetime idealizing, and couldn't wait to do it properly, so he just went ahead anyway. He cold just say that "I was ready, authorization be damned" - but he doesn't. He explicitly says that the 2006 "inka/inga/in'ga" that he received from Jibong was "Dharma transmission" that authorized him to transmit to others, and everything else. This is quite simply a lie. Further, he's dubbed himself alternately "sensei" (despite zero authorization or real study in any Japanese tradition) and "Chanshi" (Chan master), despite no claimed Chan study or teacher or lineage.
Still further, he claimed in dozens of online listings that he was "engaged in advanced koan studies with James Ford Roshi, heir of John Tarrant, who was the first Dharma heir of Robert Aitken Roshi, in the Harada-Yasutani tradition of Japanese Zen." Not only is this weirdly inflated, name dropping two famous teachers he's never actually studied with or possibly even met, James Ford said that this wasn't true. They met a couple times, but were nothing more than acquaintances. Lynch has lately stopped making this claim. When someone asked him on Facebook why he ever made this claim, Lynch said "I never said that" - maybe not realizing there are still at least 20 places that claim still exists online. So, another proven lie.
It goes on from there. More lies, more inflation etc...