After Mencius, lineage of the Great Tao shifted to the West, the teaching without scripts was lost.  Buddhism then continued the lineage.  After enlightened with Tao, Shakyamuni transmitted the Dharma (Tao) to his disciple Mahākāśyapa who was the first Patriarch of Zen. The Dharma was transmitted from one Patriarch at a time for 28 generations until Bodhidharma.  At the time of Emperor Wu of Liang, Bodhidharma came to China and brought the Great Tao with him, and that was so called “the venerable stream return to the tide pool”, meaning the Great Tao lineage returns to where it originally started.  Since the arrival of Bodhidharma  to China, the Great Tao continued to transmit one Patriarch at a time. First Patriarch was Bodhidharma, Shén Guāng was the second, Sēng Càn the third, Daoxin the fourth, Hongren the fifth and Huineng the sixth. After Huineng and before the ninth Patriarch, for about one thousand years period, only two Patriarchs (7th and 8th Patriarchs) exited. In the interim, the Great Tao was passing down by Zen Masters and xxxxx.  Until Song Dynasty, Confucian scholars arose and Neo-Confucianism (Song-Ming rational idealism) became prominent.  Therefore, even though the Tao lineage was interrupted, its spirit remained. Up until Ming Dynasty, religions such as Loh and Huangtiandao sprang up, promoting beliefs in “Wusheng Laomu” (Eternal Venerable Mother) and “Longhua Three forum”, advocating the essential of the Great Tao. They also laid the foundation to the salvation in the final era.