Buddhism has no central authority and never has. The Dalai Lama heads one school of Tibetan Buddhism, not the religion; the various Theravada sanghas answer to national councils; Zen lineages are certified teacher to student. What holds it together is transmission — the traceable line back through teachers — plus the Vinaya, which is why lineage disputes are the tradition's characteristic form of conflict. The upside is enormous adaptive range: the same religion produced Thai forest monks, Japanese married priests, and Californian lay teachers.