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Bodhidharma
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bodhidharma (Sanskrit: Chinese , pinyin Ptdm or simply Dm; Wade-Giles Tamo; Japanese , Daruma, Vietnamese: B--t-ma), also known as the Tripitaka Dharma Master, was the 28th Patriarch of Buddhism in India, and the first Patriarch in China. Bodhidharma is traditionally held in Shaolin mythology to be the founder of the Chan school of Buddhism (known in Japan and the West as Zen), and the Shaolin school of Chinese martial arts.
Contents
1 Biography 1.1 Record of the Buddhist Monasteries of Luoyang (547) by Yang Xuanzhi 1.2 Biography of Bodhidharma by Tanlin 1.3 Continued Biographies of Eminent Monks (645) by Daoxuan 1.4 Anthology of the Patriarchal Hall (952) 2 Spiritual approach 3 Portrayals of Bodhidharma 4 Legends 4.1 Encounter with Emperor Liang 4.1.1 Receiving Retribution 4.2 Nine years of gazing at a wall 4.3 Bringing tea to China 4.4 Daruma dolls 4.5 Bodhidharma and Huike 5 The lineage of Bodhidharma and his disciples 6 Works attributed to Bodhidharma 7 See also 8 External links 9 References
Biography
The major sources about Bodhidharma's life conflict with regard to his origins, the chronology of his journey to China, his death, and other details. One proposed set of birth and death dates is c. 440528; another is c. 470543.
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heavens, Bodhidharma sang its praises. He exclaimed: "Truly this is the work of spirits." He said: "I am 150 years old, and I have passed through numerous countries. There is virtually no country I have not visited. But even in India there is nothing comparable to the pure beauty of this monastery. Even the distant Buddha realms lack this." He chanted homage and placed his palms together in salutation for days on end. Yongning was built in 516 and destroyed in 526, dating Bodhidharma's exultation to these years.
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The version of the Bodhidharma legend found in the Anthology of the Patriarchal Hall follows Daoxuan but is distinguished by the following: Bodhidharma's master Prajnatara, 27th Chan Patriach Bodhidharma's birth name Bodhitara Bodhidharma makes landfall not during the Song period of southern China but in 527 during the Liang Dynasty. According to the Anthology, Bodhidharma's voyage from India to China took three years. Before crossing the Yangtze River en route to Wei, Bodhidharma visits the Liang court in present-day Nanjing, but leaves soon after his uncompromising doctrines end up offending Emperor Wu. Bodhidharma dies at the age of 150 and is buried on Mount Xiong'er to the west of Luoyang. Three years later in the Pamir Mountains, Songyun, an envoy of one of the later Wei kingdoms, encounters Bodhidharma, who is on his way back West. Bodhidharma, carrying a single sandal, predicts that Songyun's ruler has died, which is borne out upon Songyun's return. Bodhidharma's tomb is opened and only a single sandal is found inside. The nine years of meditation after his departure from the Liang court in 527 mean that Bodhidharma's death can take place no earlier than 536, but his encounter with the Wei diplomat mean that his death can take place no later than 554, three years before the fall of the last Wei kingdom.
Spiritual approach
Tradition holds that Bodhidharma's chosen sutra was the Lankavatara Sutra, a development of the Yogacara or "Mind-only" school of Buddhism established by the Gandharan half-brothers Asanga and Vasubandhu. He is described as a "master of the Lankavatara Sutra", and an early history of Zen in China is titled "Record of the Masters and Disciples of the Lankavatara Sutra" (Chin. Leng-ch'ieh shih-tzu chi). It is also sometimes said that Bodhidharma himself was the one who brought the Lankavatara to Chinese Buddhism.
This Japanese scroll calligraphy of Bodhidharma reads Zen points directly to the human heart, see into your nature and become Buddha. It was created by Hakuin Ekaku (1685 to 1768)
Bodhidharma's approach tended to reject devotional rituals, doctrinal debates and verbal formalizations, in favour of an intuitive grasp of the "Buddha mind" within everyone, through meditation. In contrast with other Buddhist schools such as Pure Land, Bodhidarma emphasized personal enlightenment, rather than the promise of heaven.
Bodhidharma also considered spiritual, intellectual and physical excellence as an indivisible whole necessary for enlightenment. Bodhidharma's mind-and-body approach to enlightenment ultimately proved highly attractive to the Samurai class in Japan, who made Zen their way of life, following their encounter with the martial-arts-oriented Zen Rinzai School introduced to Japan by Eisai in the 12th century.
Blue-eyed Central Asian Buddhist monk, possibly Bodhidharma, forming the "Vitarka" mudra (Symbol of teaching/ discussion of the dharma), in the direction of a disciple East-Asian monk. Eastern Tarim Basin, China, 9th-10th century.
According to legend, he developed two exercise regimens for the monks of the Shaolin Monasterythe Yi Jin Jing (Muscle Change Classic) and the Xi Sui Jing (Marrow Washing Classic)which supposedly
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became the basis of the Shaolin style of Kung Fu and subsequently an important influence on the martial arts of East Asia in general. However, it is difficult to determine the veracity of the Shaolin legend. The Extensive Records of the Taiping Era record that, prior to Bodhidharma's arrival in China, monks practiced wrestling for recreation. Shaolin monastery records state that two of its very first monks, Hui Guang and Seng Chou, were expert in the martial arts years before the arrival of Bodhidharma. The exercises attributed to Bodhidharma are consistent with Chinese qigong exercises and look little like Indian forms of bodywork like yoga. Scholarship by Chinese martial arts historians has demonstrated that the Yijin jing and Xisuijing are most likely Ming dynasty (1368-1644) texts due to the presence of technical terminology from the Daoist "inner alchemy" neidan tradition which reached its maturity in the Song. This argument is summarized by modern historian Lin Boyuan in his Zhongguo wushu shi as follows: As for the Yi Jin Jing (Muscle Change Classic), a spurious text attributed to Bodhidharma and included in the legend of his transmitting martial arts at the temple, it was writtin in the Ming dynasty, in 1624 CE, by the Daoist priest Zining of Mt. Tiantai, and falsely attributed to Bodhidharma. Forged prefaces, attributed to the Tang general Li Jing and the Southern Song general Niu Hao were written. They say that, after Bodhidharma faced the wall for nine years at Shaolin temple, he left behind an iron chest; when the monks opened this chest they found the two books Xi Sui Jing (Marrow Washing Classic) and Yi Jin Jing within. The first book was taken by his disciple Huike, and disappeared; as for the second, the monks selfishly coveted it, practicing the skills therein, falling into heterodox ways, and losing the correct purpose of cultivating the Real. The Shaolin monks have made some fame for themselves through their fighting skill; this is all due to having obtained this manuscript. Based on this, Bodhidharma was claimed to be the ancestor of Shaolin martial arts. This manuscript is full of errors, absurdities and fantastic claims; it cannot be taken as a legitimate source. (Lin Boyuan, Zhongguo wushu shi, Wuzhou chubanshe, p. 183) While early legends associate Bodhidharma with Mt. Song, where the Shaolin temple is located, it is not until the 11th century that we see the appearance of a hagiographical record (in the "Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp," Jingde chuandeng lu) explicitly associating Bodhidharma with the Shaolin temple. No mention of Bodhidharma is found in any of the many stele inscriptions preserved at the Shaolin temple from the Tang dynasty. Legend also associates Bodhidharma with the use of tea to maintain wakefulness in meditation (the origin of Chado), and favoured paradoxes, conundrums and provocation as a way to break intellectual rigidity (a method which led to the development of koan).
Portrayals of Bodhidharma
Throughout Buddhist art, Bodhidharma is depicted as a rather ill-tempered, profusely bearded and wide-eyed barbarian. He is described as "The Blue-Eyed Barbarian" (ln ynjngde yrn) in Chinese texts. Chan texts also present Bodhidharma as the 28th Chan Patriarch, in an uninterrupted line starting with the Buddha, through direct and non-verbal transmission.
Legends
Encounter with Emperor Liang
According to tradition, around 520, during the period of the Southern Dynasties, Bodhidharma, the first Zen patriarch of China according to legend, came to visit Emperor Wu in hopes of converting him. Fortunately, the emperor was already Buddhist, so there was no need to do so.
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The Emperor started to talk about his building of temples and giving financial support to monastics. He then asked Bodhidharma how much merit he accumulated in the process. Emperor Wu felt that the patriach might not know about of the good deeds that he made, so he pointed them out to Bodhidharma. The patriarch felt that Emperor Wu was providing his own promotion campaign rather than seeking the Dharma to end birth and death; instead, he wanted to boast of his own merit and virtue. Thinking that the emperor might have been drunk on his own ego, Bodhidharma replied, "Actually, you have no merit and virtue. In truth, no merit and virtue at all." Perplexed, the Emperor then asked, "Well, what is the fundamental teaching of Buddhism?" The bewildering reply was "vast emptiness." "Listen," said the Emperor, now losing all patience, "just who do you think you are?" Bodhidharma replied, "I have no idea." Bodhidharma originally went to Emperor Wu with the idea of saving him. However, he was too conceited; he had too high an opinion of himself. Being an emperor was already something, he thought. He had built many temples, enabled people to leave home, given away a lot of money, and made a lot of offerings to the Triple Gem. So, he thought that he had created a tremendous amount of merit and virtue. Bodhidharma, wanting to shatter the emperor's attachment, replied that he had no merit and virtue at all.
Receiving Retribution
From then on, the emperor refused to listen to whatever Bodhidharma had to say. Although Bodhidharma came from India to China to become the first patriarch of China, the emperor refused to recognize him. Since he refused to believe in what Bodhidharma told him, he practically missed his chance to come face to face with someone who was important to Buddhism. Bodhidharma knew that he would face difficulty in the near future, but had the emperor been able to leave the throne and yield it to someone else, he could have avoided his fate of starving to death. According to the teaching, Emperor Wu's past life was as a bhikshu. While he cultivated in the mountains, a monkey would always steal and eat the things he planted for food, as well as the fruit in the trees. One day, he was able to trap the monkey in a cave and blocked the entrance of the cave with rocks, hoping to teach the monkey a lesson. However, after two days, the bhikshu found that the monkey had died of starvation. Supposedly, that monkey was reincarnated into Hou Jing of the Northern Wei Dynasty, who led his soldiers to attack Nanjing. After Nanjing was taken, the emperor was held in captivity in the palace and was not provided with any food, and was left to starve to death. Though Bodhidharma wanted to save him and brought forth a compassionate mind toward him, the emperor failed to recognize him, so there was nothing Bodhidharma could do. Thus, Bodhidharma had no choice but to leave Emperor Wu to die and went into meditation in a cave for nine years.
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individuals could, confident in their safety, exchange expertise and perfect their techniques.
Daruma dolls
Main article: Daruma doll It is also reported that after years of meditation, Bodhidharma lost the use of his legs. This legend is still alive in Japan, where legless Daruma dolls represent Bodhidharma, and are used to make wishes.
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See also
Buddhism in China Culture hero List of Buddhist topics Bae Yong-Kyun
External links
Essence of Mahayana Practice (http://ctzen.org/sunnyvale/enIndexLectures.htm) By Bodhidharma, with annotations. Also known as "The Outline of Practice." Bodhidharma's martial art tradition (http://www.bodhidharma.com.br/) Learn everything about Bodhidharma in the Official English Shaolin Temple Portal (http://www.shaolin.cn.com/) Zen and the Martial Arts by Ming Zheng Shakya (PDF) (http://tekct.hit.bg/judo/Zen-And-The-MartialArts.pdf) Bodhidharma (http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/daruma.shtml) Bodhidharma Museum Japan (http://darumasan.blogspot.com/) Gabi Greve International Philosofical Martial Arts Institute (http://www.i-bodhidharma.com.br/)
References
Broughton, Jeffrey L. (1999). The Bodhidharma Anthology: The Earliest Records of Zen. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0520219724. Tom Lowenstein, The Vision of the Buddha. Duncan Baird Publishers, London. ISBN 1903296919 Red Pine, translator; The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma. North Point Press, New York. (1987) Alan Watts, The Way of Zen. ISBN 0375705104 Paul Williams, Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations. ISBN 0415025370 Andy Ferguson, Zen's Chinese Heritage. ISBN 0861711637 contains a translation of The Outline of Practice
Succeeded by: Preceded by: Buddhist Patriach Title Extinct Prajnatara Preceded by: New Creation Chinese Ch'an Patriarch Succeeded by: Hui Ke
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhidharma
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