Boddhidharma’s legend in China

Bodhidharma was a Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th or 6th century. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Buddhism to China, and regarded as its first Chinese patriarch. According to Chinese legend, he also began the physical training of the monks of Shaolin Monastery that led to the creation of Shaolin kungfu. He is known as Dámó in China and as Daruma in Japan. His name means “dharma of awakening (bodhi)” in Sanskrit.

@teawish.co Boddhidharma’s legend in China. @yukennatv #zen #buddism #chinesetea ♬ original sound – Derry@Teawish

He is definitely a legendary person in the Chinese history in 6th century, although he originally came from south India or central Asia, that we are not sure about.

He is the first man who promoted Buddhism in China in the way of Zen. The term ‘Zen’ is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese character 禅 (Chán). Chan is an abbreviation of 禪那 (chánnà), which is a Chinese transliteration of the Sanskrit word dhyana in the ancient time.

Bodhidharma had many legendary stories, I make a quick summary as below.

1.He landed in China from south but settled in north – Shaolin Temple, in today’s Henan Province.

2.It is said he is the creator of Shaolin Kungfu. But there are also arguments on this point.

3.He sat in a cave for wall-gazing, for 9 years, without speaking to any one.

4.Once he fell asleep while wall gazing, he was so angry with himself, so he cut off his eyelids to prevent it from happening again. As his eyelids hit the floor, a tea plant sprang up. And thereafter tea had a close relation with Zen practitioners. And there is a saying “禅茶一味”, which means, Zen & tea have the same taste. Tea has the same power as Zen – to achieve inner peace and to open true wisdom.

5.He refused to teach people until his student Huike cut off his own left arm to demonstrate sincerity. Huike became to his successor later. From then, Zen Buddhism became popular in China rapidly and spread to Japan, Korea and other countries in a later time.

6.He was dead and buried in the year 536. Three years later, a government officer saw him walking to west, with a shoe in his hand. He said he was going home. The officer reported this to emperor. Emperor ask people to open his grave, and surprisingly, only a single shoe left there.

This is for Bodhidharma. Thank you very much. If you have any questions please leave it in comments.