36 Facts About Bodhidharma

Bodhidharma was a semi-legendary Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th or 6th century.

Bodhidharma is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Chan Buddhism to China, and regarded as its first Chinese patriarch.

Little contemporary biographical information on Bodhidharma is extant, and subsequent accounts became layered with legend and unreliable details.

Bodhidharma is referred as "The Blue-Eyed Barbarian" in Chan texts.

Bodhidharma was primarily active in the territory of the Northern Wei .

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Bodhidharma's ambition lay in the Mahayana path, and so he put aside his white layman's robe for the black robe of a monk […] Lamenting the decline of the true teaching in the outlands, he subsequently crossed distant mountains and seas, traveling about propagating the teaching in Han and Wei.

Tanlin's account was the first to mention that Bodhidharma attracted disciples, specifically mentioning Daoyu and Dazu Huike, the latter of whom would later figure very prominently in the Bodhidharma literature.

Tanlin's original is imprecise about Bodhidharma's travels, saying only that he "crossed distant mountains and seas" before arriving in Wei.

Bodhidharma writes that Bodhidharma makes landfall in the time of the Song, thus making his arrival no later than the time of the Song's fall to the Southern Qi in 479.

Bodhidharma, he writes, died at the banks of the Luo River, where he was interred by his disciple Dazu Huike, possibly in a cave.

Bodhidharma is said to have been a disciple of Prajnatara, thus establishing the latter as the 27th patriarch in India.

Bodhidharma was then buried on Mount Xiong'er to the west of Luoyang.

However, three years after the burial, in the Pamir Mountains, Song Yun —an official of one of the later Wei kingdoms—encountered Bodhidharma, who claimed to be returning to India and was carrying a single sandal.

Bodhidharma predicted the death of Song Yun's ruler, a prediction which was borne out upon the latter's return.

Bodhidharma's tomb was then opened, and only a single sandal was found inside.

Record of the Masters and Students of the Lanka, which survives both in Chinese and in Tibetan translation, states that Bodhidharma is not the first ancestor of Zen, but instead the second.

Subsequent to the Anthology of the Patriarchal Hall, the only dated addition to the biography of Bodhidharma is in the Jingde Records of the Transmission of the Lamp, by Daoyuan, in which it is stated that Bodhidharma's original name had been Bodhitara but was changed by his master Prajnatara.

An Indian tradition regards Bodhidharma to be the third son of a Pallava king from Kanchipuram.

Several stories about Bodhidharma have become popular legends, which are still being used in the Ch'an, Seon and Zen-tradition.

Anthology of the Patriarchal Hall says that in 527, Bodhidharma visited Emperor Wu of Liang, a fervent patron of Buddhism:.

In one legend, Bodhidharma refused to resume teaching until his would-be student, Dazu Huike, who had kept vigil for weeks in the deep snow outside of the monastery, cut off his own left arm to demonstrate sincerity.

Jingde Records of the Transmission of the Lamp of Daoyuan, presented to the emperor in 1004, records that Bodhidharma wished to return to India and called together his disciples:.

Bodhidharma passed on the symbolic robe and bowl of dharma succession to Dazu Huike and, some texts claim, a copy of the Lankavatara Sutra.

Some Chinese myths and legends describe Bodhidharma as being disturbed by the poor physical shape of the Shaolin monks, after which he instructed them in techniques to maintain their physical condition as well as teaching meditation.

Bodhidharma is said to have taught a series of external exercises called the Eighteen Arhat Hands and an internal practice called the Sinew Metamorphosis Classic.

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The emperor said Bodhidharma was already dead and buried and had Song arrested for lying.

At Shaolin Monastery, the monks informed them that Bodhidharma was dead and had been buried in a hill behind the temple.

One of the fundamental Chan texts attributed to Bodhidharma is a four-line stanza whose first two verses echo the Lankavatara Sutras disdain for words and whose second two verses stress the importance of the insight into reality achieved through "self-realization":.

Mahakashyapa was the first, leading the line of transmission;Twenty-eight Fathers followed him in the West;The Lamp was then brought over the sea to this country;And Bodhidharma became the First Father hereHis mantle, as we all know, passed over six Fathers, And by them many minds came to see the Light.

Bodhidharma has been the subject of critical scientific research, which has shed new light on the traditional stories about Bodhidharma.

Several scholars have suggested that the composed image of Bodhidharma depended on the combination of supposed historical information on various historical figures over several centuries.

Bodhidharma is associated with several other names, and is known by the name Bodhitara.

Bodhidharma's name appears sometimes truncated as Bodhi, or more often as Dharma .

Idea that Bodhidharma founded martial arts at the Shaolin Temple was spread in the 20th century martial arts historians have shown this legend stems from a 17th-century qigong manual known as the Yijin Jing.

The preface of this work says that Bodhidharma left behind the Yi Jin Jing, from which the monks obtained the fighting skills which made them gain some fame.

Bodhidharma's image became the inspiration for Japanese Daruma dolls, which originated in Meiwa-era Takasaki as good luck charms.