10 Facts About Huike

Dazu Huike is considered the Second Patriarch of Chan Buddhism and the twenty-ninth since Gautama Buddha.

Hsu kao-seng chuan says that Huike was born in Hu-lao and his secular name was Shenguang .

Huike met his teacher Bodhidharma at the Shaolin Monastery in 528 when he was about forty years old and studied with Bodhidharma for six years .

Huike went to Yedu about 534 and, except for a period of political turmoil and Buddhist persecution in 574, lived in the area of Yedu and Wei for the rest of his life.

Huike stood in the snow outside Bodhidharma's cave all night, until the snow reached his waist.

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Huike replied that he wanted a teacher to "open the gate of the elixir of universal compassion to liberate all beings".

Finally, to prove his resolve, Huike cut off his left arm and presented it to the First Patriarch as a token of his sincerity.

One of the most important characteristics of the early Chan of Bodhidharma and Huike was the sudden approach to enlightenment rather than the Indian yogic meditation which advocated concentration and gradual self-perfection.

One text that was circulating at the time of Huike was the Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices .

The Bodhidharma text and Huike's letter indicate that the earliest teachings of what was to become Chan emphasized that Buddha Nature was within, and each person must realize this individually through meditation rather than studying the sutras, ceremonies, doing good deeds or worshiping the Buddhas.