The Monastery 13
brought the teachings from India to China. They assigned this role to the ob-
scure Bodhidharma (Chinese: Damo), whom they venerated as the founder of
their school. In the course of the twentieth century, Bodhidharma has been
the subject of intense scholarly research. Chinese, Japanese, and Western
scholars usually accept the historicity of this Indian (or, according to an-
other version, Persian) missionary, who arrived in China around 480 and
propagated the Dharma in the Luoyang region until ca. 520. However, schol-
ars are skeptical as to Bodhidharma’s role in the Chan School (which
emerged at least a century after his death). Even if Bodhidharma preached a
doctrine that influenced Chan thinkers, the attribution of the school to him
is considered a legend by most historians.^21
For our purpose here, the significance of the Bodhidharma myth is its as-
sociation with Mt. Song. During the last decades of the seventh century, this
mountain became an important center of Chan learning, as eminent masters
such as Faru (638–689) and Huian (?–709) took up residence at the Shaolin
Monastery. These early Chan practitioners were probably responsible for con-
necting Bodhidharma to the Central Holy Peak.^22 It was on Mt. Song, they
claimed, that the aged Indian patriarch (he was said to be more than a hun-
dred years old) had transmitted the Dharma to his Chinese disciple—the first
native patriarch—Huike (ca. 485–ca. 555). Thus, Mt. Song became the sym-
bolic crossing point between the realm of the Buddha and China.
The evolution of Bodhidharma’s Mt. Song legends can be traced through
medieval Buddhist literature. In the sixth-century Record of Buddhist Monas-
teries in Lo-yang) (Luoyang qielan ji) (ca. 547), the saint is said to have visited
the city, but no allusion is made to the nearby Mt. Song. Approximately a cen-
tury later, the Continuation of the Biographies of Eminent Monks (Xu Gaoseng
zhuan) (645), describes him as active in the “Mt. Song–Luoyang” region.
Then, in such early eighth-century compositions as the Precious Record of the
Dharma’s Transmission (Chuanfa baoji) (ca. 710) Bodhidharma is identified
not merely with Mt. Song but more specifically with the Shaolin Monastery,
where supposedly for several years he faced the wall in meditation. The Pre-
cious Record also mentions the trials undergone by Huike when, at the Shao-
lin Monastery, he sought Bodhidharma’s instruction. To express his
earnestness, Huike cut off his arm and offered it to the Indian patriarch,
who in response led him to enlightenment.^23
Tang legends are elaborated upon in Song hagiographic collections. The
eleventh-century Jingde Period Record of the Transmission of the Lamp (Jingde Chuan-
deng lu) (1004) embellishes eighth-century Bodhidharma stories with dramatic
detail. It was an ice-cold night, we are told, when Huike sought the saint’s guid-
ance at the Shaolin Monastery. The Chinese disciple stood motionless in the
freezing snow, waiting for Bodhidharma’s attention. Then, in a surge of reli-
gious zeal, he cut off his arm. “My mind is not at peace,” he disclosed. “Please
pacify it for me.” “Bring your mind here and I will pacify it for you,” replied
Bodhidharma. “I have searched for my mind,” Huike conceded, “but I cannot