BODHIDHARMA
Within the CHAN SCHOOLor tradition, Bodhidharma
(ca. early fifth century) is considered the first patriarch
of China, who brought Chan teachings from India to
China, and the twenty-eighth patriarch in the trans-
mission of the torch of enlightenment down from
S ́akyamuni Buddha. Bodhidharma is the subject of
countless portraits, where he is represented as an In-
dian wearing a full beard with rings in his ears and a
monk’s robe, frequently engaged in the nine years of
cross-legged sitting which he was loath to interrupt,
even when a prospective disciple cut off his own arm
to prove his sincerity. Modern scholars have come to
doubt many of the elements in this legendary picture.
Of the ten texts attributed to Bodhidharma, the most
authentic is probably an unnamed compilation one can
provisionally call the Bodhidharma Anthology.This an-
thology opens with a biography and an exposition of
his teaching, both composed by Tanlin, a sixth-century
specialist in the Srlmaladevlsimhanada-sutra(Chinese,
Shengman shizi hou jing; Sutra of Queen S ́rlmala). Tan-
lin’s biography presents Bodhidharma as the third son
of a South Indian king. Of Bodhidharma’s route to
China, Tanlin says, “He subsequently crossed distant
mountains and seas, traveling about propagating the
teaching in North China.” This more historically feasi-
ble Bodhidharma came to North China via Central Asia.
Tanlin explains Bodhidharma’s teaching as “en-
trance by principle and entrance by practice” (liruand
xingru). “Entrance by principle” involves awakening to
the realization that all SENTIENT BEINGSare identical to
the true nature (dharmata)—if one abides in “wall ex-
amining” (biguan) without dabbling in the scriptures,
one will “tally with principle.” “Wall examining” has
been the subject of countless exegeses, from the most
imaginative and metaphorical (be like a wall painting
of a bodhisattva gazing down upon the suffering of
samsara) to the suggestion that it refers to the physi-
cal posture of cross-legged sitting in front of a wall.
Later Tibetan translations gloss it as “abiding in bright-
ness” (lham mer gnas), a tantric interpretation that also
invites scrutiny.
“Entrance by practice” is fourfold: having patience
in the face of suffering; being aware that the conditions
for good things will eventually run out; seeking for
nothing; and being in accord with intrinsic purity. The
anthology also includes three Records(again the title is
provisional) consisting of lecture materials, dialogues,
and sayings. Record Ihas a saying attributed to Bod-
hidharma: “When one does not understand, the per-
son pursues dharmas; when one understands, dharmas
pursue the person.” Later Chan did not appropriate
this saying for its Bodhidharma story.
Two other early sources of information on Bodhi-
dharma deserve mention. The first is a sixth-century
non-Buddhist source, the Luoyang qielan ji(Record of
the Buddhist Edifices of Luoyang), which twice men-
tions an Iranian-speaking Bodhidharma from Central
Asia. The second is the seventh-century Xu gaoseng
zhuan(Further Biographies of Eminent Monks) by DAO-
XUAN(596–667). It contains a Bodhidharma entry (a
slightly reworked version of Tanlin’s piece), an entry
on Bodhidharma’s successor, Huike, and a critique of
Bodhidharma’s style of meditation. Here, Bodhi-
dharma is said to have (1) come to China by the south-
ern sea route, and (2) handed down a powerful mystery
text, the LAN ̇KAVATARA-SUTRA(Discourse of the Descent
into Lanka), to Huike. Holders of this sutra were
thought to be capable of uncanny feats, such as sitting
cross-legged all night in a snowbank. The later Chan
picture of Bodhidharma incorporates both Daoxuan’s
southern sea route and his sacramental transmission
of the Lan ̇kavatara.By the early eighth century, the
first Chan histories had assembled these key elementsBODHIDHARMABodhidharma (ca. early fifth century), the first Chan patriarch of
China. (Japanese wood sculpture, Edo period, 1600–1868). ©
Reunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY. Reproduced
by permission.