“Alas! I saw him without seeing him;
I met him without meeting him;
I encountered him without encountering him;
Now as before I regret this deeply!”Bodhidharma has a large following of devoted followers and his
festive day falls on the 5th day of the 10th lunar month of the
year. He is often depicted as a travelling monk, or in a meditative
posture, or standing on top of a reed which carried him across
a river, a feat which led people to have faith in his power as an
Arhant or Lohan, the Chinese term for an Immortal. According
to the Chinese tradition, Bodhidharma is one of the famous 18
immortals who has a great affinity with mankind. is group
of Lohans are generally found in many temples and they are
represented as possessing various kinds of supernatural power,
symbolised either by the wild animals crouching submissively
beside them and/or the special objects that are associated with
them. Although the Lohans are a step below the rank of a
Bodhisattva, they are Enlightened Beings who deserve our
reverence. Bodhidharma or Ta Mo is venerated for being the
founder of the Great Contemplative School of Ch’an or Zen by
the Buddhists, and others, for his protective powers or as the
great Sage of Shaolin Temple.