- Bodhidharma
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/boh"di dur"meuh/, n.died A.D. c530, Indian Buddhist philosopher and missionary: founder of Ch'an in China, which was later called Zen in Japan.
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flourished 6th century ADConsidered the 28th Indian successor in a direct line from the Buddha Gautama, he is recognized by the Chan school as its first patriarch. Legend states that he traveled from India to Guang (now Guangzhou), China, where he was granted an interview with the emperor Wudi, who was famous for his good works. He told the emperor that meditation, not good deeds, led to enlightenment. He himself was said to have meditated sitting motionless for nine years.* * *
▪ Indian Buddhist monkflourished 6th century ADlegendary Indian monk who, according to tradition, is credited with the establishment of the Ch'an (Japanese: Zen) sect of Buddhism.Bodhidharma in 520 traveled to Kuang (modern Canton), China. He was granted an interview with the Liang emperor Wu-ti, noted for his good works. To the emperor's dismay, he stated that merit applying to salvation could not be accumulated through good deeds. Soon afterward he went to a monastery in Lo-yang, China, where he is said to have spent nine years looking at a cave wall, a legend that some scholars believe refers simply to a lengthy period of deep meditation.Considered the 28th Indian patriarch in a direct line from Gautama Buddha, Bodhidharma is regarded by the Ch'an as their first patriarch. Because he taught meditation as a return to the Buddha's spiritual precepts, his school was known as the Dhyana (meditation) sect. The word was converted in the Chinese to Ch'an and in the Japanese to Zen.The accounts of his life are largely legendary. According to one such story, he cut off his eyelids in a fit of anger after falling asleep in meditation. On falling to the ground his eyelids grew up as the first tea plant. The legend serves as a traditional basis for the drinking of tea by Zen monks in order to keep awake during meditation.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
