Bryan Gates. Edited by Mark Unno

REL 440

Unno

January 28, 2002

The article from Zen Buddhism: A History--India and China examined the history behind the legend of the First Patriarch of Zen, Bodhidharma. His story is considered a legend due to the lack of historical evidence and the "motives that lie behind the story" (Dumoulin 85). In his examination, Dumoulin uses three texts he considers credible. The first, written by Yang Hsuan-chih around the year 547 CE, tells of a man named Sramana Bodhidharma who came to the East and sang the praises of a Buddhist temple (87). Evidently, in all his 150-year existence he'd never seen a more beautiful temple. The second, written by Tao-hsuan in about 667 CE, tells the story of a missionary who picks up some followers in the kingdom of Wei, and continues to wander and spread his teaching until his death at the age of 150 (87-88). The third account is written by T'an-lin in his preface to the Two Entrances and Four Acts, which is credited to Bodhidharma (88). In it, Bodhidharma is the son of a Brahman king who became an incredible monk and who eventually spread his teachings into the kingdom of Wei.

The second part of the article explores the history of Bodhidharma's image within Zen. He is most important for two reasons: "the transmission of the Buddha mind through the patriarchate and the embodiment of a new method of meditation in Bodhidharma" (90). It makes sense then that his legend should grow with the growth of Zen, as he is the Zen ideal (91 & 92). Dumoulin also states that the Zen tradition gives credit to Bodhidharma for writing six treatises, most notably: The Two Ways of Entrance, The Gate of Repose, and Bodhidharma's Short Treatise on the Four Practices for Entering the Mahayana Way (93).

Dumoulin, Heinrich. Zen Buddhism: A History--India and China. New York:

MacMillan, 1988. (85-94).