The Monk Dude with the Bulging Eyes.


The Dude.

So I finally know who he is!!!!

I asked my Korean friends if they knew who this guy was. My friend EJ got back to me first and told me his name is Dharma and that he is accredited with being the first patriach of Zen Buddhism.

With this little bit of info, I went to the sacred texts of all knowledge, the bible of wisdom, the place of truths otherwise unattainable...
Google.

Here's what I found out...

Bodhidharma: (Sanskrit: बोधिधर्म; Traditional Chinese: 菩提達摩; Japanese: 達磨, Daruma; Vietnamese: Bo-đe-đat-ma).

He's also known as also known as the Tripitaka Dharma Master. (See my previous post "From Wooden Blocks to Big Buddhas" to find out about Tripitaka Koreana)
(Thanks Wikipedia)

This guy was originally called Bodhitara. He was born on Oct. 5th. (Chinese Lunar Calendar) around 440 in Kanchi, in the Southern Indian kingdom of Pallava, and was the third son of an Indian King; the royal family belonged to the Bhramin caste. (Aren't you glad I did my homework?... Bare with me.)

Now like Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha), who was a rich kid, Bodhitara gave up his caste and family and became a Buddhist monk, called Bodhidharma, training under an old fella called Prajnatara. These two had a master / student relationship that went to extremes. They were masters of "Mind Transmission". That is, they could speak directly to each others minds.


"Don't lie to me boy... I can
see into your mind!"

Cool hey? But wait... there's more.

As with all good stories, the student became greater than the master, and the master bade him transmit Dharma to China. (That is, teach the Chinese about "Dharma", or what I call the "Why me?" path of life).
Upon arrival in China, Bodhidharma got in good with a local military official named Shao Yang. This fella takes him off to meet the Emperor of China, who at that time was Emperor Wu Di of the Liang dynasty. Unfortunately they didn't get along so well, so Bodhidharma heads off to the Shao Lin Ssu Temple in Ho Nan Province.


"Hmph! Never liked Emperors
much anyway!"

It was, 40 years after this temple had been founded, and it had become famous for scholarly translations of Indian Buddhist scripture into Chinese. Bodhidharma sought entrance to Shao Lin but the abbot of the day, Fang Chang would not let him into the temple ( many sought entrance for various reasons ).
Bodhi Dharma was determined to enter and see the Shao Lin Ssu. So he did as all good Buddhists do... He went and hid in a nearby cave on the side of a mountain ( this cave can be visited when in Henan/Shao Lin as well as climbing to the top where a 40 foot Buddha is erected in honor of Bodhidharma [later called Ta Mo in China]) where (it is said) he sat in meditation facing a stonewall.

Now get this... He impresses them by meditating in front of a wall for 9 years!

Apparently by the end of 9 years, his deep blue piercing eyes had apparently drilled a gaping hole in the cliff wall. [can't see it today, although a permanent shadow is on the wall.]

That must have been one interesting wall! I wonder if anyone checked his pulse in all that time?

Anyhoo... He must have built up some excess energy in all that time sitting at the wall, cause once he is let in, he then teaches the Shao Lin about a little thing they have since perfected: You guessed it... He created Shao Lin Kung Fu!


"Watch it buddy, I got a stick and I know how to use it!"

Upon gaining entrance to Shao Lin, Ta Mo ( as he was now called by the Chinese ) saw that the monks were weak and unable to perform the rigorous meditations he expected that Buddhist Monks should be practicing. Whilst meditating they often fell asleep or were very restless and were not achieving inner calm or peace ( a state required to reach Enlightenment).

He spent some time in seclusion pondering the problem. Considering the time and health awareness of the period, Ta Mo came to a staggeringly accurate conclusion, that the monks were not fit to meditate. With this in mind he started working on a solution; he created three treaties of exercises.

These in-place exercises were later transcribed by monks as;
1. "The Muscle Change Classic" or "The Change of the Sinews,"
2. "The Marrow Washing"
3. "The Eighteen Hand Movements later named The Eighteen Lohan Shou (Lohan meaning enlightened and Shou meaning Hands/Exercises)

This marked the beginning of Shaolin Temple Kung Fu ( meaning hard work and perfection ).
Ta Mo later devised some defense movements based on his knowledge of Indian fighting systems ( Having been born an Indian Prince, he was well versed in Yoga and Indian Kung Fu ).


"Hey, don't make me come up there
and Kung Fu your butt!"

I love this dude.

He is also credited with bringing tea to China. Obviously a well cultured guy.

Now for the freeky part. He is said to have cut off his eyelids to stay awake during meditation, and so is usually depicted with bulging eyes.
This guy may know something I don't, as he is an enlightened one, but I found a couple of toothpicks usually did the trick for me at Uni. Maybe they hadn't invented toothpicks back then?
So this is the man who bought 禪 Ch'an, 선 Sŏn, ध्यान Dhyāna, 禅 Thien, or as it is most widely know, ぜん Zen Buddhism to the world and such gems in teaching as:

"To attain enlightenment you have to see your nature. Unless you see your nature all this talk about cause and effect is nonsense. Buddhas don't practice nonsense. "

"If there's a fragrance without a tree it's a different fragrance. If there's a Buddha without your mind, it's a different Buddha. "

And my personal favourite...

"The sutras of the Buddha contain countless metaphors. Because mortals have shallow minds and don't understand anything deep, the Buddha used the tangible to represent the sublime."

In my shallow-minded opinion, I think this bulging-eyed, Kung Fu creating, tea drinking monk has become my new favourite historical character. And at the moment, he even looks a bit like me.

Bodhidharma Original	Bodhidharma Stu

:)