Read Tracking Bodhidharma Online
Authors: Andy Ferguson
Tracking Bodhidharma (49 page)
So on a foggy morning in the spring of 2002, we set off with a few other traveling companions from Luoyang on an expressway that heads west from that city. The road runs parallel with the east-flowing Yellow River that lies twenty miles or so to the north. The entire area is part of the broad Yellow River watershed. After about an hour we reached an exit called Kwan Yin Hall and got off the expressway. From there we traveled south. After bumping along a few miles on a country road, Bear Ear Mountain loomed before us.
The mountain is more like a bare rocky peak but does actually look, from a distance, like a bit of bear anatomy. Later I saw that behind the mountain is a second one that looks very similar, and the two together give the impression of a bear's head. On that day, as we approached the first mountain, I noticed that it rose on a walkable slope all the way up to a wide rock outcropping that passably looks like a bear's
floppy ear. As we approached the peak in our van, we could see a white ring surrounding the lower flank of the mountain's north side. Getting closer we could see that the white ring was a whitewashed stone fence, and there was activity going on inside it. Soon we clambered out of the van in front of a construction site where cement mixers and workers toiled to build a new temple gate. Laborers carried sand in buckets on shoulder poles, while an assortment of machinery caused a din. The most prominent thing on the broad lower flank of the mountain in front of us was an old stupa. It stood just past the construction area on the right. Our local guide informed us it was Bodhidharma's burial stupa. When we asked its age, the guide explained that the current stupa was built in the fourteenth century to replace an original that was destroyed prior to that time.
floppy ear. As we approached the peak in our van, we could see a white ring surrounding the lower flank of the mountain's north side. Getting closer we could see that the white ring was a whitewashed stone fence, and there was activity going on inside it. Soon we clambered out of the van in front of a construction site where cement mixers and workers toiled to build a new temple gate. Laborers carried sand in buckets on shoulder poles, while an assortment of machinery caused a din. The most prominent thing on the broad lower flank of the mountain in front of us was an old stupa. It stood just past the construction area on the right. Our local guide informed us it was Bodhidharma's burial stupa. When we asked its age, the guide explained that the current stupa was built in the fourteenth century to replace an original that was destroyed prior to that time.
Farther back on the site, about seventy-five meters or so, was a newly constructed building in traditional style that was not yet open. It stood locked and shuttered.
The local guide explained that the place, called Empty Appearance Temple, was under reconstruction. He said it is a subtemple of Shaolin Temple, and that that temple's abbot, Shi Yongxin, was working with the Chinese Buddhist Association and the Japanese Bodhidharma Association to rebuild what was once a large monastery here.
The site had something else to offer. Between the front gate under construction and the distant hall, we saw four stone monuments sticking jauntily out of the ground. According to the guide, one of these old monuments was a copy of an original purportedly created by Emperor Wu to commemorate Bodhidharma's death.
That was news to me. Up to that point I didn't know anything about such a memorial written by Emperor Wu to praise Bodhidharma. I was shocked that such an important thing, if it was real, wasn't more widely known.
The guide then explained that Emperor Wu created three such monuments, all with the same text. Copies of the other two steles also still exist, one located at Yuanfu Temple in North China and one at Shaolin Temple. Yuanfu Temple is the place where Zen's Second Ancestor Huike was buried.
The words that comprise this temple's name,
empty appearance (kong xiang),
offer a typical Chinese play on words. While they literally mean
“empty appearance,” they also sound like the words for
empty chamber.
This name refers to an old legend that claims Bodhidharma got out of his burial crypt and returned to India, leaving an “empty chamber” behind. The legend says that a monk returning from India spied Bodhidharma walking toward the west while carrying a single sandal. When the monk returned to China and reported this strange event, the emperor ordered Bodhidharma's crypt to be opened. Nothing remained inside but a lone sandal, one he forgot and left behind.
empty appearance (kong xiang),
offer a typical Chinese play on words. While they literally mean
“empty appearance,” they also sound like the words for
empty chamber.
This name refers to an old legend that claims Bodhidharma got out of his burial crypt and returned to India, leaving an “empty chamber” behind. The legend says that a monk returning from India spied Bodhidharma walking toward the west while carrying a single sandal. When the monk returned to China and reported this strange event, the emperor ordered Bodhidharma's crypt to be opened. Nothing remained inside but a lone sandal, one he forgot and left behind.
46. Bodhidharma's Memorial Stele: Written by Emperor Wu?
THE TEXT OF THE MEMORIAL placed at Bodhidharma's burial place, purportedly composed by Emperor Wu, is worthy of attention by Zen practitioners and modern scholars. While the
Continued Bioagraphies
may offer the most reliable information about Bodhidharma's life, Bodhidharma's memorial claims an even earlier origin. As I mentioned above, three copies of this memorial exist, each a reproduction of a previous tablet that was destroyed sometime in the past. The text on each of these large stone memorials is nearly the same. They extol Bodhidharma, express regret that Emperor Wu didn't understand his message, and make other exclamations praising the old sage.
Continued Bioagraphies
may offer the most reliable information about Bodhidharma's life, Bodhidharma's memorial claims an even earlier origin. As I mentioned above, three copies of this memorial exist, each a reproduction of a previous tablet that was destroyed sometime in the past. The text on each of these large stone memorials is nearly the same. They extol Bodhidharma, express regret that Emperor Wu didn't understand his message, and make other exclamations praising the old sage.
That Emperor Wu could have any connection with these steles is an intoxicating thought. If that were true, then so much of importance could be confirmed and understood. Yet, like so much about Bodhidharma, the situation is not that simple. Scholars inside and outside China have debated these stone tablets' authenticity. A definite conclusion is still out of reach.
Although the monuments self-proclaim their origin to be at the time of Bodhidharma's death, there is some agreement among Chinese scholars that the monuments were originally engraved around the years 728â730 CE, about two hundred years after Bodhidharma died. Nevertheless, these old steles seem intimately connected to Bodhidharma's life, and they also provide fascinating information about the early years of Zen. Based on my study of the memorials' text and knowledge of Zen records of later times, I believe that Zen masters of the ninth and tenth centuries were familiar with them. Some widely known Zen stories refer to phrases and words that appear on the monuments. They are an extremely important source of information about early Zen, whether or not they were composed by Emperor Wu.
The tablets provide intriguing and specific information about Bodhidharma. They tell about a relationship with Emperor Wu that in some ways fits the traditional story and suggest that Bodhidharma's impact in China was very great. They also provide a date and clues about the place of his death. Although each tablet suffers wear and damage that makes its contents difficult to read, taken together their contents can be reconstructed, and a translation is possible. Here is a translation that relies mainly on the text of the stele that remains at Shaolin Temple, the best-preserved of the three old monuments.
The text of the memorial allegedly composed by Emperor Wu for Bodhidharma reads as follows:
I have heard, that within the blue sea, there is a black dragon with a lustrous white pearl, and that neither gods nor men have ever seen it. But my teacher has done so, the great teacher Bodhidharma. He is said to have come from India, though his home is unknown. We don't know his family name. This great teacher took mind to be the essence and the yin and yang as the device. His nature was provided by heaven and his wisdom given by gods. His bearing was like the sea and the mountains, his spirit like billowing clouds. He possessed Udana-tike clarity, with profound learning like Dharmaruci. The entire Buddhist canon was within his mind-stream. The five skandhas are transported on the sea of words. Riches turn to dust, and golden speech [scriptures] fall short. Vowing to spread the Dharma, he came east from India, planting his staff in China. He expounded the wordless truth, like a bright candle in a dark room, like the bright moon when the clouds open. His words reverberated through China, and his path passed through ancient and contemporary. When the emperor and his court heard his name, they honored him like the vast heavens. He was like a leaping fish in the sea of wisdom, startling the birds in the Zen river; his Dharma upholding the heavens and the Buddha sun in their high brilliance. Such was the nourishment he gave the world; [his teaching was] the moistureless Dharma rain that invigorates the body-field. He expounded the dharmaless Dharma, illuminating the bright truth. With
a single phrase he directly pointed to “Mind is Buddha” [and thus] cut off the ten thousand causes, annihilated form, and revealed the body apart from the myriad bodies. Form and emptiness, mundane and sacred, all sublimely illuminated in a single instant of time due to [realizing the nature of] mind. [With the understanding of] no-mind [
mu
], the sublime truth instantly attained. [But with only an understanding of self-existent] mind, people remain in a state of ignorance. Mind exists without existence. No-mind [
mu
] is not [to be understood as] Nonexistence. [With this knowledge] the wise have penetrated the “Nonexistence” [
mu
] obstruction. The numinous extends inconceivably, unsurpassably vast, unsurpassably small, united in nonexistence, manifested in existence. Our true teaching! Now it spreads like clouds, and those who study it [are as numerous] as raindrops. Though the seeds are scant, the flowers are many. The only one who understood [Bodhidharma's essential teaching] was Zen Master Huike! The great teacher [Bodhidharma, upon passing the Dharma to Huike] at last relaxed and exclaimed, “My Mind is completel The great teaching has been carried out. The entire true teaching is now possessed by Huike!” Bodhidharma instructed Huike to clasp his hands, and then transmitted the light, the principle that is apart from the affairs and things [of the world]. When consciousness comes, it abides in a body. When consciousness travels on, the body is lost. [Upon receiving this teaching, Huike] cried out, exclaiming that [the true] age [of consciousness] surpasses [the age of] heaven and earth, and it transmigrates like [the light of] the sun and moon. It gives rise to the eternal flows of the Dharma seas and endlessly bathes the dark mystery. It eternally pours forth the Zen River, which ceaselessly cleanses away impediments. [Bodhidharma] declared accumulating merit is not beneficial! What was the emperor's error? The moon [lies above] the mysterious Zen garden, the [mental] winds obscure the road of awakening, [but then] the Dharma rafters break, wisdom waters are submerged in the currents, the dark flows hide the boat, the tides and waves surge, and no strategy can help. When suddenly it
happens! [Because] mind and form have no difference, color and appearance appear as eternal, and at that time the earth and all things are purified. Heaven is vast and blue. Wild beasts cry out. Sweet springs gush forth! Another cry! Non-action arrives, and all action is gone, the Way is manifested, and birth and death are exposed. Bodhidharma died on the fifth day of the twelfth month in the early morning hours at Yu Gate. His age was unknown. He was buried ceremoniously at Bear Ear Mountain. His disciples were grief-stricken. Their lamentation moved heaven and earth, and their tears drenched their bodies. They were overcome, mourning as though their fathers and mothers had died. All the disciples, their eyes closed, mourned in this manner. The Dharma realm came as one [to his burial], there being none who did not attend. Though his body was interred there in a grave, his appearance traveled to the western regions. [It was as if] he came but did not come, left but did not leave. None [known as] holy or wise have attained [Bodhidharmaâs] wisdom. My [imperial] actions lack merit and [only comprise] unworthy karma. Above [this karma] has harmed [heaven's] yin and yang. Below it has damaged the happiness of all [beings]. At night I am greatly troubled and unable to eat. Within all that are great [functions], there is [essentially only] Buddhism's Mind. Though I have not gained [the merit] of nine years [of sitting meditation] to benefit beings, [I] still seek the meaning of Dharma, this eternal and miraculous gate. Practiced in peace it is the essence, the sublime. [Those who] transmit it by word and deed [literally, “ear and eye,”] are the Great Teacher's progeny. Alas! I saw him but didn't see him! Met him but didn't meet him! I have only regret and distress about the past and present. Though I am but an ordinary person, I dare take the role of teacher [and say that] which I have not attained in this life will create the conditions for my future [rebirth], One cannot engrave mind onto a stone, [so] how can the Dharma be demonstrated? I fear heaven will change and the earth will be transformed, and then teachings of the Great Teacher will not be heard. So I'll venture to establish
this monument for those who come here to see, and I compose the following verse:
a single phrase he directly pointed to “Mind is Buddha” [and thus] cut off the ten thousand causes, annihilated form, and revealed the body apart from the myriad bodies. Form and emptiness, mundane and sacred, all sublimely illuminated in a single instant of time due to [realizing the nature of] mind. [With the understanding of] no-mind [
mu
], the sublime truth instantly attained. [But with only an understanding of self-existent] mind, people remain in a state of ignorance. Mind exists without existence. No-mind [
mu
] is not [to be understood as] Nonexistence. [With this knowledge] the wise have penetrated the “Nonexistence” [
mu
] obstruction. The numinous extends inconceivably, unsurpassably vast, unsurpassably small, united in nonexistence, manifested in existence. Our true teaching! Now it spreads like clouds, and those who study it [are as numerous] as raindrops. Though the seeds are scant, the flowers are many. The only one who understood [Bodhidharma's essential teaching] was Zen Master Huike! The great teacher [Bodhidharma, upon passing the Dharma to Huike] at last relaxed and exclaimed, “My Mind is completel The great teaching has been carried out. The entire true teaching is now possessed by Huike!” Bodhidharma instructed Huike to clasp his hands, and then transmitted the light, the principle that is apart from the affairs and things [of the world]. When consciousness comes, it abides in a body. When consciousness travels on, the body is lost. [Upon receiving this teaching, Huike] cried out, exclaiming that [the true] age [of consciousness] surpasses [the age of] heaven and earth, and it transmigrates like [the light of] the sun and moon. It gives rise to the eternal flows of the Dharma seas and endlessly bathes the dark mystery. It eternally pours forth the Zen River, which ceaselessly cleanses away impediments. [Bodhidharma] declared accumulating merit is not beneficial! What was the emperor's error? The moon [lies above] the mysterious Zen garden, the [mental] winds obscure the road of awakening, [but then] the Dharma rafters break, wisdom waters are submerged in the currents, the dark flows hide the boat, the tides and waves surge, and no strategy can help. When suddenly it
happens! [Because] mind and form have no difference, color and appearance appear as eternal, and at that time the earth and all things are purified. Heaven is vast and blue. Wild beasts cry out. Sweet springs gush forth! Another cry! Non-action arrives, and all action is gone, the Way is manifested, and birth and death are exposed. Bodhidharma died on the fifth day of the twelfth month in the early morning hours at Yu Gate. His age was unknown. He was buried ceremoniously at Bear Ear Mountain. His disciples were grief-stricken. Their lamentation moved heaven and earth, and their tears drenched their bodies. They were overcome, mourning as though their fathers and mothers had died. All the disciples, their eyes closed, mourned in this manner. The Dharma realm came as one [to his burial], there being none who did not attend. Though his body was interred there in a grave, his appearance traveled to the western regions. [It was as if] he came but did not come, left but did not leave. None [known as] holy or wise have attained [Bodhidharmaâs] wisdom. My [imperial] actions lack merit and [only comprise] unworthy karma. Above [this karma] has harmed [heaven's] yin and yang. Below it has damaged the happiness of all [beings]. At night I am greatly troubled and unable to eat. Within all that are great [functions], there is [essentially only] Buddhism's Mind. Though I have not gained [the merit] of nine years [of sitting meditation] to benefit beings, [I] still seek the meaning of Dharma, this eternal and miraculous gate. Practiced in peace it is the essence, the sublime. [Those who] transmit it by word and deed [literally, “ear and eye,”] are the Great Teacher's progeny. Alas! I saw him but didn't see him! Met him but didn't meet him! I have only regret and distress about the past and present. Though I am but an ordinary person, I dare take the role of teacher [and say that] which I have not attained in this life will create the conditions for my future [rebirth], One cannot engrave mind onto a stone, [so] how can the Dharma be demonstrated? I fear heaven will change and the earth will be transformed, and then teachings of the Great Teacher will not be heard. So I'll venture to establish
this monument for those who come here to see, and I compose the following verse:
Â
From Mount Lanka's peak a jeweled moon appears, inside a Golden Man unfurls his silks,His appearance like the earth, his true body empty,
Unblemished, unadorned, in eternal purity, he penetrates the cloud and fog of Mind,
A lotus which, with majestic form, brings eternal joy to each in their situation,
Not of existence or nonexistence, not coming or going, the learned and talented can't explain,
[Ideas of] real and empty don't matter, and all great and small affairs are cut off,
In an instant attaining sublime awakened Mind, the leaping fish in the Wisdom Sea surpasses the former sages,
The principle is in the eternally coursing Dharma, whence has it ever ceased to flow?
Within the Black Dragon's pearl is a mind-light, whose bright rays dull every opposing blade,
New followers scurry about, their Compassion Eye closed, but through residing in Zen River currents, their roof beams break,
No going, no coming, no is or isn't, it is here that body and mind part ways,
Abiding or moving all return to perfect stillness, so from where have cries ever issued?
Telling him to clasp his hands, he passed the lamp, birth and death, coming and going, are all like lightning,
Yet unwavering Mind remains, not destroyed [even] by the aeonic fire,
Only [Hui]ke gained possession of true Dharma, his ignorance dispelled.
Many things are striking about the memorial's text. It is filled with metaphors and pieces of stories widely associated with Bodhidharma. Some of the memorial's words are closely connected with Zen teachings
still used today. The memorial offers commonly used metaphors like the moon appearing from the clouds, or “rafters breaking” upon experiencing enlightenment. The text offers an early reference to “nine years” of meditation, perhaps the nine years Bodhidharma is credited to have sat in his cave at Shaolin.
still used today. The memorial offers commonly used metaphors like the moon appearing from the clouds, or “rafters breaking” upon experiencing enlightenment. The text offers an early reference to “nine years” of meditation, perhaps the nine years Bodhidharma is credited to have sat in his cave at Shaolin.
The text's passages suggest they were not composed by Emperor Wu. Early in the text, there is an odd reference to the emperor using a third-person expression. I translated the text as “What was the emperor's error?” But the characters that are used here to refer to the “emperor” (
) are not typically found in such a context. This compound word is widely defined as being analogous to the word
God,
or
the creator,
and is not a word normally found when the emperor refers to himself. The text thus appears to be meant to flatter the emperor and was therefore likely written by a third person.
) are not typically found in such a context. This compound word is widely defined as being analogous to the wordGod,
or
the creator,
and is not a word normally found when the emperor refers to himself. The text thus appears to be meant to flatter the emperor and was therefore likely written by a third person.
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