Mark the coming of Chan

The West is most familiar with Buddhism through novels such as Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Journey to the West (西遊記). The former describes a man's journey across America with his son; the latter a man's journey with pig and monkey companions to India to learn the secrets of Buddhist teachings and to bring sacred scriptures back to China.

History paints a different picture, however, as numerous Indian missionaries traveled to China to promulgate the Buddhist faith. One, named Bodhidharma (菩提達摩), arrived in southern China around 520 AD.

By the time he died on the banks of the Lo River in 534, he had sown the seeds of Chan Buddhism (禪 -- Zen in Japanese). Today, the fifth day of the 10th lunar month, is celebrated by Chinese Buddhists as the 1466th anniversary of his death.

Bodhidharma's ideas were not immediately welcomed. Indeed, his disciple and successor, Hui Ke (慧可), disappeared after his death, possibly because he was executed.

Failing to interest the established Chinese Buddhist hierarchy in his ideas, Bodhidharma, the "Blue-eyed Barbarian," spent nine years in "wall-gazing" meditation. Hui Ke, his first disciple, chopped off his arm to demonstrate his commitment to learn his master's difficult methods.

One of these teachings was that the realization of one's Buddha-nature is attained through mystic and intuitive practices rather than scriptures and ritual. From the 10th century, though, sutra-learning gained a more central role in Chan Buddhism as the number of followers grew and made intense personal meditation less feasible.

Bodhidharma traced his esoteric teachings to the Buddha, who is said to have answered his disciple Kasyapa by merely plucking a flower.

His elevation to Bodhisattva and 1st Patriarch of the Chan School was largely due to subsequent religious and political developments in China. His story became synthesized with those of two other important monks, which connects him with the important Shaolin Monastery.

Routine hagiograhical "facts" were subsequently added to this amalgam. He was given an age of 150 years and reported to have returned to India following his death.

This legend suggests Daoist influences affecting Chan Buddhism, just as Buddhism was also coloring China's own religions at the time. On hearing that he had been spotted in India, disciples opened the Bodhidharma's grave and found it empty but for a single straw sandal. This is commemorated in Chinese Buddhist art, where Bodhidharma is portrayed walking home on one sandal. Other portrayals show him as legless, having lost the use of his legs during nine years of meditation.

This fusion of historical characters and the addition of local traits mark the origins of Chan Buddhism, the first truly Chinese Buddhism.