Story of Bodhidharma Legends

Bodhidharma or Bodhidharman is one of the famous Buddhist Monks to have walked this earth and considered to be the founder of the Meditative state of Dhyana in China and Japan. There are many legends and stories associated with Bodhidharma - the orthodox Chinese version legends of Bodhi Dharma are below.

Chinese Legends on Bodhi Dharma

During the period of Liang Dynasty in 527 A.D., Bodhidharma visited the Emperor Wu - an ardent patron of Buddhism. The emperor wanted to know his karmic merit, asked a series of questions for which Bodhidharma answered. But the emperor either was not able to understand the meaning or refused to listen. The Emperor failed to recognize that Bodhidharma knew that he would face difficulty and ill-fate death to starvation. But the emperor was not able to yield the throne  to someone else to avoid the ill-fate. Hou Jing of the Northern Wei Dynasty  led his soldiers to attack  and conquer the Liang Dynasty. The emperor was held in captivity in the palace and was not provided with any food and starved to death. Though Bodhidharma wanted to save him and brought forth a compassionate mind towards him, the emperor failed to recognize him.

Picture of Bodhidharma Statue at Shaolin Temple in China

 Nine years of wall-gazing meditative state: Bodhidharma then have travelled to the northern China to the Shaolin Monastery. Where he lived in a nearby cave meditating for nine years by facing the wall and not speaking for the entire time. According to the legend, in one version, he had fallen asleep seven years into his nine years of wall-gazing. Becoming angry with himself, he cut off his eyelids to prevent it from not falling asleep again. The place were his eyelids fell, there sprang up first tea plants which thereafter provided as a stimulant to help keep students awake during meditation.

Comments

  1. can anyone tell me sleeping means mind and body connection or only eye

    blind people do sleep

    bodhu dharma very intelligent. why he remove his eyelids? is there any other reason

    ReplyDelete
  2. hey bohidarma was a great man but if i would have got some more info about him i would have done my project a very best one

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bodhidharma was a great man if i would have got some more info i would have done my project much more better.

    ReplyDelete
  4. budhidharman is one of my ideal.he was really greatman.please provide more info about him.

    ReplyDelete

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