Bodhidharma and the Marrow

Keizan's commentary

The teacher was of the kṣatriya caste. His original name was Bodhitāra, and he was the third son of King Fragrance-Abundance in southern India. That king honored the Buddha-Dharma beyond ordinary measure. Once he gave Venerable Prajñātāra a priceless precious jewel. The king had three sons. The first was Candranetāra, the second Guṇatāra, and the third Bodhitāra. The venerable one wished to test the princes' wisdom. Showing the king's jewel to the three, he asked, “Is there anything capable of surpassing this jewel?” The first and second princes both said, “This jewel is supreme among the seven treasures. Nothing can surpass it. If not for the venerable one's power of the way, who could be capable of receiving it?” The third, Bodhitāra, said: “This is a worldly treasure and is not yet worthy to be called supreme. Among all treasures, the Dharma treasure is supreme. “This is worldly light and is not yet worthy to be called supreme. Among all lights, the light of wisdom is supreme. “This is worldly brightness and is not yet worthy to be called supreme. Among all brightness, the illumination of heart is supreme. “The light of this jewel cannot illuminate itself. It must borrow the light of wisdom before its radiance can be distinguished. Once it has been distinguished, one knows it is a jewel. Once one knows this jewel, one clarifies that it is a treasure. “If one clarifies that it is treasure, treasure is not treasure by itself. If one distinguishes it as jewel, jewel is not jewel by itself. “Jewel is not jewel by itself because one must borrow the wisdom-jewel to distinguish the worldly jewel. Treasure is not treasure by itself because one must borrow the wisdom-treasure to clarify the Dharma treasure. “Because the teacher possesses the treasure of way-wisdom, he now draws forth the worldly treasure. Thus when the teacher has the way, its treasure appears. When sentient beings have the way, their treasure appears. The treasure of sentient beings' heart is also just so.”² Hearing his explanation, the ancestor knew that a sage had descended and recognized that this prince would certainly be his Dharma heir. Because the time had not yet come, however, he remained silent and allowed him to mingle with others. He then asked, “Among all things, what thing is without form?” The teacher said, “Non-arising is formless.” The ancestor asked, “Among all things, what thing is highest?” The teacher said, “The human self is highest.” The ancestor asked, “Among all things, what thing is greatest?” The teacher said, “Dharma-nature is greatest.”³ Though teacher and disciple communicated heart through this exchange, they waited for a while until his capacity was completely ripe. Later his father the king died. Everyone else wailed until they collapsed, but Bodhitāra alone entered concentration before the coffin. After seven days he emerged and went to Prajñātāra to request ordination. Knowing the time had come, Prajñātāra let him leave home and receive the full precepts. Later the teacher sat in meditation for seven days in Prajñātāra's room. Prajñātāra extensively pointed out the wondrous principle of seated meditation. Hearing it, the teacher aroused unsurpassed wisdom. Prajñātāra then instructed him, “You have gained penetrating measure among all dharmas. Dharma means penetrating greatness. You should be named Dharma.” He therefore changed the teacher's name to Bodhidharma. After leaving home and receiving Dharma, the teacher knelt and asked, “I have now attained Dharma. To which country should I go to perform the work of Buddha?” Prajñātāra instructed him, “Although you have attained Dharma, remain for a while in southern India. Wait until sixty-seven years after my extinction. Then go to China and receive a great vessel.” The teacher asked, “Will I obtain a great being in that land as a vessel of Dharma? Will another calamity arise a thousand years afterward?” Prajñātāra said, “Those in that land who will attain awakening are too numerous to count. A small calamity will arise; you should skillfully subdue yourself. When you arrive, do not remain in the south. The people there delight only in conditioned achievements and do not see Buddha's principle.” He then gave a verse: Traveling the road, crossing water, again you meet the ram; Alone and restless, in darkness you cross the river. Beneath the sun, how pitiable—the paired elephant-horses; Two tender cassia trees will flourish for a long time.⁴ “Under the forest you will see one person who will attain the fruit of the way.” He also said: Though China is broad, there is no separate road; It must travel beneath the feet of children and grandchildren. When the golden cock can hold one grain of millet in its beak, It will feed the arhat monks of the ten directions.⁵ Having received such detailed predictions, Bodhidharma served at Prajñātāra's side for forty years. After Prajñātāra entered extinction, their fellow student Buddhāsena, who had received Prajñātāra's recognition, taught alongside the ancestor. Buddhāśvāsa further divided his followers into six schools. The teacher guided the six schools, and his name was revered throughout the ten directions. As he approached more than sixty years, he knew that his affinity with China had ripened. He went to King Different Views and said, “You must honor the Three Treasures and cause their benefit to flourish widely. My affinity with China has ripened. When the matter is finished, I will return.” King Different Views wept and said, “What fault does this country have, and what good fortune does that land possess? Even so, when your work in China is finished, please return quickly. Do not forget the country of your parents.” The king personally escorted him to the seacoast. The teacher sailed the great ocean. After three cycles of seasons he reached the Southern Sea. It was the twenty-first day of the ninth month in the first year of Datong under the Liang, the cyclical year dingwei. Another account calls it the eighth year of Putong; the era name changed in the third month.⁶ Because of this, he first met Emperor Wu of Liang. And so forth. This fulfilled the words “Do not remain in the south.” He then went north into Wei. It is said that he “floated a single reed.” Ordinary people think “single reed” means one stalk of reed and therefore depict the ancestor's body riding upon a reed leaf. This is wrong. “A single reed” means a small ferryboat, not a reed. Its shape resembled a reed.⁷ “Again you meet the ram” means Emperor Wu of Liang. “In darkness you cross the river” means the river at Yangzhou. Traveling in this way, he hastened to Shōrin Monastery on Mount Song. He lived in Shōrin's eastern corridor. No one could measure him. He sat throughout the day and was therefore called the wall-gazing Brahmin. He completed nine years without noisily explaining the teaching and without presenting it as easy. After nine years he entrusted skin, flesh, bones, and marrow to four disciples—Daofu, Daoyu, Zongchi, and Huike—and knew that their capacities were now ripe.⁸ At that time, the account says, two non-Buddhist opponents named Bodhiruci and Vinaya Master Guangtong saw the teacher's virtue of the way spread throughout the realm and everyone turn to honor him. Unable to bear their anger, they threw a stone and broke his front teeth and then offered him deadly poison five times. When they brought poison a sixth time, the ancestor placed the poisoned medicine upon a massive rock, and the rock split. “My affinity for teaching is now exhausted,” he thought. “I received my former teacher's prediction that spiritual power would be great in the Red County, and I knew with certainty that there would be a vessel for the Great Vehicle. Yet from the time I met Emperor Wu of Liang, capacities did not accord. I found no person and sat coldly in vain. Now I have obtained the single great being Shenguang and transmitted to him the whole way that I attained. The matter has been accomplished and the affinity exhausted. I should depart.” Saying this, he sat upright and died. He was buried at Bear's Ear Peak. There is an account that Song Yun later met him in the Onion Range, but in truth he was buried at Bear's Ear Peak. This is the correct account.⁹ According to the Twenty-Seventh Ancestor's prediction, Bodhidharma was indeed the First Ancestor in China. At the beginning, while he was still a prince, he distinguished the precious jewel. The venerable one then asked, “Among all things, what thing is without form?” The teacher said, “Non-arising is formless.” Even if something is called empty and quiescent, in truth it is not therefore formless. For this reason he says, “Non-arising is formless.” You may understand it as a wall standing ten thousand fathoms high. You may understand the hundred grasses as vividly clear, each thing no other than itself, simply abiding with itself in its Dharma-position. Yet this is still not what has not arisen. Therefore it is not formless.¹⁰ Heaven and earth have not yet been divided—how much less holy and ordinary? On this ground there is no single Dharma that can sprout and no dust that can defile. Yet it is not that originally there was nothing. It is precisely open and numinously bright, alert and not dark. At this place there is nothing comparable with it and nothing has ever come accompanying it. Therefore it is greatest of the great. Thus it is said, “Great is a name for the inconceivable.” The inconceivable is also named Dharma-nature. Even a priceless precious jewel cannot bear comparison with it. Even the clear light of heart cannot depict it. Therefore Bodhitāra said, “This is worldly light and is not yet worthy to be called supreme. The light of wisdom is supreme.” Although such discernment was indeed speech produced by heaven-given wisdom, during a second period of seven days' seated meditation he heard the wondrous purport of seated meditation and aroused unsurpassed way-wisdom. You should therefore understand: discern the matter in detail and reach this ground exactly. Know that there is what buddhas and ancestors realize. Clarify the realization of the former buddhas. In this way you must become a child and descendant of the buddhas and ancestors. This venerable one is an especially clear proof. Though he already seemed to possess natural wisdom, he aroused unsurpassed way-wisdom anew. Afterward he further penetrated the care required to protect and maintain it through the future. He served at his teacher's side for forty years and investigated it completely. He did not forget the prediction of his coming. He passed sixty years, weathered three cycles of heat and cold amid the waves of the vast ocean, and finally reached an unknown country. During nine years of cold sitting he obtained a great vessel of Dharma. Only then did he spread the Tathāgata's true Dharma and repay his former teacher's vast kindness. His difficulty surpassed every difficulty; his ascetic practice surpassed every ascetic practice. Yet students in recent times, though the age has already become thin and their capacities are originally dull and inferior, still wish attainment to be easy. I fear they belong to the kind who have not attained yet say they have attained—people of overweening spiritual pride for whom withdrawal would be better.¹¹ All of you should penetrate the encounter just raised in detail and increasingly understand how high this matter is. If you break open the heart, relinquish the body, and practice the way with intimacy, the buddhas' unseen influence will be present and you will directly accord with what buddhas and ancestors realize. Do not think one piece of knowledge and half an understanding are enough. I have another humble verse. Do you wish to hear it?