Week 43 · eastern

Bodhidharma

Bodhidharma is the monk who supposedly brought Zen from India to China in the 6th century. The stories about him are so extreme they may be legends, but the legends tell you what Zen values. He sat facing a wall for nine years. He cut off his eyelids when they kept closing during meditation. When the emperor asked him what merit he'd earned through his Buddhist works, Bodhidharma said, "No merit whatsoever." The emperor was not amused.

“"Not thinking about anything is Zen. Once you know this, walking, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is Zen." He said that in a time when people were performing elaborate religious ceremonies. His message was simple...stop performing. Start sitting.”