  There were already many sects in China, the chief of which were: (1) The Amidists. This was the form of Buddhism which appealed to the uneducated. It taught that a Buddha named Amida presides over the Western Paradise, where he will receive the souls of those that worship him. The conception of this Paradise closely resembles the Christian idea of Heaven and may have been derived from it. (2) The Tendai Sect, founded at the end of the sixth century. Its teaching was based on a scripture of enormous length called the Saddharma Pundarika Sutra, which is translated by Kern in the Sacred Books of the East. It was perhaps the broadest and most representative sect. It laid great stress on the ethical side of Buddhism. We now come to Zen. In the year 520 A.D. there arrived at Canton a missionary from Southern India. His name was Bodhidharma and he appears to have been the younger son of an Indian Prince. The reigning Emperor of China was a munificent patron of Buddhism. He had built monasteries, given alms, distributed scriptures, defended the faith. Hearing that a Buddhist prince had arrived from India he summoned him at once to his Emperor: You will be interested to hear that I have built many monasteries, distributed scriptures, given alms, and upheld the Faith. Have I not indeed acquired merit? Bodhidharma: None at all. Emperor: In what then does true merit consist? Bodhidharma: In the obliteration of Matter through Absolute Knowledge, not by external acts. Emperor: Which is the Divine and Primal Aspect of Reality? Bodhidharma: Reality has no aspect that is divine. Emperor: What are you, who have come before my Throne? Bodhidharma: I do not know. The Emperor could make nothing of him. Monasticism, a huge vested interest, decried him, and after a short stay in Nanking he started northward, towards the Capital of the Wei Tartars, who then ruled over a large part of China. The Wei Emperor, like his Chinese confrÈre, was also a great patron of Buddhism, and he, too, desired an interview with the Indian priest. But Bodhidharma had done with Emperors, and settled in a small country temple, where he lived till his death nine years later. Some say that he tried to visit the Capital of the Weis, but was prevented by the intrigues of the monks there. He left behind him a few short tractates, the substance of which is as follows: There is no such person as Buddha. Buddha is simply a Sanskrit word meaning “initiate.” The Absolute is immanent in every man’s heart. This “treasure of the heart” is the only Buddha that exists. It is no use seeking Buddha outside your own nature. Prayer, scripture-reading, fasting, the observance of monastic rules—all are useless. Those who seek Buddha do not find him. You may know by heart all the Sutras of the twelve divisions, and yet be unable to escape from the Wheel of Life and Death. One thing alone Some one asked him: “Why may we not worship the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas?” He answered: “Ogres and hobgoblins can at will assume the outward form of Bodhisattvas; such are heretical and not of the true Buddha. There is no Buddha but your own thoughts. Buddha is the Way. The Way is Zen. This word Zen cannot be understood even of the wise. Zen means ‘for a man to behold his fundamental nature.’” The highest truths cannot be written down or taught by speech. A man who cannot write a word, can yet contemplate his own heart and become wise. Knowledge of 1,000 Sutras and 10,000 Shastras cannot help him to realise the Absolute within him. He was asked: “Can a layman with wife and children, one given over to the lusts of the flesh, achieve Buddhahood?” He answered: “Provided he contemplate his own inner-nature, he will achieve Buddhahood. It does not matter about his lusts. Even a butcher can achieve Buddhahood, if he searches in his own heart.” “What,” cried his listeners, “a butcher, who lives by taking life, and he achieve Buddhahood?” The master replied: “It is not a question of the man’s trade. If he has learnt to know his own nature he will be saved. “I have come from India only to teach you that Buddha is Thought. I care nothing for monastic rules or ascetic practices. As for walking on water or through fire, climbing sword-wheels, fasting, sitting upright for hours without rest—all such practices are heretical; they belong to the World of Being. “Thought, Thought, Thought! It is hard to seek. Expanding, it covers the whole world; shrinking, it is too small to lodge a pin. “I seek the heart; I do not seek Buddha. For I have Such was the teaching of Bodhidharma. It was Vedantic Yet though his whole teaching turned on this “meditation” or “Zen,” he left behind him no exact directions for the practice of it. Having shown the end, he left it to each individual to find his own means. Rules, dogmas and definitions were precisely what he set out to destroy. Less than a hundred years after his death another Indian, Buddhapriya, came to China and there defined with exactitude and blunt materiality the various forms of meditation. The transition from the spirituality of Bodhidharma to the grossness of his follower is, however, typical of religious history. The poetry of Christ turns into the theology of Paul; the hovel of Saint Francis into the mansion of Brother Elias. |
|
