Page 156 - Popular Deities of Chinese Buddhism (Illustrated) and Symbols
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Bodhidharma came to China to give his special teaching which
can be said to be contained in this verse:
“A special transmission outside the Scriptures;
No dependence upon words or letters;
Direct pointing to the mind of man;
Seeing into one’s own nature.”
Bodhidharma then lived in China for some fifty years, teaching
when the occasion arose and using the Lankavatara scripture
in his teachings. He was succeeded by Hui K’e ( 486–593)
as the second patriarch while Seng T’san (died 606), Tao-Hsin
(580–651), Hung Jen (602–675) and Hui Neng (638–713), be-
came the third, fourth, fifth and sixth patriarch respectively. It
was Hui Neng, the illiterate woodcutter, who eventually made
Ch’an flourish in China as never before.
It may be interesting to remark here that after Bodhidharma’s
departure, Emperor Wu discussed the incident with his spir-
itual teacher, Master Chih, who asked him; “Does your majesty
know who this man is?… is is the Mahasattva Avalokitesvara
transmitting the Buddha Mind Seal….”
is made the Emperor filled with regret for having sent him
out of the court. Years later; upon learning of the death of the
sage, he mourned deeply and then wrote an inscription to pay
his tribute to the great Patriarch which read:
