Bodhidharma was born in Southern India in 482. He was a royal prince who gave up everything to follow the teachings of the Buddha. He was sent to China by his master, Prajnatara, to re-invigorate Buddhism. He met with Chinese Emperor Wu Ti, a devout Buddhist. Because of a philosophical disagreement with the Emperor, Bodidharma retreated to a small cave and became renowned for sitting in meditation for nine years. In 526, he taught the monks at the Shaolin Temple a system of self-defense that evolved into the martial arts style now known as Kung Fu. Bodhidharma died in 539 at the Shaolin Temple at age 57.

the sayings of Bodidharma

The sutras of the Buddha contain countless metaphors
because most human beings have shallow minds 
and don't understand the deeper meaning
the Buddha used the tangible to illustrate the transcendent.
 

He who knows his ego is a myth, devoid of anything real
knows that his ego neither exists nor does not exists.
Transient beings create the ego and insist it exists,
ascetics negate the ego insisting it does not exist.
The bodisattva neither creates nor negates the ego:
this is what is meant by neither being nor non-being.


All situations are the consequence of the law of karma
therefore, maintain equanimity in all circumstance
accept, without complaining 
stay within your Buddha Nature
only you can reap the fruit of your actions, good or ill
if you are happy, it is your doing
if you are unhappy, it is your doing
accept and practice equanimity
bear your burden with a noble heart
and you will be rewarded with a noble spirit

When mortals are alive, they worry about death. 
When they're full, they worry about hunger. 
Theirs is the Great Uncertainty. 
But sages don't consider the past. 
And they don't worry about the future. 
Nor do they cling to the present. 
And from moment to moment they follow the Way.

A deluded mind is hell.
Without delusions.
the mind is the country of the Buddhas.
When the mind creates the idea of the mind
people are deluded and in hell.
Those established on the path to Buddhahood
do not use the mind to create the idea
of the mind and so are always
in the country of the Buddhas.