/.0. !.1.22 placing Zen Buddhism within the country’s political landscape, Ferguson presents the Praise for Zen’s Chinese Heritage religion as a counterpoint to other Buddhist sects, a catalyst for some of the most revolu- “ A monumental achievement. This will be central to the reference library B)"34"35%65 , known as the “First Ances- tionary moments in China’s history, and as of Zen students for our generation, and probably for some time after.” tor” of Zen (Chan) brought Zen Buddhism the ancient spiritual core of a country that is —R)9$%: A4:;$! Bodhidharma Tracking from South Asia to China around the year every day becoming more an emblem of the 722 CE, changing the country forever. His modern era. “An indispensable reference. Ferguson has given us an impeccable legendary life lies at the source of China and and very readable translation.”—J)3! D54") L))%4 East Asian’s cultural stream, underpinning the region’s history, legend, and folklore. “Clear and deep, Zen’s Chinese Heritage enriches our understanding Ferguson argues that Bodhidharma’s Zen of Buddhism and Zen.”—J)5! H5<4=5> was more than an important component of China’s cultural “essence,” and that his famous religious movement had immense Excerpt from political importance as well. In Tracking Tracking Bodhidharma Bodhidharma, the author uncovers Bodhi- t r a c k i n g dharma’s ancient trail, recreating it from The local Difang Zhi (historical physical and textual evidence. This nearly records) state that Bodhidharma forgotten path leads Ferguson through established True Victory Temple China’s ancient heart, exposing spiritual here in Tianchang. Difang Zhi are insights, pathos, and politics that elevated considered reliable because they are Bodhidharma to be one of China’s most simply local records, not “histories” Bodhidharma important historical figures. Following that might be written to promote Bodhidharma’s trail to its shocking conclu- A!"# F$%&'()! is a graduate of the Chi- a special version of events. So this a journey to the heart sion, Ferguson reveals that Bodhidharma nese Language and Literature program at the place, almost unknown in both was a counterpoint to East Asia’s “Imperial University of Oregon. He has lived in Taiwan, China and the West, may truly of chinese culture Buddhism.” The latter strayed from Buddhist Hong Kong, and Japan, and has traveled be where Bodhidharma set up a ideals with tragic consequences, culminating extensively in East and Southeast Asia since Dharma seat and expounded his in the religion’s participation in the “Great *+,-. He has organized and led numerous Zen in China. Andy Paci8c War,” the most devastating war in tours to visit Chinese Zen history sites. He Ferguson human history. With profound implications lives in Petaluma, California. for our understanding of East Asian politics, religion, and culture, this book is far more than another personal spiritual journey. Tracking Bodhidharma thus offers a previously unheard perspective on the life of Zen’s most important religious leader, while simultaneously showing how that ISBNISBN 978-1-58243-825-2 978-1-58243-825-2 history is relevant to the rapidly developing COUNTERPOINT 52600 Author photo: Lisa Jenkins Andy Ferguson super-power that is present-day China. By Cover art: Bridgeman Art Library www.counterpointpress.com continued on back !ap Jacket by Gopa & Ted., Inc. Distributed by Publishers Group West 978 1582 4 38252 !"#$%&'( )*+,&+,#"-# 6cX\]X\UfaU h f U W _ ] b [ 6cX\]X\UfaU U^cifbYmhch\Y\YUfhcZW\]bYgYWi`hifY 5bXm:Yf[igcb $06/5&310*/5 #&3,&-&: Copyright © !"#! by Andy Ferguson. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available. $%&': ()*-#-+*!,--*!+-! Quotations from Zen’s Chinese Heritage are copyright !""" by Andy Ferguson, and are used by permission of the publisher, Wisdom Publications. Interior and cover design by Gopa & Ted!, Inc. COUNTERPOINT #(#( Fifth Street Berkeley, CA (,)#" www.counterpointpress.com Printed in the United States of America Distributed by Publishers Group West #" ( * ) . + , - ! # 7cbhYbhg Introduction ix .. An Auspicious Date / 0. Guangzhou .1 /. Hualin Temple .2 3. The Layout of a Traditional Chinese Temple /. 4. Grand Buddha Temple /2 5. Guangxiao Temple 3/ 6. Another Visit to Hualin Temple 41 2. Traveling North 44 7. Zen at War 51 .1. The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Ancestor 55 ... Nanhua Temple: The Sixth Ancestor Huineng’s Dharma Seat 52 .0. Yunmen Temple 62 ./. Danxia Mountain 25 .3. Separate Transmission Temple 27 .4. Nanchang City 7/ .5. Youmin Temple 72 .6. The Trip to Baizhang Temple 77 .2. Baizhang Temple .14 .7. Jiujiang City ./. 01. Up or Down the Yang-tse River? ./4 vi !"#$%&'( )*+,&+,#"-# 0.. Meeting Gunabhadra? ./6 00. Laozu Si, the Old Ancestor’s Temple .32 0/. Nanjing City .5/ 03. Emperor Wu and Imperial-Way Buddhism .55 04. Tianchang City and Bodhidharma’s True Victory Temple .60 05. Linggu Temple on Bell Mountain .21 06. Emperor Wu, the Chakravartin King and Bodhisattva Emperor .20 02. Emperor Wu and His Family .27 07. Emperor Wu and the Temples of Bell Mountain .70 /1. Mufu Mountains and Bodhidharma’s Nanjing Cave 01. /.. The Fusing of Confucianism and Buddhism under Emperor Wu 012 /0. The Tai Cheng Palace and Hualin Garden 0.. //. The Poem by Crown Prince Zhao Ming (Xiao Tong) 0.5 /3. Stone Fortress and Refreshing Mountain 001 /4. Dingshan Temple 006 /5. Changlu Temple 0/7 /6. Train to Wuhan 036 /2. Xiangfan City 042 /7. Mount Song and Shaolin Temple 050 31. Shaolin Temple 054 3.. Bodhidharma’s Cave 067 30. Huishan Temple 02/ 3/. Ordination Platforms: The Battle Ground between Imperial and Bodhidharma Zen? 07/ 33. The Temples of Luoyang 077 34. Empty Appearance Temple /17 $*'!8'!9 vii 35. Bodhidharma’s Memorial Stele: Written by Emperor Wu? /.0 36. Bodhidharma Memorial Ceremony /02 32. Train to Shanghai //1 37. Bodhidharma’s Fate /31 41. Epilogue /35 4.. Was Japan to Blame? /4/ Appendix: Traditional Account of Bodhidharma’s Death in the Compendium of Five Lamps (thirteenth century) /46 =bhfcXiWh]cb T,&9 )**% !"#:8;9 a path at the heart of Chinese culture. It follows the tracks left by Bodhidharma, a <fth-century Indian monk and important religious <gure remembered as the founder of Zen Buddhism. I trace his path in China to unearth forgotten stories that shaped a civilization and reveal the roots of the religion that dominated East Asia for <fteen centuries. This is also a personal journey, for it explores the origins and sig- ni<cance of Zen, a tradition I have practiced and studied for several decades. The trail also leads into some little-known corners of Chinese his- tory, places in the shadows of East Asia that continue to in=uence the region’s development. Bodhidharma, an Indian Buddhist missionary, traveled from South India to China sometime around the year 411 CE. Although his Zen religion spread relatively quickly from China to Korea and Vietnam, it was another seven hundred years before Zen <nally took root in Japan, the country Westerners most frequently associate with the religion. While Bodhidharma’s teachings are known in the West as Zen, a Japanese word, the term is equivalent to the modern Chinese word Chan. This book uses the word Zen because it is familiar to Western audiences. Bodhidharma was the “First Ancestor” or “First Patriarch” of the Zen (Chan) sect in China. Zen claims that successive generations of teachers have relayed its essential insight by “mind-to-mind” transmission. The religion’s found- ing myth claims that this transmission started when the historical Bud- dha, Shakyamuni, sat before a crowd of his followers at Vulture Peak, a place in ancient India. There, says the legend, he held up a =ower before x !"#$%&'( )*+,&+,#"-# the assembly. In response to this gesture, his senior disciple Mahakasy- apa smiled, whereupon the Buddha uttered the words that purportedly set in motion centuries of awakening: I have the treasury of the true Dharma Eye, the sublime mind of nirvana, whose true sign is signlessness, the sublime Dharma Gate, which without words or phrases is transmit- ted outside of the [standard Buddhist] teachings, and which I bestow upon [my disciple] Mahakasyapa. The Zen tradition thus declared and originated its essential insight into the “signless” mind of nirvana, which can be interpreted as the nature of normal human (or any sentient being’s) consciousness, which by nature is outside of time and space. In the story, the Buddha meta- phorically refers to the <eld of consciousness (which is usually translated as “mind”) as the “Treasury of the True Dharma eye.” As Zen developed in China, it claimed that Bodhidharma taught a re<ned summation of this essential Zen teaching. Bodhidharma purportedly said, “Not setting up words, a separate transmission outside the [scriptural] teachings, point directly at the human mind, observe its nature and become Buddha.” (不立文字，教外别传，直指人心， 见性成佛｡) The Zen tradition that coalesced from this perspective held sway as China’s dominant and orthodox religion for the next <fteen hundred years. The cultural impact of Zen on East Asia can hardly be under- stated. This impact is perhaps best known as underlying the aesthetics of much East Asian art and literature, where landscape paintings, poetry, and other arts often reveal Zen’s spare perspective. In China, Bodhidharma taught his Zen to a Chinese disciple named Huike (pronounced Hway-ka). This “Second Ancestor” is credited to have transmitted Bodhidharma’s teachings to others in that country. Some records indicate that China’s religious and political establishment initially rejected Bodhidharma’s Zen movement, persecuting Bodhi- dharma and Huike as heretics. Accounts claim that certain religious rivals poisoned Bodhidharma and that others denounced his disciple Huike to the authorities.