I know ,in recent months there is a Bodhidharma movie by Mr Lu
liang wei
but it sound farnie as it is not true that
Bodhiruci the tripitaka master is an evil person .In fact
,Bodhiruci is the advocate of Pureland Buddhism .without him ,Ven
master Shantao would not know of the Long Life Sutra of
Amitabha
Lets take a look as we goes along
After gone through some small research i have some idea of
Bodhidharma background
born in Kanchipuram in southern India
oldest cities in South India, and was a city of learning for both
Tamil and Sanskrit
the reign of Pallava Dynasty which brought many maritime
exploration around that times .
Bodhidharma is the 3rd Prince of a Pallava King
but this is the time when the Theravada Buddhism goes to a slow
decline and the beginning of Bhakti and Jainism ,due to no great
teacher appearing in southern India .
and the Mahayana Buddhism was mainly in the Northern area of India
, Pakistan known as Afghanistan
I will be extracting part of the scene to discuss on the zen Public
cases (Gong1 An4)
Zen Discussion based on Bodhidharma Movie
starred by Er dong sheng , yan shao yong
The assassination on 3rd Prince and His Father possession left
him
Prajnatara left a sachet after the meal which have this
wordings
Before my parent give birth to me ,who am I , before I was born I
am which entity ?
When the Third prince was pondering on this zen riddle ,he could
not get to sleep
Why does he ponder ,becos he searching for an answer .
Often in the midst of busy work ,we do not see our inner self ,the
essence of Chan is to set the avalanche of thinking so we can
trigger our search for enlightenment.
Buddhism is telling us to look inner instead of looking at the
outer world ,which is an world based on illusion .
The bashing of a novice by Prajnatara
Who ask you to ordain ?
It Reverend Kannan ask me to seek ordination
Prajnatara bash the head of a novice hardly
Dont tell me you dont have initiative ?(Buddha nature)
Said again !
Its I want to seek ordination .
Prajnatara bash the head of a novice hardly
You dont even know how to respect your teacher !(unreasonable
answer to test his response )
Say again
Ah??
Since you have a kind nature , I will ordain you
The novice was very happy and prostrate to Prajnatara
Now ,Prajnatara turned to 3rd Prince and ask .Why you wanted to
ordain ?
The 3rd Prince remained silent
You are not dumb ,why do you not answer?
Any answer will not explain my mind resolve to seek Buddhas answer
,I would rather not say .
Ok,so you go to the backyard to build a cottage to show me your
determination
this building of cottage is based from Milarepa practice which is
modified
to show many years of luxury living , the 3rd Prince does not sees
suffering
as his teacher , with so many difficulties ,he began to realise
that real practice comes from within ,not building a cottage
60 years later ,one of the Pallava King ,The King of Other view
madly rush out of a Buddhist temple proclaim All are superstitious
, no one can explain to me what is Buddha,are expel out of
monastery and return to secular life
In the clashes , a monk fly down and with his leg pushed away two
guards,the King drew his whip ,then the monk seated calmly
Who are you , are you Good or Evil ?
If your Highness can differentiate Good and Evil , you wont despise
Buddhism
You are very eloquent ,do tell me what Is Buddhism
I do not know much , but I can solve your troubles in
Buddhism
What is Buddha ?
Seeing the true nature Is Buddha .
What is own nature?
Own nature Is at work.
"If your Highness does not have some realisation "
The monk grabbed the King dagger , and said
"I will be willing to die in your hands."
The courage to die for dharma is to show the utmost appreciation
for Buddhadharma ,especially Chan teaching .
After reading many reference book , I understand the monk is
talking abt the 12 dependent origination
which is in Mahayana ,the Yogacara school
to be continued ....