The Emperor's Encounter With Bodhidharma
According to tradition, Bodhidharma, the first Zen patriarch of China, came to visit Emperor Wu around 520. The emperor told Bodhidharma that he had built temples and given financial support to the monastic community, and asked the patriarch how much merit he had gained for these actions. Bodhidharma replied, "None whatsoever." Perplexed, the emperor then asked the eminent monk who he was to tell him such things, to which he answered, "I don't know." Bodhidharma then left the imperial court to continue his travels throughout China. This account of their legendary encounter typifies Zen's uncompromising teaching methods.
According to legends, Emperor Wu's past life was as a monk in the Buddha's time. While he cultivated in the mountains, a monkey would always steal and eat the things he planted for food, as well as the fruit in the trees. One day, he was able to trap the monkey in a cave and blocked the entrance of the cave with rocks, hoping to teach the monkey a lesson. However, after two days, the monk found that the monkey had died of starvation. It is said that this monkey was reborn into Hou Jing of the Northern Wei Dynasty, who led his soldiers to attack Nanjing, captured the emperor, and left him to starve to death. It is said that Bodhidharma had wanted to save him, but the emperor failed to recognize him, so Bodhidharma could not help him.
The encounter between Emperor Wu and Bodhidharma was first recorded around 758 in the appendix to a text by Shen-hui (神會), a disciple of Huineng.
Read more about this topic: Buddhist Legends About Emperor Wu Of Liang
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