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A monochrome reproduction of a painting by Chodensu depicting Bodhidharma. He is shown from the chest up, wearing a hooded robe that covers his head. He has large, wide-open eyes with prominent pupils, a thick beard and mustache, and a stern or intense facial expression. The style is characteristic of Zen Buddhist ink painting.

BODHIDHARMA

PATRIARCH

OF ZEN

A landscape illustration in a circular frame showing a figure (likely Bodhidharma) seated in meditation on a rocky outcrop overlooking a body of water with mountains in the distance. A small bowl or vessel sits on a rock nearby.

ARRIVING at the place called "The Vultures' Peak," Gautama Buddha seated himself and, surrounded by his disciples and the creatures of the seven worlds, discoursed upon the Prajna-paramita, or the elements of transcendental wisdom. These discourses given at Rajgriha are preserved as among the most important doctrines of the Mahayana school, which is now called "The Great Vehicle."

As the Illumined One thus sat revealing the doctrine of enlightenment, a Brahmaraja approached. Bowing low before Sakyamuni, he placed in his hands a glorious golden lotus blossom, beseeching the eternally Enlightened One to preach the Dharma, or the Good Law. Thereupon the gathered disciples and even the saints in heaven bent forward and listened attentively for the words of priceless wisdom. But the Buddha remained silent, gazing serenely at the lotus flower. After several moments, the aged and venerable disciple, Mahakasyapa, smiled slightly. He had sensed the mystery. Buddha turned instantly to Mahakasyapa, saying, "I have the wonderful thought of Nirvana, the Eye of the Right Law. You alone have perceived this and to you I now transmit the whole treasury of Dharma. Be thou also enlightened."

In this way, so tradition declares, the sect of Dhyana—the Order of Silent Instruction—was established. It is the one division of Buddhism which, by refusing to become contaminated by word or symbol, has preserved throughout the centuries the true spirit of the Great Instruction.

From Mahakasyapa—the first patriarch of Dhyana—the Dharma descended from sage to sage along an unbroken line of meditating masters. Each is presumed to have communicated the law to his successor without word or outward sign, until finally at the be-

ginning of the sixth century it was entrusted to the keeping of the patriarch, Panyatara, a teacher of rare gifts and attainments. Of Panyatara a curious incident is told. He was invited to an ancestral memorial feast that the assembled guests might hear and profit by his words. To the amazement of those present, he did not follow the accepted Buddhist custom of reading from the scriptures but simply remained silent. When questioned as to the reason for his unusual conduct, he replied, "Neither the breath which I draw in nor that which I exhale produces any effect upon material things; nor would my breath laden with words have any greater merit. Since my heart and body are always with Buddha, sleeping, waking or working I am constantly receiving his influence and have no need to read his words."

It was the patriarch Panyatara who in the stillness of meditation revealed the mystical doctrine to Bodhidharma, who thus became the twenty-eighth patriarch and the greatest exponent of Dhyana, or the science of enlightened meditation. It was Bodhidharma—often called "the Militant Monk" and "the blue-eyed Brahman of Princely Birth"—who brought Dhyana to China, from whence, according to tradition, it reached Japan in the seventh century, where it is known as Zen.

The meaning of the word Zen, according to the Master himself, cannot be understood even by those possessed of wisdom. It implies a mystery which can only be revealed to those who have achieved it. To the exoteric, the term must always remain simply a word conveying the thought of the discovery of Self and the contemplation of that Reality which is the foundation of every illusionary nature. Men do not study Zen. They achieve it through the actual process of becoming it. It is not taught as we understand teaching, but is communicated as a state from those who possess it to those who are capable of receiving it. Zen is a meditation for the becoming of Self.