At least a couple of times a year I encounter someone(usually a beginner) who reads about Bodhidharma from the Blue Cliff Records (Hekiganroku). It is most often from the first case in which Emperor Wu asks Bodhidharma the following question: “What is the highest meaning of the holy truths?” And Bodhidharma replies by saying, “Empty, without holiness” 廓然無聖. From this they usually fall into the trap of nihilism (which is very easy to do these days). So that's it. There is really no enlightenment. It’s all a big joke. Everything is vast emptiness, like space. There is nothing sacred or holy 無聖.
However, in the early accounts of this meeting which was probably a fiction we read the following:
“Emperor Wu came out of the city to welcome him personally. He had [Bodhidharma] ascend to the audience hall and asked the Venerable, “What teachings to convert beings have you brought from the other country?” Great Master Dharma replied, “I have not brought a single word.” The emperor asked, “What merit have We gained in having monasteries built and people saved, scriptures copied and statues cast?” The Great Master responded, “No merit whatsoever.” He replied [further], “It is is contrived (saṃsṛkta) goodness, not true merit.” Emperor Wu was a man of ordinary nature and did not understand. And so [Bodhidharma] left that country” (Wendi L. Adamek, The Mystique of Transmission, pp. 311–312).
From this we could describe the Emperor as a do-gooder who was well-meaning and did a lot of great deeds to help his people but really didn’t have what it takes to understand the Mind of a Buddha. The Emperor really wanted to know from Bodhidharma what all his good works amounted to in terms of merit (S., punya). Bodhidharma said, “Nothing, there’s no holiness.” And this is true because the holy is found within—not in the act of constructing monasteries, etc.
We could say that the holy is empty of conditionality which always leads to suffering. Nevertheless, we should not assume that doing good deeds doesn’t, in some way, facilitate the realization of the enlightened Mind. Monks and nuns need a place to live and books to study.
Good article!
It was because Emperor Wu got caught up with the condition and thus, he failed to 'catch' the 'juice' coming out of Bodhidharma!
'Students of the Way' usually pick up the 'juice' even before the realized master arrives or when the real master is nearby.
Yes, this is the esoteric teaching most Westerner Buddhists have no understanding of :)
What more, most of them are cheap. They begrudge giving $2 to temple while happily buying $2000 ticket to visit the beach in the Bahamas or going to Paris party!! lol
They only go to Buddhism when they feel they need to meditate to calm their thirsty mind. I gave up on them long time ago as it has been nothing but aggravation!!
Bodhiratna
Posted by: bodhiratna | January 09, 2017 at 02:24 PM