Bodhidharma, the Indian Buddhist teacher who is regarded as the First Patriarch of Chan or the Zen Buddhist tradition, is sometimes called the "wall-gazing Brahmin." However, from older, primary sources such as the Dunhuang manuscripts we learn that Bodhidharma probably never existed in the way we imagine he did. He was most likely a fictional character. A lot of what we believe is Zen's history is really the product of Zen mythographers in the Song dynasty.
Bodhidharma could very well be a composite of several Indian Buddhist masters such as Dharmatrāta, Buddhabhadra and Buddhaśānta. According to Chi-Chian Huang (1986 dissertation) Zen master Heze Shenhui added “Bodhi” to Dharmatrāta creating a new name, “Bodhidharmatrāta, a name found in early Zen literature such as the Lidai fabao ji, and in Tibet (keep in mind that Zen came to Tibet). Later, “trāta” was dropped, and we have Bodhidharma.
But more importantly, Bodhidharma probably never sat gazing at a wall for nine years!
Bodhidharma’s so-called wall-gazing 壁觀 (wall-vipaśyanā/insight) was not so much about sitting in the lotus posture gazing at a wall but more about insight into the adamantine absolute. Heinrich Dumoulin says that “Zen masters of later centuries saw it [壁觀] as an expression of the awakened spiritual state, hard as stone.” This seems likely when one recalls the Diamond (vajra) Sutra (Skt. Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra). Vajra in Sanskrit can mean adamantine, hard, impenetrable.
Bodhidharma is more like the figure of Christ insofar as any attempt to see him as a real historical figure is almost doomed. History, here, appears to be more mythological, based on speculation which, nevertheless, contains much religious truth. But like the importance of Christ to Christianity, Bodhidharma personifies a unique Buddhist tradition. Zen would not be Zen without him.