He is a southern Tianzhu, belonging to the Brahmin caste, and some people say that he belongs to the Kashatri caste. Caste is a social class system in ancient India. There are four castes in Indian society, namely Brahman (monk), Khrushchev (warrior), Veda (businessman and farmer) and sudra (unskilled laborer and slave, or untouchable). It can be seen that Dharma's social status is noble, and it is said that it is the third son of the king of Xiang. He claimed to be the 28th disciple of Sakyamuni, the 28th ancestor of Indian Zen Buddhism.
He went to the Western Ocean in the first year of Liang Wudi (AD 520) or Datong (AD 527). Liang Wudi believed in Buddhism and took him to Nanjing to preach Buddhism. However, at that time, Buddhism in the Southern Dynasties attached great importance to the theory of lecturing, which was inconsistent with the theory that Dharma Zen emphasized meditation and advocated "don't write when you see the Buddha's nature". So I went to the Northern Wei Dynasty in the same year and began to travel around Luoyang to learn Zen. Later, he entered the Shaolin Temple in Songshan. When he meditated in Shaolin Temple, he sat for nine years. His practice method is also called "wall view". Later, he spread Buddhism to Hui Ke monks and was buried in Xiong 'er Mountain after his death. It is said that after he arrived in Nanjing, Liang Wudi told him about Buddhism and asked him, "What merits have I made by building so many Buddhist temples, writing so many scriptures and treating so many monks?" ? Dharma replied: "No public morality". Emperor Wu asked him, "Why is there no morality?" ? He said: "It's all done on demand, even though it's not true." Because of his romantic relationship with Liang Wudi, he left Nanjing for the north. According to Dharma legend, when crossing the river, you don't take a boat, but you fold a reed on the river bank and stand on it. Now Shaolin Temple still retains a stone tablet depicting Dharma's "crossing the river with a reed". Confucianists have different opinions on the explanation of "crossing the river with one reed". They think that "a reed" is not a reed, but a big bunch of reeds. Because there is a poem "He Guang" in the Book of Songs, the poem says: "Who says light, a reed hangs on it." In the Tang Dynasty, manhole explained that reeds are a bundle and can cross on the water. If it is a raft, it is not a bundle. It seems that this explanation is more scientific.
The true story of the mantle is also a story about Buddhism, and later generations use this idiom to express the true ability of getting a teacher. It is said that Dharma has a cotton cassock, which is a bowl for eating and brought from India. These two things are regarded by Buddhists as proof of Buddhism and are highly valued. At that time, there was a monk at Xiangshan Temple in Longmen, Luoyang, who was originally a monk. His name is monk ke, also known as monk ke. He visited Dharma in Shaolin Temple and hoped that Dharma would give him a true biography. But dharma closed the door and ignored him. He stood outside the door as a sign of sincerity. It happened that it was snowing heavily, and Shen Guang stood still in the snow. By dawn, the snow was knee deep. Dharma is still not allowed in the house. He cut off his left arm with a knife to show his sincerity in seeking Tao. Dharma asked him what he was doing, and he said, "May the monk open the manna door and expand the product range!" " When Dharma saw that he was sincere and able to preach Dharma, he passed on his mantle and changed his name to Hui Ke. This is the story of "establishing snow to pass on the scriptures" and "passing on the scriptures with broken arms". Hui Ke thus obtained the qualification of the second ancestor of Zen Sect. On the top of the alms bowl halfway up Shaoshi Mountain in the southwest of Shaolin Temple, there are several temples, in which there is a statue of the second ancestor Hui Ke, which is said to be the place where his broken arm recovered, so it is also called "arm support platform", "heart-seeking platform" and "acrobatic platform". Hui Ke handed down the mantle to the sixth ancestor Huineng. He is from Guangdong and his mantle was brought to Guangdong. During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, it was burned by an assistant named Xiao Wei.
According to historical records, after the death of Dharma, it still has efficacy. Song Yun, the messenger of the Northern Wei Dynasty, returned from the Western Regions and did not know that Dharma was dead. When I passed the Green Ridge (previously referred to Pamir Plateau, Kunlun Mountain and West Karakorum Mountain, and the traffic between ancient China and the western regions often passed through the Green Ridge Mountain Road), I saw Dharma walking west with a shoe in his hand. Song Yun recognized him and asked, "Where is the monk going?" Dharma said, "Go to the West." Song Yun returned to Beijing and reported it to the emperor. The emperor felt strange and ordered the Dharma coffin to be taken out. It is said that there is only one shoe left in the coffin. The legend of Dharma's "going west alone" came into being.
In Buddhist scriptures, the founder of Dharma saved his mother from hell.
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Born in India, Dharma was a visionary, and his mother was a Buddhist in Yucheng, who fasted all her life. I was blind in my later years, but my spiritual merits have given birth to colorful clouds. One day, a jealous neighbor used shrimp as melon seeds for Dharma's mother to eat, which caused her to be injured and suffered from hell after her death. So many people questioned Dharma, saying that although he was awakened, even his mother could not be saved. What is the reason? In order to find his dead mother, Father Dharma traveled all over the Han Dynasty and preached Buddhism. At that time, wherever he went, the place was peaceful and the grain was abundant. Therefore, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty kept him living in the Han Dynasty many times. Dharma couldn't get away because he saved the soul of his dead mother, so he had to show silence. After his death, he was buried by the emperor. However, before long, he was seen walking in the street again. The emperor was surprised and dug up his grave, only to find that there was only one shoe left in the coffin, and Dharma had quietly left.
When the founder of Dharma detoured south to find Heqing (a county in Dali, more than 200 kilometers away from Zhongdian), he found the ghost of his mother. His mother's ghost turned into a bug and was caught in the mold of a zinc factory in Heqing. She was scalded to death once when someone poured molten iron into the mold. After the mold cooled, she came back to life, so she died again, alive and dead. The so-called "hell's suffering" is like this. Father Dharma worked as a helper in his family for a whole year. Master Master said that Dharma has done a lot of hard work this year and made a lot of money for him. He asked Dharma how much he wanted, and Dharma said, just give him the mold. The caster gave the mold to dharma. Dharma pulled out a hair, cut the mold open, and saved the worm that the mother never died. This is also called "saving mom from hell".
Father Dharma then went north. In order to mourn her mother's death, she wore a white cloth around her head. Since then, it has become a custom for people to wrap their loved ones in white cloth to show their filial piety whenever they die.
When Father Dharma arrived in Qizong (located in Weixi County, Diqing), he saw that there were abundant grains, beautiful scenery and clear parrots. So he said, this is the comfortable place I have been looking for all my life. I am here to preach dharma and practice side by side. Finally, the upper body turned into fire, the lower body into water, and soared to the realm of bliss. Father Dharma gave a lecture here and promoted Buddhism, leaving a "ancestral cave" on his side wall. This "Ancestor Cave" is an ear of the founder of Dharma. Standing at the entrance of the cave, he shouted "La Dangba Sanjie Geraniso!" Buddhism can also be heard in the sky. Although this sacred mountain is very steep, its scenery is like a fairyland. (At that time, the 83rd boundary was the Tibetan name of the founder of Dharma.)
Quote from: Wang Xiaosong's "The Buddha's Light in the Snowfield"
The story of six times of poisoning when the founder of Dharma came to China, because there were two wizards in the Northern Wei Dynasty who wanted to harm him, one was Bodhi Six Fingers, and the other was lawyer Guangtong. They are most jealous of Buddhism, so they made some vegetarian dishes and mixed some poison to support the founders of Buddhism. Dharma knows that rice is poisonous, but they still eat it. After eating, ask someone to bring a plate and spit out a bunch of snakes. The poison turned into a snake! Bodhi's six fingers can't destroy the law when they see poison. Somehow, he doubled the poison for the second time. Dharma ate it again. After eating, he sat on a big stone and spat out the poison, blasting all the stones. Poisoning four times in a row, the dharma will not die.
One day, the founder of Buddhism said to Master Hui Ke, "I came to China as a Mahayana being rooted in China. Now that I have been taught Buddhism, I am going to die.' After the death of Father Dharma, he was put in a coffin and buried in a grave. But at the same time, there was an envoy named Song Yun in the Northern Wei Dynasty who met the founder of Dharma on the road around the Green Ridge. Dharma took a shoe and said to Song Yun,' Your country has something to do, because your king died today, so go back quickly.' Song Yun asked,' Master, where are you going?' Dharma said,' I'm going back to India. He asked again,' Master, who did you preach the Dharma to?' ? Dharma replied:' Forty years later, China, too.' After Song Yun returned to the Northern Wei Dynasty, he talked about it. Everyone didn't believe what he said, so he opened the tomb of Dharma. There was nothing in the coffin except a shoe. Where the hell did Father Dharma go? No one will know in the future. I'm afraid it's not necessary to come to America now, because he can change his face and be ever-changing, so no one knows him. When he came to China, he said that he was 150 years old, and when he left, he was still 150. There is no historical proof.