Dharma and Emperor Liangwu dispersed unhappily, crossed the river and came to the Shaolin Temple, although we often read martial arts novels, there is a saying that "the world's kung fu out of Shaolin, Shaolin kung fu out of Dharma", but in fact Dharma came to the Shaolin Temple, not to spread martial arts, but to spread Zen Buddhism.
Dharma Guru
Zen Buddhism is different from the Vinaya and the Interpretation, and the main points of emphasis are "to point directly to the human heart, to see the nature of becoming a Buddha, not to establish a text, and to teach others." According to legend, when the Buddha smiled at the flowers, Gaya immediately understood, and Zen Buddhism arose from this, focusing on an understanding, obviously in Dharma's view, Emperor Liangwu was lacking in understanding.
Dharma's name has always been associated with the Shaolin Temple, it seems that because of Dharma there was a Shaolin Temple, in fact, the Shaolin Temple was built long before the arrival of Dharma, it was built by the Northern Wei Xiaowen Emperor Tuoba Hong for the high monk Bhata, Bhagavad Gita was the first abbot of the Shaolin Temple, was the master of the Vinaya, in history there is no record of Dharma as the abbot of the Shaolin Temple, and even after Dharma, there are few Zen monks who have served as the abbot of the Shaolin Temple.
Dharma came to China to spread Zen Buddhism, this is not an easy thing, just by eating and praying to the Buddha, with a sincere heart is not enough, no huigen, no understanding is not enough, Dharma initially looked at the divine light monk, this is a high monk with a lot of wisdom roots, at that time it was also very famous, Dharma very much wanted to accept him as a disciple, but the divine light monk was somewhat disdainful of Dharma, he thought that his understanding of the Dharma was not worse than Dharma, why should he go to Dharma as a disciple?
Divine Light Monk (Hui Ke Zen Master)
According to the "Dharma Treasure Scroll", after Dharma met the divine light monk, he tried to enlighten him many times, but the divine light monk was always reluctant to take care of Dharma, and once when the divine light monk opened the altar to give a lecture, Dharma came again, and the divine light monk was speaking vigorously above, but Dharma laughed below.
The Divine Light Monk was very dissatisfied and asked, "What are you laughing at?" Am I wrong? ”
Dharma replied, "You are not wrong in what you are talking about, but when you talk about the Dharma, you are talking about your own understanding of the Dharma and enlightening the faithful, and you are following the script, and there is nothing new, and you yourself have not yet transcended, so how can you purify all sentient beings?" ”
The monk of divine light was furious, took off the iron rosary in his hand and threw it at Dharma, knocking out two of Dharma's front teeth, Dharma claimed to be the twenty-eighth ancestor of Zen Buddhism, it was said that the Buddha's teeth would fall on the ground for three years, Dharma did not get angry, but calmly swallowed his teeth and blood in his stomach and turned away.
Soon after, Dharma's fame rose, the divine light monk found Dharma to ask him to bear the thorn, this time the divine light monk restrained his temperament, humbly listened to Dharma's teachings in front of the wall cave, Dharma did not care about the previous suspicions, patiently pointed out the divine light monk, the divine light monk was greatly inspired, immediately wanted to worship Dharma as a teacher, but Dharma refused, he said to the divine light monk: "If you want to worship me as a teacher, you have to wait until the white snow turns into a red lotus." ”
At this time, it was a cold winter, the snow covered the earth, the divine light monk heard Dharma say this, immediately drew his sword and slashed at the arm, and suddenly the blood stained the falling snow red, just like a blooming red lotus, Dharma accepted the divine light monk as an apprentice, took the Dharma name "Hui ke", and later passed on the mantle of Zen Buddhism to Hui Ke Zen master.
In the second year of Datong, Dharma died at the Thousand Saints Temple in Yumen, Luoyang, and his disciples buried him in the Dinglin Temple, and built the Dharma Ling Pagoda and the Dharma Hall to commemorate him, and the Liangwu Emperor Xiao Yan personally wrote an inscription for him, but the story about Dharma was not over.
Three years after Dharma's death, the Eastern Wei envoy Song Yun returned from an envoy to the Western Regions, and when passing through the Green Ridge, he met Dharma unexpectedly, with Dharma barefoot, holding a tin staff in one hand and a shoe in the other. Song Yun asked, "Where is the master?" Dharma replied, "Go to the Western Heavens!" ”
After Song Yun returned to China, he reported this matter to Emperor Xiaojing, who was very surprised and ordered people to dig up the tomb of Dharma, and after opening the coffin, only one shoe was left inside, and the emperor knew that Dharma had transcended into a Buddha, so he ordered that Dinglin Temple be renamed "Empty Phase Temple".