Who Was The Great Buddhist Monk Bodhidharma?

Do you want to know about the mysterious story and history of the great monk Bodhidharma?

The list of great personality in India is huge. Such great legends who have made significant contributions in various fields. Due to such great heroes, India has the title of Vishwa Guru. One such great man from India was Bodhidharma. Bodhidharma was born in the Raj family of Kanchipuram of the Pallava dynasty of South India.

In childhood, he used to do yoga due to shortness of breath, due to which he showed interest in yoga. Learned martial arts at an early age. Bodhidharaman, the third son of Raja Sugandha of Kanchipuram, was attracted to Buddhism from his childhood.

Then Buddhists became a monk. He began to teach how to meditate and then also learned how to calm the mind through meditation. At the age of 22, he attained Moksha and became the 28th Buddhist Guru. Many books can be written about him, but he was given very little importance in Indian history.

In the 5th to 6th century, Bodhidharma went to China, Japan, and Korea and propagated and expanded Buddhism and gave knowledge of yoga, Ayurveda, hypnosis, martial arts, and controlling of five elements. According to the Puranas, Maharishi Agastya and Lord Parashurama were the first to use martial arts. Later Lord Krishna developed this learning better and named it Kalaripayattu.

Sri Krishna is considered the first teacher of the Kalaripayattu discipline. Lord Krishna taught this knowledge to his Narayani army, hence the Narayani army became the first army to fight without weapons. Bodhidharaman preached other disciplines of Hindu scripture too. Wherever Bodhidarman went, these techniques are taught everywhere. The great monk Bodhidharma was also an Ayurvedacharya, so he also gave knowledge of herbs.

Also imparted knowledge of medical practices through ancient Indian medical systems. The land of China, Japan, and Korea is indeed watered by imparting its knowledge and teachings. In these countries, the monk Bodhidharma has been given equal status as Lord Buddha.

The Birth Of Martial Arts : Bodhidharma taught martial arts to China

On the orders of Rajmata, the great monk Bodhidharma went to China for the propagation of truth and meditation. He made his journey to China via sea route and landed at Canton harbor on the southern coast of China. Then he went to the Shaolin Temple, went there, and told the temple officials that he had come from India, but he was refused entry into the temple.

A Buddhist monk built this temple in China in 495 AD before Bodhidharma went to China 30 years ago. Then Bodhidharma went to the top of the mountain and started living in a cave. He started meditating in the cave itself and started doing new yoga to keep himself healthy. After doing austerities in the cave for a long time, the officials of the Shaolin Temple allowed him to come into the temple.

After coming to the temple, the great monk Bodhidharma noticed that the people in the temple were not healthy, then he started giving the knowledge of yoga to the people of the temple to be healthy.

He was poisoned by his disciples

Apart from the history of China, there are so many stories of the great monk Bodhidharaman mentioned in Chinese legends. It is said that Monk went to the Nan-Qing village, then the villagers did not allow them to enter the village. But also said that there was a disaster in this village. That is why the villagers kicked him out of the village. After being evicted from the village he moved to the nearby mountains.

After some time an epidemic had spread in the village. Whoever has been affected by this disease in the village, the people of the village used to leave it outside the village under the same mountain where Bodhidharma used to live. So that no one else suffers this disease and the epidemic does not spread in the village.

When Bodhidharaman noticed that the epidemic was spreading rapidly, the monk started helping the villagers with the help of Ayurvedic medicine, cured the sick people, and saved the village from the epidemic.

After some time the village was attacked by robbers. Then Bodhidharma (Damu) gave the knowledge of Ayurvedic medicine and herbs to the villagers. Since he was well versed in Ayurvedacharya as well as in Kalaripattu, he also started giving knowledge of Kalaripattu learning. So that the villagers can escape from the robbers. 

Kalaripattu is today called martial art. The villagers became disciples of Bodhidharma and gained knowledge of martial arts, hypnosis, Ayurvedic medicine, etc. The people of the village started loving him and affectionately called him Damu. Many years later, when Bodhidharaman told his disciples, I am going back to India. Then the disciple added poison to the food, but Bodhidharma came to know that there is poison in the food. Even then he ate food. He died due to poison.

Discovery of Tea

According to one of the Chinese tales, Bodhidharaman was meditating, he slept while meditating. When he opened his eyes, he cut off his eyelid and threw it on the ground. He thought he would not get sleep while meditating. When the eyelids fell on the ground, they became a plant. Which was later named tea plant.

Bodhidharaman (Damu) was accompanied by four disciples, each of whom lived with him, according to a different Chinese legend. One day the disciples of Bodhidharma showed some different types of leaves. Bodhidharma investigated, the investigation showed that if these leaves are boiled and drunk, it does not cause sleep. Then the disciples started meditating on it. This is how tea was discovered. Whatever it is, the discovery of tea was made by the great monk Bodhidharma.

Meditation Community

Nature is of great use in the realization of truth in the meditation community. Nature is the scripture of meditational saints. In the process of the attainment of knowledge, they resort to nature and as a result of its ingrained influence, it is possible to have an immediate incarnation of truth in consciousness.

According to Bodhidharma’s ideas, knowledge of reality requires insight into intelligence, which is directly considered into the real fact in this world.