Da Mo

The Indian Buddhist monk Da Mo Or as he is also known, Bodhidharma, Bodhitara, P'u-t'i Ta-mo, Ta-mo, Bodai Daruma, and Daruma to mention a few of his names...

"The essence of the Way is detachment. And the goal of those who practice is freedom from appearances." Taken from Bodhidharma's Wake-Up Sermon as translated by Red Pine.

Bodhidharma was born around 440 A.D. in Kanchi, the capital of the Southern Indian kingdom of Pallava. He was a Brahman by birth, the third child of King Sugandha, was a member of the Kshatriya or warrior caste, and had his childhood in Conjeeveram (also Kanchipuram or Kancheepuram), a Buddhist province south of Madras. He received his religious training from the Dhyana Master Prajnatara, and was considered very wise in the way of Dhyana or Zen practices.

Da Mo is said to also have been proficient in Kalaripayat (an ancient karate-like art that was influenced itself by vajramushti) which while including some weaponry included weaponless forms that were practiced in conjunction with the controlled breathing techniques of pranayama. Pranayama is part of the "Eightfold Path of Discipline" in Astanga yoga.

In most of East Asia, today, Da Mo is revered as the spiritual father of Zen Buddhism, having been the twenty-eighth patriarch after Sakyamuni (the historic Buddha) and the first patriarch of Zen Buddhism in China. He started what eventually became the Ch'an school of Buddhism in China. He is also the founder of a weaponless fighting art that was the precursor of modern-day martial arts.

During the Chinese Southern Liang dynasty [502-557 A.D.] the Emperor Liang Wu invited the Buddhist monk Da Mo to preach Buddhism in China. Da Mo arrived in China around 520 A.D., although accounts have it that he arrived during the Sung dynasty (420-479 A.D.), and eventually met Emperor Wu at Chin-ling (now Nanking).

When Da Mo met Emperor Wu, the Emperor asked, "What is the holy ultimate truth?" Da Mo answered, "It is Emptiness itself and there is nothing holy." "Who then is the one who at present stands confronting me," responded the Emperor? "I do not know (fushiki, pu-shih)!" was Da Mo's response. This now-famous question-and-answer dialogue "I know not," is considered a reverent allegory for explaining specific Zen tenets.

After the Emperor decided he did not like Da Mo's Buddhist theory/answer, Da Mo withdrew to a Shaolin Temple, in Honan Province. Entering the temple he saw that the priests in an emaciated condition, were weak and sickly, so he shut himself away to ponder the problem. When he emerged after nine years of seclusion, some say he wrote two classics: Yi Gin Ching or I Chin Ching (Muscle/Tendon Changing Classic) and Shii Soei Ching or Hsi Sui Chin (Marrow Washing Classic). Others say that he secreted the two works in the walls of the temple, and that they were found only after his demise. Hsi Sui Chin, was said to have been transcribed by Do Mo's disciple Hui K'o and is said to have been lost to the world. The second work, I Chin Ching, has been translated several times, thereby clouding its actual origination. Regardless, Da Mo's teachings instructed the Shaolin priests how to gain health and change their physical bodies from weak to strong (muscle/tendon changing), and taught the priests how to use Chi to strengthening the blood and immune system, and to energize the brain and attain enlightenment (marrow washing).

The basis of these works, the physical drills of which are called Shihpa Lohan Shou, or Eighteen Hands of the Lohan (Buddha), were incorporated into the Shaolin Chi Kung and martial arts (what became known as Kung Fu - which is pronounced gung-fu, or, Shaolin ch'uan fa in Mandarin and which in Japanese is Shorinji kempo) training of the times. At the present time, Lohan is used to designate all famous disciples of the historic Buddha, but more generally the term refers to those five hundred arhats (Sanskrit term for those who have achieved nirvana) who are supposed to reappear on earth as Buddha.

Several decades after Da Mo's death a ch'uan fa master named Chueh Yan Shang-jen combined and increased Da Mo's original eighteen hand-and-foot positions to seventy-two. Ch'uen then met with a Shensi Province martial arts master, Li-shao. The two further enlarged Ch'uen's 72 "strokes" to 170 and gave the best of them names such as the tiger, leopard, dragon, snake and crane.

Most ch'uan fa forms practiced today, are the descendants of the 170 (173) hand-foot positions of Ch'ueh Yan and can be traced further, back to the eighteen positions of Da Mo. Also based directly on Da Mo's Shaolin ch'uan fa is Kosho-ryu (or "Old Pine Tree Style") kempo. In essence, the ideals of Zen Buddhism as expounded by Da Mo are fundamental to the physical manifestations of the Kosho-ryu fighting art. The development of restraint, propriety, humbleness and integrity are the cornerstones of Kosho-ryu kempo, with the actual combat techniques merely one of the many modes of reaching these goals.

Da Mo is thought to have died around 534 A.D.

It is also said . . . A monk asked Baso Doichi (Ma-tsu Tao-I, d. 788, another individual instrumental to the history of Buddhism in China) "What is the ultimate teaching of Buddhism?" Baso struck him, saying, "If I did not strike you, the whole world would laugh at me!"

Another monk asked, "what is the meaning of Bodhidharma coming from the West?" (see note) Baso said "You come up nearer to me and I'll tell you." When the monk approached him, the master slapped the monk's ear saying, "The secrets are difficult to guard!"

Note: this amounts to asking the ultimate teaching of Buddhism, as Bodhidharma is the first Zen patriarch of China who brought Buddhism from India.

But the second Patriarc from China the fist was Pao Jaco.