Legends
Encounter with Emperor Liang
According to tradition, around 520, during the period of the Southern Dynasties, Bodhidharma was invited to an audience with Emperor Wudi of the Liang Dynasty.
When the Emperor asked him how much merit he had accumulated through building temples and endowing monasteries, Bodhidharma replied, "None at all."
Perplexed, the Emperor then asked, "Well, what is the fundamental teaching of Buddhism?"
"Vast emptiness, nothing sacred," was the bewildering reply.
"Listen," said the Emperor, now losing all patience, "just who do you think you are?"
"I have no idea," Bodhidharma replied.
With this, Bodhidharma was banished from the Court, and is said to have sat in meditation for the next nine years "listening to the ants scream".
Nine years of gazing at a wall
Bodhidharma traveled to northern China, to the recently constructed Shaolin Monastery, where the monks refused him admission. Bodhidharma sat meditating facing a wall for the next 9 years, boring holes into it with his stare. Having earned the monks' respect, Bodhidharma was finally permitted to enter the monastery. There, he found the monks so out of shape from lives spent hunched over scrolls that he introduced a regimen of exercises which later became the foundation of Shaolin kung fu, from which many schools of Chinese martial art claim descent.
Historically, it is unlikely that Bodhidharma invented kung fu. There are martial arts manuals that date back to at least the Han Dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE), predating both Bodhidharma and the Shaolin Temple. The codification of the martial arts by monks most likely began with military personnel who retired to monasteries or sought sanctuary there. Within the refuge of the monastery, unlike on an unforgiving battlefield, such individuals could, confident in their safety, exchange expertise and perfect their techniques.
Bringing tea to China
Japanese legends credit Bodhidharma with bringing tea to China. Supposedly, he cut off his eyelids while meditating, to keep from falling asleep. Tea bushes sprung from the spot where his eyelids hit the ground. It is said that this is the reason for tea being so important for meditation and why it helps the meditator to not fall asleep. This legend is unlikely as tea use in China predates Chan Buddhism in China. According to Chinese mythology, in 2737 BC the Chinese Emperor, Shennong, scholar and herbalist, was sitting beneath a tree while his servant boiled drinking water. A leaf from the tree dropped into the water and Shennong decided to try the brew. The tree was a wild tea tree. There is an early mention of tea being prepared by servants in a Chinese text of 50 B.C. The first detailed description of tea-drinking is found in an ancient Chinese dictionary, noted by Kuo P'o in A.D. 350.
Daruma dolls
It is also reported that after years of meditation, Bodhidharma lost the usage of his legs. This legend is still alive in Japan, where legless Daruma dolls represent Bodhidharma, and are used to make wishes.
Bodhidharma and Huike
Bodhidharma was the first Zen patriarch of China. All later Chinese and Japanese Zen masters trace their master-disciple lineage to him. Huike, who was to become the second patriach, was first ignored when he tried to approach him, and left outside in the snow, until he cut his own arm and offered it to the Master. (This is supposedly the origin of the famous 'one hand salute' of the monks who came after him). Bodhidharma later transmitted to him the insignia of the patriarchs: the robe, the Buddha's begging bowl, and a copy of the Lankavatara Sutra.
The legend of Huike's self-dismemberment is likely apocryphal. According to Daoxuan, wandering bandits cut off Huike's arm.
