The Legend of Bodhidharma
One legend of tea’s origin tells the story of Bodhidharma,
an East Indian Bodhisattva who came to China in the 6th Century
B.C.E. to teach Buddhism. Bodhidharma is considered the founder
of Martial Arts in China, or at least for changing it radically
from warring techniques to a practice of spiritual and health exercise.
It is said that when he came to China, in order to attract students
he sat in meditation in front of a cave for nine years. During the
first three years, people would come by and mimic or ridicule him
or even play tricks on him. Sometimes they would defile him, much
like children making fun of someone different. During the second
three years, people grew tired of bothering an un-reacting statue
sitting in meditative repose, and they ignored him. In the final
three years, some individuals realized his great accomplishment
of sitting in meditation for so long despite the hardship and began
to join him in sitting meditation. By the end of the nine years,
Bodhidharma spoke in front of thousands of totally receptive students,
every one of them became instantly enlightened.
The Sermon he gave was called the Lotus Sutra, Lotus being the flower
that represents man’s striving quest to find meaning to life
and rise above a world of pain and suffering just as the white lotus
rises above the muddy water from which it grows. This sudden enlightenment
method became known as Ch’an Buddhism. To prepare for this
meditation marathon, Bodhidharma would sit for long hours each day.
One day he fell asleep during meditation. He was so angry at himself
for failing that he cut off his eyelids and threw them to the ground,
so that he would never close his eyes again during meditation and
fall asleep. To this day, C’han meditation practice always
employs an open eyes method and Bodhidharma is always depicted with
large, round, saucer like eyes. Legend states that where Bodhidharma’s
eyelids fell, the first tea plant grew. The quality of tea, which
keeps one awake, is Bodhidharma’s gift to the Buddhist world
of meditators, establishing the drinking of tea as an aid to alert
meditation and spiritual development.
