From Bodhidharma to Huining

Bodhidharma came to the east, in China around 520 to 527 AD. and met with Emperor Wu of Liang County. Speaking of Buddhism they disagreed in some respects and Bodhidharma crossed the Yang Zi River and then came and settled on top of Song Mountain in Wu Ru Feng Cave, next to the temple. Shaolin. He sat there facing a wall for nine years.

In the process of spreading Buddhism, he taught his students, including Hui Ke and Dao Yu, the Chan Buddhism of the Mahayana School. His teaching was not based on written texts, but he paid special attention to observing the wall to educate himself. He argued that the study of the scriptures should be the basis of Chan, but disagreed on the incessant reading of the scriptures in the form of a ceremony. The act of "looking at the wall" is the realization of the combination of theory and self-knowledge.

Bodhidharma believed that if a person can let go of love and hate, sadness and happiness, greed and lust and live a natural day and enjoy what can happen, instead of worrying and complaining , then he or she has entered the Buddhist Way.

Bodhidharma was revered as the founder of Chan Buddhism and Shaolin Temple has become the Temple of Chan Buddhism.

Bodhidharma passed his teachings to Hui Ke. Later, the second great Master of Chinese philosophy, Chan, Hui Ke, left Song Mountain and went to Shuzhou (modern-day Anhui). Huike then passed the teachings to Sheng Chan and Sheng Chan passed to Dao Xin. Hong Ren to Huining, who was the sixth great Master of the Buddhist Chan.

In short, the succession of the first to sixth Chinese Master was one to one.

Bodhidharma-Huike-Shengchan-Daosin-Hongren-Huineng

After Huining, the transmission of teachings was no longer one to one, but one to many. He had more than forty students and among them the most famous were Xingsi, Huairang and Shenhui.