Just as would happen with Christianity, Buddhism would decline in the region that gave it birth. And like Christianity, as it spread into other regions, it took on distinct forms. The form that spread in Southeast Asia came to be called Theravada, the School of the Elders, though its opponents would call it Hinayana, or the Lesser Vehicle. The northeastern movement of Buddhism split into two major forms. Syncretism gave rise to a distinctly Himalayan form called Vajrayana. The Buddhism that spread into China, and eventually into Korea and Japan, was labeled, in chauvinist form, Mahayana, or the Great Vehicle. And it was from this third northern branch that the most well known form of Buddhism developed… that is, the School of Zen Buddhism, as it is known in Japan and the West, or Chan, as it is known in China.
The key figure in the development of Zen Buddhism was Bodhidharma. A monk who arrived in China in the early 5th century, he is best known for a fierce intensity, and is often depicted with a scowl. Legend has it that during the sixth year of a seven year meditation called “wall gazing,†he fell asleep. Infuriated, he cut off his own eyelids. Continue reading “Messy Bodies: A Sermon in the “Get Dirty: Live Your Faith” series”
