DARUMAKI( 達磨忌 )

Bodhidharma (Daruma, Dharma), is an iconoclastic Buddhist monk from the 29th generation of Buddhist ancestors, counting from Shakyamuni Buddha, who is considered the founder of Chan Buddhism in China, which was later known as Zen in Japan.

He was encouraged by his teacher Prajnatara, the 27th ancestors’ generation, to travel to China in order to transmit the “True Dharma Eye.” Bodhidharma arrived in China around 520 AD but unlike other religious visitors of that time, he did not take any Buddhist scriptures with him. Instead he narrated that enlightenment can only be achieved through personal experience of the Dharma, while Buddhist scriptures are only a guide to it. Since he did not translate sacred texts or give discourses or teachings on the sutras, which was the opposite approach to Dharma teaching at the time, he faced skepticism, fierce opposition, and rejection.

According to legend, Bodhidharma therefore spent nine years…