The founding father of Zen Buddhism is Bodhidharma. He was an Indian monk who lived in the fifth century, and is credited for bringing Zen to China. There are many stories and legends surrounding this famed figure, and one of the most well known is about his meeting with the emperor of China, emperor Wu. 
The Story
When news of Bodhidharma’s wisdom reached the emperor, he requested a meeting with the monk. Bodhidharma arrived at the emperor’s palace, and was escorted into the great throne room. It should be noted that the emperor of China was the most powerful person on the planet at that time, and was considered to be a living God by his subjects.
The emperor motioned for Bodhidharma to approach the gold throne, and asked him, “What is the main point of the holy teaching?” (This is a question we often ask, isn’t it? What is the point of this spiritual practice I’m doing? It seems good, but really, what’s the point?)
Bodhidharma replied without hesitation, “Vast emptiness, nothing holy.”
In a single reply, the sage shattered all the expectations of the emperor. What, the great way isn’t holy? What are all the prayers, meditations, offerings, temples, and golden statues about? What are we doing following something that isn’t holy?
The emperor wasn’t satisfied, and wanted to challenge the monk, “If this is so, if everything is empty, then who is standing in front of me?”
“I don’t know.” With that reply, Bodhidharma turned and left the palace. He traveled out of the capital city, crossed the Yangtse river, and settled in the kingdom of Wei. The emperor didn’t understand.
Understanding The Story
This story is illuminating on many levels. The simple monk turns his back on the most powerful living person, someone who with the blink of his eye could have him killed.
He doesn’t try to curry favor by giving the emperor profound and thought-provoking answers, which surely would have secured his reputation as the greatest monk in the kingdom.
Bodhidharma exemplifies the pursuit of truth which is not corrupted by worldly power or wealth. He is willing to risk his life to be true to what he knows in his heart.
More importantly, however, is the direction Bodhidharma points us to. When he tells the emperor that the great teaching is nothing holy, he is admonishing us over making distinctions in our lives between sacred and secular, holy and unholy, spiritual and material.
Everyday Life Is Holy
For Bodhidharma, and the Zen tradition which followed him to this day, the essence of the Way is how we live our daily lives. It is not enough to have a good meditation, yoga, or prayer practice in the morning or evening, but it is equally important to prepare your dinner with full awareness and appreciation.
It is not enough to be kind to your spiritual teachers and fellow spiritual community members, but it is equally important to practice patience, lovingkindness and compassion with the aggressive taxi driver, the people taking a long time in the checkout counter at the supermarket, and the hostile coworker. If we cling to an idea of the spiritual life being “holy”, then we will also have holes in our lives where there is no spirituality, the places that are difficult and “unholy”.
The goal of Zen is to see everything as equal, not that it’s all the same bland gray reality, but that it’s all equally vital and important, all deserving of equal attention and care. Bodhidharma’s “nothing holy” means that everything is special.
The path of awakening to the specialness of all life is a life-long practice. The method is not to bemoan all the times we slip into our patterns of treating many situations as unspiritual, or just something to get through.
More helpful is the resolve we make again and again to come back to this very moment, whatever it may be, as the most important moment I have. In truth it is the only one we have, but often we get lost in our dreams and expectations of a future, better time. There’s nothing wrong with future directions, but we need to notice when they are limiting our ability to find purpose and joy in the very present we have.
Breath Awareness
When you notice you are upset with your unspiritual moment, return to an awareness of your breath and body. Breathe mindfully and notice how the difficult feelings may be embedded in your body. Do you feel tension anywhere, is your breath long or short, do you feel discomfort? It is enough to notice these feelings, and to breathe more deeply.
As we anchor ourselves in this present moment, we realize it is lacking a fixed definition: what previously was “unspiritual” is an opportunity for awareness. What was something to get through as quickly as possible becomes the very path to freedom.
Our definitions drop away, and sitting in traffic can be as insightful as sitting in a meditation hall. With present awareness, the fixed definitions soften and become more flexible, so that even our sense of who we are becomes less frozen and more flowing.
In this vein, Bodhidharma was able to tell the emperor that he didn’t know, really, who was standing before the emperor - who he was. And, when we are mindful of our lives in the moment we live, that’s really okay.
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