178 - A wooden statue of Bodhidharma with a lacquer finish

A wooden statue of Bodhidharma with a lacquer finish China, Qing Dynasty H. 51,5 cm He is sitting there with his legs crossed, both hands clasped in front of his stomach; he is wearing monk’s robes, consisting of an underskirt tied at the waist and a cloak covering his left arm, as well as armbands and a bracelet; several ribs are visible on his chest; his emaciated face has a serene expression, with downcast eyes beneath bushy eyebrows, elongated earlobes and a bald head; traces of red and black lacquer. From a private collection in southern Germany Bodhidharma is regarded as the legendary founder of Chan and Zen Buddhism. To view him objectively, one must distinguish between the scant historical facts from the 5th and 6th centuries and the later development of legends. The historical evidence is fragmentary. Early sources from the 6th and 7th centuries are in part contradictory: at times Bodhidharma is described as a West Asian itinerant monk in Luoyang, at others as a South Indian Köwho crossed the sea to China. What is certain is that he taught a meditative practice in northern China which stood in contrast to the ritualistic and text-based state Buddhism of the time. The core of his teaching is based on what is known as ‘wall meditation’ (Bi Guan). Historically, this is not usually interpreted as physically staring at a wall, but rather as a metaphor for an unshakeable state of mind free from concepts. The work attributed to him, ‘The Two Approaches and Four Practices’, emphasises the direct experience of one’s own Buddha-nature in everyday life rather than the mere study of sutras. The later Chan tradition elevated Bodhidharma to the status of China’s first patriarch and embellished his biography with instructive stories. Famous anecdotes, such as his radical dialogue with Emperor Wu of Liang or the drastic ‘mind-training’ of his successor Huike, have no historical basis. They served to illustrate the Chan ideal of a ‘transmission outside the scriptures’. His connection to the Shaolin martial arts and the discovery of tea also belong to the realm of later folklore. Historically, Bodhidharma is a tangible figure who brought about lasting change to Chinese Buddhism. His actual biography, however, was almost entirely subsumed into a founding myth. For the study of religion, he is therefore primarily a symbol of the ideal of a radical, practice-oriented mysticism; The sculpture was placed on the table by the owner under the following catalogue number - Minor age-related damage and areas of restoration