So Bodhidharma, the crown prince of the Kingdom of Koshi, leaves his home forever to eventually die in a foreign land. He makes a great ship ready and crosses the southern seas, bravely traveling without alarm or doubt.

Meanwhile, over in China, a mountain monk is bedeviled by a monkey. The monkey would always steal and eat the things the monk plants for food, as well as the fruit in the trees. One day, the monk is able to trap the monkey in a cave, and he blocks the entrance of the cave with rocks, hoping to teach the monkey a lesson. However, after two days, the monk returns and finds that the monkey has died of starvation. But that was many years before Bodhidharma arrived in China.

Upon his arrival, there was no one in China who knew Bodhidharma. However, the governor of Canton Province, a man named Hsiao-ang, made a show of extending to him all the courtesies of a host, giving him an audience and plying him with entertainments. Hsiao-ang then wrote an account to inform Emperor Wu of Liang about him, for Hsiao-ang was punctilious in his duties. When Emperor Wu saw the report, he was delighted and sent a messenger to invite Bodhidharma to pay him a visit.

Emperor Wu (464–549) was the founding emperor of the Liang Dynasty. His reign was one of the most stable and prosperous of the time. He was well read and wrote poetry and patronized the arts. He embraced Buddhism and was attracted to many Indian traditions. During his reign, he was known for using Buddhist ideologies for reform, such as the disallowing of capital punishment or the sacrifice of live animals during traditional ceremonies. Wu was a great benefactor to the development of Buddhism in China, financing the construction of numerous temples and monasteries and supporting Buddhist monks and nuns.

The 11th Century Chinese historian Sima Guang noted that Emperor Wu "was filially pious, loving, humble, frugal, knowledgeable, and good at writing. He extensively studied mysticism, astrology, horseriding, archery, music, calligraphy, and weiqi (the Chinese game of Go). He worked hard, and even in the coldest winter times, he would get up at the fourth watch [between 3:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m.] to review important matters of state, and as his pen-wielding hand is exposed to the cold air, his skin would break. Ever since the era of Tianjian [from 502 to 519], he became a Buddhist and ate only vegetarian meals, not meat, and his single daily meal only contained vegetables and rough rice grains. Sometimes, when he was busy, he would flush his mouth and no longer eat after noon. The emperor disliked alcohol, and unless he was offering sacrifices to the ancestors, feasting with the imperial officials, or holding Buddhist ceremonies, he used no music. Even when he was alone in a dark room, he wore proper clothing and sat carefully. No matter how hot the weather was, he would not peel up his sleeves or expose his arms. He treated palace servants as honored guests."

So he was naturally very excited to learn that a Buddhist luminary had arrived in his land from distant India and instructed Hsiao-ang to bring him to the imperial palace. Their meeting and exchange is one of the most famous dialogs in Zen Buddhism:

When Bodhidharma arrived at the city of Kinryō and met with Emperor Wu, the Emperor said, "It would be impossible to list all the temples built, all the sutras copied, and all the monks delivered since I assumed the throne. What merit have I acquired?"

Bodhidharma said, "No merit at all."

The Emperor asked, "Why is there no merit?"

Bodhidharma explained, "These things are only the trivial effects of human beings and gods, and the cause of the superfluous. They are like shadows following the form: though they exist, they are not the real thing."

The Emperor asked, "What is true merit?"

Bodhidharma answered, "Pure wisdom being subtly all-encompassing; the body being naturally empty and still. Virtue like this is not sought by the worldly."

Perplexed, the Emperor asked, "Who are you?"

Bodhidharma replied, "I don't know."

The Emperor dismissed Bodhidharma and never talked to him again. He resumed his activities of building temples and monasteries, attempting to increase his own personal merit. However, he was overly lenient with his officials. As Sima Guang wrote, "The provincial and commandery governors often extracted wealth from the people. The messengers that he sent out to the locales often improperly pressured, criticized, or extorted from the locales. He trusted evil people and liked to criticize people for minor faults. He built many Buddhist towers and temples, inflicting great burdens on the government and the people." Although his kingdom had long peace, a rebellion eventually broke out.

At the end of his reign, Wu's overly lenient attitude regarding his clan's and officials' corruption and lack of dedication to the state came at a heavy price; when the rebel general Hou Jing captured the capital Jiankang, few came to Wu's aid. Hou Jing held Emperor Wu under house arrest and plunged the entire state into anarchy.

Emperor Wu eventually starved to death while under house arrest. The reason, it's been said, is because in a former life Emperor Wu was that monk who himself had imprisoned the monkey in a cave, and Genral Hou Jing was the reincarnation of the monkey.

Bodhidharma had tried to save Emperor Wu by showing him that his actions, although beneficial to many, were performed for selfish reasons. If the emperor had listened and followed Bodhidharma he would have been spared his grim fate. But the Emperor was too conceited, to full of himself, and did not recognize Bodhidharma or his teachings as the path to liberation.

Tell me, where is Bodhidharma right now? We may have stumbled past him without even realizing it.