Bodhidharma's first teaching to Eka (Huike) was simple and direct: "Outside. Wait." Commenting on this teaching, Tenshin Reb Anderson wrote:

"He didn't have any special teachings for his disciple Huike. He just said, 'Outside, have no involvements.' That's it! No involvements. 'Inside have no sighing or coughing. With your mind like a wall, thus you enter the way.' With your mind like a wall: in other words, just. With your mind just, or your mind thus. Thus you enter the way.

"He didn't say much, but that's the teaching for a lifetime, right there. That's all you need: 'Outside, have no involvements. Inside, have no sighing or coughing.' No sighing, no shrinking away from exactly just this. Inside, no shrinking violet; 'I can't live up to this experience, it's too much for me! It's too fast, it's too intense, it's too yucky!' None of that! Also, no coughing or scoffing. Such as, 'This is beneath me. I've got better things to do than think this way. There are better birds than blue jays to listen to. Now, woodpeckers are different. They're really interesting.' No coughing in the mind, and also no shrinking away. Don't get rid of it, don't shrink away from it. Just, inside, let it be thus: let your experience be like a wall."