Tracking Bodhidharma (27 page)

Daoxuan clearly says that Bodhidharma taught in the “south and north” of China, citing the areas of Luoyang and the Yang-tse. Teaching along the Yang-tse, in my view, must mean that he taught in the most important region of the Yang-tse, the area around Nanjing. Therefore, any analysis of Bodhidharma's life must show whether and how he could have resided in that area.

Eric and I will go to Nanjing and see what clues it holds about Bodhidharma's life.

The different dates pertaining to Bodhidharma's possible presence in the Nanjing area are a fascinating part of his puzzle. The two Nanjing-area places most plausibly connected to Bodhidharma, places that have the best claim of a direct historical connection to him, are Dingshan Temple, where he supposedly stayed for up to three years, and True Victory Temple in the nearby city of Tianchang. There, local records claim he established a teaching seat in the year 520. These are places I need to explore in Nanjing.

FROM A WIDE, twenty-first-story hotel-room window, I look across a broad swath of downtown Nanjing City. My view roughly encompasses the area where the Tai Cheng Palace, Emperor Wu's ancient home, lies buried a few meters beneath the cityscape and its autumn morning traffic jam. This is the locale at the heart of Bodhidharma's story.

Nanjing, whose name means “Southern Capital,” has had other names during its long history. One of Nanjing's early names was Jinling, meaning “Gold Hills” or “Gold Mounds.” The name comes from a legend that says an ancient king who ruled this region from a different place buried gold in the Mufu Mountains that lie to the north of the city to disrupt the favorable
feng shui
the city enjoys. Such a place, he feared, could easily give rise to talented men who would challenge and overthrow him. The city's
feng shui
is indeed very good. Around the old city proper, the Yang-tse, approaching the city from the southwest, passes up and over the city, providing arched protection from invaders approaching from the west or north. On the east side of the city sits Bell Mountain, which, along with some lesser peaks, offers an excellent high-ground defense against invading armies from the east. Finally, the Qin Huai River, flowing from cast to west beneath the city and emptying into the Yang-tse, defended the city's southern approach.

The Mufu Mountains, a line of rocky bluffs riddled with white dolomite limestone, rest along the bank of the Yang-tse, providing high, defensible ground and even more protection from any invader attempting to cross the river. If all this weren't enough, within the upper semicircle formed by the Mufu Mountains and Bell Mountain rests Dark Warrior Lake. This beautiful natural lake provided a huge reservoir of fresh water within the city's defensive perimeter, allowing it to withstand a long siege.

Along a portion of the Qin Huai River that loops around the bottom of the city, another group of hills called the Stone Fortress gave the city more high ground to repel invaders that might attack the city from upstream positions.

Along with these ideal natural defenses, a high man-made wall surrounded the old city proper. And finally, within the northern area of the old city, another rectangular high wall protected the Tai Cheng Palace.

The layout of the Tai Cheng Palace, where Emperor Wu presided over his dominions, was much like the Forbidden City we can see today in Beijing. Oriented toward the south, grand halls met a visitor coming in through the main gate, eventually leading to the emperor's living area at the north of the complex. From the well-defended throne of the Taiji Dian (“Great Ultimate Hall”) inside this imperial seat, emperors ruled a number of Southern Chinese dynasties beginning with the Eastern Jin dynasty (317—419) and ending with the Chen dynasty (557—583). Emperor Wu, the key player in Bodhidharma's legend, established the Liang dynasty and ruled from this place beginning in the year 502 and continuing for the next forty-seven years.

In modern times Nanjing played a key role in the formation of modern China. The city was the seat of Sun Yat-sen's Nationalist Government established in 1911. Today, a grand memorial site to the “father of the Nationalist Revolution” lies on the wooded slopes of Bell Mountain.

Nanjing's formidable natural defenses notwithstanding, it lies atop the detritus of measureless triumphs and tragedies. One infamous tragedy happened only recently. The “Rape of Nanjing” by Japanese imperial forces is still remembered by older citizens of the city who lived during the late '30s, the period preceding the United States's entry into World War II. The Nanjing Peace Museum commemorates that gruesome stain on human history by receiving and educating thousands of visitors each day. The museum, about three blocks long, is filled with disturbing photographs and documents about Japan's brutal occupation of the city. China will not let the Rape of Nanjing slide into history's dustbin and be forgotten.

The Jade spring is nearly exhausted,
The palace splendor diminished,
Surrounded by heavenly music,
Everywhere the chants flow forth,
The body cleansed in tepid baths,
Penitence purifies the mind,
The rushes again luxuriant,
Falling flower petals splendidly blanket the ground.

EMPEROR WU (ruled 402—449), whose personal name was Xiao Yan (pronounced
Hsiow Yan
), was a devout Buddhist who ruled China's Liang dynasty after seizing power in a rebellion against the Qi (pronounced
Chee
) dynasty. He initiated and led a bloody war against the Qi emperor Baojuan, a young man only seventeen years old.

The boy emperor Baojuan assumed the throne upon the death of his father, the Qi emperor Ming Di. The boy was then still in his early
teens and considered too young to wield power, and a group of officials was established to rule the country in the boy's name. But soon the boy, spoiled and temperamental, demanded to exercise the full prerogatives of his position. When he was denied such power, he reacted by forming a secret alliance with court eunuchs, ambitious military men, and corrupt courtiers to strike against the officials who held the reins of the state.

In a ruthless bid for power with his unsavory allies, the boy executed the country's two highest officials and slaughtered their families at the imperial Tai Cheng Palace in a single morning of bloodshed. Following that event, the youth systematically tortured and murdered any court officials he and his court toadies thought might oppose him. This threatened the lives and families of scores of officials and aristocrats of high standing.

As the bloodbath spread with ever greater ferocity, some retired generals and others launched rebellions to dethrone the deranged boy. Two major attempts to topple him ended in disappointing failure at the foot of the Tai Cheng Palace wall. Strange misadventures caused the rebellions to fail, leading that superstitious age to believe that heaven had intervened to protect the occupant of the throne. Even Baojuan believed himself to have supernatural protection. Imagining himself invulnerable, he and his corrupt clique carried out ever-greater outrages of murder, debauchery, and mayhem against the cowering aristocracy, and the circle of his victims widened to include commoners unlucky enough to come to his attention.

This turbulent era spread its effects into far reaches of Chinese culture. Baojuan owned a favorite concubine, a beauty named Jade Slave. Her tiny, delicate feet aroused the boy's extreme passion. Baojuan was so enraptured by Jade Slave and her miniature feet that he routinely traveled to her father's house to pay the man special honors, even acting as the man's servant. These bizarre expeditions spread terror, for any commoners unlucky enough to remain in the street when the imperial caravan passed on the way to Jade Slave's house were summarily murdered. The boy's episodic madness terrorized everyone. Aristocrats, trying to survive the boy's rule, made a show of embracing his perverted tastes. Some historical accounts say the foot binding of ancient China was started due to Emperor Baojuan's infatuation with Jade Slave's tiny feet.

One night while Baojuan, Jade Slave, and their friends were enjoying themselves at the house of Jade Slave's father, fire broke out in the Tai Cheng Palace, destroying scores of halls along with the apartments of the imperial concubines. The unlucky women were unable to escape the conflagration because gates that enclosed their living quarters could not be opened without the emperor's direct command. Thus well over a thousand women, girls, and their servants perished. When Emperor Baojuan returned and viewed the carnage, the bodies “stacked like cordwood,” he reportedly said, “Now I can build the palace I have wanted!” He then ordered ornate new halls to replace what was lost, undermining the country's already crippled finances. As a special gesture to his beloved Jade Slave, inside one of the new halls he built a special pathway where lotus flowers, sculpted in relief using ivory and jade, marked where her tiny feet passed each day.

Meanwhile, a man named Xiao Yan, the aristocratic military governor in the distant city of Xiangyang, watched developments warily. As an official appointed as a result of his connections and distant blood relationship with the crown, he had long loyally served former Qi emperors. But he knew the situation the country now faced was indeed dangerous. The civil chaos and rebellion that wracked the country since Baojuan began his campaign of terror was threatening on many levels. Besides blanketing the country in a treacherous state of fear, it could open the door to invasion by the rival Wei dynasty of Emperor Xiao Wen that ruled North China. The Wei dynasty, ruled not by Chinese but “foreign” peoples called the Tuoba, was considered a barbarian state and must not be allowed to conquer all of China.

In years prior, as a young official climbing the imperial ranks, Xiao Yan was a close friend of a royal Qi dynasty prince who ruled as king of a prefecture called Jingling. Xiao Yan and seven other literary-minded aristocrats met with the king to share literature and talk philosophy, practicing the then fashionable pastime of
qing tan
(pronounced
ching tan
), meaning “pure conversation.” The king often invited eminent Buddhist monks to lecture to the group, and Xiao Yan became deeply familiar with Buddhist thought.

When the Emperor Baojuan seized power and started his crimes, Xiao Yan was already famous as a military commander for his actions against the Wei dynasty. A brilliant battlefield tactician, he had routed
an enemy force with a surprise night attack by creating the illusion of having a large military force.

Xiao Yan's older brother, Xiao Yi, was a high-ranking military general who commanded forces loyal to the Qi throne. As the situation with the murderous boy emperor went from bad to worse, Xiao Yan tried to get his brother to join him against the youth on the throne, but his brother would have none of it, clinging instead to the ideal of Confucian loyalty to one's sovereign. Xiao Yi refused to turn against the dynasty he had long served, so Xiao Yan, failing to persuade his older brother, quietly found other allies and secretly laid aside stores of war materials.

Finally, events took a momentous turn. Xiao Yan's brother Xiao Yi led a royalist counterattack that crushed the second rebellion against the throne. When the Tai Cheng Palace in Nanjing was surrounded by rebels, Xiao Yi crossed the Qin Huai River from the south in a lightning strike, routing the rebels' perimeter defense, then killing or scattering insurgent fighters who had besieged the palace. This brilliant military victory should have earned Xiao Yi a lifetime of honors, but this was not to be. Within a month the emperor's corrupt courtiers and eunuch allies, who dreaded Xiao Yi's sudden status and power, trumped up empty charges of disloyalty against him. They convinced Baojuan that Xiao Yi coveted the throne, leading the boy to treacherously execute his military commander for treason.