Living the Koan

Ryūshin Paul Haller explores a famous Zen story (koan) about the Second Patriarch of Zen Buddhism. When Bodhidharma, the first patriarch of Zen Buddhism, was meditating facing a rock wall in Shaolin-si Temple, the monk Huike came and asked to be accepted as his disciple. When Bodhidharma rejected the young priest, however, Huike chopped off his left arm to prove his firm determination to the master.