Blue-Eyed Barbarian: The Legend of Bodhidharma

In the 5th century CE, Prince Bodhitara was assigned a special task by the 27th Patriarch in the lineage of Buddhist monks descended from the great Buddha himself. It had been almost a thousand years since Buddha walked the earth, and his teachings had already spread across much of India and China. However, over the years, Buddhism had changed. There was much emphasis on acquiring virtue credits and using it to gain influence. Too much emphasis on reading scripture, and not enough on self-reflective meditation and the attainment of insight into mind and reality. The original, authentic Dharma teaching and practice had faded.

Bodhitara's mission: To single-handedly convince the Chinese people and their emperors that they needed to get their Buddhism back on track. To return to the original teachings of the Dharma, through which people could find relief from the suffering of existence. To show the people the true pathway to enlightenment and eternal happiness.

Bodhitara accepted the task, taking on the identity of Bodhidharma, the 28th patriarch. This tall monk with intense blue-eyes and bushy black beard, walked into China, defined the principles of Zen Buddhism, spurring a proliferation of Buddhist monasteries and temples in the land, and kick-started martial arts at the Shaolin Temple, helping the listless monks to stay fit, eventually giving rise to modern Shaolin kung fu.

The semi-mythical Bodhidharma, sometimes referred to as the Second Buddha, left an indelible legacy in Buddhism, as well as in Asian popular culture. Living in an era before modern mass media, how was this legendary figure able to become so transformative?