Bodhidharma on Lineage
Student: The layperson has a wife and children, so he can not yet cut out sexual desires. How can he become Buddha?
Bodhidharma: …If you saw the self nature, sexual desire would already be void and serene; there would be nothing to cut out; there would be nothing to attach to; even though one may still have habitual potentiality, it would not be disruptive.
Student: Killing is a butcher’s jop; how can they attain Buddhahood?
Master: I have told you just to see the self-nature; not about the resulting karma; although one who saw self-nature is creating karma, still, he is different from the confused ones; that is, all variety of karma would not imprison him.
Bodhidharma was a Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th or 6th century in China. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Zen Buddhism to China, and regarded as its first Chinese patriarch. Bodhidharma’s teachings and practice centered on meditation.
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