Shaolin Monastery in China is generally regarded to be the home of Chan [Ch’an/Zen] Buddhism. As a monk there, I heard some time ago that there was a great interest in Chan now in the West. For this reason I have come here, hoping to make contact with those interested in the teaching.

I would like to predominantly talk about Bodhidharma and his instructions with regard to Chan meditation. Bodhidharma was the twenty-eighth successor to Shakyamuni Buddha. He came to China from India in approximately AD 520. Shortly after his arrival, he discovered that the Chinese had no understanding of Buddhism and could not absorb its principles. He then began to meditate in a cave at the back of the Shaolin Monastery. He was there for nine years.