Legend has it that around 527, Bodhidharma, a semi-legendary founder of Chan Buddhism in China (Japenese "Zen"), visited Emperor Wu Ti (502-550) of the Liang dynasty. The emperor was a fervent patron of Buddhism.
Emperor Wu remarked, "After ascending the throne, I've built countless temple residences for monks and copied innumerable scriptures. How much merit have I accrued?" "No merit," replied Bodhidharma.
Startled, the emperor asked, "What is the first principle of the holy teachings?" Bodhidharma answered, "Vast emptiness, nothing holy."
The emperor, frustrated, asked, "Who is this that stands before me?" Bodhidharma replied, "I don't know."
* * *
I believed I would go to heaven and be blessed according to my deeds here on Earth. That was my childhood teaching. Over the years, that idea lost its appeal.
In the mind now: no reward, for no need of reward. If I love here, is that not enough? In the heart now, "Yes."
* * *
She asked, "Some say to work for merit. Do I need to work for a reward after I die?" Said the Sage, "Neither merit nor no merit. Neither death nor reward. Not separate, how to be given or get separate merit? No reward, and no one to want it." "What shall free me," she asked, "so not to want a reward?" "Love," said the Sage. "Keep loving. It's Flame will burn up all need of reward." She replied, "What remains?" The Sage said, "In Love, only Love."
*Brian K. Wilcox. "Meetings with an Anonymous Sage."
*Use of photography is allowed accompanied by credit given to Brian K. Wilcox and title and place of photograph.
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse.
