Great Master Bodhidharma was a Buddhist monk who brought the ancient way of silent meditation from India to China. According to Zen tradition, the Emperor of China described to Bodhidharma the many things he had done to encourage and sustain Buddhism, and then he asked what merit resulted from all these good deeds. Bodhidharma is said to have replied with the word “Wu.”

“Wu” is often translated as “emptiness.” Since Bodhidharma probably did not speak Chinese at the time of his interview with the Emperor, his actual response was probably along the following lines: “The real nature of all these actions is sunyata.”

Sunyata means “void and pure.” The problem with this answer, from the Emperor’s point of view, is that the real nature of all actions (not just “good” actions) is “void, unstained and pure.” So, in effect, Bodhidharma was telling the Emperor, “Your question is coming from the wrong place. You are asking, ‘What do I get out of all these good deeds?’—And the answer is that you need to let go of this way of thinking and open your mind and heart to a much greater and deeper Truth.” It is said that the Emperor was not happy with this answer, and that Bodhidharma left the capital city and continued his spiritual training in solitude for nine years until he was joined by a truly sincere disciple.

Evil deeds result in the deepening of ignorance and prolongation of suffering. But if we do good while nurturing attachment to the results of our actions, the basic problem of being bound by ignorance and craving to the wheel of suffering remains unsolved. In both cases, we are making “clouds in a clear sky.” The clear sky is a metaphor for the Great Immaculacy that is the real nature of all existence. The clouds may be dark and threatening (ignorance and craving), or they may be fluffy white balls (good deeds), but they are all clouds. And if the clouds are all we see, we are living in ignorance of the wonderful Immaculacy.

Should we then make no effort to do good? That would be to waste innumerable naturally-arising, precious opportunities. It is enough to just do that which needs to be done, that which is good to do, while letting the action dissolve away into Immaculacy. The next moment after it has been done, it is not there, so why hang onto it? And we can deal all the more wisely with the consequences of the action as they roll in if we have no expectation about them. Then we are living within Immaculacy in a way that allows us to remain in harmony with It. The clouds arise and pass; the Immaculacy is.

NEWS OF THE TEMPLES