Bodhidharma: None at all.
Emperor: In what then does true merit consist?
Bodhidharma: In the obliteration of Matter through Absolute Knowledge, not by external acts.
Emperor: Which is the Divine and Primal Aspect of Reality?
Bodhidharma: Reality has no aspect that is divine.
Emperor: What are you, who have come before my Throne?
Bodhidharma: I do not know.
The Emperor could make nothing of him. Monasticism, a huge vested interest, decried him, and after a short stay in Nanking he started northward, towards the Capital of the Wei Tartars, who then ruled over a large part of China. The Wei Emperor, like his Chinese confrère, was also a great patron of Buddhism, and he, too, desired an interview with the Indian priest. But Bodhidharma had done with Emperors, and settled in a small country temple, where he lived till his death nine years later. Some say that he tried to visit the Capital of the Weis, but was prevented by the intrigues of the monks there.
He left behind him a few short tractates, the substance of which is as follows:
There is no such person as Buddha. Buddha is simply a Sanskrit word meaning “initiate.” The Absolute is immanent in every man’s heart. This “treasure of the heart” is the only Buddha that exists. It is no use seeking Buddha outside your own nature. Prayer, scripture-reading, fasting, the observance of monastic rules—all are useless. Those who seek Buddha do not find him. You may know by heart all the Sūtras of the twelve divisions, and yet be unable to escape from the Wheel of Life and Death. One thing alone avails—to discover the unreality of the World by contemplating the Absolute which is at the root of one’s own nature.