answersLogoWhite

0


Best Answer

There are no historical records on his life from India. The only info that we know about him comes from Chinese records. One document from the 6th century states that he died on the Luo River in 534 and was buried by this disciple Huike in the area. However, a scholar suggests that he might have been one of the many people who were killed by imperial forces in Henan province in 528. A later record from the 10th century states that he died at the age of 150 (an obvious embellishment) and was buried in Mt. Xiong. But he was seen 3 years later walking back to India. This spawned a legend that is still popular today.

The recent Tamil sci-fi film 7am Arivu (2011) provides a fictional story for his death. The film explains after teaching his Martial Arts to the Chinese people, Bodhidharma decides to go back to his own country of India. The Chinese do not want him to leave, so they serve him food mixed with poison. Bodhidharma discovers this and asks them why. They tell him that since he is a master of medicine, his body will keep China disease-free. Bodhidharma accepts this fate and willing eats the food. His body is buried in the village.

User Avatar

Wiki User

12y ago
This answer is:
User Avatar
More answers
User Avatar

Wiki User

12y ago

Bodhidharma most likely died of old age. Your question is no doubt based on the film 7am Arivu. It is a fictionalization of his life--i.e., the events portrayed never happened.

This answer is:
User Avatar

User Avatar

Anonymous

Lvl 1
4y ago

I think that some Chinese people realise that if they dig the skeleton of bodhidharman then never sickness can occured

This answer is:
User Avatar

Add your answer:

Earn +20 pts
Q: Why did Bodhidharma die and how?
Write your answer...
Submit
Still have questions?
magnify glass
imp
Continue Learning about General History

What was Bodhidharma called in China?

In Chinese texts, Bodhidharma is referred to as "the Blue-eyed Barbarian."


Why did the ancient Chinese invent Kung Fu?

They didn't. kung fu came to China from India. A Buddhist monk named Bodhidharma brought kung fu with him when he Inmagrated to China.


Did Buddhist monks invent gymnastics in ancient China?

No. But legend has it that when Bodhidharma came to China in 517 CE he found the monks too weak to participate in meditation. He instructed them in excerxizes that later became Kung Fu.


Is Bodhidharma the creator of Kung Fu?

No, Bodhidharma did not create kung fu--i.e., Chinese martial arts. Anyone who tells you that he did is relying on legend. The most common variation of the legend is that the Buddhist Monk brought his knowledge of indigenous South Asian martial arts with him to China from India during the 6th century CE. He is purported to have settled at the famous Shaolin Monastery and taught qigong, a type of medicinal stretching and breathing exercise, and a system of boxing to the monks there, thus founding Chinese martial arts. However, the people who tell this story don't realize the origins of the legend do not predate the 17th-century. This is when the qigong set was first published by a Daoist priest in a Chinese training manual known as the Sinew-Changing Classic (Yijin Jing). The manual has two forged prefaces attributed to famous historical generals that trace the exercise through a chain of heroes and holy men back to Bodhidharma. The exercise has no martial applications, so the idea of him physically teaching boxing to the monks of Shaolin didn't come until much later. In fact, this particular evolution of the legend did not come about until the early 20th-century publication of a Chinese satirical novel known as the Travels of Lao Can (laocan youji). The author obviously mistook the exercise for martial arts and claimed that Bodhidharma had taught the monks boxing. This mistake was later repeated in several bestselling martial arts manuals, thus allowing the legend to become a part of the social fabric of martial arts practitioners. The story is still circulating today. The idea that Bodhidharma created ALL martial arts is a much, much later adaptation of the early 20th-century mistake.For more about the Bodhidharma legend, see my research paper "A Venerated Forgery: The Daoist Origins of Shaolin's Famous Yijin Jing Manual." See the references therein for a wider perspective.


Did china invent Kung Fu?

Tradition is that kung fu was developed in China. The Bodhidharma is believed to have created it to teach the Shoalin Monks. Since he was from India, it is believed he combined the arts he learned there with new insights.Second answer:The indigenous martial arts that normally fall under the umbrella term "kung fu" were indeed created in China. However, they developed independently of South Asian fighting arts. The legend of Bodhidharma teaching medicinal breathing and stretching exercises to the monks comes from the 17th-century. Stan Henning has shown in his paper "Ignorance, Legend and Taijiquan" that the idea of the Zen patriarch teaching the monks boxing didn't come about until the 20th-century.For a broad overview of Shaolin martial history, see Prof. Shahar's book The Shaolin Monastery (2008).