ZenExperience-obooko-rel0025

Chapter Two
HUI-K'O: SECOND PATRIARCH OF ZEN
Hui-k'o (487-593) first enters the history of Zen as an eager
Chinese scholar devoted to meditation. Wishing to become a
disciple of the famous Indian monk who had recently installed
himself at the Shao-lin monastery, Hui-k'o set up a vigil outside
the gate. Time passed and the snows began to fall, but still
Bodhidharma ignored him, declaring, "The incomparable doctrine
of Buddhism can only be comprehended after a long hard
discipline, by enduring what is most difficult to endure and by
practicing what is most difficult to practice. Men of inferior virtue
are not allowed to understand anything about it." 1 Finally Hui-k'o
despaired and resorted to an extreme measure to demonstrate
his sincerity: he cut off his own arm and offered it to the master.
(This act reportedly has been repeated since by an occasional
overenthusiastic Zen novice.) Even a singleminded master of
meditation like Bodhidharma could not ignore such a gesture, and
he agreed to accept Hui-k'o as his first Chinese disciple.
Unlike Bodhidharma, Hui-k'o is not a mysterious, legendary
figure, but rather is remembered by a detailed history that
interacts periodically with known events in Chinese history. 2 He