Within the Chan tradition, Bodhidharma is revered as the founding patriarch, the figure who brought a distinctive form of Buddhist practice from India into China. He is remembered not merely as a historical monk, but as the one who established a new way of approaching awakening: through direct insight into the nature of mind. Rather than centering religious life on extensive scriptural study or ritual performance, his teaching placed the living experience of awareness at the heart of the path. In this sense, his role is seen less as creating something entirely new and more as uncovering and transmitting a radical simplicity already implicit in Mahayana Buddhism.

Bodhidharma’s contribution is often summarized through the emphasis on “direct pointing to the mind’s original nature,” a mode of instruction that does not rely on words and letters as the ultimate authority. The Chan understanding of his teaching highlights a transmission that is “mind-to-mind,” from teacher to disciple, oriented toward seeing one’s own Buddha-nature. This orientation privileges immediate insight over gradual accumulation of conceptual knowledge, suggesting that awakening is realized by recognizing what is already present rather than by constructing something new. Such a stance gives Chan its distinctive character among Buddhist traditions, shaping its methods and its sense of lineage.

Meditation stands at the core of Bodhidharma’s legacy. He is associated with intensive sitting practice, sometimes described as “wall-gazing,” which symbolizes unwavering, undistracted contemplation. This form of meditation is not merely a technique but a way of embodying the teaching that the true nature of mind can be directly realized when discursive thought settles. By making such meditative absorption the central discipline, Bodhidharma gave the school its very name—Chan, from the word for meditative absorption—and offered a concrete path for practitioners to verify the teaching in their own experience.

Through these elements—direct pointing to mind, mind-to-mind transmission, and rigorous meditative practice—Bodhidharma set the template for what later became the Chan and, eventually, Zen traditions. His figure serves as a symbol of uncompromising dedication to inner realization, a reminder that the heart of the path lies not in external forms but in the clear seeing of one’s own nature.