The expression “Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight” does not appear in the classical literature of Zen, and the sentiment it expresses has no particular connection with the Zen Buddhist tradition in the rest of East Asia. In popular Japanese culture, however, the figure of Bodhidharma達磨
Japanese: Daruma
has long been a symbol of strong aspiration and persistence in working toward some particular goal, either on the part of an individual or an organization. The reason for that is the Daruma (Bodhidharma) doll, the evolution of which is explained below.
During the Edo period (1603-1868), Bodhidharma was often depicted in paintings seated in meditation, staring straight ahead at the viewer, his body and head draped in a flowing red robe so that his arms and legs are hidden and only his hairy face and chest are visible. Statues of Bodhidharma began to take on a similar appearance, which led to the widespread production and popular embrace of Daruma dolls: round or oval-shaped figurines, made of wood or papier mâché, that are painted all in red except for a flesh-colored face with black eyebrows and beard. Based on the shape of the dolls, it came to be said that Daruma had concentrated so intensely and single-mindedly during his nine years of meditation “facing a wall” at Shaolin Monastery that his arms and legs fell off. Some papier mâché versions are weighted at the bottom, such that the dolls always rights themselves when pushed over. Furthermore, Daruma dolls generally come with white eyes that lack pupils. It is common practice for the purchaser to paint in one pupil at the outset of some business venture, political campaign, personal quest, or the like, while declaring what the goal is that they wish to attain. Thereafter, the doll remains on display as a reminder of the goal that must constantly be striven for, and as a kind of good-luck talisman that will help bring success. When the stated goal is finally attained, the other eye is painted in as a symbol of victory. Every Buddhist image, incidentally, is supposed to undergo a formal “eye opening”開眼
ceremony after its manufacture, at the time of its initial installation on an altar at a temple where it will serve as an object of worship and prayer. In that rite, the spirit of the deity is invoked and invited to enter the image, and in some cases the eyes of the image are literally dotted with paint or ink. The dotting of a Daruma doll’s eyes is a popular variation of that priestly Buddhist practice.
The expression “Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight,” in any case, alludes to the self-righting feature of some Daruma dolls, and to the perseverance needed to attain any major goal, which is what the dolls symbolize.
Bodhidharma (Darumazu 達磨図)
Bodhidharma菩提達摩 or 菩提達磨
Chinese: Putidamo
Japanese: Bodaidaruma
was an Indian Buddhist monk, a meditation master who was active in China in the early sixth century and came to be revered as the founding patriarch初祖
of the Zen lineage禪宗
in that country. Very little is known about the historical Bodhidharma, but his legendary biography grew in detail from the eighth through the eleventh centuries, and he became an emblematic figure much invoked thereafter in Zen literature and art.
According to traditional accounts, the Zen lineage was founded when the Buddha Śākyamuni conveyed his awakening — his “subtle mind of nirvāṇa”涅槃妙心
, which is “signless”無相
— directly to one of his disciples, the monk Mahākāśyapa, in what is characterized as a “separate transmission”別傳
that took place “apart from the teachings”教外
of the sutras. Mahākāśyapa later transmitted the “buddha-mind”佛心
to another monk, Ānanda, who became the second patriarch of the Zen lineage in India. The “mind-dharma”心法
, as it was also called, was subsequently handed down from master to disciple through the generations until it reached Bodhidharma, the 28th patriarch, who was charged by his master Prajñātāra (the 27th) with transmitting it to China.
The lore about Bodhidharma’s career in China includes many famous incidents. He is said to have “come from the west” by sea, arriving in 527 C.E. He immediately had an audience with Emperor Wu of the Liang dynasty (502-557), whose avid patronage of Buddhist institutions he characterized as “having no merit”無功徳
. He then took up residence in the Shaolin Monastery少林寺
near Louyang, capital of the Northern Wei dynasty (386-535), where he spent nine years in meditation “facing a wall”面壁
. The monk Huike came to that monastery and was so ardent to be accepted as Bodhidharma’s disciple that he cut off his own arm斷臂
as an offering and was immediately instructed concerning true “peace of mind”安心
. Before returning to India, Bodhidharma recognized Huike as the second patriarch of the Zen lineage in China, stating that while other disciples had attained his “skin”皮
, “flesh”肉
,” and “bones”骨
, only the latter had “attained his marrow”得髓
. Bodhidharma, it is said, “only transmitted the mind dharma”唯傳心法
, no other teaching. With regard to his own method of instruction, he is often quoted as saying: “I point directly at the human mind吾直指人心
[so people may] see its nature and attain buddhahood見性成佛
,” and, “My method is to transmit mind by means of mind以心傳心
, without relying on scriptures不立文字
.”
Formal portraits of Bodhidharma (and all later patriarchs in his lineage) were first produced in Chinese Zen monasteries for use in annual and monthly memorial rites, when offerings of food and drink were made to those ancestral spirits. Later, all across East Asia, Bodhidharma also became an extremely popular subject of ink paintings inscribed with Zen sayings and used for decorative and didactic purposes. In keeping with his identity as an Indian monk, a “barbarian” from the west, he is conventionally depicted as a swarthy figure with a beard, earring, big nose, bulging eyes, and hairy chest.
