Da Mo / Bodhidharma Faces The Wall
Chinese Silk Scroll

Da Mo / Bodhidharma Faces The Wall

The title of this wall scroll refers to this one version of folklore regarding this key figure in Buddhism. The story goes that Da Mo stood, facing or staring at a wall for 9 years to seek an answer to life, the universe, and everything.

The Chinese title is "Da Mo Mian Bi" which is directly translated above. There is also a subtitle that goes on to explain the 9 years of facing the wall.

This happened during the northern kingdom of Wei, inside a cave by a Shaolin Monastery. Most accounts say that he stared at the wall without saying a single word for all of those years.
It's generally believed that Da Mo (or Dharma) directly went on to establish "Chan Buddhism" in China. When this form of Buddhism hit Japan, it became known as Zen Buddhism (Chan is the Chinese pronunciation of the same Kanji character known as Zen in Japan).

More Zen and other Buddhism terms

This part is going to confuse you, as this man is sometimes portrayed as being Persian, Indian, or Chinese. And he has been given many names such as Bodhidharma or simply Dharma. He has a name in virtually every language. Here are a few of them:

In Chinese, his name is . This is sometimes Romanized as Da Mo, Damo, or the full name Putidamo or Putitamo.
His Name in Japanese is "Daruma" which is probably meant to sound like "Dharma" as in "Bodhi-Dharma".
In Korean he is Boridalma.
Vietnamese: Bồ-đề-đạt-ma.

If you want to know more about Bodhidharma / Da Mo you can probably do a terrific Bodhidharma Google search.

About the Art...

This is a very detailed painting that is mounted to a silk wall scroll. A lot of work went into this. It actually takes the artist almost a full day to complete.

You won't be disappointed if you become the owner of this work of art. I guarantee it personally or your money back.

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About the Artist...

The artist's name is Jing Bin. He was born in Guanxi Province (southern China). His specialty is paintings of mythological and historical figures of ancient China.