Patriarch Bodhidharma listened to Emperor Wu of
Liang praising himself as if drunk on his own ego, introducing
himself, boasting of his merit and virtue, advertising for himself,
calling attention to his own good points, and generally lauding
himself. Most people, upon hearing the Emperor's comments, would have
said, "Ah! Of course you have merit and virtue! You have tremendous
merit and virtue! Your merit and virtue is out of this world!" That
would be most people's response. Now I ask you, would a sage ever say
things just to flatter someone? But Bodhidharma was
a patriarch. How could he
possibly flatter and fawn? And so he replied, "Actually you
have no merit and virtue. In truth, no merit and virtue at
all."
Patriarch Bodhidharma originally had gone there with the
idea of saving Emperor Wu of Liang. However, Emperor Wu was too
conceited; he had too high an opinion of himself. Being an emperor
was already something, he thought. He had built many temples,
enabled many people to leave home, given away a lot of money, and
made a lot of offerings to the Triple Jewel. So, he thought he had
created a tremendous amount of merit and virtue. Patriarch
Bodhidharma, wanting to shatter the Emperor's attachment, said that
he had no merit and virtue at all.
