Comment by JundoCohen on 12/01/2025 at 07:07 UTC

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View submission: A Couple of Questions Regarding Koans

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Ah, probably not an historical event either. Actually, the history of that story is quite interesting. Historians now have strong evidence that it started with a completely different Buddhist priest who, in his biography, lost an arm to robbers. The story was somehow moved to the 2nd Zen Ancestor in China, Hui'ke, and then changed from "robbers" to "sign of determination."

Fathering Your Father[1]https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=x2ZxQk2AfYsC&q=lost+his+arm#v=snippet&q=huike%20lost%20his%20arm&f=false[2][3]

1: https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=x2ZxQk2AfYsC&q=lost+his+arm#v=snippet&q=huike%20lost%20his%20arm&f=false

2: https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=x2ZxQk2AfYsC&q=lost+his+arm#v=snippet&q=huike%20lost%20his%20arm&f=false

3: https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=x2ZxQk2AfYsC&q=lost+his+arm#v=snippet&q=huike%20lost%20his%20arm&f=false

Kind of a silly story. I guess it explains the astounded look on Bodhidharma's face as he wonders if the cell phone signal will reach to call an ambulance!

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There's nothing here!