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Nevertheless,all Chinese written manuals points the origin to Bodhidharma--a Tamil Indian.....how are we to reconcile this?
These legends are actually based on information derived from a qigong manual entitled Yijin Jing (易筋經). This is commonly translated into English as the “Muscle-Changing Classic,” “Tendon-Changing Classic,” “Muscle-Metamorphosis Classic,” etc. The manual has two prefaces purportedly written by two Chinese generals of different eras. The first preface by Tang Dynasty General Li Jing (李靖, 571- 649) tells the story of Bodhidharma’s seclusion in the cave for nine years and how the monks later found two books written by him inside an iron chest after his death. The first manual, Xisui Jing (洗髓經, Marrow-Washing Classic), was taken by his most senior disciple Huike (慧可) and disappeared. The second manual, the Yijin Jing, was coveted by the monks even though they could not fully understand the Sanskrit text. Sometime later, a monk tracked down the famous Indian holy man Paramiti who was able to translate it in full. After 100 days of practice, the monk gained an immortal body capable of living 10,000 eons. The manual later disappeared until it was passed on to Li Jing by the hero Qiuran ke (虯髯客, the Curly-Bearded Stranger) during the 7th century. The second preface by Song Dynasty General Niu Gao (牛皋) tells how he met a mysterious monk who had been the childhood teacher of his superior officer General Yue Fei (岳飛, 1103-1142). The monk passed Niu a letter and then magically vanished “to the West, to look for Master Bodhidharma.” [6] Yue read the letter which warned him of the fate that awaited him (execution on trumped up charges) if he returned to the capital. But being loyal to the end, Yue decided to return anyway. He gave Niu his copy of the manual before leaving. Niu buried the manual because he didn’t know anyone who was “capable of becoming a Buddha.”
