Another note about Guo Gu is that he, at some point, decided to leave monasticism and return to householder life while continuing as a teacher. And he became a scholar, just like his teacher, Sheng yen. He completed a PhD in Buddh studies from Princeton, and he's currently a professor of Buddhism and East Asian religion at a university in Florida. So let's dive into the text, the essence of chan A Guide to Life and practice according to the teachings of Bodhidharma. And this is one of several books authored by Guo Gu I'm going to start with a section where he gives an overview of the legend of Bodhidharma, and he begins with some historical details. He says Bodhidharma was either either a Persian or South Indian monk. The several existing historical records about his life do not agree as to his origins. These records do concur, however, that around 527, CE, there was a Western monk named Bodhidharma who taught meditation at Mount Song in luyang, China, and who passed away in China at the ripe age of 150 150 that's really hard to believe. Maybe it's the power of zazen, but actually, his both his nationality, where he came from, and his age have been the subject of a lot of debate among scholars. And you know, the historical records just aren't clear from back then, for obvious reasons, so we can't really distinguish myth from fact. There's some scholars who even question whether he even existed at all, and that's okay. Myth has a value, at the very least, can point us in the right direction. But Guo Gu does not question whether Bodhidharma was an actual person and an influential Zen ancestor. But he does mention that some of the texts attributed to him may not be entirely accurate, word for word, and there's one text that's considered very important, attributed to Bodhi Dharma. It's called two entries and four practices. Two entries and four practices, and I'll get to that later on. But first, Gogu tells the story again. This is probably one that many of you know about Bodhidharma. This is what he says. Bodhidharma was no ordinary missionary. News of his arrival in China soon reached Emperor Wu a great patron of Buddhism, the emperor was very proud of his accomplishments, which included building monasteries and sponsoring translation projects. He wanted to meet this famous, learned monk, and he summoned Bodhidharma to court. A spirited dialog supposedly ensued. Bodhidharma arrived at court looking rather tattered in a sashed robe, unkempt beard and bare feet. He, as was the custom of Indian Buddhist monks, the Emperor told Bodhidharma that he had been working very hard to establish Buddhism in China. He asked him how much merit he had earned, none whatsoever, none whatsoever, Bodhidharma replied.