I finished Red Pine’s The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma, a very short book. Of the four writings included, only one, Outline of Practice, is reliably the work of Bodhidharma; he didn’t write very much. This short work in less than 3 full book pages provides the core of Zen in four steps of practice, none of which sound very appealing or exciting. I provide them here because they were of help.

1. Suffer injustice.
2. Adapt to conditions
3. Seek nothing
4. Practice the Dharma

The following are excerpts and paraphrases of the actual text.

Accepting the injustice in one’s life and others is based on accepting that “what one is” is what one has been. Accept that with an open heart and without complaint.

Adapting to conditions is recognition that as mortals we are ruled by conditions - not by ourselves. Success and failure come and go and the body flourishes and wanes depending on conditions; only the Mind is unaffected by conditions.

Seeking is what the whole world does - always looking for something - always longing for something. To seek is to suffer. When you seek nothing you are on the Path.

Practice the truth of the Dharma that all natures are pure. Defilement and purity, subject and object aren’t real. Appearances are in the final analysis are empty of anything real.