s a
fiasco. He offended his Majesty by curtly saying that he had acquired
no merit by causing temples to be built and books to be transcribed.
Then, in answer to the question, what is the most important of the
holy doctrines, he replied "where all is emptiness, nothing can be
called holy." "Who," asked the astonished Emperor, "is he who thus
replies to me?" "I do not know," said Bodhidharma.

Not being able to come to any understanding with Wu-Ti, Bodhidharma
went northwards, and is said to have crossed the Yang-tse standing on
a reed, a subject frequently represented in Chinese art.[634] He
retired to Lo-yang where he spent nine years in the Shao-Lin[635]
temple gazing silently at a wall, whence he was popularly known as the
wall-gazer. One legend says that he sat so long in contemplation that
his legs fell off, and a kind of legless doll which is a favourite
plaything in Japan is still called by his name. But according to
another tale he preserved his legs. He wished to return to India but
died in China. When Sung Yun, the traveller mentioned above, was
returning from India, he met him in a mountain pass bare-footed and
carrying one sandal in his hand.[636] When this was reported, his
coffin was opened and was found to contain nothing but the other
sandal which was long preserved as a precious relic in the Shao-Lin
temple.

Wu-Ti adopted many of the habits of a bonze. He was a strict
vegetarian, expounded the scriptures in public and wrote a work on
ritual. He thrice retired into a monastery and wore the dress of a
Bhikkhu. These retirements were apparently of short duration and his
ministers twice redeemed him by heavy payments.

In 538 a hair of the Buddha was sent by the king of Fu-nan and
received with great ceremony. In the next year a mission was
despatched to Magadha to obtain Sanskrit texts. It returned in 546
with a large collection of manuscripts and accompanied by the learned
Paramartha who spent twenty years in translating them.[637] Wu-Ti, in
his old age, became stricter. All luxury was suppressed at Court, but
he himself always wore full dress and showed the utmost politeness,
even to the lowest officials. He was so reluctant to inflict the
punishment of death that crime increased. In 547 he became a monk for
the third time and immediately afterwards the events connected with
Hou-Ching (briefly sketched above) began to trouble the peace of his
old age. During the siege of Nanking he was obliged to de