Is Bodhidharma More Relevant to India Today Than the Buddha Himself?

 Is Bodhidharma More Relevant to India Today Than the Buddha Himself?

By: Akshat Agrawal
Published: June 2025

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A Forgotten Son Returns?

Over 1,500 years ago, a South Indian monk named Bodhidharma quietly left his homeland, disillusioned by what he saw as the spiritual decline of Indian Buddhism. Landing in China, he planted the seeds of Chan—later known as Zen—a form of Buddhism stripped of ritualism, scriptural dependence, and institutional weight. Instead, he preached what now feels radical even today: direct personal experience, deep meditation, and mind-to-mind transmission.

As India wrestles with the noise of modernity, spiritual consumerism, and digital distractions masquerading as mindfulness, the question arises:
Is Bodhidharma more relevant to today’s India than even the Buddha himself?

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From Ritual to Relevance

While the Buddha is still revered across India—his statues dot highways, his quotes circulate on WhatsApp, and his birthday is a national holiday—the deeper current of his teachings often feels lost in form over substance. Meditation centers are booming, but many focus more on technique than transformation. Political appropriation of his image has diluted the universality of his message.

Bodhidharma, on the other hand, rejected surface-level piety. His core message: “Don’t seek truth in scriptures—look within.” This unmediated, anti-establishment approach might actually resonate more with a disenchanted urban Indian today than the calm serenity of the historical Buddha’s teachings, which have often been institutionalized or moralized beyond recognition.

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India Today: Fertile or Hostile?

Would Bodhidharma recognize his homeland today?

Parallels with His Time:

Spiritual Overload: From YouTube gurus to crypto-astrologers, India’s spiritual landscape is crowded—and commodified. The deeper quest for liberation (moksha or nirvana) is often lost amidst lifestyle branding.

Ritualism vs Realization: Temples are busier than ever, but meditation halls are either corporate or cultish. Like in his time, external forms have replaced internal clarity.

Institutional Inertia: Much like the rigid monastic universities of 5th-century India, modern-day spiritual institutions too often defend orthodoxy over introspection.

What’s Different Today?

Mental Health Crisis: There is a quiet hunger for genuine inner peace, especially among youth burnt out by hyper-competition and social media overload. Bodhidharma’s radical stillness might be the antidote.

Global Influence of Zen: Ironically, Zen—India’s grandchild via China and Japan—is thriving in the West. Yoga teachers in Brooklyn and startups in Bengaluru chant “Zen mode,” while few realize its Indian roots trace back to Kanchipuram.

Rise of Secular Mindfulness: India's educated class is exploring Vipassana retreats, Zazen, and neuroscience-backed meditation—not through religion, but through experience. Bodhidharma fits this spirit.

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Why He Failed Then—and Might Still Fail Now

Let’s be clear: Bodhidharma wasn’t embraced in India during his lifetime—and he may not be welcomed now either.

He defied scriptures, and India still holds shastra above experience.

He rejected ritualism, and today's spiritual industry is built on it.

He refused to conform, and India today, despite its spiritual branding, often mistrusts lone mystics outside the crowd.

India is more democratic, noisier, and more divided than in Bodhidharma’s time. Whether such a radical voice could cut through the clutter—or would be drowned out by Instagram reels and trending hashtags—is uncertain.

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The Bodhidharma India Needs

Yet, precisely because India has become more distracted, more polarized, and more spiritually performative, Bodhidharma’s fierce honesty, piercing silence, and deep inner discipline might be more needed than ever.

Not as a historical figure, but as an archetype.

For the disillusioned youth tired of labels.

For seekers disenchanted with religion but still thirsty for depth.

For elders who see through rituals but yearn for real transformation.

Bodhidharma might not "return" in robes or myth—but in every Indian who stops, sits, and turns inward.

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Conclusion: More Than a Monk

Bodhidharma was not just a monk who traveled to China; he was a mirror to Indian Buddhism’s blind spots, and perhaps, still is. While the Buddha gave India its foundational spiritual grammar, Bodhidharma reminds us to question its pronunciation.

In a time when truth is often lost in transmission, Bodhidharma’s message—to look within, beyond words, beyond rituals—might be the clearest voice India has yet to truly hear.

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Postscript:
If Bodhidharma were alive today, perhaps he wouldn’t open a YouTube channel. He’d simply sit by a tree, unmoving, and say nothing. The question is—would anyone in India today still sit with him?

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