Is the Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices Truly the Record of Bodhidharma's Teaching?

Abstract

Though the Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices has been handed down as the record of Bodhidharma's teaching, the reliability of this tradition has not been adequately verified. Surely scholars such as YANAGIDA Seizan and ISHII Kosei have contributed toward the analysis of the sutras on which it was based, and also have pointed out the influence of Chinese classics on it. But the origin of the structure of ‘The Two Entrances and Four Practices’ has not been explained. In my opinion, it should be regarded as the highly original evolution of the method of interpreting the Dharma which had widely prevailed in the South-North Dynasty, especially among Dilun scholars. Therefore, there is no reason to consider that the Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices originates from the teaching of an Indian monk Bodhidharma.