According to the Biographies of the Eminent Monks of the Tang Dynasty by Dao Xuan of the Tang dynasty, when Bodhidharma came to China to preach the law of meditation(dhyana) and founded the School of Chan in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, he was derided by some Buddhist monks, though what he was criticized for remains unclear. This paper attempts to discuss this problem according to the Chengweishilun Shuji Jieqian Zaxu(Commentaries on Vijnaptimatratasiddhi-sastra) preserved in a manuscript of the first half of the 8 th century in Dunhuang documents. These commentaries explain that doubting the validity of Bodhidharma’s preaching is a form of slander, which may be the reason that Bodhidharma’s " special teaching from Buddha(without the aid of words)" was met with such a negative response. This gives new context to interpreting the dharma-preaching characteristics of the early Chan School.
