One of the most striking things about Bodhidharma’s earliest biography is how little it tries to explain or conclude.
Even the famous “single sandal” story is recorded without interpretation.
That restraint may be the most instructive thing of all.
https://www.mindlightway.org/zen-history-blog/the-earliest-biography-of-bodhidharma
New blog: Bodhidharma Before Zen Took Shape
Before Zen became legend, Bodhidharma appears quietly in a 7th-century Buddhist biography.
I’ve translated and examined his earliest surviving biography from the Xu Gaoseng Zhuan (Further Biographies of Eminent Monks), focusing on practice, historical context, and what the text actually says—without later mythmaking.
Read: Bodhidharma Before Zen
https://www.mindlightway.org/zen-history-blog/the-earliest-biography-of-bodhidharma
Mind Light Way 
