The First Patriarch of Ch'an, the Indian monk Bodhidharma 菩提達摩, arrived in China around 520 A.D., and established himself in the Shao Lin Temple 少 林寺. There he wrote the treatise, Erh ju ssu hsing 二入 四行, The Two Entries and the Four Practices. One of the entries was the Entry Through Principle 理入. This was in fact direct penetration to the experience of Buddhanature. According to legend, Bodhidharma sat facing the wall in the temple for nine years. The posture he used was the same as those used by previous masters to attain samadhi. He sat with crossed legs and concentrated mind. However, the goal was different; it was to develop wisdom without going through samadhi. He did not use the Hinayana methods such as visualizing the parts of one's body. Bodhidharma's approach was based on the Lankavatara Sutra which advised "taking no door as the Dharma door" and "not using any language, words or symbols as the foundation."

While the historical facts of Bodhidharma's life are scant, there is no doubt that he practiced tso-ch'an. There is also little doubt that he was enlightened before going to China. Even so, when he settled in the Shao-Lin Temple, he continued tso-ch'an practice. His great contribution to Ch'an was his insistence on directly experiencing Buddha-nature through tso-ch'an.

The Fourth Patriarch Tao-hsin 道信(580-651) wrote Ju-tao anhsin yao fang-pien men 入道安心要方便 門, The Methods for Entering the Path and Calming the Mind. In it, he quoted from the Lankavatara Sutra and the Wen-shu shuo po-jo ching 文殊說般若經, The Prajna Sutra Spoken by Manjusri. He stresses the importance of tso-ch'an for the beginner, with emphasis on the right posture. The neophyte must then contemplate the five skandhas ─ the material skandha of form (the elements), and the four mental skandhas: feeling, perception, phenomena, and consciousness. The Manjusri Sutra says, "He should contemplate the five skandhas as originally empty and quiescent, non-arising, non-perishing, equal, without differentiation. Constantly thus practicing, day or night, whether sitting, walking, standing or lying down, finally one reaches an inconceivable state without any obstruction or form. This is the Samadhi of One Act (I-hsing san-mei)一行三昧."