Bodhidharma's cave sits on the wooded upper slopes of Wuru Peak, about forty minutes on foot above the main monastery. The Indian monk who, by tradition, founded Chan Buddhism in China is said to have spent nine years here in silent meditation facing a rock wall — a story that explains both the extraordinary concentration practice of Chan and the characteristic wall-gazing posture found in early Chinese Buddhist art. The cave itself is small and plain, a natural hollow fitted with a shrine, but the walk up to it through Shaolin's mountain forest is genuinely restorative.
The path up to the cave passes secondary pagodas and inscribed stones before climbing through bamboo and pine to the cooler air of the ridge. On a clear day the view south over the Songshan range is excellent. Most visitors to Shaolin never make the hike, so the cave receives a fraction of the foot traffic of the main complex. If you are spending a full day at the site, come here in the afternoon when the trail is shadier and the monastery crowd has thinned.