Why has Bodhi-Dharma left for the east?

This was the first Korean film to be released theatrically in the United States. Why did the Indian monk Bodhi-Dharma, the originator of Zen Buddhism, leave home for China and the far Orient? The title is a Zen koan, an unanswerable riddle that is both a challenge and an encouragement on the path to enlightenment. The plot concerns the physical and spiritual struggles of an old Buddhist master, his young disciple and an orphaned boy in a remote monastery in the mountains of Korea. As the master faces death, he must lead his followers in resolving their memories of the outside world and point them toward spiritual freedom.Bae's recurring motifs of fire, wind, and water transform the eternal cycles of birth, death and regeneration into visual poetry. (Circulates).

Why Has Bodhi-Dharma left for the East? follows the lives of three Buddhist monks: a child, an adult, and an old man. The film is largely about two Zen koans: What is my original face before my mother and father were conceived? and (In death,) where does the master of my being go? The film's title, although not explained literally in the film, is a reference to Bodhidharma, a 6th-century Buddhist monk from India.