facing a wall for nine years

面壁九年 (menpeki kunen), a zen phrase literally translated as “facing a wall for nine years,” refers to a story about the futility of acting when the time is wrong, and the importance of waiting for the right time. From the blog of Saihoji temple:

Bodhidharma traveled from India to China, determined to spread the teachings of Buddhism. While there, Emperor Wu (the first emperor of the Liang Dynasty) invited him to answer some questions, but the two were unable to have a constructive dialogue, seemingly talking past each other the whole time. Realizing that the conditions were not yet ripe for spreading the teachings of the Buddha, Bodhidharma crossed the Yangtze River and moved to the territory of the Northern Wei, where he secluded himself in the mountains. He came to the Shaolin Temple at Mount Song, where he sat alone in contemplation, facing a wall.

After nine years of such contemplation, the Zen master Taiso Eka (Dazu Huike) appeared. He would become Bodhidharma’s successor, and as the Second Patriarch of Chinese Zen Buddhism, he is now known as the person most responsible for spreading Zen across China.

This reminds me as well of the Buddha’s advice on Right Speech and asking not only whether something is true, kind, and necessary to say, but whether the time is right for the other person to hear it.