Bodhidharma
Bodhidharma was a Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th/6th century CE. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Ch'an (Sanskrit: Dhyana, Japanese: Zen) to China, and regarded as its first Chinese patriarch. According to Chinese legend, he also began the physical training of the Shaolin monks that led to the creation of Shaolinquan. He was father of Zen Buddhism. Little contemporary biographical information on Bodhidharma is extant, and subsequent accounts became layered with legend. The principle Chinese sources vary on their account of Bodhidharma's origins. Aside from the Chinese accounts, two popular traditions also exist regarding Bodhidharma's origins. An Indian tradition regards Bodhidharma to be the third son of a Tamil Pallava king from Kanchipuram, while the Japanese tradition regards Bodhidharma to be from Persia.
The accounts also differ on the date of his arrival, with one early account claiming that he arrived the Dynasty and later accounts dating his arrival to the Dynasty. Bodhidharma was primarily active in the lands of the Northern‚ Dynasty. Modern scholarship dates him to about the early 5th century.
Several stories about Bodhidharma have become popular legends, which are still being used in the Ch'an and Zen-tradition. Bodhidharma's teachings and practice centered on meditation and the Lankavatara Sutra. The Anthology of the Patriarchal Hall (952) identifies Bodhidharma as the 28th Patriarch of Buddhism in an uninterrupted line that extends all the way back to the Buddha himself.
Throughout Buddhist art, Bodhidharma is depicted as a rather ill-tempered, profusely bearded and wide-eyed barbarian. He is referred as "The Blue-Eyed Barbarian" in Chinese Chan texts
The Record of the Buddhist Monasteries of Luoyang
A Dehua ware porcelain statuette of Bodhidharma, from the late Ming Dynasty, 17th century The earliest text mentioned Bodhidharma is The Record of the Buddhist Monasteries of Luoyang which is compiled in 547 by Yang-Hsuan-chih, a writer and translator of Mahayana Buddhist texts into the Chinese language.
Yang gave the following account:
At that time there was a monk of the Western Region named Bodhidharma, a Persian Central Asian. He traveled from the wild borderlands to China. Seeing the golden disks reflecting in the sun, the rays of light illuminating the surface of the clouds, the jewel-bells on the stupa blowing in the wind, the echoes reverberating beyond the heavens, he sang its praises. He exclaimed: "Truly this is the work of spirits." He said: "I am 150 years old, and I have passed through numerous countries. There is virtually no country I have not visited. Even the distant Buddha-realms lack this." He chanted homage and placed his palms together in salutation for days on end.
The second account was written by . brief biography of the "Dharma Master" is found in his preface to the Two Entrances and Four Acts, a text traditionally attributed to Bodhidharma, and the first text to identify Bodhidharma as South Indian:
The Dharma Master was a South Indian of the Western Region. He was the third son of a great Indian king. His ambition lay in the Mahayana path, and so he put aside his white layman's robe for the black robe of a monk Lamenting the decline of the true teaching in the outlands, he subsequently crossed distant mountains and seas, traveling about propagating the teaching in Han and Wei.
Account was the first to mention that Bodhidharma attracted disciples, specifically mentioning, the latter of whom would later figure very prominently in the Bodhidharma literature. Although‚ has traditionally been considered a disciple of Bodhidharma, it is more likely that he was a student of . Ching-chah - Chronicle of the Lankavatara Masters Tanlin's preface has also been preserved in Ching-cha's (683-750) Leng-ch'ieh shih-tzu chi (Chronicle of the Lankavatara Masters), which dates from 713-716./ca. 715 He writes: The teacher of the Dharma, who came from South India in the Western Regions, the third son of a great Brahman king.
This Japanese scroll calligraphy of Bodhidharma reads‚ Zen points directly to the human heart, see into your nature and become Buddha. It was created by Hakuin Ekaku (1685 to 1768) In the 7th-century historical work Further Biographies of Eminent Monks , possibly drew on Tanlin's preface as a basic source, but made several significant additions: Firstly, oxuan adds more detail concerning Bodhidharma's origins, writing that he was of "South Indian Brahman stock". Secondly, more detail is provided concerning Bodhidharma's journeys. Tanlin's original is imprecise about Bodhidharma's travels, saying only that he "crossed distant mountains and seas" before arriving in Wei. oxuan's account, however, implies "a specific itinerary": "He first arrived at during the Sung period. From there he turned north and came to the Kingdom of Wei". This implies that Bodhidharma had travelled to China by sea, and that he had crossed over the Yangtze River. Thirdly, oxuan suggests a date for Bodhidharma's arrival in China. He writes that Bodhidharma makes landfall in the time of the Song, thus making his arrival no later than the time of the Song's fall to the Southern Qi Dynasty in 479. Finally, oxuan provides information concerning Bodhidharma's death. Bodhidharma, he writes, died at the banks of the Luo River, where he was interred by his disciple Huike, possibly in a cave. According to oxuan's chronology, Bodhidharma's death must have occurred prior to 534, the date of the Northern Wei Dynasty's fall, because Huike subsequently leaves Luoyang for Ye. Furthermore, citing the shore of the Luo River as the place of death might possibly suggest that Bodhidharma died in the mass executions at Heyin in 528. Supporting this possibility is a report in the Taisho shinshu daizokyo stating that a Buddhist monk was among the victims at .
Finally, as opposed to Daoxuan's figure of "over 150 years," the Anthology of the Patriarchal Hall states that Bodhidharma died at the age of 150. He was then buried on Mount Xiong'er to the west of Luoyang. However, three years after the burial, in the Pamir Mountains, official of one of the later Wei kingdom‚ encountered Bodhidharma, who claimed to be returning to India and was carrying a single sandal. Bodhidharma predicted the death of Songyun's ruler, a prediction which was borne out upon the latter's return. Bodhidharma's tomb was then opened, and only a single sandal was found inside. Insofar as, according to the Anthology of the Patriarchal Hall, Bodhidharma left the Liang court in 527 and relocated to Mount Song near Luoyang and the Shaolin Monastery, where he "faced a wall for nine years, not speaking for the entire time", his date of death can have been no earlier than 536. Moreover, his encounter with the Wei official indicates a date of death no later than 554, three years before the fall of the last Wei kingdom.