Bodhidharma was a Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th/6th century CE. He istraditionally credited as the transmitter of Ch'an (Sanskrit: Dhyāna,Japanese: Zen) to China, and regarded as the first Chinese patriarch. According to Chinese legend, he alsobegan the physical training of the Shaolinmonks that led to the creation of Shaolinquan.
Little contemporary biographical information on Bodhidharmais extant, and subsequent accounts became layered with legend.[1] There are three principal sourcesfor Bodhidharma's biography[2]: Yáng Xuànzhī's (Yang Hsüan-chih) TheRecord of the Buddhist Monasteries of Luoyang (547), Tánlín's prefaceto the Two Entrances and Four Acts (6th century CE), andDàoxuān's (Tao-hsuan) Further Biographies of Eminent Monks (7thcentury CE).He was a Brahman monk from SouthIndia" (645 CE), "the third son of a Brahman king of SouthIndia" (ca. 715 CE).[1] Some traditions specifically describe Bodhidharma to be the third son ofa Pallavaking from Kanchipuram.[3][4] Telugu traditions know of a certain Trilochana Pallava as theearliestTelugu King, which is confirmed by later inscriptions.
The accounts also differ on the date ofhis arrival, with one early account claiming that he arrived during the Liú Sòng Dynasty (420–479) and later accounts datinghis arrival to the Liáng Dynasty (502–557). Bodhidharma was primarilyactive in the lands of the Northern Wèi Dynasty (386–534). Modern scholarship dateshim to about the early 5th century.[5]
Several stories about Bodhidharma havebecome popular legends, which are still being used in the Ch'an andZen-tradition
The Anthology of the PatriarchalHall (952) identifies Bodhidharma as the 28th Patriarch of Buddhism inan uninterrupted line that extends all the way back to the Buddha himself.Throughout Buddhist art, Bodhidharma is depicted as a ratherill-tempered, profusely bearded and wide-eyed barbarian. He is described as"The Blue-Eyed Barbarian" in Chinese texts
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