Bodhidharma
BODHIDHARMA (fl. c. 480–520), known in China as Damo and in Japan as Daruma; traditionally considered the twenty-eighth patriarch of Indian Buddhism and the founder of the Chan (Jpn., Zen) school of Chinese Buddhism.
The "Historical" Bodhidharma
Accounts of Bodhidharma's life have been based until recently on largely hagiographical materials such as the Jingde chuandeng lu (1004). However, the discovery of new documents among the Dunhuang manuscripts found in Central Asia at the turn of this century has led Chinese and Japanese scholars to question the authenticity of these accounts. The oldest text in which Bodhidharma's name is mentioned is the Luoyang qielan ji, a description of Buddhist monasteries in Luoyang written in 547 by Yang Xuanzhi. In this work, a monk called Bodhidharma from "Po-ssu in the western regions" (possibly Persia) is said to have visited and admired the Yongning Monastery. This monastery was built in 516 and became a military camp after 528. Consequently, Bodhidharma's visit must have taken place around 520. But no other biographical details can be inferred from this, and the aged western monk (he was purportedly one hundred and fifty years old at the time) bears no resemblance to the legendary founder of Chinese Chan.
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