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...