Bodhidharma

Who was Bodhidharma

Bodhidharma was a Tamilan from South India, born as a 3rd prince of the Pallava dynasty in their capital of Kanchipuram of Tamil Nadu, India. After becoming a Buddhist monk, Bodhidharma travelled to China by means of land. After three years he reached there and upon bringing Chan to China, he became the first Chinese patriarch, and all subsequent Chinese Chan and Japanese Zen masters trace their master-disciple lineages back to him. Bodhidharma then left for the north, reportedly crossing the Yangtze River on a boat, and arrived at the Shao-lin Temple. Finding the residents physically weak and prone to the attack of local bandits, he taught them self-defence, from which evolved the famous Shao-lin style of martial arts. Throughout Buddhist art, Bodhidharma is depicted as a rather ill-tempered, profusely bearded and wide-eyed barbarian. He is described as ‘The Blue-Eyed Barbarian’ in Chinese texts.

The death of Bodhidharma is still a puzzle because according to few sources, ‘He was given the poisoned food by villagers which he detected it and when he asked them why. The villagers told him that if they bury his body in their land then their village would be disease-free so according to their will he ate the poisoned food and was buried in the Chinese mountains.

Source: Buddhism Dictionary. A Dictionary of Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 2003, 2004.