Batuo

There were two Indian Buddhist masters named Buddhabhadra in China during the 5th century CE. This article is about the Shaolin abbot. The other was a translator.
Main gate of the Shaolin temple in Henan

The dhyana master Buddhabhadra (Chinese: 跋陀; pinyin: Bátuó) was the first abbot of Shaolin Monastery.[1]

Former Worthies Gather at the Mount Shuang-feng Stūpa and Each Talks of the Dark Principle contains the following reference to him:

Dhyana Master Buddha says: "The extreme principle is wordless. The sagely mind is unimpeded." (Broughton 1999:108)

According to the Deng Feng County Recording (Deng Feng Xian Zhi), Bátuó came to China in 464 CE and preached Nikaya (小乘) Buddhism for thirty years. Thirty-one years later, in 495, the Shaolin Monastery was built by the order of Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei for Batuo's preaching. He either hailed from India or from Greco-Buddhist Central Asia.[2]

Bátuó's disciples Sengchou[1] and Huiguang were both expert in the martial arts by the time they began their studies of religion with Batuo.[3]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Broughton 1999:109
  2. ↑ Broughton, Jeffrey L. (1999), The Bodhidharma Anthology: The Earliest Records of Zen, Berkeley: University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-21972-4. pp. 54-55.
  3. ↑ Kelly, Jeffrey J. (April 1994). "Amazing Stories From the Shaolin Temple". Black Belt Magazine. 'Ba [Tuo] was enamored with the Chinese martial arts, and actually recruited individuals skilled in them.'

References

Broughton, Jeffrey L. (1999). The Bodhidharma Anthology: The Earliest Records of Zen. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-21972-4. 

Shahar, Meir. (2008). The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial Arts. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-3349-7. 

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