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.

The dhyana master Buddhabhadra (Chinese: 跋陀; pinyin: Bátuó) was the first abbot of the Shaolin Monastery.^[1] His ancestral heritage was from Iranian decent via the silk road.^[2]

Main gate of the Shaolin temple in Henan.

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."^[3]

According to the Deng Feng County Recording, Bátuó came to China in 464 and preached for therty years, Nikaya Buddhism that integrated with Taoist and local folk religion's concepts for its religious rights. Thirty-one years later, in 495, the Shaolin Monastery was built by the order of Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei for Batuo's preaching.^[4]

Batuo's disciples Sengchou^[1] and Huiguang became well known for their martial arts through their time and studies with Batuoto eventually be mentioned in the Chinese Buddhist canon ^[5]

References

1. Broughton 1999, p. 109.
2. Broughton 1999, pp. 54–55.
3. Broughton 1999, p. 108.
4. Shahar, Meir (2008). The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial Arts. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-3110-3.
5. 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.'

Sources

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