Batuo

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.^[2] He either hailed from India or from Greco-Buddhist Central Asia.^[3]

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.^[4]

Notes

1. Broughton 1999:109
2. Meir Shahar (2008). The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial Arts. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-3110-1.
3. 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.
4. 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.