Batuo

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

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, Bátuó came to China in 464 and preached Nikaya 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.

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

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

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

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