His successor, the twenty-seventh patriarch, was Pradjnatara, a native of Central India, who travelled to the southern part of the peninsula, and there took under his instructions Bodhidharma, the second son of the king. He died A.D. 457, and left as his successor the pupil just mentioned, who, he foretold, would visit China sixty-nine years afterwards. Bodhidharma asked him, when under instruction, what he had to say about precious things, pearls, and doctrines, which are round and bright. The patriarch answered, "Among all precious things the Buddhist Dharma is the most precious. Among all bright things, knowledge is the brightest. Among all clear things, a clear mind is the clearest. Among all things,

other men and I are the highest. Among all things, the "essential nature" (sing) of Dharma is the greatest."

Bodhidharma was the twenty-eighth patriarch. He represents a school that despises books and reduces Buddhist teaching to the simplest possible principles. He was an ascetic of the first water.

In A.D. 526, Bodhidharma left Southern India for China by sea. The sixty-nine years that passed between the death of his predecessor and his departure from India formed the basis of the prediction above mentioned, constructed we must suppose after the event. The cause of his departure was probably persecution and disaster. He was a sectarian even in Buddhism, and possibly his enemies were not only the Brahmans, but also fellow-Buddhists. The reading of books was the life and soul of many monasteries. Bodhidharma decried book reading. His system made the monasteries much less educational and much more mystical and meditative than before. Lovers of knowledge among the Buddhists would dislike his system. This would be the case in China and in India.

In China the dogmatic reason given for not acknowledging the last four patriarchs was that, in the "Dharmapitaka Sutra," Buddha had said, "After my entering the Nirvana, there will be twenty-four honourable teachers, who will appear in the world and teach my law" (Fo-tsu-t'ung-ki, v. 1).

After this what could be done but take the statement as a final answer to the inquiry, How many patriarchs could there be?

Bodhidharma wished to return to India, but died in China before accomplishing this purpose.

The "Getae" (Jats) mentioned in the account of Haklena are called Yue-ti by the Chinese. In the Cyclopaedia Fa-yuen-chu-lin, it is said that the great kingdoms to the east, north, and west of India, are China, the Getae, and the "Roman empire," Ta-ts'in. By the kingdom of the Getae the Chinese author meant some great empire between Rome and China. This is a statement drawn from Indian sources.

Footnotes