Zen Patriarch

Bodhidharma was born a prince in the Pallava Kingdom in South India. He was the son of the king of Kanchipuram, but he left his kingdom and became a monk. At the age of twenty-two he was fully enlightened, and then he came to China. The moment the news of his arrival came, Emperor Wu himself came to the borders of his empire and set up a huge reception and waited.

It was Bodhidharma who brought Zen to China. This zen went further down to Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan, and other far east Asian countries.