Editing Bodhidharma (section)

==== ''The Record of the Buddhist Monasteries of Luoyang'' ====
[[File:Central Asian Buddhist Monks.jpeg|thumb|left|Blue-eyed [[Buddhism in Central Asia|Central Asian monk]] teaching an East Asian monk. A fresco from the [[Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves|Bezeklik]], dated to the 9th or 10th century; although [[Albert von Le Coq]] (1913) assumed the [[red hair|red-haired]] monk was a [[Tocharians|Tocharian]],{{sfn|von Le Coq|1913|loc=[http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/VIII-1-B-31/V-1/page-hr/0107.html.en Tafel 19]}} modern scholarship has identified similar [[Caucasian race|Caucasian figures]] of [[:File:BezeklikSogdianMerchants.jpg|the same cave temple]] (No. 9) as ethnic [[Sogdia]]ns,{{sfn|Gasparini|2014|loc=[http://heiup.uni-heidelberg.de/journals/index.php/transcultural/article/view/12313/8711#_edn32 note 32]}} an [[Eastern Iranian people]] who inhabited [[Turpan|Turfan]] as an ethnic minority community during the phases of [[Tang dynasty|Tang Chinese]] (7th–8th century) and [[Kingdom of Qocho|Uyghur rule]] (9th–13th century).<ref>Hansen, Valerie (2012), ''The Silk Road: A New History'', Oxford University Press, p. 98, {{ISBN|978-0-19-993921-3}}.</ref>]]

The earliest text mentioning Bodhidharma is ''The Record of the Buddhist Monasteries of [[Luoyang]]'' ({{zh|t=洛陽伽藍記}} ''Luòyáng Qiélánjì'') which was compiled in 547 by [[Yang Xuanzhi]] ({{lang|zh|楊衒之}}), a writer and translator of [[Mahayana sutras]] into Chinese. Yang gave the following account:
{{blockquote|At that time there was a monk of the [[Western Regions|Western Region]] named Bodhidharma, a [[Buddhism in Central Asia#Iranian Buddhism|Persian Central Asian]].{{refn|group=note|Bodhidharma's first language was likely one of the many [[Eastern Iranian languages#Classification|Eastern Iranian]] languages (such as Sogdian or Bactrian), that were commonly spoken in most of Central Asia during his lifetime and, in using the more specific term "Persian", Xuànzhī likely erred. As Jorgensen has pointed out, the Sassanian realm contemporary to Bodhidharma was not Buddhist. Johnston supposes that Yáng Xuànzhī mistook the name of the south-Indian Pallava dynasty for the name of the Sassanian Pahlavi dynasty;{{sfn|Jorgensen|2000|p=159}} however, Persian Buddhists did exist within the Sassanian realm, particularly in the formerly [[Greco-Buddhist]] east, see [[Buddhism in Central Asia#Iranian Buddhism|Persian Buddhism]].}} He traveled from the wild borderlands to China. Seeing the golden disks on the pole on top of Yǒngníng's [[stupa]] reflecting in the sun, the rays of light illuminating the surface of the clouds, the jewel-bells on the stupa blowing in the wind, the echoes reverberating beyond the heavens, he sang its praises. He exclaimed: "Truly this is the work of spirits." He said: "I am 150 years old, and I have passed through numerous countries. There is virtually no country I have not visited. Even the distant Buddha-realms lack this." He chanted homage and placed his palms together in salutation for days on end.{{sfn|Broughton|1999|p=54–55}}}}

The account of Bodhidharma in the Luoyan Record does not particularly associate him with meditation, but rather depicts him as a [[thaumaturge]] capable of mystical feats. This may have played a role in his subsequent association with the martial arts and esoteric knowledge.<ref name=eob_ma>{{cite encyclopedia
 | title = Martial Arts
 | encyclopedia = MacMillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism
 | last = Powell
 | first = William
 | pages = 214–18
 | year = 2004
 | publisher = MacMillan Reference USA
 | location = New York
 | isbn = 0-02-865719-5
 | volume = 1
}}</ref>