Bodhidharma (traditionally dated to the 5th or 6th century CE) is a semi-legendary Buddhist monk credited with transmitting Chan Buddhism, later known in Japan as Zen, from India to China. According to traditional accounts, he travelled from South India or Central Asia to China, where he is said to have taught at the Shaolin Monastery and to have spent years in silent meditation facing a wall. He is revered in the Chan and Zen traditions as their first patriarch in China, and later legend also credits him with laying the foundations of Shaolin martial arts training, though many details of his life are impossible to verify historically.
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