Bodhidharma (c400 - c450). Bodhidharma was a Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th or 6th century. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Chan Buddhism to China, and regarded as its first Chinese patriarch. According to Chinese legend, he also began the physical training of the monks of Shaolin Monastery that led to the creation of Shaolin kungfu. In Japan, he is known as Daruma. Little contemporary biographical information on Bodhidharma is extant, and subsequent accounts became layered with legend and unreliable details. According to the principal Chinese sources, Bodhidharma came from the Western Regions, which refers to Central Asia but may also include the Indian subcontinent, and was either a Persian Central Asian or a South Indian the third son of a great Indian king.Throughout Buddhist art, Bodhidharma is depicted as an ill-tempered, profusely-bearded, wide-eyed non-Chinese person. He is referred as The Blue-Eyed Barbarian in Chan texts. Aside from the Chinese accounts, several popular traditions also exist regarding Bodhidharma's origins. The accounts also differ on the date of his arrival, with one early account claiming that he arrived during the Liu Song dynasty and later accounts dating his arrival to the Liang dynasty. Bodhidharma was primarily active in the territory of the Northern Wei. Modern scholarship dates him to about the early 5th century. The Anthology of the Patriarchal Hall identifies Bodhidharma as the 28th Patriarch of Buddhism in an uninterrupted line that extends all the way back to the Gautama Buddha himself.Bodhidharma also known as The Wall Gazing Brahmin. There are two known extant accounts written by contemporaries of Bodhidharma. According to these sources, Bodhidharma came from the Western Regions, and was either a Persian Central Asian or a South Indian the third son of a great Indian king. Later sources draw on these two sources, adding additional details, including a change to being descendent from a Brahmin king, which accords with the reign of the Pallavas, who claim to belong to a brahmin lineage. The Western Regions was a historical name specified in the Chinese chronicles between the 3rd century BC to the 8th century AD that referred to the regions west of Yumen Pass, most often Central Asia or sometimes more specifically the easternmost portion of it. Sometimes it was used more generally to refer to other regions to the west of China as well, such as the Indian subcontinent.