Prajnatara - Revision history

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			{{Short description\|Zen Buddhist teacher}}
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	==Gender==		==Gender==
	While Prajñātārā has generally been assumed to be male and is listed among the Chan Patriarchs (all of whom are male), 20th ~~Century~~ Buddhist practitioners have suggested that Prajñātārā might have been a woman.<ref name=Lionsroar>[https://www.lionsroar.com/who-was-prajnatara/ Who Was Prajnatara?]</ref> The ordination name Prajñātārā combines the names of two female Buddhist deities or Bodhisattva, [[Prajnaparamita]] and [[Tara (Buddhism)\|Tara]].		While Prajñātārā has generally been assumed to be male and is listed among the Chan Patriarchs (all of whom are male), 20th century Buddhist practitioners have suggested that Prajñātārā might have been a woman.<ref name=Lionsroar>[https://www.lionsroar.com/who-was-prajnatara/ Who Was Prajnatara?]</ref> The ordination name Prajñātārā combines the names of two female Buddhist deities or Bodhisattva, [[Prajnaparamita]] and [[Tara (Buddhism)\|Tara]].

	In 2008, Rev. Koten Benson suggested that Prajñātārā might have been a woman and was the head of the [[Sarvastivadin]] order.<ref name=Benson>{{cite journal\|last1=Benson\|first1=Koten\|title=Prajñatara: Bodhidharma's Master\|journal=Sakyadhita\|date=Summer 2008\|volume=16\|issue=2\|url=http://sakyadhita.org/docs/resources/newsletters/16-2-2008.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite book\|author=Austin, Shoshan Victoria\|year=2012\|title=Receiving the Marrow\|chapter=The True Human Body\|editor=Carney, Eido Frances\|publisher=Temple Ground Press\|isbn=978-0985565107\|page=148}}</ref><!-- not a valid ISBN in most databases, but this is the number on the book, at Amazon.com, and the publisher http://olympiazencenter.org/home/temple_ground_press --> He claims that oral traditions in [[Kerala]] and the [[Korean Seon]] (Korean Zen Buddhism) tradition identify Prajñātārā as female, and that archaeological evidence from southern India confirms the existence of famous female teachers.<ref name=Benson/>		In 2008, Rev. Koten Benson suggested that Prajñātārā might have been a woman and was the head of the [[Sarvastivadin]] order.<ref name=Benson>{{cite journal\|last1=Benson\|first1=Koten\|title=Prajñatara: Bodhidharma's Master\|journal=Sakyadhita\|date=Summer 2008\|volume=16\|issue=2\|url=http://sakyadhita.org/docs/resources/newsletters/16-2-2008.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite book\|author=Austin, Shoshan Victoria\|year=2012\|title=Receiving the Marrow\|chapter=The True Human Body\|editor=Carney, Eido Frances\|publisher=Temple Ground Press\|isbn=978-0985565107\|page=148}}</ref><!-- not a valid ISBN in most databases, but this is the number on the book, at Amazon.com, and the publisher http://olympiazencenter.org/home/temple_ground_press --> He claims that oral traditions in [[Kerala]] and the [[Korean Seon]] (Korean Zen Buddhism) tradition identify Prajñātārā as female, and that archaeological evidence from southern India confirms the existence of famous female teachers.<ref name=Benson/>

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	==External links==		==External links==
	*[https://archive.is/20121222224400/http://taipei.tzuchi.org.tw/tzquart/99winter/qw17.htm Guru Prajnatara]		*[https://archive.today/20121222224400/http://taipei.tzuchi.org.tw/tzquart/99winter/qw17.htm Guru Prajnatara]

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	[[Category:457 deaths]]		[[Category:457 deaths]]
	[[Category:Indian Buddhists]]		[[Category:Indian Buddhists]]
	~~[[Category:Buddhist nuns]]~~
	[[Category:Indian Buddhist monks]]		[[Category:Indian Buddhist monks]]
	~~[[Category:Buddhism and women]]~~		[[Category:Zen patriarchs]]
	[[Category:Zen ~~Patriarchs~~]]
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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox religious biography
| name = Prajñātārā
|religion = [[Buddhism]]
|school = [[Chan Buddhism|Chan]]
|title = 27th Indian Chan Patriarch
|predecessor = [[Punyamitra]]
|successor = [[Bodhidharma]]
|death_date = 457 CE<ref name=Lamp/>
}}
'''Prajñātārā''', also known as '''Keyura''',<ref name=Benson/> '''Prajnadhara''',<ref name=Ferguson/> or '''Hannyatara''',<ref name=Lamp/> was the twenty-seventh [[Lineage (Buddhism)|patriarch]] of Indian [[Buddhism]] according to [[Chan Buddhism]], and the teacher of [[Bodhidharma]].<ref name=Lamp>{{cite book
| author = Daoyuan
| title = Records of the Transmission of the Lamp
| volume = I
| publisher = Books on Demand
| date = 2015
| pages = 131-37
| translator-last1 = Whitfield
| translator-last2 = Randolph S.
| language = English
| isbn = 9783738662467
}}</ref>

==Life According to The Transmission of the Lamp==
Little independent information about the life of Prajñātārā exists outside of [[The Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp]], a [[Hagiography|hagiographic]] account of the lives of early Indian and Chinese masters in the Chan tradition.

Prajñātārā was from a Brahmin family in eastern India and was orphaned at a young age.<ref name=Lamp/> Without a family name, Prajñātārā was called 'Precious Necklace' or 'Keyura' before ordination.<ref name=Lamp/><ref name=Benson/> When the 26th Patriarch, Punyamitra, came to visit the king of Prajñātārā's region, Punyamitra stopped the king's carriage on seeing Prajñātārā bowing. Prajñātārā was identified as having been Punyamitra's student in a previous incarnation, and Punyamitra identified Prajñātārā as an incarnation of the Bodhisattva [[Mahasthamaprapta]].<ref name=Lamp/> Punyamitra confirmed Prajñātārā as his Dharma-successor and then passed away.<ref name=Lamp/>

After receiving the Dharma, Prajñātārā traveled to southern India and encountered Bodhidharma, then living as the youngest son of a king called Excelling in Fragrance.<ref name=Lamp/> Before passing away at the age of sixty-seven, Prajñātārā instructed Bodhidharma to travel to China to spread the Dharma.<ref name=Lamp/> At death, Prajñātārā ascended into the sky and burst into flame, raining down [[sarira|relics]] on devotees below.<ref name=Lamp/>

The ''[[Denkoroku]]'' by Keizan Jokin Zenji relates the following [[kōan]], a legendary exchange between Prajñātārā and Bodhidharma.
{{quote|<poem>The Venerable Prajnatara asks Bodhidharma, "What is it that is formless amongst things?"
Bodhidharma says, "Formlessness is unborn."
Prajnatara asks, "What is the highest amongst things?"
Bodhidharma says, "The Actual Nature is the highest."<ref>{{cite web|author1=Keizan Jokin Zenji|title=Denkoroku, 29|url=http://www.wwzc.org/dharma-text/denkoroku-record-transmission-luminosity-29|website=White Wind Zen Community|publisher=White Wind Zen Community}}</ref></poem>
}}

The Transmission of the Lamp records several prophecies attributed to Prajñātārā by later Chinese patriarchs.<ref name=Ferguson>
{{cite book
| author = Andy Ferguson
| title = Zen's Chinese Heritage
| publisher = Wisdom Publications
| place = Boston
| date = 2000
| pages = 22,24,45,66
| language = English
| isbn = 0861711637
}}</ref> Among them were the prediction of a great calamity during the time of Bodhidharma's heirs [[Huike]] and [[Sengcan]] that supposedly motivated them to take refuge in the mountains in order to avoid persecutions of Buddhism carried out by the [[Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou|emperor]] between 574–77.<ref name=Ferguson/> Prajñātārā supposedly also predicted the emergence of [[Mazu Daoyi]] and the spread of Chan Buddhism throughout China.<ref name=Ferguson/>

==Gender==
While Prajñātārā has generally been assumed to be male and is listed among the Chan Patriarchs (all of whom are male), 20th Century Buddhist practitioners have suggested that Prajñātārā might have been a woman.<ref name=Lionsroar>[https://www.lionsroar.com/who-was-prajnatara/ Who Was Prajnatara?]</ref> The ordination name Prajñātārā combines the names of two female Buddhist deities or Bodhisattva, [[Prajnaparamita]] and [[Tara (Buddhism)|Tara]].

In 2008, Rev. Koten Benson suggested that Prajñātārā might have been a woman and was the head of the [[Sarvastivadin]] order.<ref name=Benson>{{cite journal|last1=Benson|first1=Koten|title=Prajñatara: Bodhidharma's Master|journal=Sakyadhita|date=Summer 2008|volume=16|issue=2|url=http://sakyadhita.org/docs/resources/newsletters/16-2-2008.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Austin, Shoshan Victoria|year=2012|title=Receiving the Marrow|chapter=The True Human Body|editor=Carney, Eido Frances|publisher=Temple Ground Press|isbn=978-0985565107|page=148}}</ref> He claims that oral traditions in [[Kerala]] and the [[Korean Seon]] (Korean Zen Buddhism) tradition identify Prajñātārā as female, and that archaeological evidence from southern India confirms the existence of famous female teachers.<ref name=Benson/>

Reactions to this theory by mainstream Buddhist scholars have ranged from outright dismissal to an acknowledgement that it could be possible.<ref name=Lionsroar/> Classical Chinese texts do not always denote gender, and in the absence of explicit gender designations an entry in the list of Dharma successors might be presumed to be male.<ref name=Lionsroar/> While less information regarding female teachers has generally been retained by the tradition, the equality of women in spiritual matters was affirmed by the Buddha, and the Chan tradition has a history of female teachers.<ref name=Lionsroar/>

The Shobogenzo, a 12th century Japanese text written by Zen Master Dogen, which structurally preserves record of the zen lineage references Hannyatara as female in chapter 50.

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[https://archive.is/20121222224400/http://taipei.tzuchi.org.tw/tzquart/99winter/qw17.htm Guru Prajnatara]

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|bu}}
{{succession box|title=Lineage of Zen Buddhist Patriarchs|before=[[Punyamitra]]|after=[[Bodhidharma]]|years=}}
{{s-end}}

[[Category:457 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian Buddhists]]
[[Category:Buddhist nuns]]
[[Category:Indian Buddhist monks]]
[[Category:Buddhism and women]]
[[Category:Zen Patriarchs]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:5th-century Buddhist nuns]]

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{{India-reli-bio-stub}}
{{Zen-bio-stub}}

Prajnatara - Revision history

->Wiki-uk: /* Gender */

->Rlink2: /* External links */archive link repair, may include: archive.* -> archive.today, and http->https for ghostarchive.org and archive.org (wp:el#Specifying_protocols)

imported>Marcocapelle: /* External links */removed parent categories of Category:5th-century Buddhist nuns

136.158.32.219: /* Gender */

->Rlink2: /* External links /archive link repair, may include: archive. -> archive.today, and http->https for ghostarchive.org and archive.org (wp:el#Specifying_protocols)