PrajñÃÂtÃÂrÃÂ, also known as Keyura, Prajnadhara, or Hannyatara, was the twenty-seventh patriarch of Indian Buddhism according to Chan Buddhism, and the teacher of Bodhidharma.
Little independent information about the life of PrajñÃÂtÃÂràexists outside of The Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp, a hagiographic account of the lives of early Indian and Chinese masters in the Chan tradition.
PrajñÃÂtÃÂràwas from a Brahmin family in eastern India and was orphaned at a young age. Without a family name, PrajñÃÂtÃÂràwas called 'Precious Necklace' or 'Keyura' before ordination. When the 26th Patriarch, Punyamitra, came to visit the king of PrajñÃÂtÃÂrÃÂ's region, Punyamitra stopped the king's carriage on seeing PrajñÃÂtÃÂràbowing. PrajñÃÂtÃÂràwas identified as having been Punyamitra's student in a previous incarnation, and Punyamitra identified PrajñÃÂtÃÂràas an incarnation of the Bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta. Punyamitra confirmed PrajñÃÂtÃÂràas his Dharma-successor and then died.
After receiving the Dharma, PrajñÃÂtÃÂràtraveled to southern India and encountered Bodhidharma, then living as the youngest son of a king called Excelling in Fragrance. Before dying at the age of sixty-seven, PrajñÃÂtÃÂràinstructed Bodhidharma to travel to China to spread the Dharma. At death, PrajñÃÂtÃÂràascended into the sky and burst into flame, raining down relics on devotees below.
The Denkoroku by Keizan Jokin Zenji relates the following kà Âan, a legendary exchange between PrajñÃÂtÃÂràand Bodhidharma.
The Transmission of the Lamp records several prophecies attributed to PrajñÃÂtÃÂràby later Chinese patriarchs. 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 between 574âÂÂ77. PrajñÃÂtÃÂràsupposedly also predicted the emergence of Mazu Daoyi and the spread of Chan Buddhism throughout China.
While PrajñÃÂtÃÂràhas 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 PrajñÃÂtÃÂràmight have been a woman. The ordination name PrajñÃÂtÃÂràcombines the names of two female Buddhist deities or Bodhisattva, Prajnaparamita and Tara.
In 2008, Rev. Koten Benson suggested that PrajñÃÂtÃÂràmight have been a woman and was the head of the Sarvastivadin order. He claims that oral traditions in Kerala and the Korean Seon (Korean Zen Buddhism) tradition identify PrajñÃÂtÃÂràas female, and that archaeological evidence from southern India confirms the existence of famous female teachers.
Reactions to this theory by mainstream Buddhist scholars have ranged from outright dismissal to an acknowledgement that it could be possible. 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. 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.
The Shà Âbà Âgenzo, a 12th century Japanese text written by Zen Master Dà Âgen, which structurally preserves record of the zen lineage, references Hannyatara as female in chapter 50.
Archeological discoveries have confirmed the existence of a female teacher in southern India. The historical and oral traditions of the people of the state of Kerala provide details about the lives of both Prajñatara and Bodhidharma. The information transmitted through the Zen lineages of Korea confirm this written and oral history, while the knowledge that Bodhidharma had a woman master seems to have been lost in China after a few generations. Some scholars assert that this is because in written Chinese, gender is inferred from context rather than stated explicitly.