Simha

Simha, the twenty-fourth patriarch, was martyred for his faith and is one of the most dramatic figures in the Indian lineage. His name means "lion," a title sometimes applied to the Buddha himself. According to Chan records, he was beheaded by a king hostile to Buddhism, and at his death milk rather than blood flowed from his neck—a miracle interpreted as a sign of his complete purity and realization.

Simha represents the extreme test of the lineage: the willingness to give one's life rather than abandon the transmission. His death did not end the lineage but affirmed its indestructibility. He had already transmitted the essence of awakening to Vasasita before his martyrdom, and that transmission carried forward through the remaining Indian patriarchs to Prajnatara, who would become the teacher of Bodhidharma.