Upagupta

Upagupta, the fourth Chan patriarch, was a disciple of Shanakavasa and a great missionary of the Dharma in northwest India. He is traditionally said to have lived during the reign of Emperor Ashoka and to have played a role in spreading Buddhism across the Indian subcontinent. He was called "the Buddha without marks" because, though lacking the physical signs of a great being, he possessed the full inner realization.

Upagupta was celebrated for his skill in converting difficult students and pacifying demons. In one famous story, he subdued Mara the tempter not through force but through the gentle power of compassion, binding him with garlands of flowers representing the bones of those Mara had destroyed. His transmission to Dhritaka continued the lineage of direct awakening at a time when Buddhism was gaining institutional strength throughout India.