Hui-k’o ［慧可］ (487–593) (PY Huike;  Eka): The second patriarch of the Zen (Ch’an) school in China. As a young man, he studied Confucianism, Taoist philosophy, and the Buddhist scriptures. He entered the Buddhist Order under the guidance of Pao-ching at Mount Hsiang. He then practiced Buddhism in a number of places before returning to Mount Hsiang in 518. At age forty, he went to Shao-lin-ssu temple on Mount Sung to seek the guidance of Bodhidharma, the putative founder of Zen in China. Tradition has it that, when refused admittance to Bodhidharma’s dwelling even after waiting outside all night in the snow, Hui-k’o demonstrated his seriousness by cutting off his own left arm. Hui-k’o practiced at Shao-lin-ssu for six years and was eventually entrusted by Bodhidharma with the teachings of Zen. After Bodhidharma’s death, Hui-k’o went to Yeh, capital of the Eastern Wei dynasty, and there spread the Zen teachings. Opposition from other Buddhist schools and later the wholesale persecution of Buddhists by Emperor Wu (r. 560–578) of the Northern Chou dynasty forced him to retire to Mount Wan-kung, where he transferred the Zen teachings to Seng-ts’an.