Shōjari ［尚闍梨］ (): The ascetic Shōjari (Shōjari-sennin). The name of Shakyamuni in a past existence, when he was an ascetic practicing the pāramitā of meditation. Nāgārjuna’s Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom describes Shōjari as an ascetic engaged in meditation and in whose hair a bird happened to build a nest and lay several eggs. One day he gained a great insight, but, aware of the eggs on his head, he did not move until they had hatched and the baby birds flew away. Some scholars regard his Sanskrit name as Shankhāchārya, but this is uncertain.