Bodhiharma and a Temple

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To give a complete history of the style, one must keep in mind the beliefs that underlie most of China's development: Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism.  Unlike the Western military arts, which mainly adapted according to the developments of science and technology of the time: Chinese fighting paralleled very much hand-in-hand with philosophy.  There is more to kung fu than just fighting.

Combat was well developed in China but martial art has more to it than this.  Kung fu includes internal energy training and can lead to a greater knowledge of the body and healing practices such as traditional Chinese medicine, which is often used to repair training injuries and increase abilities.  Martial art has a strong ethics and belief system hidden within that separates it from pure military training.  This is why the history often begins at a temple and not a battle. Many records have been lost or destroyed over the centuries, some now mere legend, but the general belief is that the art of kung fu--as apposed to military training--developed from Daoism and yoga exercises that travelled from India.  This was around 525AD during the 'Period of Decentralisation of Chinese Power'.  China at the time was rife with internal conflict with some of the most terrible and bloody wars in the Nation’s history.  As will be seen, this turmoil still allowed for the widespread flowering of Buddhism, culture and the arts. Bodhidharma (or to the Chinese: Da Mo) was the third son of the King of Hsiang-chih in southern India.  Believing in Buddhism, and therefore recantation, he is reported to have been in the 28th life from Mahakashyapa, who was the first to receive Buddha's true Dharma via transmission mind to mind.  The 78th is reputably Seung-Sahn Haeng-Won, a Korean who is alive today living in the USA. Da Mo on a monk, after studying both Daoism and yoga for some 40 years, assumed the patriarchal authority of the Dhyana School after the death of his teacher.  This school is of the Mahayana sect, which is more suited to the masses; with its belief that man lives in the here and now, and should act and think accordingly.  Here among the aroma of inscents and sandalwood, he energetically worked on here for 60 or more years. Now aged over 100, in obedience to 'The Instruction', he spent over three years sailing for China.  In the year 520AD, he at last landed at Kuang-chou in southern China.  Here he discovered ill treatment at the hands of both commoners and the elite. Bodhidharma journeyed to the State of Northern Wei, retiring into the Shaolin monastery, as he did not find favour with the local Emperor Xiaoming.  The temple had been build for about 30 years for a Buddhist monk named Ba Tuo.  It had been planted with bountiful numbers of new trees earning it the name ‘young forest’ or Siu lum.  The temple records show that two disciples of Ba Tuo, Hui Guang and Seng Choa already possessed significant martial skills in their adolescence. However, Bodhidharma noted that his new disciples were not that conditioned.  They could not stay awake during the long and tiring Chan (more widely known in Japanese as Zen) Buddhism meditation.  The Chinese monks were not hardened to this type of exhaustive meditation.  To combat this, he introduced a new set of 18 movement exercises (18 Hands of Lo Han) based on techniques discovered beyond the Himalayas.  He believed that a strong body would remedy this mental weakness in his young disciples. This is very significant as it blended an exercise system that needed to be drilled with a belief system for their mutual benefit allowing the development of a martial art as apposed to a combat system. The word 'bodhi' means awakening and 'dharma' means teaching, so it is believed many other masters may have taken on the same name, increasing the legendary longevity and explaining the advanced age of this character.

The impact of this man's knowledge was tremendous.  According to historical records, Bodhidharma was famed for meditating in a cave in Wuru Feng, which over looks the Shaolin Temple.  Here he stayed for nine years, simply facing a wall of stone.  'The Shadow Stone', created by Da Mo's continuous presence, is now displayed as a holy artefact in the Shaolin Temple in Henan Province, China.

After this effort, he emerged and wrote the two classics Yi Jin Jing (Muscle and Tendon Changing Classic) and Xi Sui Jing (Blood Cleansing Classic), both adding to the Daoist internal-energy knowledge, and is the basis of Shaolin qigong.  His methods of breathing exercises and qi meditation were simple, yet superior, spreading throughout China, Korea, and Japan.  These exercises were for health, long life and deadly force when practised daily.  The techniques that developed created both Chan Buddhism and Shaolin Kung fu.