Kungfu

Many books and movies have been created based on Shaolin kung fu which has contributed to its familiarity around the world. It is a subject of ancient origin which is shrouded in mystery and the details of its history are debatable among scholars. It is, however, a culture which through its evolution, lives on today.

In the beginning there was an emperor and a monk. It was around 500 CE when the emperor began the construction of the Shaolin Temple at Songshan (Song Mountain) for the monk (Batuo). As the monastery was being erected, there were new trees planted in the area, hence the name "Shaolin" (in Mandarin) which translates to "Little Forest" in English. Perhaps the emperor felt that he could attain spiritual enlightenment by spreading Buddhism to the masses and therefore had the monks inhabiting the temple translate Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit to Chinese.

Years after the completion of the Shaolin Temple, it was visited upon by the legendary Bodhidharma or 'Tamo' (in Chinese). According to legend he was either a Persian or Indian Prince who became a Buddhist monk to spread Chan Buddhism in China. It is written that he was not very welcome by the emperor because of differing views on reaching enlightenment so, according to the legend, he found a cave behind the Shaolin Temple and meditated for nine years. Through those years the sun bleached the stone around his cast shadow leaving a permanent silhouette of his meditating figure. When the monks of the Temple found him they were in awe and accepted him as a teacher.

It is said that Tamo joined the monks upon acceptance and taught them meditation practices to help them gain spiritual enlightenment. They lacked an exercise regiment and were too weak physically and mentally to sit in meditation for very long so Tamo taught them two sets of exercises. One set consisted of the external exercises called "Yijinjing" (muscle/tendon change classic). The other set consisted of internal exercises called "Xisuijing" (brain/marrow cleansing classic).

Contemporary theories say that martial arts existed at the Temple before Tamo's appearance there. Some texts say the monks practiced a form of wrestling for sport and that the two disciples of Batuo were already martial arts experts. Whatever the case, it is believed the exercises taught by Tamo were the birth of the Shaolin kung fu art and so he is revered as the "father" of Shaolin kung fu.

The Shaolin Temple was situated at the base of Songshan (Song Mountain) which was believed by the Chinese to be the central of the five Sacred Mountains of China. It was custom for emperors and generals among others to visit the Shaolin Temple for spiritual purposes. Many of these people were skilled in martial arts and witnessed the monks practicing the exercises taught by Tamo. They adopted the movements and incorporated them into the martial arts. Many would make the Temple their dwelling place and convert to monks.

Surrounded by nature the Shaolin Temple was an environment protected by the outside world and therefore ideal for the development and practice of kung fu. With each generation that past Shaolin kung fu became more rich with detail and soon the Shaolin Monks became famous for their extreme fighting skill and as pioneers of internal training methods (Qigong).

In the beginning, Shaolin kung fu was kept inside only for the benefit of the monks, but later it began to leak out and the Temple eventually began to accept outsiders as students. Shaolin Monks would leave the Songshan Temple and start temples of their own elsewhere developing different styles of kung fu.

Throughout the history of Shaolin, political drama has had great affect on the state of its being. Times of peace obviously allowed for proliferation of the arts whereas times of war wreaked havoc and turned the temples and monks into victims. Many monks left the temples in search of sanctuary sometimes even fleeing the country hoping to keep the tradition alive. Thankfully, the Shaolin culture survived.

After being burned and rebuilt several times, the Shaolin Temple of Songshan survived and generations of Shaolin Monks are still being trained today. Some choose to go abroad in order to share Shaolin kung fu with other parts of the world. They have gone as far as Europe, Australia, Canada, and America. Those who have come to America and stayed can be found in New York, Houston, San Francisco and now Las Vegas.