The Roots Of Shaolin Kungfu

Shaolin Kungfu - no other martial art has become as famous as the fighting style of the venerable Chinese monastery. Countless legends, books and movies deal with the fighting traditions of Shaolin and have made them a myth. But what kind of historical developments actually lie behind all these myhts?

The roots of the Shaolin martial arts are to be found in the Chinese province Henan, at the foot of the Song mountains. There, in 495 A. D., Emperor Xiaowen has a temple built for the Indian monk Fuoto to settle down and translate Buddhist sutras into Chinese. The temple is called "Shaolin", which means "young woods".

The history of Shaolin Kungfu, however, does not start before the 6th century. In 523 A. D. another Indian monk comes to the temple. His name is Dhamo (Bodhidharma) and his teachings are the foundations of a new Buddhist philosophy that rapidly becomes knwon as Chan Buddhism in China and as Zen Buddhism in Japan. The philosophy's main characteristic is the seated meditation during which one tries to discover in total contemplation one's true Buddha nature that according to Buddhism is inherent in any creature.

Hence the life of the Shaolin monks is no longer dictated by feasting or by recitating Buddhist sutras but by sitting in meditation. For Dhamo it is the perfect way to calm the restless human mind and to reach absolute tranquility. Sitting in meditation for hours on end, however, stiffens the limbs of the monks and makes it difficult for them to go on with their meditation. So they start taking up special physical exercises Dhamo develops for them. Hence a combination of mediation and physical exercise is born that keeps fascinating people to this day.

Among the many Shaolin routines the 18 techniques and 24 movements of the Luohan fighting style are the most ancient. They consist of movements taken from several Chinese martial arts styles but they also include animal movements - one of Shaolin Kungfu's main characteristics for the fauna and flora surrounding the temple greatly influence its fighting style. In these archaic surroundings with their mountainous scenery, steep ravines and wild animals it is essential for the monks to harden their bodies by pracitsing Kungfu. Yet, the rudimentary exercises they develop are at first only meant for health maintenance and self-defence and do not represent a carefully thought-up, complete fist fighting system.

The fact that Shaolin Kungfu has become such a unique martial arts style in China and the rest of the world can mainly be ascribed to three circumstances.
First to the continuous learning, practicing and teaching of fighting forms created on the basis of different Chinese Wushu styles and the imitation of animals. Second to the intention of continually improving these exercises in terms of their effectiveness and expressiveness. The main reason, however, were influential patrons contributing to the tempel's growing fame and acting as patron saints of the so-called fighting monks.

In addition, Shaolin became a refuge for former generals, discontented officials and even fugitives. Among those many were famous martial artists even before joining the temple. Combining their special Wushu skills with those of the others monks also contributed to the further development of Shaolin Kungfu and to the creation of more intricate fighting forms.

The temple saw its heyday during the Tang dynasty (618 - 907 A. D.). At this time about 1,500 monks were living in the monastery and 500 of them were versed in different fighting techniques. At the beginning of the 7th century and during the transistion of the Sui dynasty to the Tang dynasty a fierce battle erupted between Li Shimin, son of a nobleman in North China and founder of the Tang dynasty, and the despotic Sui dynasty general Wang Shicong. Li therefore asked the monks to seek justice and to restore the peace. In the ensuing battle at Qianglingkou the monks defeated Wang and thus saved Li Shimin's life. Li thanked the temple by allowing the training of 500 more fighting monks. Hence the temple's Wushu training was extensively expanded. As part of this development the monks were also encouraged to travel around the country searching for famous Wushu masters who were willing to exchange their knowledge and teach the fighting monks at the temple. This exchange of knowledge with well-known martial artists from the outside continued for several centuries. During the Song dynasty (960 - 1279 A. D.) for instance the temple's abbot, Fu Ju, invited experts from Wushu schools throughout the country to Shaolin for an exchange of experiences.

In the course of the following centuries the Shaolin temple underwent different phases of development, depending on the reigning dynasties and their policies. Sometimes it was pushed to the forefront of political events, at other times it sunk into oblivion. At the beginning of the Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911 A. D.) the temple became a focal point of Chinese politics for the last time. Again the monks came to the rescue and saved the life of Emperor Kangxi (1661 - 1722 A. D.). Full of gratitude, the Emperor wanted to appoint the monks as officials, yet they declined. So advisors were able to convince the Emperor that these independent Wushu fighters were a serious threat to the Chinese nation and he ordered the temple be burnt down to its foundations. Yet, this wasn't the only time the venerable Shaolin temple went up in flames. In the course of its history the monastery was burnt down three times. Each time the monks sought refuge in other provinces which resulted in the development of different fighting styles that can be divided into Northern and Southern styles. Today we also know that in addition to the first temple in Henan other Shaolin temples were built as well. In the 8th century there was a Shaolin temple built in the South Chinese province of Fujian and in the middle of the 14th century another monastery was built in the province of Hebei. There are also two more Shaolin temples in the provinces of Sichuan and Guandong.

The martial arts of Shaolin are too complex and varied to describe them in a few sentences. The initial "72 arts of Shaolin" (which consist of 36 inner and 36 outer exercises and once were considered so secret that they were never taught to strangers) have in the course of time evolved into 120 different styles. And in addition to the 18 traditional weapons of which the long staff, spear, sword and broadsword are the main categories more than 100 different weapons do exist.

With so many different styles and so many different weapons it is no wonder that the martial arts of the Shaolin Temple time and again play the leading role in kungfu movies. But even without these movies Shaolin Kungfu will remain a myth because its unique combination of meditation and physical exercise is something that can open up a whole new dimension of life to everyone.