Kapiolani
Community College Horizons 2002
Kapiolani
Community College
Horizons 2002
by Frank Bing
When one thinks of Kung Fu one probably thinks of old martial arts films. In addition, when one thinks of Tai Chi, the image of senior citizens exercising in the park appears. These two forms of martial arts can be traced back to the Shaolin Temple in China, over one thousand years ago. The term Shaolin Kung Fu has been used before but most people never give any second thought to its history. Many people believe the Shaolin temple is some building in the mountains where the kung fu stars learn their martial arts talents. The topic of this paper is on the history of the Shaolin Temple. This paper is not solely about the physical temple itself but about the monks who occupied it and the martial arts that have originated there. In looking for information on this topic, data about the temple itself and its history was difficult to come by. Most authors wrote about the practices of the martial arts taught there and not so much on the historical aspects. Historical information in the Encyclopedia of China, a book called Spirit of Shaolin by David Carradine, Shaolin Lohan Kung-Fu by P’ng Chye Khim and Donn F. Draeger, and the Official Shaolin Temple website at http://www.Shaolin.com were the sources of information.
Because of the destructions of certain temples containing written records of the history of the Shaolin temple, its story has been more of an oral tradition passed on through the generations by the monks and people who lived in and around the temple . According to ancient Chinese oral history, the first Shaolin temple was built in the year 495 during the Northern Wei Dynasty. This temple was located about 55 miles southwest of the city of Zhengshou in the Henan province. The temple was built for an Indian Buddhist monk named Tuoba who came to China on a pilgrimage to share the Buddhist belief. Emperor Xiaowen (Hsiao-wen) commissioned the Shaolin temple built and occupied by Taoist monks who were to translate Buddhist texts from Sanskrit to Chinese. Throughout history, the Shaolin monastery was destroyed and rebuilt several times. The popularity of the temple and its teachings gained popularity and prominence during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), when 13 of its monks fought on behalf of Li Shimin, who founded the Tang dynasty, against enemy Wang Shichong. The second Tang dynasty emperor rewarded the monks by donating large sums of money and land to the temple. The Shaolin temple gained so much popularity and wealth that at one time there was over one thousand monks training and residing there .
Today, the current buildings date back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The floors of the temples main hall, “Thousand Buddha Hall”, reveal much wear from the many Shaolin monks who practiced their fighting techniques there. A pavilion called the “Baiyi Pavilion” is home to a mural portraying the many “fighting monks”. The halls contain intricately carved jade sculptures of the Buddhist deity Amitabha and wall painting of 500 lohan (“worthies”). These sculptures cover three sides of the hall. Many monks spent their entire lives at the monastery and were buried in the 220 pagodas on the compound. Outside the temple is a “forest of stelae” which are stone tablets or columns, containing inscriptions by many famous Chinese calligraphers including Su Shi and Mi Fei. Bodhidharma pavilion was built in the complex to honor the Chan founder and his successor, the second Chan patriarch, Huiko who live from 487-592.
The claim to fame of the Shaolin temple is that from it came the philosophy of Chan. Chan is meditation, from the Indian Sanskrit word “dhyana”. Chan is more commonly known today as Zen from the Japanese interpretation of this philosophy. An Indian Buddhist monk named Bodhidharma is credited for introducing Chan to the Chinese sect of Buddhism during the Northern and Southern dynasties (420-589). In China, Bodhidharma is referred to as Tamo and in Japan as Daruma. Bodhidharma arrived in the year 527 in China during the reign of Emporer Wu (502-549). Emperor Wu was the founder of the Liang Dynasty. Bodhidharma’s welcome was not as warm as Tuoba’s because the Bodhidharma was not as well spoken and eloquent in his speaking. Tuoba’s philosophy is known as the “Old Chinese Buddhism”. Bodhidharma’s philosophy would come to be known as “the New Buddhism”. One legend says that he crossed the Yangtze River by floating on a small stick with five leaves on his way to the temple. He made his way to the Shaolin temple in the Shanshon Mountains and was turned away because of his foreign appearance. A legend says that he went to a cave not too far from the temple and meditated for nine years resulting in the withering of his legs. It also says that his intense gaze burned a hole right through the wall of the cave. This wall gazing is called “Pi-kuan”. Bodhidharma would often fall asleep and decided to cut off his eyelids to prevent him from losing his gaze. It is said that where his eyelids touched the ground, a tea tree sprouted and he drank the tea. This tea is green tea and is consumed almost as much as water in China. The Japanese made a statue after this incident called a Daruma doll, which is a small bust of a head of Bodhidharma, whose eyes are wide open and usually have to be painted in. The legend is that one paints in one eye of Daruma and makes a wish; if it comes true they paint in the other eye. The Shaolin monks seeing this great feat soon admitted Bodhidharma into the temple. The monks were much like European monks in that they were constantly hunched over tables reading and although they were spiritually and mentally superior than most, they were physically very frail. Bodhidharma would catch the monks falling asleep while in meditation. Bodhidharma is recognized as teaching these monks 18 basic calisthenics exercises and self-defense techniques that ultimately evolved into different forms of martial arts. These techniques promoted physical health and spirit development and the “martial virtues (wudi)” of discipline, humility, self-restraint, and respect for life. These exercises helped the monks gain stamina to withstand the long meditation sessions. Two main techniques evolved out of the Shaolin temple; Kung Fu (gongfu), and Taijiquan (Tai Chi). Bodhidharma’s “New Buddhism” was much more artistic than Tuoba’s “Old Chinese Buddhism”. His philosophy emphasized fasting, meditation, and included Bodhidharma’s Five Commandments. These commandments condemned killing, robbery, obscenity, telling lies and drinking wine. Eating flesh was considered foolish though there was no commandment against it. Silence was highly prized and to be strived for. Hundreds of years later, these commandments were broken and discarded when the emperor gave the monks meat to eat and wine to drink. This was known as “The Change of the Sixth Ancestor” .
Applicants for priesthood were made to do the most basic and difficult work related to the upkeep of the temple. Their sincerity and ability to keep the secrets of the order were severely tested for years before the finer aspects of the order were revealed to them. Once accepted by the elders of the temple, his entry into kung fu was to open a whole new world. The student would work long hours training mind and body to work together in a coordinated effort. He would learn the principles of combat, the way of the Tao, and together they would ensure his way to peace.
The student would first be taught the basic fist sets, a set of prearranged forms, which simulated multiple attacks. In turn, these became more complex as the student advanced, while he would concurrently be learning the way of Taoism. Once the student would complete the student stage he would become a disciple who would be taught the higher secrets of the arts and philosophies. Many different weapons would become familiar to him as weapons of attack and defense. He would perfect his movements to simultaneously with his breathing. His mind would join into the realm of meditation known as mindlessness. These exercises would bring the individual closer to harnessing his person Ch’I or personal power.
Kung Fu (gongfu) was one of the two main techniques Bodhidharma taught to the monks of the Shaolin temple. This martial art is weaponless and has two styles; “hard style” and “soft style”. Hard style required power, strong kicks, and an “iron hand” meaning having strong fists that could easily handle hard objects. Soft style stressed quick and agile movements and a “poison hand”, which is the ability to strike vulnerable places on an attackers body. Both of these styles shared the “Horse stance” which consisted of a large stance of the legs and the arms at hip height and bent at the elbow .
The other main style that originated in the Shaolin temple was Taijiquan, also known as Tai Chi. “Tai” means supreme or ultimate; “Ji” means polarity; “Quan” means the fist way. Taijiquan literally means “Supreme Pole Boxing”. This style is a collection of exercises that involve slow, curving movements of the arms, head, torso, and legs. It requires of the individual practicing balanced coordination of all parts of the body while focusing on concentration. The movement combines both artistic and acrobatic styles. Though these movements are slow and cautious, they are a form of strength. The theory behind it is to always be on the defensive by using the attacker energy and redirecting it back to them in a circle. It revolves around the belief of the balance of nature; the Ying and the Yang, which moves in a circle. This style was practiced as exercise and a form of spiritual meditation .
As years passed, the popularity of the Shaolin temple and its fighting monks spread through China, which led to the building of the second main Shaolin temple. The second temple was built at Chuan Chow in the Fukien province in Southern China. A Buddhist priest from the original temple named Ta Tsun-shen founded this temple. Like the Shaolin temple of Henan in the North, the Fukien temple also became a center for physical and mental martial arts training and religious exercises. This temple started out religious but later became politically controlled after the overthrow of the Ming dynasty by the Ching army .
Many other Buddhist monks from the Henan and Fukien temples traveled abroad and founded Shaolin temples. Henan Shaolin temple in the North and Fukien temple to the South shared similarities and differences in their teachings of Kung-Fu (gongfu). In their basic technique patterns, both Northern and Southern versions of Shaolin make use of five animal forms: Dragon, Snake, Crane, Tiger, and Leopard. The Northern is subdivided into three main branches: 1. Hung, which stresses physical prowess and use of strength in a hard resistive manner; 2. Kung, in which clever tactics of a soft nature offsets the strength. 3. Yue, in which both hard and soft actions combine to produce different techniques. From the Yue branch of Northern Shaolin, the monks developed systems that depend on actions of animals other than the five original, and even of human and supernatural beings. Some examples include the Ta-sheng Men, which makes use of antics of a monkey. The Erh-lan Men, which is based on the physical actions of a legendary Chinese hero, and Wei-t’o Men, which is a concise deity system. The Southern Shaolin styles also consist of five main branches, which are Ta-hung Men, Liu-Chia Ch’uan, Ts’ai-chia Chu’an, Li-chia Ch’uan, and Mo-chia Ch’uan. These five branches can be considered the alter ego for the northern style in that they basically follow the same origins .
Although there are similarities in the framework of the Northern and Southern Shaolin Kung-Fu systems, there are vast differences in the details that make them up. It seems that both temples tended to focus on opposite fighting philosophies. The Northern Shaolin style was said to rely heavily on long-punching actions and to exhibit a higher order of agility, mobility, suppleness, and fluidity of action in the performance of technique than that of the Southern Shaolin temple monks. The Northern temple was said to use 70% of leg action, and 30% of punches and hand-to-hand techniques. In contrast the Southern was a direct opposite using 30% leg action and 70% punches. The reason for this peculiar ratio pattern is said to be based on both temples climate and environment. The Northern temple was nestled in the Shan Son Mountains and was generally always cold. The monks had to wear footwear because of the harshness of the cold on their feet. The Northern monks also exercised more strenuously to raise their body temperatures thus warming them up during the cold winters. The Southern monks on the other hand lived near the rice paddies where it was hot all year long. They would stand in the paddies and cool their feet but wouldn’t exercise nearly as long because of fear of heat stroke and fatigue. Their exercises would consist of a lot of punching because it didn’t wear out their lower body, which needed to be preserved for the long periods of sitting in a dormant position.
At the height of the Shaolin temples popularity during the end of the Ming dynasty, the temple had been called upon to provide kings with the strongest monks to head the military and fight in their battles. The Shaolin temple had thousands of monks in attendance at any given time and it was common knowledge that the monks were unbeatable in martial arts. Many landowners, crooked politicians, and militarily or politically involved monks complained to the emperor that if there were ever a Shaolin uprising, there would be no defense. In response to this the emperor ordered the main Shaolin temples and all of the monks be destroyed. Legend says that the temples and monks were destroyed, and all but five monks escaped without harm. These five monks are said to have been the founders of China’s first triads .
After the fall of the temple, its disciples helped the spread of the Shaolin teachings abroad. The Shaolin temple martial art Kung Fu has influenced many other Asian martial arts like Japanese Karate, Ju Do, and Tae Kwan Doe. It is said that after the fall of the Ming dynasty, one Shaolin monk fled to Okinawa. Once there he attempted to enlist an army to return to China and avenge the Shaolin temple. When his plan failed he settled down in Okinawa as a Kung-Fu teacher. His teachings traveled north to Japan and evolved into Karate. The influence of the Shaolin philosophy and training spread, carrying Tao, Buddhism, and martial arts through the Far East, every style of Asian martial arts is said to be based on some form of Chinese Kung-Fu . Of all the martial arts that are derived from Kung Fu, the Shaolin temple considers Japanese Karate as the newest and crudest of styles. The basis behind Karate is to find the most “effective” or “useful” fighting forms. Kung Fu tries to make of itself a complete art in which everything is fully known and understood regardless of its usefulness .
As time passed in China, more and more Shaolin followers and fighting styles emerged. These new fighting styles in converted temples like the Shaolin temple in Wu-tang were animal in nature. By the twentieth century, the Shaolin temples were barely standing on their last legs as China was thrown into a crisis known as the Boxer Rebellion. The British arrived and manipulated the Imperial family into a regime through their push of opium import and sales to the many impoverished people of China. This opened the door to the other European powers like Russia, France, Holland, and later Japan, and America. By the early 1900s, China was split up into national zones, each controlled by one outside power. This caused much animosity towards the foreigners and the Empress started an uprising with the best Shaolin monks as the frontline soldiers. These foreigners saw kung fu and the use of the Shaolin fist forms and generically called the monks “Boxers” because of its remote resemblance to their barbaric European sport. The rebellion was a bust but in effect gave the Chinese an opportunity to integrate foreign weapons into their warfare .
The Shaolin temples fell victim to all of the fighting during the beginning of the 20th century. Many of the temples were used as artillery storage and target practice. Monks were routinely killed by all faces of the opposing forces but many fled to the hills and abroad where they shared their knowledge of the Shaolin.
Kung Fu reached America’ s shores in the mid 1960’s as a young Chinese martial artist took the scene. This Kung-Fu master was named Bruce Lee. He studied and developed a style of Kung Fu known as Jeet Kune Do which consists of fluid fast movements that focus on sensitive areas of the opponent . America was flooded with movies from China that portrayed Kung Fu and the Shaolin tradition but didn’t gain popularity until the arrival of Bruce Lee. His movies and teachings brought the ancient Chinese techniques and philosophies into the mainstream and opened the door for many martial artists like him. The popularity and curiosity of this pioneer led to copycats after his death but eventually gave others opportunities to share their knowledge. It is thanks to the effectiveness of the media and movies that more and more people in the West were intrigued to find out more about martial arts. Other monks transplanted the Taijiquan techniques here in the West and are commonly used as relaxation and meditation methods.
Today, Kung Fu is making a come back after a dormant stage in the 1980s. Names like Jet Li, Jackie Chan, and Sammo Hung are synonymous with Kung Fu movies and TV shows. There was a special television show on the Learning Channel called “The Top 10 Martial Arts” in which Shaolin Kung Fu was number one in that it influenced all other Asian martial arts in one facet or another. Today, these artists may not follow the same strict code of the Shaolin but every time we observe them practicing their individual techniques, we see a bit of the past shine through them. Because of the Shaolin temples teachings and philosophies integrated to changing societies, ancient techniques and styles have evolved into what they are today. Although the temples have been destroyed and rebuilt, they are only physical buildings. The real Shaolin temples live on through the teachings and philosophies passed down through the generations.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Perkins, Dorothy Encyclopedia of China-The Essential Reference to China, its History, and Culture, Roundtable Press, New York NY 1999
Carradine, David Spirit of Shaolin-A Kung Fu Philosophy Charles E. Tuttle Company Inc., Rutland Vermont 1991
“Shaolin Gung Fu Institute” http://www.shaolin.com/ Shaolin Gung Fu Institute 1997-2002
Khim, P’ng Chye and Donn F. Draeger Shaolin Lohan Kung-Fu Charles E. Tuttle Company Inc., Rutland Vermont 1979
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