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Origins of Asian martial arts

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Foreign influence on Chinese martial arts, or more specifically, Shaolin Kung Fu, is endorsed by the traditional Shaolin temple claims and the claims of a majority of martial arts historians. Both versions agree that the foreign influence was vital on Shaolin temple's approach to institutionalized martial arts.

Main gate of the Shaolin temple in Henan

In an article by published in the New York Times Travel section in 1983, Christopher Wren asserts that organised martial traditions predate the establishment of the Shaolin Monastery by centuries.

The Indian influence

Establishment of the Shaolin temple under Batuo

The Indian dhyana master Buddhabhadra (Chinese: 跋陀; pinyin: Bátuó) was the founding abbot and patriarch of the Shaolin Temple.

A painting on a wall in the temple showing lighter skinned Chinese monks and darker skinned monks, similar in skin tone to Indians

According to the Deng Feng County Recording (Deng Feng Xian Zhi), Bátuó came to China in 464 CE to preach Nikaya (小乘) Buddhism. Thirty-one years later, in 495, the Shaolin Monastery was built by the order of Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei for Batuo's preaching. The temple originally consisted of a round dome used as a shrine and a platform where Indian and Chinese monks translated Indian Buddhist scriptures into native Chinese languages.

Bodhidharma

Bodhidharma, who is credited with the establishment of the Chan and Zen sects of Buddhism, arrived in China during the 5th century. He stayed and taught for several years in the Shaolin temple.

Excerpts from author Simmone Kuo's Long Life Good Health Through Tai-Chi Chuan are mentioned below :-

Finding that the sedentary life often left the monks weak both in body and mind, Ta Mo decided to encourage physical discipline as well as meditation. He taught streching exercises from the Indian tradition of Yoga with which he was familiar. On their part, the Chinese monks were reminded of the native fighting techniques from their youth. A group of eighteen particulary dedicated monks then developed and refined a system of streching exercises and movements of what is now the core of Shao-lin Chuan, the source for all subsequent martial arts, including Tai Chi Chuan. The Chinese revere the eighteen monks to this day and venerate them as Lohans.

This view is endorsed in many forms by the martial arts community and the Shaolin temple authorities alike. Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit, 4th generation successor of the Southern Shaolin Monastery writes :-

About 150 years later in CE 527 the great Bodhidharma, a prince-turned-monk, came from India to teach Zen at the Shaolin Monastery. Since then the Shaolin Monastery has become the fountainhead of Zen Buddhism, which is a major school of. Mahayana Buddhism.

Bodhidharma left behind as a legacy three great sets of exercise, namely Eighteen Lohan Hands, Sinew Metamorphosis and Marrow Cleansing. Eighteen Lohan Hands became the forerunner of Shaolin Kungfu, and Sinew Metamorphosis the forerunner of Shaolin Chi Kung. "Bone Marrow" in Chinese medical terms is not just the bone marrow in Western terms, but figuratively refers to the nerves. The great Bodhidharma is honoured and worshipped as the First Patriarch of the Shaolin arts, as well as of Zen Buddhism.

Chinese martial arts, like martial arts of Greece and India, have existed before the arrival of Bodhidharma. Bodhidharma's status in martial arts is due to his role in the institutionalization of Chinese martial arts, presumably by introducing excercises, meditation, discipline, newer techniques etc. to the native fighting methods during his tenure at the Shaolin monastery.

Bodhidharma by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892)

It has also been suggested that these techniques which are the foundation for many martial arts today were never originally intended to be utilized as methods of fighting but were a manner in which the monks could attain enlightenment while preserving their bodies' health. Bodhidharma preached the notion of martial virtue "MartialArts are intended to promote spiritual development, not fighting." The extensive development of these techniques by the Chinese monks over centuries led to modern day Shaolin Kung Fu.

Bodhidharma is associated with the idea that spiritual, intellectual and physical excellence are an indivisible whole necessary for enlightenment. Such an approach to enlightenment ultimately proved highly attractive to the Samurai class in Japan, who made Zen their way of life, following their encounter with the martial-arts-oriented Zen Rinzai School introduced to Japan by Eisai in the 12th century.

The Shaolin Temple mural

The Shaolin Temple in China contains fresco murals from the 17th century which depict dark-skinned (not black but similar in skin tone to Indians) monks teaching Chinese monks fighting forms. On the mural that survived three fires between 1644 to 1927, it says when translated from Chinese into Japanese script "Tenjiku Naranokaku" translating as "the fighting techniques to train the body which come from India."

Proposed foreign influences on India

Some of the The oldest known records concerning combat techniques are hieroglyphic scrolls from Egyptian tombs, dating as far back as 4000 B.C. The Beni Hasan tombs are shown in the picture.

Many historians have theorised that Indian arts were influenced by other civilizations as well. Early martial arts can be traced to Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. There was an extensive maritime trade network operating between the Indus Valley and Mesopotamian civilizations as early as the middle Harappan Phase, with much commerce being handled by the "middlemen merchants from Dilmun". Ancient Egypt had trading relations with India. Ancient Greece was in contact with India before Alexander the Great's Invasion. The Greek Pankration system was practiced by Alexander the Great's army. It has been suggested that over time, concepts in primitive martial arts spread east to India, where they fell on fertile ground and began their development in relationship to Yoga, dharma, and dharmic religions, and were eventually transmitted to China.

Extent of acknowledgement of the foreign influence

Like the Bible or the Koran, the foreign influence on Chinese martial arts has also been subjected to historical revisionism. However, these attempts have been rejected by the larger martial arts community including authors, practitioners, major news institutions and martial arts institutions.

Conflicting theories

Further information: Bodhidharma, the martial arts, and the disputed India connection

Many accounts of Bodhidharma's life are largely legendary. A minority of historians within the martial arts community have attempted to present various theories, conflicting in nature, in order to revise history associated with Bodhidharma.

Historian Matsuda Ryuchi dates the Yi Jin Jing, a text often associated with Bodhidharma, to 1827. His claim is rejected by another historian Lin Boyuan, whose research dates it to 1624.

Ling Tingkan concluded that the author of the Yì Jīn Jīng must have been an "ignorant village master." This claim has also been rejected by Lin Boyuan who attributes the Yì Jīn Jīng to the Taoist priest Zining writing in 1624.

Historian Paul Pelliot presents a version claiming that Bodhidharma did not exist at all, he is an entirely fictional creation, a proposal which conflicts with revisionist versions as presented by Matsuda Ryuchi, Lin Boyuan and Ling Tingkan.

Most accounts of martial arts history have credited the foreign influence, disregarding the conflicting theories.

The views from the martial arts community

Martial arts authors across the world, including June Lordi, Charles C. Goodin, Hidetaka Nishiyama, Cezar Borkowski, Simmone Kuo, Robin L. Rielly, Howard Reid, Liow Kah Joon and Kah Joon Liow, Annellen M Simpkins and C Alexander Simpkins, Bruce Thomas, Thomas D. Seabourne and Yeon Hwan Park, Steve De Masco, Stephen Kuei, Pat Zukeran, Ervin de Castro, BJ Oropeza and Ron Rhodes, Christopher Wren, Howard W. French, Pete Hessler, Prof. J. Roe, P. E. Katzer, Joyotpaul Chaudhari, Dr. William Durbin and Tony Sims have rejected the claims that that Chinese martial arts are independent of any foreign influence whatsoever.

The claims that that Chinese martial arts are independent of any foreign influence have also been rejected by legendary martial arts practitioners and authorities, including Chojun Miyagi, Funakoshi Gichin, Wong Kiew Kit, Tadashi Nakamura, Carlos Machado, and Rickson Gracie.

In addition, reputed organizations such as the British Broadcasting Corporation, the New York Times, The Hindu, and the Discovery Channel to name a few, have also rejected the claims that that Chinese martial arts are independent of any foreign influence.

Claims that that Chinese martial arts are independent of any foreign influence have also been rejected by prestigious martial arts institutions, including the Gracie Barra, International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation, Florida Federation of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and the Shaolin temple.

Effect of stature within the Buddhist religion

It must be also be noted that Bodhidharma was a religious figure. A measure of conflicting accounts, traditional and modern in nature, surrounds religious figures, including Jesus Christ, Gautama Buddha and Prophet Mohammed. However the conflicting accounts, traditional or modern, in case of religion are usually made insignificant in comparision by views commonly held by the vast majority.

In case of Bodhidharma, it is generally believed:

Bodhidharma (c. 6th century CE) was the Buddhist monk traditionally credited as the founder both of Chán and Zen sects of Buddhism. He is commonly associated with the Shaolin kung fu school of the Chinese martial arts. It is generally agreed that he was a South Indian monk—possibly from Kanchipuram—who journeyed to southern China during the Liang Dynasty (502–557), from which he subsequently relocated northwards.

References

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Further reading

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