History of Kung Fu
A Brief History of Chinese Martial Arts
by Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming
The beginning of Chinese martial arts probably started long before history
was recorded. Martial techniques were discovered or created during the long
epoch of continuous conflict between humanity and animals, or between
different tribes of humans themselves. From these battles, experiences were
accumulated and techniques discovered which were passed down generation to
generation. Later, with the invention of weapons, different types and shapes
of weapons were invented, until eventually metal was discovered. Following the
advancement of weapon fabrication, new fighting techniques were created.
Different schools and styles originated and tested one another.
Many of these schools or styles created their forms by imitating different
types of fighting techniques from animals (e.g., tiger, panther, monkey,
snake, or bear), birds (e.g., eagle, crane, or chicken), or insects (e.g.,
praying mantis). The reason for imitating the animals' fighting was that it
was believed that, in order to survive in the harsh natural environment, all
the animals still maintained a natural talent and skill for fighting. The best
way to learn the fighting techniques was by studying and imitating these
animals. For example, the sharp spirit of the eagle was adopted, the
pouncing/fighting of the tiger and eagle's strong claws was imitated, and the
attacking motions of the crane's beak and wings were copied.
Since the martial techniques first developed in very ancient times,
gradually they became part of Chinese culture. The philosophy of these
fighting arts and culture has in turn been influenced by other elements of
Chinese culture. Therefore, the Yin/Yang Taiji theory was adopted into the
techniques, and the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) concept was blended into the
fighting strategy and skills.
The Shaolin Temple
Buddhism traveled to China from India during the Eastern Han Ming emperor
period (58-76 A.D.). Several hundred years after this, as several emperors
became sincere Buddhists, Buddhism became very respected and popular in China.
It is estimated that by 500 A.D., there probably existed more than 10 thousand
Buddhist temples. In order to absorb more Buddhist philosophy during these
five hundred years, some monks were sent to India to study Buddhism and bring
back Buddhist classics. Naturally, some Indian monks were also invited to
China for preaching.
According to one of the oldest books Deng Feng County Recording (Deng Feng
Xian Zhi), a Buddhist monk name Batuo, came to China for Buddhist preaching in
464 A.D. Deng Feng was the county where the Shaolin Temple was eventually
located. Thirty-one years later, the Shaolin Temple was built in 495 A.D., by
the order of Wei Xiao Wen emperor (471-500 A.D.) for Batuo's preaching.
Therefore, Batuo can be considered the first chief monk of the Shaolin Temple.
However, there is no record regarding how and what Batuo passed down by way of
religious Qigong practice. There is also no record of how or when Batuo
died.
However, the most influential person in this area was the Indian monk Da Mo
. Da Mo, whose last name was Sardili and who was also known as Bodhidarma, was
once the prince of a small tribe in southern India. He was of the Mahayana
school of Buddhism, and was considered by many to have been a bodhisattva, or
an enlightened being who had renounced nirvana in order to save others. From
the fragments of historical records, it is believed that he was born about 483
A.D.
Da Mo was invited to China to preach by the Liang Wu emperor. He arrived in
Canton, China in 527 A.D. during the reign of the Wei Xiao Ming emperor
(516-528 A.D.) or the Liang Wu emperor (502-550 A.D.). When the emperor
decided he did not like Da Mo's Buddhist theory, the monk withdrew to the
Shaolin Temple. When Da Mo arrived, he saw that the priests were weak and
sickly, so he shut himself away to ponder the problem. When he emerged after
nine years of seclusion, he wrote two classics: Yi Jin Jing (Muscle/Tendon
Changing Classic) and Xi Sui Jin (Marrow/Brain Washing Classic. The Yi Jin
Jing taught the priests how to build their Qi to an abundant level and use it
to improve health and change their physical bodies from weak to strong. After
the priests practiced the Yi Jin Jing exercises, they found that not only did
they improve their health, but they also greatly increased their strength.
When this training was integrated into the martial arts forms, it increased
the effectiveness of their martial techniques. This change marked one more
step in the growth of the Chinese martial arts: Martial Arts
Qigong.
The Xi Sui Jing taught the priests how to use Qi to clean their bone marrow
and strengthen their immune system, as well as how to nourish and energize the
brain, helping them to attain Buddhahood. Because the Xi Sui Jing was hard to
understand and practice, the training methods were passed down secretly to
only a very few disciples in each generation. Da Mo died in the Shaolin Temple
in 536 A.D. and was buried on Xiong Er mountain . If you are interested in
knowing more about Yi Jin Jing and Xi Sui Jing, please refer to the book,
"Muscle/Tendon Changing and Marrow/ Brain Washing Chi Kung" by
YMAA.
During the revolutionary period between the Sui dynasty and the Tang
dynasty, in the 4th year of Tang Gao Zu Wu De (621 A.D.), Qin King Li Shi-Ming
had a serious battle with Zheng King Wang Shi-Chong . When the situation was
urgent for Qin King, 13 Shaolin monks assisted him against Zheng. Later, Li
Shi-Ming became the first emperor of the Tang dynasty (618-907 A.D.), and he
rewarded the Shaolin Temple with 40 Qing (about 600 acres) of land donated to
the temple. He also permitted the Temple to own and train its own soldiers. At
that time, in order to protect the wealthy property of the Shaolin Temple from
bandits, martial arts training was a necessity for the monks. The priest
martial artists in the temple were called "monk soldiers" (Seng Bing). Their
responsibility, other than studying Buddhism, was training martial arts to
protect the property of the Shaolin Temple.
For nearly three hundred years, the Shaolin Temple legally owned its own
martial arts training organization, and continued to absorb martial skill from
outside the temple into its training system. During the Song dynasty (960-1278
A.D.) Shaolin continued to gather more martial skills from outside of the
Temple. They blended these arts into the Shaolin training. During this period,
one of the most famous Shaolin martial monks, Jueyuan traveled around the
country in order to learn and absorb high levels of martial skill into
Shaolin. He went to Lan Zhou to meet one of the most famous martial artists,
Li Sou. From Li Sou, he meet Li Sou's friend, Bai Yu-Feng and his son. Later
all four returned to the Shaolin Temple and studied together. After ten years
of mutual study and research, Li Sou left Shaolin; Bai Yu-Feng and his son
decided to stay in Shaolin and became monks. Bai Yu-Feng's monk name was Qiu
Yue Chan Shi. Qiu Yue Chan Shi is known for his barehand fighting and narrow
blade sword techniques. According to the book Shaolin Temple Record , he
developed the then existing 18 Buddha Hands techniques into 173 techniques.
Not only that, he compiled the existing techniques contained within Shaolin
and wrote the book, The Essence of Five Fist . This book included and
discussed the practice methods and applications of the Five Fist (Animal)
Patterns. The five animals included: Dragon, Tiger, Snake, Panther, and Crane.
This record confirms that the Five Animal Patterns martial skills already
existed for some time in the Shaolin Temple.
From the same source, it is recorded that in the Yuan dynasty , in the year
1312 A.D., the monk Da Zhi came to the Shaolin Temple from Japan. After he
studied Shaolin martial arts (barehands and staff) for nearly 13 years (1324
A.D.), he returned to Japan and spread Shaolin Gongfu to Japanese martial arts
society. Later, in 1335 A.D. another Buddhist monk named Shao Yuan came to
Shaolin from Japan. He mastered calligraphy, painting, Chan theory (i.e.,
Ren), and Shaolin Gongfu during his stay. He returned to Japan in 1347 A.D.,
and was considered and regarded a "Country Spirit" by the Japanese people.
This confirms that Shaolin martial techniques were imported into Japan for at
least seven hundred years.
Later, when Manchuria took over China and became the Qing dynasty, in order
to prevent the Han race (pre-Manchurian) Chinese from rebelling against the
government, martial arts training was forbidden for a long period of time
(1644-1911 A.D.). In order to preserve the arts, Shaolin martial techniques
spread to layman society. All martial arts training in the Shaolin Temple was
carried out secretly during this time. Moreover, the Shaolin monk soldiers had
decreased in number from thousands to only a couple of hundred, all trained
secretly.
After 1911, the Qing dynasty fell in a revolution led by Dr. Sun Yat-Sen.
At this time, the value of traditional Chinese martial arts was re-evaluated,
and the secrets of Chinese martial arts were revealed to the public. From the
1920's to the 1930's, many martial arts books were published. However, this
was also the Chinese Civil War period, during which Chiang Kai-Shek tried to
unify the country. In 1928, there was a battle in the area of the Shaolin
Temple. The Temple was burned for the last time by Warlord Shi You-San's
military. The fire lasted for more than 40 days, and all the major buildings
were destroyed. The most priceless books and records on martial arts were also
burned and lost. It was also during this period that, in order to preserve
Chinese martial arts, President Chiang Kai-Shek ordered the establishment of
the Nanking Central Guoshu Institute at Nanking in 1928. For this institute,
many famous masters and practitioners were recruited. The traditional name
"Wushu" (martial techniques) was renamed "Zhong Guo Wushu" (Chinese martial
techniques) or simply "Guoshu" (country techniques). This was the first time
in Chinese history that under the government's power, all the different styles
of Chinese martial arts sat down and shared knowledge together. Unfortunately,
after only three generations, World War II started in 1937 A.D., and all
training was discontinued due to the war.
After the second World War in 1945, mainland China was taken over by
communists. Under communist rule, all religions were forbidden. Naturally, all
Shaolin training was also prohibited. Later, under the communist party, Wushu
training was established at the National Athletics Institute. In this
organization, portions of the martial training and applications were purposely
deleted by the communist party in order to discourage possible unification of
martial artists against the government. Performance was the goal of this
organization. This situation was not changed until the late 1980's. After the
communist government realized that the essence of the arts - martial training
and applications - started to die out following the death of many traditional
masters, the traditional training was once again encouraged. Unfortunately,
many masters had already been killed during the so-called cultural revolution,
and many others had lost their trust of the communist party, and were not
willing to share their knowledge.
In order to bring Chinese Wushu into Olympic competition, China had
expended a great deal of effort to promote Wushu. With this motivation, the
Shaolin Temple again received attention from the government. New buildings
were constructed and a grand hotel was built. The Shaolin Temple became an
important tourist location! In addition, many training activities and programs
were created for interested martial artists around the world. Moreover, in
order to preserve the dying martial arts, a team called the "Martial Arts
Investigation Team" was organized by the government. The mission of this team
is to search for surviving old traditional masters and to put their knowledge
in book or videotape form.
This situation was different in Taiwan. When Chiang Kai-Shek retreated from
mainland China to Taiwan, he brought with him many well known masters, who
passed down the Chinese martial arts there. Traditional methods of training
were maintained and the arts were preserved in the traditional way.
Unfortunately, due to modern new life styles, not too many youngsters were
willing to dedicate the necessary time and patience for the training. The
level of the arts has therefore reached the lowest level in Chinese martial
history. Many secrets of the arts which were the accumulation of thousand
years of human experience have rapidly died out. In order to preserve the
arts, the remaining secrets began to be revealed to the general public, and
even to western society. It is good that books and videotapes have been widely
used both in mainland China and Taiwan to preserve the arts.
If we look backward at the martial arts history in China, we can see that
in the early 1900's, the Chinese martial arts still carried the traditional
ways of training. The level of the arts remained high. From then until World
War II, the level of arts degenerated very rapidly. From the War until now, in
my opinion, the arts have not even reached one-half of their traditional
levels. All of us should understand that martial arts training today is no
longer useful for war. The chances for using it in self-defense have also been
reduced to a minimum compared to that of ancient times. This is an art whose
knowledge has taken the Chinese thousands of years to accumulate. What remains
for us to learn is the spirit of the arts. From learning these arts, we will
be able to discipline ourselves and promote our understanding of life to a
higher spiritual level. From learning the arts, we will be able to maintain
healthy conditions in our physical and mental bodies.
