Brief History On Shaolin Martial Arts

By Dominique Martin


Kung Fu was actually a term that was coined whenever an accomplishment is made after dedication and hard work. This should not be confused as what the usual misconception is with the actual martial art. One example would be when a person was able to successfully side kick an opponent and made them drop, it would then be called kung fu.

Martial arts of various styles have been branched from one main style. The Shaolin Martial Arts has been the main style that a lot of others are being referred and derived from. It was initially taught at a Buddhist monastery as a primary martial art in Songshan Mountain in the Henan province of China. This is where it started and where other fighting and defense art has begun.

It has been known that a Buddhist monk from India has travelled to China during the Northern Wei Dynasty in four hundred ninety five A. D. His name was Buddhabhadra, but the Chinese people call him Ba Tuo. He gained the favor of Emperor Xiaowen but even so, when asked to teach Buddhism at the court, he refused the offer.

Even if Buddhabhadra turned the offer down, he was still given land in Mount Songshan to construct a temple for Buddhism. This is the location of the martial art Shaolin originated and it actually translates to a small forest. This has been there until now for one thousand and five hundred years already and is the location of the biggest schools for its development and derivation into various other styles.

It was about fifty eight and around seventy six A. D. That the relations of the Indian and Chinese grew a lot that the concept of the style itself has become more used in China because of a lot of monks going to and from the countries. An Indian monk named Bodhidharma was believed to have preached Buddhism inside the Shaolin Temple.

In Henan, this is still practiced by monks who reside there. And it is a known fact by many that it has an entertainment value because of the beauty of the movements and form which caught the attention of many international audiences. However, the value for its self defense is being diminished due to it needing to be more showy and entertaining rather than useful.

Jin Jing Zhong was able to publish a book in 1934 called 72 Arts of Shaolin. This actually lists the methods and practices for training that is authentic and based more on self defense rather than for presentation. This was possible to be documented because of the author acquiring a scroll from Shaolin Abbot Miao Xing for him to use as reference.

This style utilizes punches, blocks, and kicks in order to stop any attacker from striking. Although the attention for this art was mostly focused due to the form and its movement which gives beauty to it. A mixture of open and closed handed strikes are utilized for defense as well as soft and hard techniques to either absorb or deliver force to an opponent.

Movies or films have been utilizing this in the fighting scenes and has gained popularity internationally aside from the theatrical aspect. Also, many fitness trainers and stuntmen are training to gain skills for this for their benefit as well. A lot of institutions have already opened in order to cater this art form which serves as training for people that are outside the Henan province.




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