Shaolin Martial Arts

Although forms of martial arts had been practiced for hundreds of years before Bodhidharma’s arrival at the Shaolin temple, he introduced the specific regimen of exercises that forms the basis for modern Shaolin. Most of the time, these martial arts are referred to as “Kung Fu,” which is the Cantonese term for “master of endurance and strength;” they are also called wushu in China more generally. (When they were introduced in Japan, in the 8th century AD, they became Sumo.) This breath-based series of stylized movements is intended to strengthen the body, calm the mind, and teach discipline and concentration.

One reason often given for Bodhidharma’s development of these exercises is that the monks he encountered at the Shaolin monastery were physically very weak. Their main task was translating manuscripts and transcribing them by hand, so they spent much of their time hunched over these texts. The Shaolin temple at that time was renowned for its translations of Buddhist teachings from Sanskrit into local Chinese languages; thereafter, it became famous for the martial arts skills of its monks. In the late 7th century, according to legend, 13 monks from the Shaolin temple helped the Emperor to rescue his son from a hostile army. In gratitude, the Emperor proclaimed the Shaolin temple in Henan to be the foremost in the kingdom. There are Shaolin “nuns” as well as monks, and women in the temples have the same rights and training as the men.

Shaolin gradually differentiated itself from other Buddhist sects through its emphasis on martial arts. The temple itself functioned like a university, incorporating a broad range of subjects into its curriculum. By the time a monk “graduated” from the temple, he would have studied medicine, agriculture, cartography, painting, mathematics, poetry, music, weapon-making, textile-making, history, calligraphy, natural history, pottery, languages, and religion, in addition to martial arts. The graduation itself was an intensely difficult ceremony—sometimes fatal—that involved 18 chambers of challenges, the last of which required the monk to lift a white-hot iron urn between his fore-arms, branding the temple’s animal insignia (often a dragon and a tiger) on his skin.

There are now many different styles of Shaolin, primarily divided between northern and southern techniques. Each has an association with a particular animal: praying mantis, crane, tiger, dragon, snake, leopard, etc. Thus, the crane style would focus on developing control and spirit, using one-legged postures as an opportunity for meditation. The snake system includes undulating the body as physical energy uncoils within it, as well as sudden attacks, since the snake is a mysterious animal whose intentions cannot be divined from its fluid, almost hypnotic movements. Both crane and snake styles rely upon chi’i, the energy that animates the whole body and allows the monks to leap to extraordinary heights, split bricks with their hands, spin in mid-air, execute a succession of back-flips, or sit perfectly still for long periods of time.