Brief History On Shaolin Martial Arts

By Dominique Martin


The actual Kung Fu is a term from a successful achievement or an accomplishment after doing a lot of hard work and mastery. It must not be connoted as a term for the martial art itself which a lot of people have already thought of. A simple example would be for the individual to deliver a side kick towards an opponent and make them go down and drop, then would be regarded as 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.

During the Dynasty of Northern Wei, a Buddhist monk travelled from India to China in four hundred and ninety five A. D. He was called Ba Tuo by the people of China but his actual name was Buddhabhadra. He gained favor from Emperor Xiaowen and was offered at the court to teach Buddhism, but he refused to do so.

Although he turned down the offer, he was given a piece of land in order to build a temple. As mentioned, it was in Songshan Mountain which the word Shaolin literally translates to small forest. So for fifteen hundred years, this is where the art was developed and where the biggest schools had been located, as well the derivation and development of 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.

But in 1934, Jin Jing Zhong published a book named 72 Arts of Shaolin. This is which the author listed only those authentic training methods which are designed more for self defense. These methods and practices were developed due to the scroll given to the author by Abbot Miao Xing.

The utilization of kicks, punches, and blocks are the main points to hinder any attacker to strike. But the attention is well focused on the form and the movements of the art which actually gives beauty. Also, a mixture of various closed or open handed strikes used for defense with either hard and soft techniques for the delivery of the strikes would all contribute to the artform.

A lot of movies have utilized this as a primary fighting style in their scenes. It has been practiced by a lot of fitness trainers and stuntmen in order for it to catch the attention of the audience. There are also training institutions outside Henan and China itself that are teaching basic forms and practices for both children and adults.




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