Reno Martial Arts History
Shaolin Temple
There are few historical entities that engender as much debate,
confusion, and acrimony as the nature and reality of Shaolin. We have
heard distinguished university professors categorically deny the existence
of either Shaolin or its problem-children Tongs; that only authenticated
accounts by the Communist Chinese government are to be trusted; or that
the temples are fictitious, based on stories in old novels.
The following accounts are taken from sources who 1) practiced
the specific kung fu styles to Master level from the "supposed"
temples, 2) learned their arts AT those temples before the temples were
destroyed, or 3) were taught by practitioners from those temples. Also,
our sources were corroborated by at least three individuals (standard rule
of evidence accepted by most professional journalists). The masters,
however, have declined to be named for the reasons that 1) they do not
want to engage in controversy--the information is here to accept or reject
as you like (as directed by the last lesson of the Buddha), 2) they have
assumed new names after leaving China because, as refugees, did not want
their families to suffer for their actions. Having said that, and agreeing
in advance to protect the confidentiality of our sources, we have been
told that...
The Shaolin order dates to about 540 A.D., when an Indian Buddhist
priest named Bodhidharma (Tamo in Chinese), traveled to China to see the
Emperor. At that time, the Emperor had started local Buddhist monks
translating Buddhist texts from Sanskrit to Chinese. The intent was to
allow the general populace the ability to practice this religion.
This was a noble project, but when the Emperor believed this to be his
path to Nirvana, Tamo disagreed. Tamo's view on Buddhism was that you
could not achieve your goal just through good actions performed by others
in your name. At this point the Emperor and Tamo parted ways and Tamo
traveled to the nearby Buddhist temple to meet with the monks who were
translating these Buddhist texts.
The temple had been built years before in the remains of a forest that
had been cleared or burned down. At the time of the building of the
temple, the emperor's gardeners had also planted new trees. Thus the
temple was named "young (or new) forest", (Shaolin in Mandarin,
Sil Lum in Cantonese).
When Tamo arrived at the temple, he was refused admittance, probably
being thought of as an upstart or foreign meddler by the head abbot (Fang
Chang). Rejected by the monks, Tamo went to a nearby cave and meditated
until the monks recognized his religious prowess and admitted him. Legend
has it that he bored a hole through one side of the cave with his constant
gaze; in fact, the accomplishment that earned his recognition is lost to
history.
When Tamo joined the monks, he observed that they were not in good
physical condition. Most of their routine paralleled that of the Irish
monks of the Middle Ages, who spent hours each day hunched over tables
where they transcribed handwritten texts. Consequently, the Shaolin monks
lacked the physical and mental stamina needed to perform even the most
basic of Buddhist meditation practices. Tamo countered this weakness by
teaching them moving exercises, designed to both enhance chi
flow and build strength. These sets, modified from Indian yogas (mainly
hatha, and raja) were based on the movements of the 18 main animals in
Indo-Chinese iconography (e.g., tiger, deer, leopard, cobra, snake,
dragon, etc.), were the beginnings of Shaolin Kung Fu.
It is hard to say just when the exercises became "martial
arts". The Shaolin temple was in a secluded area where bandits would
have traveled and wild animals were an occasional problem, so the martial
side of the temple probably started out to fulfill self-defense needs.
After a while, these movements were codified into a system of
self-defense.
As time went on, this Buddhist sect became more and more distinct
because of the martial arts being studied. This is not to say that Tamo
"invented" martial arts. Martial arts had existed in China for
centuries. But within confines of the temple, it was possible to develop
and codify these martial arts into the new and different styles that would
become distinctly Shaolin. One of the problems faced by many western
historians is the supposed contraindication of Buddhist principles of
non-violence coupled with Shaolin's legendary martial skills. In fact, the
Shaolin practitioner is never an attacker, nor does he or she dispatch the
most devastating defenses in any situation. Rather, the study of kung fu
leads to better understanding of violence, and consequently how to
avoid conflict. Failing that, a Buddhist who refuses to accept an
offering of violence (i.e., and attack) merely returns it to the sender.
Initially, the kung fu expert may choose to parry an attack, but if an
assailant is both skilled and determined to cause harm, a more definitive
and concluding solution may be required, from a joint-lock hold to a
knockout, to death. The more sophisticated and violent an assault, the
more devastating the return of the attack to the attacker. Buddhists are
not, therefore, hurting anyone; they merely refuse delivery of intended
harm.
The Shaolin philosophy is one
that started from Buddhism and later adopted many Taoist principles to
become a new sect. Thus even though a temple may have been Taoist or
Buddhist at first, once it became Shaolin, it was a member of a new order,
an amalgamation of the prevailing Chinese philosophies of the time.
Other temples sprung from Henan.
This happened because the original temple would suffer repeated attacks
and periods of inactivity as the reigning Imperial and regional leaders
feared the martial powers of the not-always unaligned monks. Refugee
Shaolin practitioners would leave the temple to teach privately (in Pai)
or at other Buddhist or Taoist temples. In rare cases, a new Shaolin
Temple would be erected (Fukien, Kwangtung) or converted from a
pre-existing temple (Wu-Tang, O Mei Shan). Politically and militarily
involved monks (such as the legendary White Eyebrow and Hung Tze Kwan)
would be perpetual sources of trouble for the generally temporally aloof
monks.
The Boxer rebellion in 1901 was the beginning of the end of the Shaolin
temples. Prior to that, China had been occupied by Western and Japanese
governments and business interests. The British had turned the Imperial
family into an impotent puppet regime largely through the import and sales
of opium and the general drug-devastation inflicted upon the poor
population. This lead to the incursion of other European powers, including
Russia, France and Holland, and later the Japanese and Americans. By the
late 1800s, China was effectively divided into national zones, each
controlled by one of the outside powers (similar to post World War II
Berlin, on a hugely larger scale). The long standing animosities between
China and Japan worsened, and extended to include all other "foreign
devils" as well. Coupled with the now almost universal disdain by the
Chinese for their Empress, a Nationalist movement with nation-wide
grass-roots support was born. Among the front line soldiers of the new
"order" were the legendary and near-legendary martial
artists--many Shaolin--known as Boxers (remember how Bruce Lee, in his
films depicting these times, refers to himself as a Chinese boxer...).
Though their initial assaults on the military powers of the occupation
governments were not entirely successful (many believed in Taoist magical
spells that would make them impervious to gunfire), their temporary defeat
would lead to a more modern reformation that included adopting modern
military weapons and tactics.
The withdrawal of western forces was prolonged over many years, and by
the end of World War I saw China in an almost feudal state of civil war.
Not only were national troops fighting loyalists, but both sides had to
fight the Japanese (who still held much of the northern Manchurian region
of China) as well as many powerful, regional warlords. Many parts of China
were virtually anarchies, but by 1931 almost all non-Asian occupants had
been successfully driven out (with the interesting exception, in the late
1930s, of the volunteer American airmen known as The Flying Tigers, who
helped repel Japanese forces prior to World War II), and the major
combatants within China were the Nationalists and the Communists. Both
sides displayed the typical jingoistic attitudes of forces in mindless
warfare--if you aren't with us, you are against us. Neutrality meant
nothing except the possibility of a later enemy. Consequently, Shaolin and
other monks were routinely murdered by soldiers from both sides. One
result of this program of murder was the exodus of many monks into the
hills, or abroad, with the hope that Shaolin knowledge might survive even
if the temples themselves did not.
The temples were unfortunate victims of war in a land that had
abandoned its historical practice of respecting posterity and ancestors.
All were ransacked and looted by various armed groups. O Mei Shan Temple
("Great White Mountain"), in Szechuan Province, was situated on
a mountain top and deemed by Chinese officers to be a fitting target for
artillery practice. It was shelled in turn by Nationalist and Communist
armies. In a fitting twist of fate, this one-time site of medical and
natural history knowledge was rebuilt by the Communists in the mid 1970s,
and now stands as the National Park and Research Headquarters for the
panda preserve.
There are various stories coming out of China today referring to the
history of Shaolin, particularly over the past 300 years. However, many of
these stories are suspect (compare Chinese accounts of Tiananmen Square
with CNN news coverage), with the more commonly "authenticated"
versions coming from government records. The fact that Chinese authorities
outlawed Shaolin and martial arts practices makes any story about their
history from such sources suspect. The prevalent wu-shu styles originated
as a result of a compromise between the post-World War II governments and
the national need and history of having a martial arts tradition. Wu-Shu,
however, was not designed as a martial art (strictly illegal), and claims
to the contrary date back only a decade or so, following on the popularity
of Kung Fu...
More History: Shaolin Kung Fu - China
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