Introduction
of Physical Exercise
In about 539 AD, a holy man named Bodhi Dharma (later called Ta Mo by the Chinese) left his monastery in Southern India to spread the Buddhist faith to China, later called Ch'an Buddhism. ( Ch'an is the Chinese translation for the Sanskrit word "dhyana" meaning Yogic concentration, also known as Zen in Japanese when it was introduced from China.). After traveling hundreds of miles to reach Northern China and crossing the Himalayan mountains and the Yangtze River, he headed North to Loyang, the capital of Henan Province.
There of course he found the Shaolin Ssu (Temple). It was, 40 years after it was founded, and it had become famous for scholarly translations of Indian Buddhist scripture into Chinese. Sodhi Dharma sought entrance to Shaolin but the abbot of the day, Fang Chang would not let him into the temple. Bodhi Dharma was determined to enter and see the Shaolin Ssu. He located to a nearby cave on the side of a mountain where he sat in meditation facing a stonewall for nine years.
Fang Chang allowed Bodhi Dharma entry into the temple Shaolin.
Upon gaining entrance to Shaolin, Ta Mo (as he was now called by the Chinese) saw that the monks were weak and unable to perform the rigorous meditations he expected that Buddhist Monks should be practicing. While meditating they often fell asleep or were very restless and were not achieving inner calm or peace ( a state required to reach Enlightenment, that for which all Buddhist strive! ).
He spent some time in seclusion pondering the problem. Considering the time and health awareness of the period, Ta Mo came to a staggeringly accurate conclusion, that the monks were not fit to meditate. With this in mind he started working on a solution; he created three series of exercises.
These in-place exercises were later transcribed by monks as;
• "The Muscle Change Classic" or "The Change of the Sinews"
• "The Marrow Washing"
• "The Eighteen Hand Movements" later named "The Eighteen Lohan Kune".
(Lohan meaning enlightened and Kune meaning Hands/Exercises)
This marked the beginning of Shaolin Temple Kung Fu (meaning hard work and perfection through time). Ta Mo later devised some self-defense movements based on his knowledge of Indian fighting systeins (Bodhi Dharma was born an Indian Prince and was well versed in Yoga and Indian Kung Fu).
In about 539 AD, a holy man named Bodhi Dharma (later called Ta Mo by the Chinese) left his monastery in Southern India to spread the Buddhist faith to China, later called Ch'an Buddhism. ( Ch'an is the Chinese translation for the Sanskrit word "dhyana" meaning Yogic concentration, also known as Zen in Japanese when it was introduced from China.). After traveling hundreds of miles to reach Northern China and crossing the Himalayan mountains and the Yangtze River, he headed North to Loyang, the capital of Henan Province.
There of course he found the Shaolin Ssu (Temple). It was, 40 years after it was founded, and it had become famous for scholarly translations of Indian Buddhist scripture into Chinese. Sodhi Dharma sought entrance to Shaolin but the abbot of the day, Fang Chang would not let him into the temple. Bodhi Dharma was determined to enter and see the Shaolin Ssu. He located to a nearby cave on the side of a mountain where he sat in meditation facing a stonewall for nine years.
Fang Chang allowed Bodhi Dharma entry into the temple Shaolin.
Upon gaining entrance to Shaolin, Ta Mo (as he was now called by the Chinese) saw that the monks were weak and unable to perform the rigorous meditations he expected that Buddhist Monks should be practicing. While meditating they often fell asleep or were very restless and were not achieving inner calm or peace ( a state required to reach Enlightenment, that for which all Buddhist strive! ).
He spent some time in seclusion pondering the problem. Considering the time and health awareness of the period, Ta Mo came to a staggeringly accurate conclusion, that the monks were not fit to meditate. With this in mind he started working on a solution; he created three series of exercises.
These in-place exercises were later transcribed by monks as;
• "The Muscle Change Classic" or "The Change of the Sinews"
• "The Marrow Washing"
• "The Eighteen Hand Movements" later named "The Eighteen Lohan Kune".
(Lohan meaning enlightened and Kune meaning Hands/Exercises)
This marked the beginning of Shaolin Temple Kung Fu (meaning hard work and perfection through time). Ta Mo later devised some self-defense movements based on his knowledge of Indian fighting systeins (Bodhi Dharma was born an Indian Prince and was well versed in Yoga and Indian Kung Fu).
A History of Kung Fu
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