Bodhidharma．Kungfu．Shaolin Temple

Legend has it that stored away in Shaolin Temple is a library of secret works on the martial arts. How many kungfu novices have gone to the temple in hopes of a glimpse!

Legend has it that the Wutang school of kungfu, Shaolin's only rival, was founded by Chang San-feng. Chang, it is said, studied at Shaolin Temple as a youth and later created t'aichi ch'uan, or Chinese shadow boxing.

Legend has it that an adept who perfects his inner strength can wound a man by throwing a mere leaf at him. And he can strike his enemy's vital points without even touching him, by exerting an invisible force.

Three years ago the ROC Ministry of Education asked Professor Fan Cheng-chih of National Taiwan Normal University and nine other experts to collect materials on the history of Chinese martial arts for a book. Their work is now well underway, and the results hold some surprises for fans of the fictional world created by kungfu novels and movies.

Kungfu heroes once roamed the land.

One day in 520 A.D. a bearded, impressive-looking monk appeared in Nanking. His name was Bodhidharma, and he had come all the way from India to see the Chinese emperor, Liang Wu Ti, having heard that the emperor was a devout Buddhist.

"We have founded many temples, had many scriptures copied, and induced many of our subjects to become monks," the emperor told Bodhidharma. "What merits have we achieved by doing this?"

"None," the monk said.

"Why do you say that?" asked the emperor, taken aback.

"The true path is void," the monk answered. "Superficial works like these are all without merit."

"Then what is the highest attainment of the Buddhist path?" the emperor asked urgently.

"Since it's void, how can there be any 'highest attainment'?"

Disappointed with the emperor, Bodhidharma headed for the great Buddhist temple of Shaolin in Hopei province in north central China. When he came to the Yangtze River, he plucked a reed, chanted an incantation, and floated lightly across to the opposite shore.

After he arrived at the temple, he was "silent for days on end, facing the wall." Then one day nine years later he saw a crane attacking a snake. Inspired by their movements, he created the crane and serpent styles of kungfu. These, together with the dragon, tiger, and leopard styles which he later invented, made up what came to be known as the "five styles of Shaolin," China's first kungfu. When Bodhidharma died in 535, he left behind two works containing the essence of his teachings on the martial arts, one of which still remains.

The story of Bodhidharma and the five styles of kungfu is widely quoted in kungfu novels and movies, and historical records in fact show that there really was a Bodhidharma who met Liang Wu Ti, withdrew to Shaolin Temple, and made great contributions there. Only the contributions were his teachings on Buddhism, not martial arts.

A deeply religious man, as the story of his visit to the emperor shows, Bodhidharma is hardly likely to have written the book attributed to him, which contains descriptions of bedroom as well as kungfu techniques. It is even unlikely he was versed in the martial arts at all, although he may have known something about yoga. The reed referred to in the story of his crossing the Yangtze can be explained as a metaphor for a small boat.

So if Chinese martial arts didn't originate with Bodhidharma, where did they come from?

"The most primitive form of fighting must have looked something like a wrestling brawl, with head butts included," Professor Fan Cheng-chih speculates. In fact, the legendary Yellow Emperor's rival for the empire, Ch'ih Yu, was said to have been a master at wrestling, with "a head of bronze and a forehead of iron." To defeat him, the Yellow Emperor relied on the bow and arrow, which two of his ministers invented.

Weapons later developed into numerous varieties, which tradition classifies into 18 types, including the spear, sword, ax, hammer, fork, rake, noose, and--bare hands.

Styles of fighting developed as well. These varied from place to place, with the Yangtze a major dividing line. The northern styles were more wide open and emphasized the feet, while the southern made greater use of the hands.

But of all the styles and schools that ever were, the greatest--according to popular legend, fiction, and historical inquiry alike--is Shaolin, with Wutang second.

According to historical records, Shaolin Temple was built by the emperor Hsiao Wen Ti of the Northern Wei in 495, 25 years before Bodhidharma came to China. And the martial arts prowess of its monks also figures in history, the most famous episode being "the thirteen monks with staves rescue the Prince of Ch'in."

At the beginning of the T'ang dynasty (618--907), the Prince of Ch'in, son of the dynastic founder and later an emperor himself, was engaged in a campaign against some still rebellious warlords in Hopei. Caught in a pincer attack, he wrote to Shaolin Temple for help. Thirteen monks led their brethren to battle, where they captured the enemy commander and delivered him up to the prince. In gratitude, the future emperor made one of the monks a general and granted the temple more land. A stone stele inscribed with the prince's letter exists to this day.

Why should supposedly unworldly monks be masters at fighting?

"Shaolin Temple was rich in donations," points out Chou Chi-ch'un, one of scholars working on the martial arts history. "It had eight statues of pure gold. To protect themselves against bandits, the monks naturally had to study self-defense." Because the monks did not believe in taking life, they excelled at staves and fists rather than swords or spears.

Shaolin's prestige remained high through the centuries. During the early part of the Ching dynasty (1644--1911), the temple was, according to legend, a center of resistance to the Manchus. The Yung Cheng Emperor himself was said to have slipped into the temple in disguise once and then ordered its destruction by fire, a tale embellished by many a storyteller.

But historical records in fact show us that the very inscription "Shaolin Temple" on the temple's main plaque was written by Yung Cheng's father, the K'ang Hsi Emperor, and that Yung Cheng himself, far from destroying the temple, actually ordered its renovation. Imperial relatives and high officials continued to visit the temple throughout the dynasty.

Shaolin Temple was really burned down once, but it was in 1928, by a warlord angered that the monks had given refuge to another warlord, his foe. The temple at Shaolin today is a reconstruction.

If the Ching rulers never burned down the temple, how did the legend get started?

"What the Ching court burned down was South Shaolin Temple," says Lu Sungchi, eighth grandmaster of the southern Shaolin school. In the early Ching dynasty, Shaolin disciples built a second temple in Fukien province in southeast China, and the monks there were involved in the anti-Ching resistance. Explanations for why it was burned down are many. Lu believes the reason had to do with the Heaven and Earth Society.

Lu says that after Koxinga, the would-be restorer of the Ming dynasty, occupied Taiwan, he sent Ch'en Chin-nan back to the mainland to look for the Prince of Kuei, the Ming heir. But the prince unexpectedly was killed, and Ch'en founded the Heaven and Earth Society to work against the Ching dynasty in secret. Koxinga sent five of his generals to help Ch'en, but they couldn't find him. They then hid out in South Shaolin Temple, instructing the monks in martial arts and propagating anti-Ching thinking.

Eventually, word of their activity reached the government. In league with the lamaists, whose sect, powerful at the time, resented the Buddhists, government troops stormed the temple one night and set it ablaze. Yet one master practiced in the temple's martial arts managed to escape from the flames. It was his knowledge that has been passed down as the southern Shaolin school to this day.

Today on Taiwan the southern Shaolin school has 40-some chapters, besides its main training center in Fengyuan. Students and novices are countless, but real adepts number in the sixties or seventies.

One of them, Chen K'un-lan, won first place in the first Chinese Martial Arts World Cup Competition, held in Tokyo in 1975.

Kungfu heroes still roam the land.

[Picture Caption]

Secret works on kungfu? Not really. These are some of the materials collected by the Education Ministry for its history of Chinese martial arts.

Bodhidharma, honored as the founder of the Shaolin school, was said to be adept at "light-body" kungfu. The picture is called Bodhidharma Crosses the Yangtze on a Reed.

This cave behind Shaolin Temple is where Bodhidharma is said to have stayed nine years "facing the wall." (photo courtesy of Yuan Liu Publishing Co.)

Kungfu has been inextricably bound up with the Chinese people for thousands of years. Shown are instructor Liu Yun-ch'iao and some of his prize pupils.

The sword is one of the most commonly used weapons in Chinese martial arts. Ting Yang-kuo, product of a Peking opera acting school, wields one impressively.

Though only for practice, these two go at it like they mean it. (demonstration models: Ting Yang-kuo, P'eng Li-chang)

Experts at pikes and halberds must be quick on their feet to catch their opponents off guard and strike from afar. (demonstration model: Ting Yang-kuo)

Lu Sung-chi, eighth grandmaster of the southern Shaolin school, demonstrates the traditional Shaolin gesture of greeting.

The statue of Bodhidharma in the southern Shaolin school's main training center in Fengyuan was brought over from Fukien province.

Bodhidharma, honored as the founder of the Shaolin school, was said to be adept at "light-body" kungfu. The picture is called Bodhidharma Crosses the Yangtze on a Reed.

This cave behind Shaolin Temple is where Bodhidharma is said to have stayed nine years "facing the wall." （photo courtesy of Yuan Liu Publishing Co.）