Introductory History of Shaolin Temple

 

The Shaolin Monastery is the most famous temple in China, renown for its kung fu fighting monks. With amazing feats of strength, flexibility, and pain-endurance, the Shaolin monks have created a world-wide reputation as the ultimate Buddhist warriors. Yet Buddhism is generally considered to be a peaceful religion, with emphasis on principles such as non-violence, vegetarianism and even self-sacrifice to avoid harming others. How, then, did the monks of Shaolin Temple become fighters?

The history of Shaolin begins about 1500 years ago, when a stranger arrived in China from lands to the west…

Origin of the Shaolin Temple:

Legend says that c. 480 A.D. a wandering Buddhist teacher came to China from India. He was called Buddhabhadra, also known as Batuo or Fotuo in Chinese. According to later Chan (or in Japanese, Zen) Buddhist tradition, Batuo taught that Buddhism could best be transmitted from master to student, rather than through the study of Buddhist texts.

In 496, the Northern Wei Emperor Xiaowen gave Batuo funds to establish a monastery at holy Mt. Shaoshi in the Song mountain range, 30 miles from the imperial capital of Luoyang. This temple was named Shaolin (Shao from Mt. Shaoshi, lin meaning “grove”).

Early Shaolin History:

Another Buddhist teacher was Bodhidharma, who came from either India or Persia. He famously refused to teach Huike, a Chinese disciple; Huike cut off his own arm to prove his sincerity, and became the Bodhidharma’s first student.

The Bodhidharma also reportedly spent 9 years in silent meditation in a cave above Shaolin. One legend says that he fell asleep after seven years, and cut off his own eyelids so that it could not happen again. The eyelids turned into the first tea bushes when they hit the soil.

In 534, Luoyang and the Wei Dynasty fell. Temples in the area were destroyed, possibly including Shaolin.

Shaolin in the Sui and Early Tang Eras:

Around 600 A.D., Emperor Wendi of the new Sui Dynasty awarded Shaolin a 1,400-acre estate, plus the right to grind grain with a water mill. The emperor was a committed Buddhist himself, but most of his court supported Confucianism instead.

The Sui reunified China, but lasted only 37 years. Soon, the country once more dissolved into the fiefs of competing warlords.

Shaolin Temple’s fortunes rose with the ascension of the Tang Dynasty in 618, formed by a rebel official from the Sui court. Shaolin monks famously fought for Li Shimin against the warlord Wang Shichong. Li would go on to be the second Tang emperor.

Shaolin Temple in the Tang Era:

Despite their assistance to the early Tang rulers, Shaolin and China’s other Buddhist temples faced numerous purges. In 622, Shaolin was shut down and the monks forcibly returned to lay life. Just two years later, the temple was allowed to reopen due to the military service its monks had rendered to the throne. In 625, Li Shimin returned 560 acres to the monastery’s estate.

Relations with the emperors were uneasy throughout the 8th century, but Chan Buddhism blossomed across China. In 728, the monks erected a stele engraved with stories of their military aid to the throne, as a reminder to future emperors.

The Tang to Ming Transition:

In 841, the Tang Emperor Wuzong feared the power of the Buddhists, so he razed almost all of the temples in his empire and had the monks defrocked or even killed. Wuzong idolized his ancestor Li Shimin, however, so he spared Shaolin.

In 907, the Tang Dynasty fell, and the chaotic 5 Dynasties and 10 Kingdom periods ensued. The Song family eventually prevailed, ruling until 1279. Few records of Shaolin’s fate during this period survive. We know that in 1125, a shrine was built to Bodhidharma, 1/2 mile from Shaolin.

The Song was followed by the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, which ruled until 1368.

Shaolin’s Golden Age:

As the Yuan Dynasty crumbled, Shaolin was destroyed once more during the 1351 Hongjin (Red Turban) rebellion. Legend states that a Bodhisattva, disguised as a kitchen worker, saved the temple; in fact it was burned to the ground.

Still, by the 1500s, the monks of Shaolin were famous for their staff-fighting skills. In 1511, 70 monks died fighting bandit armies. Between 1553 and 1555, the monks were mobilized to fight in at least four battles against Japanese pirates.

The next century saw the development of Shaolin’s empty-hand fighting methods. However, the monks fought on the Ming side in the 1630s – and lost.

Shaolin in the Early Modern Era:

In 1641, rebel leader Li Zicheng destroyed the monastic army, sacked Shaolin and killed or drove away the monks. He went on to take Beijing in 1644, ending the Ming Dynasty, but was driven out in turn by the Manchus who founded the Qing Dynasty.

Shaolin Temple lay mostly deserted for decades. The last abbot, Yongyu, left without naming a successor in 1664.

Legend says that a group of Shaolin monks rescued the Kangxi Emperor from nomads in 1674. According to the story, envious officials then burned down the temple, killing most of the monks.

Gu Yanwu traveled to the remains of Shaolin in 1679 to record its history.

Shaolin in the Qing Era:

Shaolin slowly recovered from being sacked; in 1704, the Kangxi Emperor made a gift of his own calligraphy to signal the temple’s return to imperial favor. The monks had learned caution, however, and empty-hand fighting began to displace weapons training. It was best not to seem too threatening to the throne.

In 1735-6, the emperor Yongzheng and his son Qianlong decided to renovate Shaolin and cleanse its grounds of “fake monks” – martial artists who affected monks robes without being ordained. The Qianlong Emperor even visited Shaolin in 1750, and wrote poetry about its beauty, but later banned monastic martial arts.

Shaolin in the Modern Era:

During the nineteenth century, the monks of Shaolin were accused of violating their monastic vows by eating meat, drinking alcohol and even hiring prostitutes. Many saw vegetarianism as impractical for warriors; this is probably why government officials sought to impose it upon Shaolin’s fighting monks.

The temple’s reputation received a serious blow during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, when Shaolin monks were implicated (probably incorrectly) in teaching the Boxers martial arts.

In 1912, China’s last imperial dynasty, the Qing, fell due to its weak position compared with intrusive European powers. The country fell into chaos again, which ended only with the victory of the Communists under Mao Zedong in 1949.

Meanwhile, in 1928, the warlord Shi Yousan burned down 90% of the Shaolin Temple. Much of it would not be rebuilt for 60 to 80 years.

Shaolin under Communist Rule:

At first, Mao’s government did not bother with what was left of Shaolin. However, in accordance with Marxist doctrine, the new government was officially atheist. In 1966, the Cultural Revolution broke out, and Buddhist temples were one of the Red Guards’ primary targets. The few remaining Shaolin monks were flogged through the streets and then jailed; Shaolin’s texts, paintings, and other treasures stolen or destroyed.

This might have finally been the end of Shaolin, if not for the 1982 film Shaolin Shi or “Shaolin Temple,” featuring the debut of Jet Li (Li Lianjie). The movie was based very loosely on the story of the monks’ aid to Li Shimin, and became a huge smash hit in China.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, tourism exploded at Shaolin, reaching more than 1 million people per year by the end of the 1990s. Shaolin’s monks are now among the best known on Earth; they put on martial arts displays in world capitals, and literally thousands of films have been made about their exploits.

Batuo’s Legacy

It’s hard to imagine what the first abbot of Shaolin would think if he could see the temple now. He might be surprised and even dismayed by the amount of bloodshed in the temple’s history. However, to survive the tumult that has characterized so many periods of Chinese history, the monks of Shaolin had to learn the skills of warriors. Despite a number of attempts to erase the temple, it survives and even thrives today, there at the base of the Songshan Range.

Shaolin History Overview

A Basic Overview of Shaolin Temple History

Over the next few weeks basic historical overviews of the Shaolin monastery history, and the martial arts that sprouted from the Temple and its associated institutions, will be provided. In the future, a more detailed history, and explorations of some of these important events or periods, will be made available.

History of Shaolin 少林的历史

On a mountain in Henan Province stands a Buddhist temple with a long and tempestuous history. It is the most famous Buddhist temple in China and perhaps even the world – its name is Shaolinsi, or Shaolin Temple.

Before we begin to discuss the history of the Shaolin Temple, it is important to note that these dates are not certain and there may be many versions of the actual chronological progression. There are, however, certain events, regardless of the exact dates, that are instrumental to the creation and development of Shaolin. It is the knowledge of these events and their progression that is important to understanding how Shaolin became what it is today.

Chinese history is recorded by dynasty, a sequence of powerful rulers of the same family or group. We will be making reference to these dynasties in our discussion of Shaolin history.1

Building the Temple

In the last years of the 5th century CE, there was an Indian monk named Buddhabhadra traveling around China teaching Hinayana Buddhism. The emperor at the time, Emperor Xiaowen, was a follower of Buddhism and invited Buddhabhadra to the Imperial Court, where he was renamed Batuo in Chinese. Emperor Xiaowen was so taken with Batuo’s teachings he offered him a permanent place within the Imperial Court. Batuo desired a location separated from the busy life in the court, so he declined the Emperor’s gracious offer. In return, Emperor Xiaowen commanded in 495 CE (19th year of Taihe, Northern Wei Dynasty)2 that a temple be built deep in the forest of the Shaoshi peak in the Songshan range, the area of the Five Great Mountains sacred to Taoism. This temple was named Shaolin for its location, shao (少) for the Shaoshi peak, lin (林) meaning “forest”, and si (寺) for temple. Therefore, Shaolin Temple (少林寺) means “Forest Temple on Shaoshi.”3 Once built, Batuo and the monks that joined him at Shaolin devoted themselves to the translation of Buddhist scriptures (sutras).

Bodhidharma Comes to Shaolin

Around 527 CE4, another Indian monk named Bodhidharma came to China to spread Mahayana Buddhist teachings. He was said to be an Indian prince turned monk and disciple of Prajnatara, the 27th patriarch of Indian Buddhism. In a similar fashion, Bodhidharma was invited to the Imperial Court of the then emperor, Emperor Wu Ti, and renamed Damo in Chinese. Unlike Batuo, however, Damo was not well received and left the Imperial Court. He then traveled to the Shaolin Temple, famous at the time for their sutra translations, where the abbot refused to allow Damo to enter. Damo retreated to a cave on Wuru Peak, a mountain behind the Shaolin Temple, where he meditated for 9 years. It is said that Damo sat facing a wall for so much of those 9 years that his shadow was permanently etched onto the cave wall.5 During this time of isolation, it is said that Damo, through a fusion of Buddhist and Chinese philosophy created what is known today as Chan (or Zen in Japanese) Buddhism.6 When he returned to the Temple, his determination and devotion impressed the monks and they allowed him to enter.

Legend states that while observing the daily routine of the Temple, Damo was distraught to see many monks of a sickly and weak constitution. He was also upset to see monks losing concentration and falling asleep during their daily tasks and meditations. Without being able to concentrate, Damo could not see how these monks could reach the calm, focused state of mind and inner peace necessary to reach Enlightenment, an important journey for all Buddhists. In addition, with its remote location, there were many dangerous wild animals and bandits around the Temple. With these two considerations in mind, Damo, who as an Indian prince was said to be of the Warrior caste and thus trained in martial arts, created what became known as the 18 Hands of Lohan.7 The exercises are said to be derived from existing methods used by the Chinese people to keep fit and from Damo’s observations of the movement of animals. They were meant to help keep the monks healthy and fit as well as teach basic self-defense. This practice of balancing a healthy mind with a healthy spirit and a healthy body, the Chan Buddhist sect influence, became the pillar upon which Shaolin philosophy and practice was founded.

Temple Growth through the Early Common Era Dynasties

Around 536 CE, Damo passed on, leaving his teachings to his main disciple. For the next 40 years, the Temple refined and practiced the Chan teachings and physical exercises. However, during the years surrounding 574-577 CE (at the end of the Northern Zhou Dynasty), Emperor Zhou Wu issued an Imperial Decree banning Buddhism and the Temple was abandoned. Not long after, in the years between 579 and 580 CE, Emperor Zhou Jing resurrected Buddhism and began the reconstruction of the Shaolin Temple, renaming it “Zhihusi” (Zhihu Temple).

In 580 CE, the Northern Zhou Dynasty was overthrown by Yang Jian, who became Emperor Wen of Sui, creating the Sui Dynasty. In 581, Emperor Wen, a Buddhist devotee, returned the name of “Shaolin” to the Temple. When he returned the name, Emperor Wen issued an Imperial Decree bestowing 100 qing (an ancient Chinese unit of measurement where 1 qing was roughly equivalent to 16.474 acres) of cypress land to the Temple, providing them with some economic strength.

During the later years of the Sui Dynasty, civil unrest, warlord attacks, and bandit raids were frequent and culminated in two important events for the Shaolin Temple. In 618 CE (the first year of the Tang Dynasty), bandits attacked and burned the Temple. Around 621 CE, during the reign of Emperor Gaozu, a dangerous warlord, Wang Shichong, captured the cypress estate bestowed on the Shaolin Temple by Emperor Wen to use as a military staging ground in preparation for attacking the Temple itself. Emperor Gaozu’s son, Prince Li Shimin, engaged Wang Shichong and was captured. From the Temple, 13 monks attacked Wang Shichong’s army, rescued Li Shimin, and captured Wang Shichong’s nephew, Wang Renze.

When Li Shimin ascended to the throne to become the 2nd Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Taizong, he issued an Imperial Decree granting land to the Temple, the right to train a small army of martial monks, and other small tokens. This decree, more importantly, gave the monks permission to eat meat and drink alcohol.8 Throughout the long reign of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE), the Shaolin Temple flourished under the patronage and support of the Tang Emperors. The temple grew to own over 14,000 Chinese mu (1/100th of a qing) of farmland, 540 Chinese mu of temple area with over 5,400 rooms, and house over 2,000 monks. 9

In 728 CE, the monks erected a stele at the temple engraved with the stories of the military aid they had given in the past to serve as a reminder to future emperors.

This golden age for the Temple would come to an end toward the last years of the Tang Dynasty (around 845 CE). The current emperor, Emperor Wu Zong, decreed that Buddhism should be destroyed. He razed almost all the temples in the empire and returned thousands of Buddhist clergy into lay life or hiding. This persecution lasted for 20 months until Emperor Xuan Zong ascended the throne in 846 CE and enacted a policy of tolerance.

There are few records of the history of the Shaolin Temple from the end of the Tang Dynasty (907 CE), through the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties (907-1279 CE), through the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the period of Mongol rule, (1279-1368 CE), a period of 461 years. During the Yongxi period of the Song Dynasty, the Shaolin Temple reserved over 9,500 volumes of Buddhist Scriptures, earning the Temple the title of the “First Temple in the World.”

In the year 1126 CE (the year the Northern Song Dynasty fell), a memorial hall was erected in the Bodhidharma’s honor. Popularly known as The Hall of the Chan Founding Patriarch, it is situated two kilometers to the northwest of the monastery.

It was not until the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty that Shaolin Monastery regained its prosperity. Kublai Khan appointed Monk Fuyu, a reputed and erudite leader of the school under the Chan sect, as Abbot of the Shaolin Buddhist Monastery. At that same time, Kublai Khan decreed that Shaolin Monastery was to function as the arch-monastic institution in China, responsible for governing all the Buddhist monasteries across China. With over 2,000 monks, the Temple promoted charitable works and worked toward fully developing Shaolin martial arts.10 Additionally, Abbot Fuyu established the patriarchal clan naming system that has been passed down for 70 generations.

In 1351, the Shaolin Temple was completely burned to the ground during the Hongjin (Red Turban) Rebellion.

Ming and Qing Dynasties

From the beginning of the Ming Dynasty onward, martial arts of the Shaolin School grew more and more sophisticated and mature, with the branches of martial arts also growing in number.

During the Ming Dynasty, Japanese pirates often invaded the coastal areas in the southeastern China. The Ming imperial court repeatedly asked the Shaolin detachment of warrior monks to take part in attacks against the Japanese pirates. The detachment led by both Monk Xiaoshan and Monk Yuekong launched several deadly offensives against the Japanese pirates. Most warrior monks of the detachment, including the two leading monks, were killed in action. The stone memorial to those heroes still stands proudly in front of the gate of the monastery. The inscriptions on the pagodas of the two heroic monks in the Precinct of Pagodas in the monastery describe their feats in detail.

At the end of the Ming dynasty around 1644, China was in chaos. Many scholars started to learn wushu in hopes of fighting against the Manchus, who later invaded central China and founded the Qing dynasty. Among these early scholars were Huang Songxi and Gou Yanwu, who not only practiced wushu but also wrote books about it. These books played an important role in promoting Shaolin kung-fu.

During the early years of the Qing Dynasty, the Shaolin Temple accused of being a haven for anti-Qing activists and was destroyed. The second Qing Emperor of China, Kangxi gifted his own calligraphy to the temple to signify its return to favor. However, the temple was cautious of what types of martial arts would be studied during this time so as to not appear too threatening to the throne.

In 1735, in the 13th year of Emperor Yongzheng, the emperor personally came to the temple with his son, Qianlong, to oversee the renovation and rebuilding of the temple. During this time, they cleansed the temple of “fake monks,” martial artists who wore monks robes without being ordained. However, later in his reign, Emperor Qianlong banned monastic martial arts.

Throughout both the closing period of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning decades of the Republic of China, drastic social upheavals left Shaolin Monastery exposed to the pillage of warlords’ armed forces and bandits. After the 1911 Revolution that overthrew China’s last feudal dynasty, martial art masters were regarded as the hatchet men of officials and wealthy people. Although sometimes they were asked to hold contests, these were merely shows for fun. Under such circumstances, Shaolin Kung-Fu, as with all other schools, couldn’t develop.

In 1928, General Shi Yousan led some detachments under his command and stormed the Shaolin Monastery. The pillage committed by his soldiers culminated in a hellish conflagration that devoured more than two thousand significant buildings in the monastic compound, including the Hall of Sakyamuni, the Hall of the Four Heavenly Sovereigns, the Buddhist Scriptures Depository, the Belfry, and the Tower of Drums. Also destroyed in the conflagration were numerous valuable relics and dossiers. It burned for over 40 days. The main structures and many valued cultural relics were destroyed. Literature on Shaolin wushu, such as the Orthodox Shaolin Skills, Secrets of Shaolin Boxing, and The Essence of Shaolin Boxing, were lost in the fire. This disaster inflicted a deadly blow on the monastery that was almost completely buried under the fire’s debris.

Shaolin in Modern Times

The People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949. At the start, historic elements were not preserved, but gradually the government began to appreciate the cultural value of these elements. Before the middle of the 1960’s, a steady flow of government appropriations had been directed to fuel the reconstruction of the Shaolin Monastery. Step by step, the monastery regained its past splendor and reclaimed its previous glory.

The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China was adopted by the 5th National People’s Congress on Dec. 4, 1982. It has subsequently been revised three times and the current constitution guarantees freedom of religion. Yet the central government in Beijing has limited the right to peacefully assemble. Perhaps because of this, the central government has limited religious practice in China to those groups officially recognized by the government. In 1983, the State Council declared the monastery to be among China’s important cultural sites that deserve national-level protection.

Since the current abbot, Abbot Shi Yongxin assumed leadership of the Shaolin Temple in 1999, his cultural initiatives and global outreach programs, in conjunction with the Chinese government, have helped to preserve Shaolin philosophy and teachings and made these invaluable teachings accessible to the world.

Footnotes

1 For a more detailed breakdown of these dynasties, please visit the Wikipedia article. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynasties_in_Chinese_history)

2 The date that the temple was built has been contested. Scholars argue the dates between 477-497 CE as viable times.

3 Shaolin is also frequently translated as “little or young forest.”

4 Another contested date. Bodhidharma was recorded as traveling to China and the Shaolin Temple sometime between 517-527 CE.

5 The shadow imprint has been removed from the cave and is now on display at the Shaolin Temple.

6 The creation of Chan Buddhism is also a contested idea. Some scholars say that Chan Buddhism was already prevalent in India at the time Bodhidharma came to China, while others state that Bodhidharma himself created it after arriving in China.

7 These original 18 hands were qigong movements: focused, moving meditation. They are not to be confused with the modern Luohan Shibashou boxing form.

8 The events surrounding the attack of Wang Shichong and Li Shimin’s rescue by the 13 monks are depicted in Jet Li’s first movie Shaolin Temple.

9 Shi Yongxin, Ed. Handbook for Shaolin Temple Tour. Contemporary China Publishing House.

10 Shi Yongxin, Ed. Handbook for Shaolin Temple Tour. Contemporary China Publishing House.

 

Effectiveness of Traditional Martial Arts

In modern martial arts training today, there is a lot of talk about how traditional martial arts techniques are completely ineffective for real world defense. Some form of structured martial arts has been practiced in China for more than 2000 years. For example, organized wrestling (today often referred to as shuāijiāo) was already a well established martial art by the time of the first written records on the subject about 4000 years ago.

Only relatively recently has martial arts training taken on self-development and self-cultivation as a primary emphasis. This view only began to arise about 400 years ago in China and Japan, once the arts were less essential to winning victories on the battlefield. At this point, highly skilled martial artists began engaging in structured, ritualized combat on a widespread level. The full shift of some systems focusing almost completely on the heath and self-development aspects of their arts did not occur until the modern era, around 100 to 150 years ago, loosely corresponding with the degrading of the last Chinese dynasty (Qīng Cháo, established in 1644), with its final collapse occurring in 1912. This means that for the majority of its history, traditional martial arts were practiced specifically as war arts on the battlefield. On the battlefield there were no rules, no structure, only life and death; victory or defeat. This fact alone is proof of the effectiveness of techniques, training, and strategies. Soldiers, bodyguards, couriers, and other professional martial artists who fought for their lives on a regular basis, would not have continued to employ ineffective tactics.

During World War II traditional Chinese martial artists were employed effectively in encounters by Chinese guerrillas to resist the Japanese military occupation of their country. In some of these instances, nationalist militias fought with rudimentary rifles (compared to Japanese military hardware) and military style sabers which were variants of the classical designs.

A more recent example is a master still teaching in Canada named Pan Qing Fu. Master Pan earned the name “Gangbuster” when the Chinese government recruited him in the 1960s to break the stranglehold the Triad gangs had over many communities at that time. He eventually brought 23 Triad leaders to justice; many Master Pan captured single handedly using only his Chinese martial arts and traditional weapons skills.

So why do many modern exponents of traditional martial arts seem so ill-equipped and ineffective in many self-defense scenarios? There is more than one answer to this question. The first has to do with the complexity of many traditional martial arts techniques. These techniques were developed over hundreds of years, resulting in very complex techniques. This evolution occurred due to the need of martial artists to be able to survive encounters with other martial artists who were developing their own sophisticated techniques.

Professional martial artists today are very different from professional fighters of the past. Today many professional teachers run schools part-time and maintain other work part-time, at the very least, if not full-time. Those practitioners who are able to run their schools full-time, usually work very hard to do so; spending a great deal of time advertising, talking with potential students, daily management duties, teaching, and so on. Unfortunately, this can often leave little time for personal training.

This was not the case in the past. Professional martial artists had much fewer distractions. In some cases they could practice honing their skills for sometimes as much as 10 to 16 hours a day. With the demands of long work days, family and friends, and the pressures of paying the bills, many modern practitioners may not even spend this much time training in one or two weeks! Martial arts has taken the position of an activity or a hobby, not as a serious endeavor and lifelong pursuit as in the past.

One should also not overlook the fact that martial artists in the past had much greater opportunities to apply their techniques in the real world; they faced life and death scenarios often. Physical confrontations and violent clashes with opposing forces, whether they be individuals or enemy armies, were a simple fact of life for these warriors for thousands of years. They, and in fact their entire world, were conditioned by this reality. People fought, the weakest or least prepared combatants were maimed or killed. As a result of this, they had much more practical knowledge and experience than experts today. We live in a much more peaceful and stable society than the world these traditional warriors inhabited. The average, law-abiding citizen will probably never engage in a true life-threatening altercation. This is a very positive development in our society! However, it does mean fighters have vastly less experience in practical application than their predecessors.

How the martial arts evolved is also an important factor. When one practices many hours daily, they will very quickly become quite proficient with basic punches, kicks, and blocks. However, if their opponents also practice many hours a day, simple hand strikes and kicks, in many cases, will not be effective to penetrate their defensive capabilities. As professional martial artists developed their arts and skills, other fighters had to develop new skills, tactics, and deceptions to catch their opponent off-balance or surprise them, hitting in a place or manner they did not expect. This, in turn, forced fighters to further devise and evolve new tactics and more original ways to neutralize the attack and counterattack. This cycle continued in this manner for generations; thousands of years for some systems. The result is very sophisticated fighting systems, developed to overcome other complex systems and practitioners.

But today, finely tuned martial skills and personal fighting ability is not nearly as in demand as in the past. As a result, overall skills have gotten weaker. Many martial artists today try to use methods developed for very complex encounters, to respond to very simple, straightforward attacks; using a tool in a way it was not designed. The vast majority of attacks will come from people who, if they have any skill or training at all, will most likely use only rudimentary boxing, kickboxing, or wrestling maneuvers. These are simple attacks. You cannot counter them with complex techniques which are not designed to deal with them; you are using the totally wrong tool. Simple attacks only require simple counters and counter-attacks. This is the number one reason why traditional martial arts are often perceived as not being useful for modern day self-defense.

Another reason why many students have trouble in practical application scenarios is that most practitioners do not put in the time to become fully proficient with a technique, method or tactic.  For the sake of argument, let’s say that a particular jump spinning reverse-type kick takes 100 hours of dedicated practice in order to effectively execute in practical application. Most students may spend only 10 hours total training that technique. This means that a student may only have 10% of the knowledge and skill when deploying this technique.  This is a huge gap! It is no wonder why the technique does not work properly.

In either case it is not the weakness of the martial system, but the improper training methods or application tactics of the practitioner. Critical thinking on your methods and techniques must be applied in advance. Proper preparation is essential. Traditional martial arts can be very effective if you undertake proper training and use correct tactics for the situation encountered.

 

Self-Defense As Self-Development

The original form of this article was posted on the Nine Dragon Academy website in March, 2011. It has undergone minor editing and revision for inclusion here.

Self-Defense As Self-Development 

Some people inevitably ask how I can in good conscience teach fighting techniques that have the intent or ability to physically devastate another person. Is this not perpetuating violence, they ask? I do not, however, see martial practices as a cultivation of aggression or violent tendencies.

Martial arts, as a whole, have undergone a tremendous change of emphasis over the past roughly two hundred years. Where personal fighting skills were highly valued as personal protection or battlefield arts, they began to fall away with the rapid advancement in warfare technology. At that point, with a lack of purpose, many martial art styles, particularly in China, Japan, and Korea shifted focus from combat efficiency to emphasize, in some cases exclusively, the personal self-development and discipline aspects of the martial traditions.

As these arts were later transmitted to the West, another, more subtle shift occurred. Efficient and effective fighting techniques and strategies, which had become almost secondary in importance, began to take on a tertiary position. The Asian martial arts became a type of exotic hobby or interest. In many cases the arts were only methods of moving meditation with all, or nearly all, of their combat relevance removed and forgotten. This view of martial arts has taken greater hold since the end of World War II.

Chinese martial arts were hit particularly hard by this idea of modernization of the martial arts. Even within China the arts were promoted and cultivated as a form of performance only (modern compulsory wushu) where fighter effectiveness was completely removed and replaced with acrobatic skills and an emphasis on movements and postures that were physically challenging and aesthetically pleasing. The result was the development of highly skilled athletes essentially performing a dance based upon martial arts. At this point it ceases to be a martial art, and is simply art.

We no longer need to train martial arts daily for battle, and I do not know any teachers who wish to produce mindless, brutal combatants, obsessed with fighting. Yet, when you remove all understanding of the martial aspect, we remove the heart and soul of the martial art, and strip it of it’s rich history. However, in modern times we have a unique opportunity. We can combine the aspects of combat training with the powerful self-development of traditional Asian martial arts.

Training in practical combat, no matter the style, can help you explore areas of yourself you may not be able to access otherwise. When practiced in a realistic manner, self-defense training can put us under pressure and even some stress. Self-defense deals with a subject that touches us on a very primal level; someone attacking us, violating our personal space with the intent to harm us. This is where you can learn a lot about yourself, how you instinctively, physically and, perhaps more importantly, emotionally react. Emotions of anger, fear, anxiety and insecurity will arise. They are not produced by the training, but they exist within us, often without our awareness. Once they surface, we must learn to deal with them and work through them. In this way, we work through and develop our physical, mental and emotional reactions in the safety and comfort of our school.

Often we learn that how we thought, or wanted to believe, we would react is not, in fact, how we react. This and other challenges help us to break down our over-inflated ego to a more manageable size. When we realize that we do not know all we thought we did, we are more open-minded. This attitude can be taken into any other aspect of our lives, if we choose to make that leap.

Furthermore, proper training can be a blueprint for success. Martial arts training forces you to confront challenges, hardship, pain and frustration not only physically, but on an inward level as well. It teaches us that nothing comes without some effort; we must put something forward. This is the guide for success in any arena. The path and personal habits to success are often the same, no matter what you are trying to accomplish. We are using something tangible, the physical training of the martial arts, to guide us toward those more intangible and elusive aspects of ourselves.

I do not practice or teach the arts of violence. All forms of physical violence have their genesis in thoughts or intentions of violence in our minds, the body is only an outward reflection of that inner state or condition. Fear and insecurity are it’s seeds. I teach people how to control and defend themselves, and protect those weaker than they are. Most importantly I teach people the traditional tools, passed down for generations, which enable us to master ourselves, internally as well as externally; in the mental and emotional realm as well as on the physical plane.

An untrained person, who has not examined the dark corners of their own mind, can react to a confrontation in a physically and emotionally uncontrolled manner, harming themselves or others tremendously. The person who has examined and developed their personal aspects, which most people ignore, and have cultivated physical and emotional confidence, is a benefit to everyone. When they are confronted, they will know when to act and when to remain still. This person is a true warrior.

 

The Eight Pieces of Silk Brocade Exercises – Baduanjin Qigong 八段錦氣功

Ba Duan Jin can be literally translated as “Eight Pieces of Silk Brocade.” This name has a few possible origins. These exercises may be performed in an elegant and graceful manner, thus being compared to beautiful silk brocade. Alternatively, the gentle stretching exercises can produce a lengthening of the muscles and tendons, counteracting improper posture, while stimulating the internal organs and meridian system. All of this helps to “smooth” the function of the musculoskeletal system (as well as other body functions), allowing one’s movements to become more easy and smooth, like silk.

Lastly, anything that helps create or increase good health, and increase the quality of one’s life would be profoundly valuable. After all, sustained good health is one of the most valuable things we can possess! In the ancient world, Chinese silk was highly valued. The trade route between East Asia and the Western world was named after this commodity. The Chinese kept the method of silk production a secret, and in some places silk was considered more valuable than gold. Therefore, “silk brocade” can be a reference to something highly valuable because of its health enhancing qualities.

It is unknown precisely when, where, or by whom the Eight Brocades were first composed. They were first described in the eighth century Daoist text, The Ten Treatises on Restoring the Original Vitality (Xiu Zhen Shi Shu),” of the Daoist Canon.

This sequence, and its variations, was practiced by Daoist and Buddhist monks for generations. It was primarily used to not only stimulate overall health and well-being, but the specific exercises helped to counter long periods of sitting, as many of the exercises are specifically targeted at opening and elongating the anterior (front) of the body. These monks would have spent a considerable amount of their day sitting in meditation, or reading and copying religious texts. Because of this quality inherent in the exercises of the Eight Brocade set, I believe it is particularly useful for people of today’s modern, fast-paced society, where we spend a considerable amount of time sitting, consuming entertainment, on our smart phones, driving our cars, working our jobs, going to school, or any number of other sedentary activities..

Today, this form of health qigong is one of, if not the, most widespread form of qigong practice. Over the generations many variations of the basic structure, and orders of the sequence have been created. Some later versions also increased the number of movements. While the most common forms are done standing, there are also traditionally sitting and lying versions.

The exercises are appropriate for people of all ages and various levels of existing health. How an individual performs the movements can vary. They can be performed at a vigorous and quicker pace for people who are younger or in good health. For those who are older or in ill health, they will be practiced more gently.

Although not designed specifically for the martial arts practitioner (there is an entire branch of qigong practice devoted to enhancing martial skill and power), there can be great benefit gained from this practice. Anything which contributes to the overall health of the martial artist is important; a basic level of health and fitness is important for the body to function properly in most martial arts practices. Regardless of the knowledge level of the practitioner, it is through the tool of the physical body that we manifest our understanding of martial arts. Additionally, the Brocades are a good way to start a workout. They consist of gentle stretching exercises that lengthen the muscles and tendons and stimulate the meridians and internal organs. Used as a warm-up before martial arts or other physical activities, movements should be done fluidly, but briskly. Not too fast, not too slow. Find a comfortable pace, and if possible, breathe through the nose. Regardless of whether you breathe through the nose of the mouth, it is important to have smooth, relaxed, natural and continuous breath.

The exercises of the set may be performed standing upright, or with the knees bent in the horse stance or half horse stance position. Whether practicing for the health benefits, as a light warm-up or stretching routine, or in preparation for more vigorous physical activity, there are two fundamental ways one may practice the Brocades, movement with force and movement without force. When the movements are performed with force, the force should be steady, even and potential rather than overtly powerful.

Practicing the brocades can help increase arm and leg strength, develop your chest and prevent improper posture. As the name would suggest, the Eight Brocades consists of eight separate exercises. Each exercise focuses on a different area of the body and qi meridian. When we refer to ”stretching,” you want to imagine an opening and elongating inside the joints, rather than a forceful pulling on the muscular tissues. Classically, each exercise is performed anywhere from 8 to 36 times. When time is short, one may decrease the number of repetitions, or focus on one or two specific exercises.

A short description of the exercises as I practice and teach them follows:

Both Hands Reach Skyward / Holding up the Heavens

Gently interlace fingers of both hands, bring them upward along the midline and press upward. Don’t be stiff and rigid, keep the body and spine loose, attempting to bring movement into the shoulders, spine, and pelvis. This movement stimulates the “Triple Warmer” meridian and opens the tissues and structures vertically along the front of the torso.

Drawing the Bow

Squat into a low horse stance as you open the chest, pushing forward with one hand and pulling back toward the opposite side with the other, as if drawing back the string of a bow. This movement is said to exercise the waist area, focusing on the kidneys and spleen. It opens the muscles and soft tissues on the front of the chest and can help tone the rhomboid muscles (which counteract an anterior rotation, or rounding of the shoulders and collapsing of the chest) by drawing the shoulder blades together.

Reaching for Heaven and Earth

Press one hand upward, while simultaneously pressing the other downward. You can do this facing forward, or turning from side to side. It is similar to the first exercise, opening the muscles on the front of the body in opposite directions. If you twist side to side, you also stimulate the muscles of the waist and core, as well as the lower vertebrae. It is said to especially stimulate the stomach.

Look Back / Wise Owl Gazes Backwards / Cow Looks at the Moon

Keep the shoulders down and relaxed. Gently turn the head as far as you can left to right, then make circles in both directions. Finally, lift the arms to shoulder level, keeping them rounded, and twist as far as you can smoothly from side to side. Do not force any of these motions to go past a comfortable range. This is a stretch of the neck muscles and the waist.

Sway the Head and Shake the Tail

Squat in a horse stance, supporting your upper body with the palms on your knees. Twist to both sides in a long, smooth motion. The shoulders will make a small circle, the pelvis will make a smaller circle (hence the name). This movement further opens the hips and stimulates the low back and hip joints. It is also believed to stimulate the function of the heart and lungs.

Reaching Down with Both Hands

Squat as far down as possible opening the hips, keeping the feet flat, and torso erect. This opens the hips and stretches the knees and back. Then straighten the knees (but do not lock them) and let the upper body hang downward. One may grab the toes or sway side to side. Do not stand straight up, but rather “roll” upward one vertebrae at a time. This movement stimulates the spine, back muscles, waist and kidneys.

Clench the Fists / Punching with Intense Gaze

In a horse stance, punch forward, then rotate the wrist in either direction to stretch the flexor and extensor muscles of the forearm. Next, pull back as the next hand punches forward. Be sure one arm pushes forward as the opposite pulls back to create a stretching and elongating sensation in the torso. This is the most external and forceful of the exercises. It increases general vitality and muscular strength.

In the traditional methods, this exercise focused on clinching the fist and forearm muscles tightly, while projecting a fierce (possibly even angry) mental intent forward. The purpose of this was to raise the intensity of the spirit to counteract the low energy state created by sitting for long periods of the day. However, this aspect is often omitted by modern teachers who believe that while modern people do sit for extended periods, other qualities of our high-pressure and fast-paced life creates a more persistent state of stress and anxiety than the traditional practitioners may have been accustomed. In this light, it is believed the “angry glare” would exacerbate our already overly stimulated mental and emotional states.

Bouncing on the Toes

Push up on the toes, lifting the heels, and then drop back down with a small rocking backward motion. Keep the body loose, without losing your balance. This stimulates the nerves and increases circulation to the the bottom of the feet, which may feel tired from standing in one place throughout the performance of the previous exercises. The gentle shaking vibrations of “smooth out” the qi and helps stimulate the nerves throughout the body. One should feel the gentle waves of vibration, through the bones and soft tissues, from the feet all the way up to the head. If not, there is excessive tension somewhere along the line.