Shaolin Chan Buddhism
Shaolin Kung Fu
Shaolin Medicine
Shaolin Chan Arts
ZEN MEDITATION ORIGINS OF SHAOLIN TEMPLE
Shaolin Temple was established in 495 A.D. during the Northern Wei Dynasty of China. The Wei Emperor Xiaowen built the temple on Songshan Mountain of Henan Province to host the Indian high monk Batuo. In 517 A.D., South Indian Buddhist monk Bodhidharma landed in Shaolin Temple. He spent nine years meditating in a cave on Mount Wuru behind the temple and founded the Chan School of Buddhism. For physical fitness between his long meditation sessions, Bodhidharma created a series of exercises to stretch his limbs and strengthen his body. These exercises were taught to Shaolin monks to improve their health and thus began tradition of Shaolin Kung Fu and Shaolin Kung Fu monks. Shaolin Temple is credited and revered as the birth place of Chan Buddhism, known to the Western world as Zen (Japanese name for Chan), and the cradle of Shaolin Kung Fu.
Chan is also thought to have developed as an amalgam of various currents in Mahayana Buddhist thought and of local traditions in China. As the center of Chan Buddhism, the Shaolin Temple attracted many emperors’ attention in China’s history. The Empress Wu Zetian (武则天；625-705) paid several visits to the Shaolin Temple discussing Chan philosophy with high monk Tan Zong (昙宗和尚); the founder of Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan (忽必烈；1215-1294) ordered all Buddhist temples in China to be led by the Shaolin Temple; there were eight Princes during Ming Dynasty turned themselves into Shaolin monks.
Shaolin Kung Fu and its relationship to Shaolin Zen Buddhism Meditation
For 1,500 years, Shaolin Temple developed and passed down a unique cultural and spiritual system manifested in the form of martial arts. Shaolin Kung Fu embodies not only the essence of Chinese martial arts but also the wisdom of Zen Buddhism. It is a treasured child of the cultural exchange between ancient China and India — two great ancient civilizations of the world. It is a unique cultural phenomenon founded on Buddhist teachings of “no self” and “inconstancy.”
The wisdom and courage inhabited in Shaolin Kung Fu is widely understood and respected by people of different cultures all over the world. Shaolin Kung Fu has become an integral part of mankind's spiritual civilization and is recognized as a world intangible cultural heritage by UNESECO. Shaolin Temple monks emphasize that Chan and Kung Fu are the two integral aspects of their Buddhist regimen: Chan meditation leads to spiritual enlightenment, while Kung Fu maintains physical health for the pursuit of Zen/chan. They call their training “Shaolin Kung Fu Chan” and in this aspect they are like two wheels of a cart that cannot be separated.
WHAT IS KUNG FU?
Kung fu or gongfu or gung fu (功夫) is a Chinese term often used by speakers of the English language to refer to Chinese martial arts. However in its original meaning, kung fu can refer to any skill. Gōngfu (功夫) is a compound of two words, combining 功 (gōng) meaning "achievement" or "merit", and 夫 (fū) which translates into "man", so that a literal rendering would be "human achievement." Its connotation is that of an accomplishment arrived at by great effort. The Chinese equivalent of "martial art" would be read as 武術 wushù which is currently a sport form of martial arts in China which is closer to dance and gymnastics in its method of practice.
Originally, to practice kung fu did not just mean to practice martial arts. Instead, it referred to the process of one's training - the strengthening of the body and the mind, the learning and the perfection of one's skills - rather than to what was being trained. It refers to excellence achieved through long practice in any endeavor. You can say that a person's kung fu is good in cooking, or that someone has kung fu in calligraphy; saying that a person possesses kung fu in an area implies skill in that area, which they have worked hard to develop. Someone with "bad kung fu" simply has not put enough time and effort into training, or seems to lack the motivation to do so.
SHAOLIN MEDICINE
The Shaolin branch of medicine is a healing system with more than one thousand years' of practice and integration. It was developed within the larger sect of Mahāyāna Buddhist Traditions and serves as a culmination of Indian and Traditional Chinese Medicine culture. In modern application, Shaolin medicine
takes "meditation" as its fundamental healing method, but also uses doctrines of respiration, acupuncture massage, Daoyin (a natural movement system), Qixue (energy flow) and diet therapy to help regulate meridians and the operation of internal organs. It is believed that the wisdom of Chan is administered to address afflictions of the mind which is seen as a gateway to physical illness, while adversely, the physical body is given massage, qigong or kung fu to heal the body which is also seen as a gateway to the mind.
An Overview of Shaolin Medicine
During the Yuan Dynasty, a famous historian named Yuan Haowen, wrote that the Shaolin Pharmacy Bureau started during the Jin Dynasty (1217), and thus has a history of more than 800 years. The Pharmacy Bureau at that time was primarily used for treating the traumatic injuries and other diseases of Shaolin monks, while a few decades later, the Pharmacy began treating the local people and various travelers from foreign provinces who made the journey to be treated at Shaolin Temple. During this time, the treatment and medicines provided by Shaolin were free and following traditional custom, the patients would typically make a donation after the curing of a disease.
Throughout its history, the Shaolin Pharmacy Bureau developed various unique systems to cure illness or keep fit, such as the famous Bone Marrow Cleanse, Muscle/ Tendon change and various Shaolin Internal skills. There are also many secret herbal recipes handed by eminent monks of each generation to heal various ailments or promote health and longevity. By the modern establishment of the Republic of China (1912), Shaolin Medicine has documented it's system with a vast number of written works documented with millions of Chinese characters covering thousands of prescriptions. This knowledge is seldom transmitted to outsiders due to Buddhist precepts and is a treasure of Shaolin Temple.
SHAOLIN ART
Shaolin Art is the study of expressing the Chan mind (also known as Zen mind) into art forms such as painting, poetry, sculpting, calligraphy, tea ceremony, music etc. The expression, itself, is considered a form of meditation, one of sophisticated simplicity - straightforward yet illuminating. In practicing Chan art, we reveal the essence of the mind or a subjects inner nature often times in a spontaneous method, valuing spiritual expression over technical mastery. This often neglected branch is considered a core component of the Shaolin Culture and integral for a students personal development.