The History of Kung Fu
The history of Shaolin Kung Fu 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 ordered the local Buddhist monks to translate 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 stated that he believed this to be his personal path to Nirvana, Tamo disagreed. Tamo's view on Buddhism was that you could not achieve your enlightenment 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 the 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 by the head abbot Fang Chang. Rejected by the monks, Tamo went to a nearby cave and meditated. Legend has it that he bored a hole through one side of the cave with his constant gaze. Another myth says that Tamo remained motionless for seven years. Nevertheless, the head Abbot eventually relented and Tamo was allowed to enter the temple. 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 the basic Buddhist meditation practices. Tamo countered this weakness by teaching them moving exercises, or sets, designed to both build physical strength and enhance ch'i flow. These in-place exercises were transcribed by later monks as (1) "The Muscle Change Classic" or "The Change of the Sinews," (2) "The Marrow Washing" and (3) "The Eighteen Hand Movements of the Enlightened One" (The Eighteen Lo Han Shou). These movements, 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 Gung Fu.

As stated earlier, Shaolin temple was built in a secluded area of the forest. This made them frequent targets of invading armies, roving bandits and common outlaws. Tamo combined the moving exercises and his own knowledge of Indian fighting concepts to devise basic self-defense techniques for the monks to use to protect themselves. Eventually, this new and revolutionary form of fighting was codified into a complete system of self-defense known as martial arts. Within the confines of Shaolin Temple, it was possible to continually develop and enhance the martial arts into new and effective styles such as Snake, Crane and Tiger. Tamo’s teachings and fighting concepts were further enriched and refined by succeeding Shaolin masters to become the powerful and graceful Shaolin Temple boxing (also known as Shaolin Ch'uan [Shaolin Fist] or Shaolin Ch'uan Fa (Way of the Shaolin Fist). As time went on, the fighting monks of Shaolin became well known and Shaolin Temple became legendary because of the martial arts.

The Shaolin Temple

The Shaolin Temple became equivalent to a martial arts university. Shaolin had a class structure with three major levels: students, disciples, and masters. At the base was the student class, which was the most numerous. Members of this group cooked all the meals, washed clothes and performed all other menial tasks. The purpose of this station was to teach them humility and respect, but also to provide the masters with an opportunity to observe potential protégés before entrusting them with martial arts skills. One who entered before you and was still in your class was an older brother or sister.

The next class of the Shaolin was composed of disciples who had proven themselves over a period of rigorous training. The disciple is dedicated, loyal, knowledgeable and above all, trustworthy. Disciples were students who demonstrated that they were worthy of learning the martial arts of the temple. Upon entrance into this class, they spent from two to four years in the exclusive study of the Shaolin arts of war and medicine, having already received their basic philosophical training as students. As students, the disciples had learned the principles of Shaolin ethics; as disciples, their time had come to live those ethics, posing as examples for others to follow.

Above the disciples were the masters. The Shaolin masters were the professors, each of them a specialist in particular areas of Shaolin training. Under the heading of Master, there were three classes of Shaolin devotees, monks, priests and practitioners. The monks lived at the temple, remained celibate, and shaved their heads. The priests wandered throughout China, offering their services where needed. They also shaved their heads and remained celibate. The practitioners left the temple to pursue careers as imperial soldiers, caravan guards, merchants or village martial arts instructors. They kept their hair, were permitted to marry and continued to support the temple with donations.

Graduation from Shaolin Temple was not common. To receive this honor, a disciple had to pass the 18 tests. This feat required the utmost in speed, agility, strength and concentration. The 18 Tests were set up in eighteen separate but consecutive chambers within the temple. The first seventeen chambers contained various obstacles and barriers the disciple had to overcome. Flights of arrows and poisoned needles were released when certain sections of the floor were stepped on. Sometimes the entire floor gave way, exposing pits filled with iron spikes. In one chamber, a falling rock that weighed more than a hundred pounds had to be caught and held until the next door opened. In another chamber, the disciple was forced to confront 36 “Wooden Men” armed with lethal mechanisms. If the disciple survived the first seventeen tests, he enter the final chamber, where he found an iron cauldron filled with red hot coals. The disciple gripped the cauldron with his bare forearms. On one side of the cauldron, in raised relief, there was a dragon. On the other side, there was a tiger. The marks these ornaments burned on a monk’s arm were the emblems of a true Shaolin Master. These were the ones who could “walk through walls,” and whose “hits were invisible.” Their bodies were like “iron wrapped with silk.” They were so sensitive that a “fly landing on them set them in motion.” Their energy was concealed, like a “needle hidden in cotton.” They were the Shaolin Warriors, the Shaolin Wu. Living examples of Gun Fu (Kung Fu); The Chinese phrase that means “accomplished person” or “mastery through time and effort.”

The title of master had been bestowed upon these individuals because they had learned completely a system of martial arts from their temple and perfected it, thus achieving technical mastery. Also, they had succeeded in learning the philosophy of the temple well enough to teach what they had learned. Indeed, this was their function in the temple. They were the dispensers of knowledge to the student classes. Among themselves, they had levels of excellence which indicated their prowess and their grasp of the Shaolin philosophy. The title "grandmaster" is not a traditional rank, but a modified term to indicate that the master had also been a teacher of other students who had attained master rank. There was no test or formal requirement for the use of this title, and grandmasters rarely use the term in reference to themselves.