THE
HISTORY OF KUNG FU
| It
doesn't matter which magazine, or book you read about the methods
of Chinese martial arts, you will always find the Shaolin temple
as the first origin of the majority of Kung Fu styles.
The
history from Kung Fu is far from complete and always under conflict.
Most of what is told is legend and there is very little information
over the old Shaolin temple. The most known version of the origin
of the temple is that it's arise was in the year 479 (AD) in
a northern province called Honan. |
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One
of the most famous men in the history of martial arts was an
Indian priest named Bodhidharma, also known as Ta Mo.
Around
the year 520 (AD) Bodhidharma made his way on foot to China
to spread the word of Buddhism. He was born as the son of king
Sugandha and was trained in martial arts by an old master named
Prajnatara.
Just
as the origin of the Shaolin temple is under constant conflict
so was the life of Bodhidharma. It is difficult to distinguish
what is truth and what is fantasy. When Bodhidharma noticed
how tranquil the monks were during meditation, so tranquil that
they even fell asleep, he decided to learn their a series of
18 movements, today known as " the 18 hands of Lo Han".
Most
historians agree that in the 16 th century a young man named,
Kwok Yuen, further added to the 18 original movements and developed
a total of 72 movements. |
Even
though Kwok Yuen was an exceptional boxer and weapons master, he was
not completely satisfied with his accomplishments. He traveled far
and wide, through China, in search of new teachers with a wider knowledge
of the martial arts. He eventually found master Pak Yook Fong and
master Li and they returned together to the Shaolin temple, changed
the 72 movements into 170 and divided them into 5 animals styles:
the tiger, crane, leopard, dragon and snake.
The
Honan temple was destroyed in the18 th century by government troops.
As legend tells it 60,000 soldiers attacked and destroyed the temple.
The monks that managed to escape were ruthlessly hunted down. A few
monks fled to the Fukien temple in southern China. Years later, more
than 1,000 Shaolin followers bravely gave their lives to prevent the
destruction of the Fukien temple. Only a handful of monks avoided
the bloodbath. The monks that successfully escaped managed to quickly
spread the teachings of Shaolin Kung Fu. The monks secretly taught
their well-guarded art of fighting to the people to prepare them for
the fight with the hated government. These arts spread out over southern
China and were divided into 5 different styles, all named after their
founders: Hung, Lau, Mok, Choy and Lee.
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