Origins of Shaolin Kung Fu

The Indian dhyana master Buddhabhadra (Chinese: 跋陀; pinyin: Bátuó) was the founding abbot and patriarch of the Shaolin temple. According to the Deng Feng County Recording (Deng Feng Xian Zhi), Bátuó came to China in 464 CE to preach Nikaya (小乘) Buddhism. Thirty-one years later, in 495, the Shaolin Monastery was built by the order of Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei for Batuo's preaching. The temple originally consisted of a round dome used as a shrine and a platform where Indian and Chinese monks translated Indian Buddhist scriptures into native Chinese languages.

Bodhidharma (c. 6th century CE) was the Indian monk traditionally credited as the founder of Chán (Zen) Buddhism in China. Very little contemporary biographical information on Bodhidharma is extant, and subsequent accounts became layered with legend, but most accounts agree that he was a South Indian monk who journeyed to southern China and subsequently relocated northwards. The accounts differ on the date of his arrival, with one early account claiming that he arrived during the Liú Sòng Dynasty (420–479) and later accounts dating his arrival to the Liáng Dynasty (502–557). The accounts are, however, generally agreed that he was primarily active in the lands of the Northern Wèi Dynasty (386–534).

Bodhidharma arrived in China during the 5th century. He stayed and taught for several years in the Shaolin temple.

Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit, 4th generation successor of the Southern Shaolin Monastery writes:

"It was during this time that the Venerable Bodhidharma came from India to China to spread Buddhism. In 527 CE he settled down in the Shaolin monastery in Henan province, and inspired the development of Shaolin Kung Fu. This marked a watershed in the history of of Kung Fu, because it led to a change of course, as Kung Fu became institutionalized. Before this, martial arts were known only in the general sense."

Bodhidharma's status in martial arts is due to his role in the institutionalization of Chinese martial arts, presumably by introducing excercises, meditation, discipline, newer techniques etc. to the native fighting methods during his tenure at the Shaolin monastery.

Historians have noted foreign influences on aspects of Chinese culture, such as mythology (Sun Wukong and Guan Yin, which were influenced by Hanumana and Avalokiteshvara respectively) and architecture (Pagodas influenced by Buddhist Stupas) in the past.

The similarities between arts of India and Chinese martial arts have also been noted by martial arts practitioners, historians and news organisations.

Around the 3rd century BC, Patanjali wrote the Yoga Sutras, which taught how to meditate single-mindedly on points located inside one's body, which was used in later martial arts, while various mudra finger movements were taught in Yogacara Buddhism. These Yoga elements, as well as finger movements in the nata dances, were later incorporated into various martial arts.

References to martial arts are found in early Buddhist texts. The Lotus Sutra also categorized combat techniques as joint locks, fist strikes, grapples, and throws, and also referred to a martial art with dance-like movements called Nata. Indian movement patterns of Nata (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nataraja) were later incorporated into various martial arts.

Historians have also noted that Indian works of art and particularly in temple sculptures show warriors in positions similar to modern day East Asian martial arts.

Similarities were also recorded by the British Broadcasting Corporation in a television documentary in 1981 titled "Kalari, the Indian way" which noted that a Southern Kalaripayattu practitioner performed martial arts identical to one found in a branch lineage from the Wong-Hon-Wing line of Tibetan Hop-Gar Kung-Fu.

The Discovery Channel also notes "Possibly the oldest martial art in the world, Kalarippayattu is still being practiced widely today in the Indian state of Kerala. Shaolin chuan is said to have evolved from Kalarippayattu."