History of Shaolin Kung Fu

A United China

Chinese civilization started well before most other. Officially, it was the first civilization to cast metal in 8,000 BCE; 2,000 years before anyone else and 4,000 years before Europeans. It was emperor Chin of the Qui Dynasty who united many of the warring states of China and by joined many parts of the Great Wall created a more or less unified people. Unfortunately, as an avid believer of life-prolonging methods, he was a constant user of a concoction with Mercury. he died 6 years later to be succeeded by the Eastern Han Dynasty

Buddhism in China

in 64 CE, Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han sent a delegation to the west to search out and study Buddhism. They returned after three years with two eminent Indian monks with Buddhist sutra's and figures on a white horse. He created a temple, 100 km from Luyan and named it the White Horse Temple. This became a center of learning and Buddhist study. About 100 km away, in the Center of China was a mountain range that would come to fame some 440 years later.

The Establishment of Shaolin

Towards the end of the 5th Century CE (about 440 years after the establishment of the White Horse Temple) an Indian Warrior and Buddhist Monk was traveling through China following the path of, and teaching Buddhism. He had a great heart and mind helping and guiding anyone who wanted his help. His great wisdom and kindness was such that it came to the ears of the Emperor who summoned him to the Palace . Buddhabhadra by name, which was difficult for Chinese to say, was renamed to Batuo spent some time at court. He so impressed the emperor with his Wisdom and Buddhist interpretation that he was offered a permeant office and place at the Palace. Buddhabhadra proposed that his teaching may be better served if he were in a more accessible place. The Emperor offered them several hectares in the province of Henan, in the Sacred Mountains on the side of Shao Shi (Shi meaning Mountain). They chose a spot in an area of Lin (Lin meaning Young or New Trees) as the place for the Temple; and this came to be the name of the Temple >Shaolin ( Sillum in Cantonese) Temple.

Bodhidharma

At around th same time a prince was born in a small tribe of Southern India (As a prince, he was a member of the Warrior Class, some assert he was of the Brahman Class), thus schooled in the martial arts). He converted to Mayhayana Buddhism at an early age and became the student of the Monk Prajnadhara, who was the 27 th lineage holder of the Chi'en (Zen in Japanese) Tradition. His training was in Mayhayana Buddhist practices, which requires hard exercise and training as part of the meditation and studying.

His training lasted many year and until the death of his teacher at which time he became the 28th Patriarch of Indian Buddhism and was named Bodhidharma. Before Master Prajnatara died he tasked Bodhidharma to spread Buddhism to China.

He traveled east in to Southern China by ship arriving in Kwangzhou (Canton) in 526 CE. Much like his famous predecessor Buddhabhadra, Bodhidharma made an impression on many Chinese. He also came to the attention of Emperor of the day and was invited to Nanjing. That is where the similarity stops as Bodhidharma stark teaching offended the Emperor. He had to leave.

During his time at court, Bodhidharma was renamed to Tamo, as Bodhidharma was very difficult for the Chinese to pronounce. At this time he had also heard of both the White Horse and Shaolin Buddhist Temples. Whereas not much is know if he visited the Whitehorse Temple, there is a bit know about his visit to Shaolin.