I
have a scroll in my studio, hand-drawn in Taiwan just for my student
body. It says, in essence, "One Hundred styles all come from Shaolin
Kung Fu".
This
may be an exaggeration but there is some truth here. Many styles proudly
trace their lineage back to this 1500 year old style. And we don't
mean just styles from China. There is a famous Okinawan Karate style
known as Shorin Ji which translates as "Shaolin Temple." A big Korean
style was known as Tang Soo Do which means "The Hand of China." In
fact the original characters for Karate itself also mean, "Chinese
Hand", a direct reference to Shaolin Boxing.
Why
is Shaolin so famous and popular? Well, historically Shaolin was originally
a Taoist tale that became the abode of Boddhidharma when he brought
his brand of Buddhism to China. Though most people consider Shaolin
Temple a place Buddhism the actual form of meditation and thought
there is a "marriage" of Chinese Taoism and Indian Buddhism. This
child is so famous even people who known nothing about religion have
heard of it. In Japanese it is called: ZEN.
Shaolin
is the birthplace of Zen. But there's more to it than that. Shaolin
is one of a group of styles known as a "water" form. You might think
that this means we're fluid when we move, but - no. That's not it
at all. A "water" style is a style from which you can make anything
else. Coffee, hot chocolate, tea: they all start with water. Shaolin
is a perfect water style because from it you can go anywhere in martial
arts, do anything. Some styles are not like this. If you want to change
you have to start over again.
What
kind of training does this "water" style encompass? The range is enormous.
Exercises not only for strength training, flexibility, balance and
grace; but also for correcting and rehabilitating all sorts of problems.
There is self defense work of all kinds: grappling, striking, multiple
opponents. There is a performing art form of great beauty. Massage
and rejuvenation exercises abound. And of course, on the spiritual
side, there is a whole regimen of meditation, chi kung and philosophical
studies. A lot of information? In many styles it takes about two years
nowadays to get a black belt. A Shaolin instructor takes at least
five years just to get the basics. But it's time well spent because
there is so much to known, so many worlds to explore.
