The Evolution of the Shaolin Martial Arts!

From Al Case at Matrix Martial Arts…

Most people say the Martial Arts

came from the Shaolin Temple.

Undoubtededly,

the Shaolin Temple is a big influencer.

But,

my own theory is slightly different.

Originally

I wrote a short column about ‘Og and Bog.’

Og steals Bog’s apples by conking him on the head,

Bog imagines a defense for getting conked on the head,

and we have a technique

and the birth of the martial arts.

Which is to say

from the very first time

one man raised his fist to another,

martial arts have been developing.

Verbal history,

not a reliable thing,

says that Bodhidharma came to Shaolin from the east,

trained the monks in meditation,

and when they proved too weak to meditate properly,

he gave them the martial arts.

But when you look at the exercises credited to Bodhidharma

they look like calisthenics.

So how do simple calisthenics

become martial arts?

Let’s create a possible scenario

to present my theory.

Warlords reigned,

they conscripted peasants,

and taught them how to fight.

How to use the spear,

how to do basic ‘boxing’ (kung fu).

The peasants who survived the battles

might retire to home,

and go to a temple to pray,

maybe even feel a bit of remorse

 about the deaths they caused

and join a temple.

At the temple they want to stay in shape

so they use the basic calisthenics they used in the military.

They even use some of the fighting routines.

But the essence of the temple isn’t in fighting,

and if one is in daily meditation

and begins a regimen in fitness,

it is conceivable that the exercises they did

begin to take on the form of meditation.

No, not every monk is a warrior,

but if even one soldier takes refuge at the temple

translates his military exercises

into meditation…

that might have great influence.

So we have a sort of a criss cross here

between meditation and physical combat.

It’s a maybe,

but a logical sort of a maybe.

Now let’s talk about what happens if a person

 practices a routine for years,

and especially in conjunction with meditation.

He becomes aware through meditation,

and as he focuses his meditation on his calisthenics,

he achieves a different type of awareness in his calisthenics.

He starts to feel this thing called chi,

a ‘breath energy’ circulating through the body.

He finds this thing called chi is difficult to explain,

but if a person is dedicated to motion,

and to the calm and breathing techniques of meditation…

he can achieve a certain degree of awareness of,

and control over this somewhat invisible energy called chi.

And all this backs up various religious theories.

The interesting thing is that Shaolin happened,

and it is so far back

that all we’ve got is theories.

But we have another art that isn’t thousands of years old.

It is influenced by Shaolin, but…

Tung Haichuan

back in the 1800s

apparently knew some kung fu.

He went into the mountains,

met some monks,

and they taught him how to meditate by walking the circle.

Tung Haichuan supposedly combined

the circle walking and the kung fu

to make Pa Kua Chang.

People immediately invested PKC

with all sorts of religious theories.

The eight trigrams,

all that sort of thing.

A good example of a ‘calisthenic’ being adapted to kung fu,

and kung fu becoming more meditative,

just as what probably happened

thousands of years ago at the Shaolin Temple.

And!

If you look at Karate,

it was a martial art designed by and for palace guards.

Heavy duty self defense

and hard core fighting.

In just a bit over a hundred years it has become

heavily infused with zen concepts.

A martial art expanding awareness

through dedicated and repetitious motion,

until it becomes,

in its purest form,

a source of enlightenment

and spiritual development.

AND…

A good question here is

could MMA become spiritual?

I would guess probably not,

and this simply because the techniques are

more dedicated to destruction than control.

The practitioners might even laugh if 

a student wanted to find the zen

behind an arm bar.

Hey,

it may have taken MANY generations

for Shaolin to become more than

a physical calisthenic for ex-warriors,

and to become a method of awareness and control

and not simply an excuse for destruction.

So that’s my theory,

if you feel it is full of holes,

or you feel some other possibility is probable,

leave comments.

I do want to say that when I developed the 

The Last Martial Arts Book: Nine Square Diagram Boxing

I was trying to create movements

that would have meditative aspects

as in  Tai Chi Chuan and Pa Kua Chang.

I wanted to create a degree of spiritual awareness,

and yet have the art be totally workable on the street.

I want the meditation, the control, the spirituality,

but not at the cost of losing the destructive potential of the art.

Check it out on Amazon,

and if you decide to get it,

make sure you…

GET THE EDITION WITH THE 5 HOURS OF VIDEO LINKS!

Give yourself a present,

and don’t forget to give me five stars!

Have a great work out,

and have a great and profitable New Year!

Al

Don’t forget to check out the interview

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 12 ratings for 5 stars.

(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)

My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them  for 5 stars.

‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 8 ratings for 5 stars.

‘The Science of Government’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.

‘Chiang Nan’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.

My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings

so hopefully you’ll find the book that works for you.

How to Fix Karate:

A Karate Training and Workout Book

 (Two Volumes)

For the best in Martial Arts Online Training, go to MonsterMartialArts.com.