Читать книгу Complete Shotokan Karate. History, Philosophy, and Practice онлайн

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Still another tale, popular in martial arts circles today, concerns the connection between Bodhidharma and the founding of the form of ch'uan-fa of the Shaolin monastery. According to the legend, Bodhidharma was attempting to teach Chan to the monks at the Shaolin temple, an endeavor which subjected them to long periods of meditation. Many of them were in poor physical condition and the vigorous training of Bodhidharma left them on the verge of collapse. As a youth in India, Bodhidharma had learned the vajramushti fighting system. In order to strengthen the monks at Shaolin, he began teaching them this combat form. Soon the monks became known as the most formidable fighters in all of China. Supposedly, the system of physical exercise developed by him was the basis of the well-known Shaolin ch'uan-fa system, with succeeding masters adding to and improving upon original techniques until the more modern schools developed. (As mentioned previously, fighting forms existed in China before the introduction of Buddhism there. Thus, some Chinese martial arts exist which cannot trace their origins— historically or by legend—to Bodhidharma or the Shaolin temple.)⁶