White Krane Black Tiger

[Okinawan Warrior]

Can anyone tell me if these were oiginally two seperate styles or if they have allways been one. This is where GoJu Ryu comes from. Also can anyone tell me where the style(s) of kung fu originated?

 

David Steel

 

Shodan

 

Okinawan GoJu Ryu Karate-Do

 

SGKA

[Uechi Kid]

About

 

Bodhidharma

 

Bodhidharma is credited with bringing Zen Buddhism to China. Although some scholars doubt that there really was such a historical individual, here's what's generally believed about his life. He was born in Southern India around the year 440 CE. His spiritual instructor, Prajnatara, told him to go to China. He traveled there by ship, arriving in Southern China around 475. Legend has it that he spent nine years in meditation, facing the rock wall of a cave that's about a mile from the Shaolin Temple (of kung fu fame).

 

During his life he had very few disciples, only three of which have made it into the history books. Bodhidharma transmitted the patriarchship of his lineage to Hui-k'o, and soon afterwards, Bodhidharma died in 528. A few years after his death, a Chinese official reported encountering Bodhidharma in the mountains of Central Asia. Bodhidharma was reportedly carrying a staff from which hung a single sandal, and he told the official that he was on his way back to India. When this story reached his home, his fellow monks decided to open Bodhidharma's tomb. Inside there was nothing but a sandal.

 

According to Tao-husan's Futher Lives of Exemplary Monks (the first draft of which was written in 645), the sermons published in The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma were delivered by Bodhidharma himself. Until recently the oldest known manuscripts of these sermons dated from the fourteenth century; however with the discovery of thousands of T'and dynasty Buddhist manuscripts in China's Tunhuand Caves, seventh- and eighth-century copies have been identified.

 

Interestingly enough legend has it that Bodhidharma cut off his eyelids to prevent himself from falling asleep while meditating; tea-plants are said to have sprung up where his eyelids fell to the earth. However in The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma, the author says:

 

... The only reason I've come to China is to transmit the instantaneous teaching of the Mahayana: This mind is the buddha. I don't talk about precepts, devotions or ascetic practices such as immersing yourself in water and fire, treading a wheel of knives, eating one meal a day, or never lying down. These are fanatical, provisional teachings. Once you recognize your moving, miraculously aware nature, yours is the mind of all buddhas.

 

Which leaves me wondering whether a man who's hacked off his eyelids would accuse another man of being a fanatic for only eating one meal a day. At any rate in keeping with the legend, Bodhidharma is usually pictured as a hairy gent, with round, bulging eyes.

[Okinawan Warrior]

I know the story as I have to study history in my class but it still doesnt answer my question........ Were they two seperate styles? and where did they come from? i.e. what city or part of china?

[aznkarateboi]

Crane is spelled with a 'C'.

[Sasori_Te]

I believe that they are and were always two separate styles. Just because Goju Ryu incorporates some of the the movements of both styles doesn't mean that both styles are completely incorporated. Most of the Okinawan Karate styles are influenced by several styles of Chinese martial arts as well as Okinawa Te. I do know that Black Tiger and White Crane styles differ from region to region in China. For example, Northern White Crane focuses much more on dynamic kicking techniques than Southern White Crane. I hope this answers at least a bit of your original question.

[Gyte]

I think these two styles are separate styles. On the site http://www.shaolin.com you can find more information about these styles.