When did Kung Fu originate?

[OxygenAsh]

I'm curious... when did it all start? I mean Chinese Martial Arts. Who / what group was the originator?

 

Also, I know that MA were exported from China to Japan, Middle East and other places. I'm curious how wide-spread the impact of Chinese MA was in the ancient times and how influencial it was to development of MA in the world in general.

 

Thx guys!

[LeaF]

There is no definite answer to this but many people seem to believe that Bodhidharma created kung fu and the martial arts

 

According to legend Bodhidharma was born in India during the early 6th centary to a warior class known as Kshatriaya. He travelled from india accross the himalayas to the Songshan mountains in the Honan province of china, where he founded the Shoa Lin (Shoalin) Temple. The monks in this temple were very strong mentally but lacked the ablilty to defend themselves, so the were often robbed or hurt. So Bodhidharma created 18 postures, 2 sutra and zazen (breathing/mediatation). He based these early forms on the movements of 5 animals The tiger, monkey, leopard, crane and snake. And so the kung fu and the martial arts began.....

[OxygenAsh]

Thx man. Hmm... it's a pity that much of Chinese history is no more than a well... legend. Nonotheless, thx for a reply, man!

[inyctrotter]

cool very intresting. I always wonder who started all these martial arts and all. Do you have any other source?

[stonecrusher69]

Although Damo was credited for creating shoalin kung fu,actually martial arts in China was well practiced and documented well before Damo came to China.China had many wars and M.A. developed from that.

[fungku]

There is no definite answer to this but many people seem to believe that Bodhidharma created kung fu and the martial arts

 

According to legend Bodhidharma was born in India during the early 6th centary to a warior class known as Kshatriaya. He travelled from india accross the himalayas to the Songshan mountains in the Honan province of china, where he founded the Shoa Lin (Shoalin) Temple. The monks in this temple were very strong mentally but lacked the ablilty to defend themselves, so the were often robbed or hurt. So Bodhidharma created 18 postures, 2 sutra and zazen (breathing/mediatation). He based these early forms on the movements of 5 animals The tiger, monkey, leopard, crane and snake. And so the kung fu and the martial arts began.....

 

He didn't found the ShaoLin temple. It was already there.

 

He did make many improvements, and taught them many new things.

[fzeeshan]

Leaf Wrote >> According to legend Bodhidharma was born in India during the early 6th centary to a warior class known as Kshatriaya. He travelled from india accross the himalayas to the Songshan mountains in the Honan province of china, where he founded the Shoa Lin (Shoalin) Temple. The monks in this temple were very strong mentally but lacked the ablilty to defend themselves, so the were often robbed or hurt. So Bodhidharma created 18 postures, 2 sutra and zazen (breathing/mediatation). He based these early forms on the movements of 5 animals The tiger, monkey, leopard, crane and snake. And so the kung fu and the martial arts began.....<<

 

Correction Bodhidharma or Dop Moe (in Chinese) did travel to China. But he didn't create Shoalin Temple. He simply started teaching martial arts to the monks. In fact he only taught them a certain number of forms. Chinese Martial arts history is way older then that, I don't think it will be easy to track down the history of Chinese Martial Arts it been around for a lot longer than Shalin Temple.

[phanthomspectre]

There is no definite answer to this but many people seem to believe that Bodhidharma created kung fu and the martial arts

 

According to legend Bodhidharma was born in India during the early 6th centary to a warior class known as Kshatriaya. He travelled from india accross the himalayas to the Songshan mountains in the Honan province of china, where he founded the Shoa Lin (Shoalin) Temple. The monks in this temple were very strong mentally but lacked the ablilty to defend themselves, so the were often robbed or hurt. So Bodhidharma created 18 postures, 2 sutra and zazen (breathing/mediatation). He based these early forms on the movements of 5 animals The tiger, monkey, leopard, crane and snake. And so the kung fu and the martial arts began.....

 

Bodhidharma was also known as Da Mo wasnt he?

 

Da Mo also wrote the ya jin jing.

 

Some background:

 

Da Mo was a buddist monk from india who traveled to China.

 

Da Mo realized that the buddists who were neglecting their bodys were not fareing well. As a result, he searched for the way to combine the two schools.

[magikchiongson]

It doesn't make sense to me to assume that all martial arts came from one source. More likely that as long as there were wars to be fought, there was some form of Martial Arts.

 

Another theory about Chinese Martial Arts, implies that during Ancient China, the Emperors forbid their Soldiers to leave the Military unless it was to join the monks. Thus, former warriors became monks and subsequently brought their fighting arts with them, where it was catalouged by the Temples.

[BlackDragon777]

Actually, from what I know, A man from India who was a master in Yoga came to the shaolin temple and taught the Monks Yoga and the principles of breathing techniques and from there the Monks built upon that. =)

 

GOD Bless you Always my Friends!!!!!!!!!!