[Buddha-l] Bodhidharma and Shao-lin

[Steve Hopkins]

A while back on this list Dan Lusthaus and Kate Marshall pointed me  
in the direction of Meir Shahar's 'The Shaolin Monastery'.  For  
anyone interested in this subject it makes a fascinating and  
impressive read.  Out now in pbk from U of Hawai'i Press.

http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/shopcore/978-0-8248-3349-7/

Best,

Steve

On 1 Jul 2009, at 08:59, Bob Zeuschner wrote:

> Actually, among scholars, it is pretty well known that Bodhidharma had
> zero connection to Shao-lin martial arts.
> It is purely legend.
> As I recall, the connection with Shao-lin and martial arts occurred  
> when
> the Shao-lin temple was a Taoist temple.
> I recall some very serious "origins of Shao-lin martial arts" research
> done over a period of about 10 years by Steven Ubl.
> I regret that I do not have any references to share.
> Bob Zeuschner
> Dept. of Philosophy
>
> Jayarava wrote:
>> --- On Tue, 30/6/09, jkirk <jkirk at spro.net> wrote:
>>
>>> It is known for its Asian mystic-themed motto of "Honor-Loyalty-
>>> Respect," created by Roueche, who has a passion for martial arts and
>>> Buddhism."
>>>
>>> Huh?
>>
>> I did martial arts for a while and in those circles it is well  
>> known that the Indian Zen master Bodhidharma introduced martial  
>> arts into Buddhist monasteries to help the monks cope with doing  
>> many hours of meditation each day. Eventually the 'secret' arts  
>> were taught to the public... blah blah.
>>
>> Additionally the samurai are strongly associated with Zen in  
>> popular legend - in that they used Zen techniques and ideas to  
>> attenuate their fear of death and enhance their enthusiasm for  
>> killing.
>>
>> The upshot is that many martial artists are interested in Zen - in  
>> class we used to 'meditate' for up to five minutes at a time! My  
>> Kempo Master regularly travelled to China's famous Shaolin Temple  
>> where he trained in taiji and chuan-fa. Sadly in the 20th century  
>> the 'monastery' is a government run tourist attraction, although  
>> the 'monks' do some very pretty wushu (which is a martial dance  
>> form). The Shaolin temple was home to Kwai-chan Kane the famous  
>> warrior monk from the TV show Kung-fu which was first exposure to  
>> the East (well Asia was west of where I grew up, but you'll know  
>> what I mean).
>>
>> I might add that having subsequently become a Buddhist I have  
>> found no evidence what-so-ever in Buddhist texts to support the  
>> idea that Buddhists secretly enjoyed a good punch up. I think the  
>> whole thing was a legitimisation myth, kind of like the King  
>> Arthur story, for what we would now call terrorist organisations  
>> engaged in insurgency.
>>
>> Maṅgalam
>> Jayarava
>>
>>
>>
>>
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