Today it is difficult to find a person who is unfamiliar with the Shaolin Monastery. This place has been a haven for monks for centuries, trying to combine physical perfection with spiritual achievement. This magical place is located at the foot of Songshan Mountain, southwest of Beijing. Today, martial arts fans from all over the world come here to comprehend the wisdom of wushu and to know themselves through meditation. But it was not always so. A new round in the history of the Shaolin Monastery began quite recently, after its restoration in 1980, when the authorities decided to turn this place into a tourist center. And this idea worked - today thousands of people flock to Mount Songshan to feel the spirit of this legendary place.
History of the monastery
The history of Shaolin has become overgrown with countless myths and legends, so it's hard to say for sure when it was created. It is generally accepted that the cult monastery was founded around the 5th century AD. The first abbot was called Bato. He had many students who helped lay the foundations for this legendary place. It is generally accepted that the Shaolin monk is an invincible fighter withcolossal physical strength.
However, one of the legends says that wushu originated in a monastery near Mount Songshan not immediately. The history of Shaolin martial arts began with the fact that a Buddhist monk from India came to the territory of present-day China. His name was Bodhidharma. It was he who introduced mandatory physical exercises for the Shaolin monks, since at the time of his appearance in the monastery they were so weak that they fell asleep during meditation. Tradition says that Bodhidharma had a huge impact on the development of Buddhism and Chinese martial arts. Let's take a closer look at the story of this incredible man.
Bodhidharma
The personality of Bodhidharma, whom the monks called Damo, has acquired many beautiful legends. Today it is difficult to say what kind of person he was, but it is believed that it was he who brought wushu to Shaolin. Prior to his arrival, the abbots of the monastery believed that meditation was the best way to understand the world and achieve enlightenment. They treated the body rather dismissively, considering it an annoying obstacle on the way to perfection. Therefore, the monks were physically weak, which prevented them from meditating for a long time.
Damo was convinced that the body and consciousness are closely related, and it is impossible to achieve enlightenment without developing the physical shell. Therefore, he showed the monks a complex called "Movement of the hands of eighteen arhats", which then turned into Shaolin wushu. There is a legend that once Damo sat for 9 years in a cave, contemplating the wall. After that his legsrefused to serve him, which forced Bato to create a complex for changing muscles and tendons "Damo Yi Ching Jing", which laid the foundations of Shaolin qigong. The vitality nurturing methods developed from these simple exercises were so effective that they were kept secret for a long time.
Further history of the monastery
In subsequent years, the Shaolin Monastery experienced repeated ups and downs. It was burned to the ground more than once, but like a phoenix, it always rose from the ashes, continuing its important mission. Another of the beautiful legends is connected with the son of the commander Li Yuan. His name was Li Shimin, he led one of his father's armies. In one of the battles, his army was defeated, and he himself fell into the river, the turbulent waters of which carried him downstream. Fortunately, the inhabitants of the Shaolin monastery saved the man from certain death, cured him and gave protection from 13 monks who protected him. It was a devoted and helpful retinue, because in those days one Shaolin monk could deal with a dozen bandits that abounded in the local forests.
After Li Shimin came to power, he thanked his saviors. They received land as a gift, and the rules of the Shaolin monks were changed - now they were allowed to eat meat and drink wine. This beautiful story gives an idea of what life was like in those distant times. Obviously, the monks repeatedly had to participate in battles and defend themselves from robbers, who at that turbulent time were more numerous than the stars in the sky.
Shaolin these days
In ourdays a Shaolin monk remains the same as hundreds of years ago. At the same time, few people know that northern Shaolin was restored only in 1980. Before that, it lay in ruins for a long time, after it was burned down in 1928, when a civil war was in full swing in China, and all power was concentrated in the hands of the militarists. Each of them wanted to own as much land as possible, not shunning any methods.
Then came the Cultural Revolution, after which the traditional martial arts were on the verge of destruction, and the monasteries were considered a useless relic of the past. Only in 1980, the Chinese government realized that there was no point in destroying their cultural heritage, and the monastery was restored. Today it is visited by hordes of tourists who bring good profits and contribute to the spread of Chinese culture. The Shaolin Monastery also performs an old function - monks study here. Today, anyone can try to become a monk in this legendary place, regardless of nationality.
Shaolin Monk Fighter
Unfortunately, nowadays the situation is such that traditional wushu is not considered a martial art. Many fighters consider it to be a dance that has nothing to do with a real fight. And they are not far from the truth: most people practicing wushu today are concentrated on studying the formal complexes of taolu. Competitions are held on them, where participants show an imaginary fight, and judges evaluate their performance. Imagine how boxers enter the ringone and they show a shadow fight there, according to the results of which one of them is awarded the victory. Absurd, nothing else. But the situation with traditional wushu is just that. Only in wushu-sanda are full-contact fights practiced, but this is a purely sporting direction.
And just as wushu was already written off, a man appeared who blew up the Internet with his incredible martial skills. His name is Yi Long and he comes from the Shaolin Monastery. He does not hesitate to fight according to the rules of kickboxing with the strongest athletes of our time. People finally got to see what a Shaolin monk can do against melee fighters.
Differences in technique
Yi Long's fights against kickboxing and Muay Thai champions are interesting in that he uses a peculiar technique, unlike the usual manner of fighting athletes. The fights of the Shaolin monk are distinguished by a huge number of throws and sweeps, for which modern adepts of shock martial arts were completely unprepared. Some of Yi Long's fights with martial arts champions looked so one-sided that for a while he was considered invincible.
But not without defeats, most of which were the result of the defiant behavior of a Shaolin wushu adept. His habit of putting his chin under the opponent's blows, showing his superiority over him, played against him more than once. When a Shaolin monk felt he had an advantage over an opponent, he simply lowered his arms and took a few clean punches to the chin. The result of such disrespectful behavior was a heavy knockout from a Muay Thai fighter.
Yi Long - a monk or just a fighter?
Of course, every martial arts fan is interested to see what a Shaolin monk can do against a boxer or a karateka. But the behavior of this wushu player in the ring leaves a lot of questions. How can a modest monk so flaunt his superiority and show obvious disrespect for his opponent? Yi Long looks more like an MMA badass than a humble Buddhist.
Be that as it may, this fighter shows the wonders of his body control and excellent fighting skills. Perhaps his impudent behavior is due to the specifics of contact martial arts, or maybe this is just a competent marketing ploy to stir up interest in his person. Most importantly, Yi Long showed that wushu is indeed a serious martial art that gives real fighting skills.
Shaolin monk in MMA fights
It is believed that the next step in the wushu player's career will be the participation of Yi Long in the so-called fights without rules, or MMA. However, the probability of this event tends to zero. The reason is that the most important element of the fight in the octagon is the ground. There are practically no stalls in traditional and sports wushu, due to its history. Moreover, the strongest techniques of traditional Chinese martial arts are aimed at hitting the opponent's vital points, which is unacceptable in mixed martial arts. But who knows, maybe this crazy monk will surprise us again by successfully performing incell. Time will tell.
