SHAOLIN PHILOSOPHY AND ENLIGHTENMENT 'THE WAY'

Zen Buddhism plays a major role in the philosophy and culture of Traditional Japanese Karate.

'Buddhism', or the Way of Self-Enlightenment, initially spread into China from India during the Eastern Han Ming emperor period (58-76 A.D.). During the 500s, the Indian Monk, 'Bodhidharma', arrived at the Shaolin Temple in China and taught Zen Buddhism to the Chinese Monks for the purpose of strengthening their minds and bodies. These exercises-taught to the Shaolin Monks-marked the beginning of the Shaolin Temple Martial Arts. Buddhism's guiding influence over the Shaolin Monks was ever-present. Bodhidharma instructed that Shaolin boxing arts be used for solely for self-defense, and never to hurt or injure needlessly. In fact, this is perhaps one of the oldest Shaolin axioms, which is still preserved in authentic forms of Karate today:

"He who engages in combat has already lost the battle."

During the next five hundred years to follow, several Chinese emperors converted away from traditional Confucius beliefs and became sincere Buddhists. Buddhism began to establish itself in China. In order to absorb more Buddhist philosophy, Chinese Rulers sent Monks back to India to study Buddhism and return with the Buddhist classics. Indian monks were invited back to China for preaching.

ZEN Buddhism, initially taught to the Shaolin Monks is based on a single esoteric idea:

'All humans have a Buddha nature inside them and to realize this nature all a human being has to do is search his or her inner self'.

The key to Buddhahood in Zen is simply, self-knowledge. The way to gain self-knowledge is through meditation (or 'Zen'). Zen takes its name from the practice of meditation. 'Meditation' is one of the cornerstones of Buddhism. It forms the final and most important aspect of gaining enlightenment. In other Buddhist schools such as Chinese, 'Ch'an', meditation was merely a means to an end. In Zen, meditation became the end in itself, and meditation revealed 'Truth realized through Action'.

'Although the goal of Buddhism is the salvation of the soul, the body and soul cannot be separated. In weak physical condition one will never be able to perform the rigorous training necessary to attain true enlightenment.' --Bodhidharma

Zen Buddhism is a strict religious discipline: the mind must be made sharp and attentive in order to intuit from itself the 'Truth of Buddhahood'. Part of this discipline involves waking up the mind of the disciple, and making that person aware of the event around them-one of the hallmarks of formal Karate training.

In Japanese history, little was known about the origins of Zen Buddhism until it appeared in Okinawa during the 1600s. The religion of Buddhism and Shaolin fighting techniques are believed to have spread to the Ryukyu via commerce with China and migration. Chinese Martials Arts were later combined with earlier forms of Japanese hand-to-hand combat; the ancestor of modern Karate.

Additional accounts suggest Buddhism itself was introduced to Japan some 300 years earlier. During the Chinese Yuan dynasty, in the year 1312 A.D., it is said that the monk, 'Da Zhi', came to the Shaolin Temple from Japan. After he studied Shaolin Martial Arts (bare hands and staff) for nearly 13 years (1324 A.D.), he then returned to Japan and spread Shaolin Gongfu to Japanese society. Later, in 1335 A.D. another Buddhist monk named, 'Shao Yuan', travelled to Shaolin from Japan. He mastered calligraphy, painting, Chan theory (i.e., Ren), and Shaolin Gongfu during his stay. He returned to Japan in 1347 A.D., and was regarded as a "Country Spirit" by the Japanese people. Such accounts hence suggest greater claims that Shaolin martial techniques were imported into Japan at least seven hundred years ago.

In 1609 the art was officially brought to Okinawa where it underwent many changes and became later known as Karate-do.