# Bohdidarma's influence on the Moo Duk Kwan?



## Makalakumu (Jan 16, 2005)

Bohdidarma's influence on the Moo Duk Kwan

I do not suffer fools gladly, these were the words of the fierce patriarch of Buddhism in China, Bohdidharma.  This one militant statement characterizes what many modern students of bujutsu claim; that Bohdidharma was the originator of the entire Art of Striking as it is now.  That point is much debated among scholars, though, because Buddhist monks usually take a non-violent dispassionate stand and do not concern themselves with the outcomes of violent conflicts.

Regardless of the debate, there can be no doubt that all of the martial arts of China, Japan, and Korea were in some way influenced by the teachings of Bohdidharma.  Even in our martial art of Soo Bahk Do the influence can be seen.  How could one man have such an all encompassing martial influence, one might ask?  What kinds of things did he bring to the martial arts?  Those questions will be answered below.  First though, a quick examination of the history is needed in order to fully understand Bohdidharma and his martial influences.

In the Fifth century AD an Indian monk named Bohdidharma traveled to China.  With him, he brought the teachings of Buddhism.  After meeting with Chinese Emperor Wu, Bohdidharma spent time in a Shaolin Monastery teaching them how to meditate with breathing exercises and other Indian militaristic techniques.  During this time, he also wrote pamphlets describing these techniques as well as fully describing the spiritual aspects of Buddhism.  This became known as Chen in China.  Around the sixth century AD, Pomnang took Chen to Korea, where it became known as Son.  In the seventh century AD Son traveled to Japan by the way of Tendai and became known as Zen.  

As stated above, Bohdidharma is directly responsible for the transportation of Buddhism to the Far East.  In a martial sense, the most important factor that influences martial arts in general is the transference of meditative practice.  In this region of the world as in many others, an acute blend of religion and warfare was attained.  Starting in China, doctrines of wai-chia or hard and nai-chia or soft began to spread in the circles of shaolin.  Breathing exercises were emphasized in order to strike a balance between the hard and soft because it was discovered that this created deadly warriors.  Systems such as Tai Chi Chuan supreme ultimate fist and Pa-Kua arose, emphasizing this balance as well as the direction of concentrated energy.  
From China, this militant doctrine of energy techniques spread outward with the spread of Buddhism.  Through Korea and through Japan, these inner factors were emphasized as the true measure of a warrior.  In Japan, in particular, among circles of master samurai, masters of Hara-gei were known as some of the deadliest warriors to ever exist.  It is even said that the greatest swordsmen to ever live in Japan, Musashi Miayamoto, was defeated by one of these masters with a paper fan and it was this experience that prompted him to write his famous book The Book of Five Rings on his own Inner Factors.

There are two obvious places that Bohdidharmas influence can be seen in the Moo Duk Kwan.  The first in our practice of Moo Pal Dan Kun.  The Eight Advanced Military Breathing exercises are even said to have come from India.  With these exercises practitioners of the Moo Duk Kwan learn how to breath with their stomachs and how to concentrate their energy in certain areas of there bodies.  Even though the possibility that these exercises are unadulterated from the exercises that Bohdidharma brought with him is questionable, the concept, why they do breathing exercises is still there.

The second place where Bohdidharmas influence can be seen is in the Chil Sung, or Seven Star, series of Hyung or forms.  These forms emphasize a balance between neh-gung spiritual and soft and weh-gung physical and hard in order teach how to become a better martial artist.  This is done through deep meditative breathing and slow easy movements punctuated by fast energetic movements.  Plainly, the teachings of the shaolin are apparent in this form set and as stated above, this balance was derived from the teachings of Bohdidharma.  

In conclusion then, I would like to say that Bohdidharmas influence in the martial arts is still felt in many ways.  Directly, it can be seen in the presence of breathing exercises that improved a warriors health and stamina.  Indirectly, the Buddhist doctrine of balance that he brought to the shaolin was interpreted as a balance between hard and soft techniques in order to be a more effective warrior.  Though many of the methods used to illustrate this balance predate the appearance of Bohdidharma in China, it is theorized by martial scholars that a transformation and reorganization of these techniques did occur with the coming of Buddhism and Bohdidharma.


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## glad2bhere (Jan 20, 2005)

Actually, both Chinese Boxing and Buddhism were well-established before Bodhidarma came to China. However, Bodhidarms' more contemplative practice did transition into what would later be identified as Chan in China, Son in Korea and Zen in Japan. The rest of the myth about Chinese Boxing originating with Bodhidarma or at the Shaolin Temple (North or South) has been a well debunked construction.  (See: Stanley Hennings). My sense is that if you want to trace the modern MDK tradition back, you can find considerable influence through the MU YEI TOBO TONG JI and its supporting traditions in the WU BEI ZHI (See: Mao, Yuan-I) or JIN XAIO SHIN SUH (See: Gen Qi, Jiguang. FWIW. 

Best Wishes, 

Bruce


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## The Kai (Jan 20, 2005)

How about shotoakn Karate??


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## Miles (Jan 21, 2005)

The Kai said:
			
		

> How about shotoakn Karate??


 
How about the Chung Do Kwan's influence on the Moo Duk Kwan?

Miles


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## MichiganTKD (Jan 22, 2005)

Without Chung Do Kwan, there would most likely have been no Moo Duk Kwan. Hwang Kee was a student of Won Kuk Lee at one point, and incorporated many of the Chung Do Kwan techniques into his curriculum.
Also, at the time Hwang Kee started teaching, he called his system "Hwa Soo Do". Because few people were familiar with "Hwa Soo Do", his enrollment suffered. It was not until he obtained permission from the Chung Do Kwan to call his system "Tang Soo Do"-the name Lee used for his Kwan-that Hwang finally found success with his organization.
What many people seem to forget is that Lee, not Hwang, was the first to use the name "Tang Soo Do" for his Kwan. It was not Hwang's idea, he borrowed it from Chung Do Kwan. He kept the name after "Tang Soo Do" became Tae Kwon Do.


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## Miles (Jan 22, 2005)

Well stated, MichiganTKD, and exactly my point.

Miles


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## MichiganTKD (Jan 22, 2005)

Any influence that Bodhidharma had on Tang Soo Do or Tae Kwon Do is negligible at best. For one thing, we're not even sure if he really existed. Chinese martial arts is full of myths and legends, so he could very well be a mythical figure created to romanticize Chinese and Oriental martial arts. Another problem with this, though, is that it is fairly well established that martial arts existed in China, and definitely in Korea, before Bodhidharma was reputed to have traveled to China. So the notion that an Indian monk journeyed across the mountains and introduced martial arts into China and the Orient is dubious at best.
There is no doubt that Buddhism contributed to the philosophical underpinnings of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese martial arts. But whether or not Bodhidharma introduced it all is not proven.


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## Makalakumu (Jan 24, 2005)

Part of the research I have to do for my third dan exam is on Bohdidarma and Buddhism.  I know there are a lot of legends and myths regarding this figure, but what I wrote above reflected just about all of the reputable sources I read.  

A few things.  I am not saying that Bohdidharma introduced martial arts to China.



			
				upnorthkyosa said:
			
		

> In the Fifth century AD an Indian monk named Bohdidharma traveled to China.  With him, he brought the teachings of Buddhism.  After meeting with Chinese Emperor Wu, Bohdidharma spent time in a Shaolin Monastery teaching them how to meditate with breathing exercises and other Indian militaristic techniques.  During this time, he also wrote pamphlets describing these techniques as well as fully describing the spiritual aspects of Buddhism.  This became known as Chen in China.  Around the sixth century AD, Pomnang took Chen to Korea, where it became known as Son.  In the seventh century AD Son traveled to Japan by the way of Tendai and became known as Zen.



I am trying to make the point that Buddhism's focus on meditation and breathing influenced much of our art...this influence can be seen across the arts.



			
				upnorthkyosa said:
			
		

> As stated above, Bohdidharma is directly responsible for the transportation of Buddhism to the Far East.  In a martial sense, the most important factor that influences martial arts in general is the transference of meditative practice.  In this region of the world as in many others, an acute blend of religion and warfare was attained.  Starting in China, doctrines of wai-chia or hard and nai-chia or soft began to spread in the circles of shaolin.  Breathing exercises were emphasized in order to strike a balance between the hard and soft because it was discovered that this created deadly warriors.  Systems such as Tai Chi Chuan supreme ultimate fist and Pa-Kua arose, emphasizing this balance as well as the direction of concentrated energy.



Yes, I agree that there are better sources to study the origins of the Moo Duk Kwan, but if I am going to look at this from a deeper level, doesn't this make sense?



			
				upnorthkyosa said:
			
		

> There are two obvious places that Bohdidharmas influence can be seen in the Moo Duk Kwan.  The first in our practice of Moo Pal Dan Kun.  The Eight Advanced Military Breathing exercises are even said to have come from India.  With these exercises practitioners of the Moo Duk Kwan learn how to breath with their stomachs and how to concentrate their energy in certain areas of there bodies.  Even though the possibility that these exercises are unadulterated from the exercises that Bohdidharma brought with him is questionable, the concept, why they do breathing exercises is still there.
> 
> The second place where Bohdidharmas influence can be seen is in the Chil Sung, or Seven Star, series of Hyung or forms.  These forms emphasize a balance between neh-gung spiritual and soft and weh-gung physical and hard in order teach how to become a better martial artist.  This is done through deep meditative breathing and slow easy movements punctuated by fast energetic movements.  Plainly, the teachings of the shaolin are apparent in this form set and as stated above, this balance was derived from the teachings of Bohdidharma.



Thank you for all of your comments.

upnorthkyosa


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## glad2bhere (Jan 24, 2005)

The problem with Bodhidarma is that what he is reputed to have done and what has been documented are two very different things. 

For instance, consider that the Gautama Buddha was reported to have lived 563 to 483bc and that the single best identified promotion of the Buddhist faith occured during the reign of Asoka (273-232bc). I suggest that by the time Bodhidarma brought his more comtemplative Buddhism to China, there was already a strong following of Buddhists dedicated to a more Sutra oriented take on Buddhism. In fact with the Chinese persecutions of the Buddhist faith in the 10th century, a contributing factor may well have been that the more urban followers of a sutra-oriented Buddhism made more ready targets while the more contemplative practiioners sought out rural locations and were able to stay out of harms way. The fact remains, though, that Bodhidarma came to a country where Buddhism was already well established. 

Along another vein it is important to remember that noone is quite sure what it was that Bodhidarma taught. We know that his contemplative approach to Buddhism survived as Chan. However, there are no surviving documents to identify what the Marrow Changing/Bone Cleansing material consisted of, and given the amount of time, there is no way to prove anything Bodhidarma taught has not be corrupted or even completely eclipsed by Taoist practices. 

Lastly I can understand making a dichotomous approach to MA such as one finds in the classic Um/Yang Theory. It still remains that such thinking is more characteristic of Taoist rather than Buddhist thought. Insights that meditation might well produce a more efficient and effective fighter smacks of modern revision with its advantage of 20/20 hindsight. The army led by Qi JiGuang during the Ming dynasty ultimately defeated the Wa-Ko of the previus two centuries of conflict. I don't find anything referring to meditation in his manual. What I find a lot of is solid discipline and attention to detail. In organizing his Boxing Canon he is reported to have selected from the top 16 Boxing arts of that time----about 1550---- but it seems like the resulting canon was almost exclusively from Long Fist. The reason I mention this is because there is no mention of a boxing art from a Shaolin Temple. In fact a report by a later general suggests that he was very disappointed with the stick work for which the monks were supposed to be known. In response he took a few monks with him to combat so that they could pick up some viable material and take it back to the monastery. FWIW. 

Best Wishes, 

Bruce


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## Makalakumu (Jan 25, 2005)

glad2bhere said:
			
		

> The problem with Bodhidarma is that what he is reputed to have done and what has been documented are two very different things.



My instructor requires rather extensive research for dan level exams and this was one of the topics.  Your point is my problem with this research.  My approach has been to look for comonalities between various sources and approach everything with skepticism.  

I liked the rest of your post.  Thank you for sharing your depth of knowledge.

upnorthkyosa


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## glad2bhere (Jan 25, 2005)

May I make a suggestion?  Perhaps you could use a "go-between". 

By this I mean that I think you are trying to make too big a jump in time and culture going from a transplanted Indian in a contemplative Chinese activity to a transplanted Japanese art in a contemporary Korean society. What I think you could use is a "go-between" which is to say someone who would represent a half-way point or transitional point of sorts. Here are some examples of what I mean. 

If you want to take Karate from a solid fighting art in Okinawa to a martial sport like Taekwondo, you could use Funakoshi (Shotokan) or Miyagi (Goju-ryu) as representing a pivotal point at which the art was significantly modified from one direction to another. Both personalities are heavily documented. On the other hand if you wanted to go from spirituality to combat effectiveness--- and from Chinese Buddhism to Korean fighting---- an excellent pivotal personality to investigate would be Won Kwang Bopsa the Buddhist monk who is identified as reconciling the militancy of the Korean fighter with the ideals of the Buddhist faith to produce the Korean O-Gae, or Five Tenets which are the code by which Korean warriors have been guided for about 1400 years.  Perhaps this is of some help, yes?  

Best Wishes, 

Bruce


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## Makalakumu (Jan 26, 2005)

glad2bhere said:
			
		

> May I make a suggestion?  Perhaps you could use a "go-between".
> 
> By this I mean that I think you are trying to make too big a jump in time and culture going from a transplanted Indian in a contemplative Chinese activity to a transplanted Japanese art in a contemporary Korean society. What I think you could use is a "go-between" which is to say someone who would represent a half-way point or transitional point of sorts. Here are some examples of what I mean.
> 
> ...



Yes, that helps.  Thank you.   :asian: 

I have some of those names on my "further research" list.


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