The exercises of bohdidharma

[Tigerwarrior]

So I was reading a martial arts book. In it the writer was writing about the exercises of bohdidharma. How he set up the monks with a plan and exercises to improve their health. Which later was modified and turned into a fighting method aka kung fu. So I was looking at the exercises and they just looked like stretches and warm ups. Then I did some research online, and found the 18 Lohan hand movements. The 18 Lohans looked like stuff everyone is already doing in karate with blocks etc and even kung fu styles too. So I'm wondering if anyone knows the actual legitimate exercises that were taught to shaolin by bohdidharma to improve their health. If anyone can help me I appreciate it. I want to do these exercises to improve My health. Thank you.

 

[windwalker099]

You might find this interesting

Dabeiquan (大悲拳)

" Dabeiquan likely took inspiration from the imagery and principles associated with Buddhist guardian deities, incorporating their qualities of strength, protection, and compassion into its practice.

By drawing from the powerful and dynamic representations of Dharmapalas, Dabeiquan blends martial efficacy with a compassionate philosophy, reflecting the dual purpose of protection and spiritual cultivation. "

"
Zhang Wei Dong's master, Teacher Qiao was in is early eighties in this video. His stances are not low, but you can still feel his skill. "Dabei Zhou" is the Mandarin name for the Buddhist Compassion Sutra. "Dabei Quan" is the physical practice of that mantra. This is not a style of Taiji ... nor of yoga ... but something unique in between. This is also commonly called "Shaolin Dabei Tuoluo Ni Quan".


Met this teacher in Beijing, his work interesting .

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I don't know how ancient the "13 Taibo (十三太保)" has been invented. It's 13 static/dynamic postures training.

Taibo (太保) is Chinese prince's teacher. Taibo is not MA. But it help MA development.

I had linked it into a short form.

 

[Tigerwarrior]

You might find this interesting

Dabeiquan (大悲拳)

" Dabeiquan likely took inspiration from the imagery and principles associated with Buddhist guardian deities, incorporating their qualities of strength, protection, and compassion into its practice.

By drawing from the powerful and dynamic representations of Dharmapalas, Dabeiquan blends martial efficacy with a compassionate philosophy, reflecting the dual purpose of protection and spiritual cultivation. "

"
Zhang Wei Dong's master, Teacher Qiao was in is early eighties in this video. His stances are not low, but you can still feel his skill. "Dabei Zhou" is the Mandarin name for the Buddhist Compassion Sutra. "Dabei Quan" is the physical practice of that mantra. This is not a style of Taiji ... nor of yoga ... but something unique in between. This is also commonly called "Shaolin Dabei Tuoluo Ni Quan".


Met this teacher in Beijing, his work interesting .

Thank you

 

[Tigerwarrior]

I don't know how ancient the "13 Taibo (十三太保)" has been invented. It's 13 static/dynamic postures training.

Taibo (太保) is Chinese prince's teacher. Taibo is not MA. But it help MA development.

View attachment 32319

I had linked it into a short form.

Thank you.

 

[Appledog]

So I was reading a martial arts book. In it the writer was writing about the exercises of bohdidharma. How he set up the monks with a plan and exercises to improve their health. Which later was modified and turned into a fighting method aka kung fu. So I was looking at the exercises and they just looked like stretches and warm ups. Then I did some research online, and found the 18 Lohan hand movements. The 18 Lohans looked like stuff everyone is already doing in karate with blocks etc and even kung fu styles too. So I'm wondering if anyone knows the actual legitimate exercises that were taught to shaolin by bohdidharma to improve their health. If anyone can help me I appreciate it. I want to do these exercises to improve My health. Thank you.

Nobody knows exactly what they did. However with some thought and speculation we can say with almost 100% certainty that Damo taught them yoga and/or they picked up a version of Hua Tuo's proto-qigong. These exercises were modified into military training exercises and the foundations of 'kung fu' were born.

So if the quesion becomes how the postures were modified for martial art. Well, that is a more interesting question to me because it is more approachable. If you learned Yoga for example, is there any things you would do to make it more like kung fu?

 

[Gyakuto]

Nobody knows exactly what they did. However with some thought and speculation we can say with almost 100% certainty that Damo taught them yoga and/or they picked up a version of Hua Tuo's proto-qigong. These exercises were modified into military training exercises and the foundations of 'kung fu' were born.

So if the quesion becomes how the postures were modified for martial art. Well, that is a more interesting question to me because it is more approachable. If you learned Yoga for example, is there any things you would do to make it more like kung fu?

I think this is entirely correct. The myth that Bodhidharma/Daruma invented Kung Fu and taught it to the Shaolin monks is almost certainly regarded as a just that…a myth. He was, after all, a monk, a religious person who would’ve had to devote nearly all his time to his spiritual pursuits rather than learning a martial art, that we know takes a lot of time.

After long periods of sitting in meditation with one’s legs folded in some unnatural shape, yoga-type/Qigong movements involving stretching are very natural and indeed welcome in which to engage. The idea of leaping around punching and kicking seems unlikely.

 

[Same Trick]

At Shaolin bohdidharma sat in a cave for nine years staring at the cave wall

 

[Gyakuto]

At Shaolin bohdidharma sat in a cave for nine years staring at the cave wall

…cut of his eyelids for falling asleep and the first tea plant sprouted from those lids! It’s all likely a myth.

 

[Same Trick]

If one think “bohdidharma” and “yoga” one can not associate to him the gymnastic yoga postures we see today, because they have their origin in the north European gymnastic/fitness tradition that evolved in the 1800 especially from the Swedish gymnastic tradition of that time..

The article - A Brief History of Modern Yoga

 

[Same Trick]

Yoga and the martial - Scandinavian gymnastics that came to inspire the invention and development of the gymnastic yoga postures do have a martial connection in that the British army took to it the Scandinavian gymnastic tradition as a physical education model for its soldiers……..

SCANDINAVIAN ROOTS OF MODERN YOGA by Tyr Neilsen — ACADEMY of VIKING MARTIAL ARTS

 

[isshinryuronin]

The myth that Bodhidharma/Daruma invented Kung Fu and taught it to the Shaolin monks is almost certainly regarded as a just that…a myth. He was, after all, a monk, a religious person who would’ve had to devote nearly all his time to his spiritual pursuits rather than learning a martial art

Before he was a monk, he was an Indian prince who historically trained in military MA organized systems, armed and unarmed. It is most likely Daruma (whether in legend or reality) was already proficient before he got to Shaolin.

 

[Buka]

…cut of his eyelids for falling asleep and the first tea plant sprouted from those lids! It’s all likely a myth.

I heard he was binge watching Breaking Bad.

 

[Same Trick]

Yoga and the martial - Scandinavian gymnastics that came to inspire the invention and development of the gymnastic yoga postures do have a martial connection in that the British army took to it the Scandinavian gymnastic tradition as a physical education model for its soldiers……..

SCANDINAVIAN ROOTS OF MODERN YOGA by Tyr Neilsen — ACADEMY of VIKING MARTIAL ARTS

Before he was a monk, he was an Indian prince who historically trained in military MA organized systems, armed and unarmed. It is most likely Daruma (whether in legend or reality) was already proficient before he got to Shaolin.

It’s not really a fact that Bodhidharma was an Indian, there are tales of him being from Persia which I think is a common belief in Japan..
I’ll guess the idea that Bodhidharma was from India has to do with an idea to connect him to Buddha - who’s said to have been a prince in/ around India(Nepal?)

 

[isshinryuronin]

Yoga and the martial - Scandinavian gymnastics that came to inspire the invention and development of the gymnastic yoga postures do have a martial connection in that the British army took to it the Scandinavian gymnastic tradition as a physical education model for its soldiers……..

SCANDINAVIAN ROOTS OF MODERN YOGA by Tyr Neilsen — ACADEMY of VIKING MARTIAL ARTS

It’s not really a fact that Bodhidharma was an Indian, there are tales of him being from Persia which I think is a common belief in Japan..
I’ll guess the idea that Bodhidharma was from India has to do with an idea to connect him to Buddha - who’s said to have been a prince in/ around India(Nepal?)

I've read that too (although more commonly that he was Indian), but Buddhism was never the main belief in Persia and all but died out by Daruma's time. (Maybe he fled the Zoroasters and Muslims to China?) But I've read he probably came from southern India, bordering on the Arabian Sea. Maybe he took a ship to Persia and from there went to China? No way to know for sure, just legends to tell. Maybe not too important (see quote below).

I just happen to be reading a new book today - Karate Uchina-Di (by Itzik Cohen, 50 years varied MA experience and officer in the Israeli Directorate of Military Intelligence) that addresses in over 600 pages the evolution of karate and Okinawa itself, including the influence of Shaolin and what was taught there.




It is known that a few hundred years before Daruma there was a Taoist practice called "Yangsheng" and had three parts: Tuna, breathing; Taoyin, exercise; and Yinshu, stretching. There's no link to Shaolin; however, it sounds like the kind of stuff they would do.

The myth that Bodhidharma/Daruma invented Kung Fu and taught it to the Shaolin monks is almost certainly regarded as a just that…a myth.

The book also cites the lack of evidence of any organized empty hand MA being done there for a few hundred years after Daruma's time. Their primary MA was staff and spear based (they assisted in battles for the Ming Dynasty). Shaolin began to really develop empty hand fighting around 1500 and according to Cheng Zongyou, a military officer around 1610, they were not highly skilled fighters at that time. Their kung fu for civil self-defense blossomed as their main skill around 1800.

A surprising new perspective.