Shaolin Monk: The Art of Combat

Today it is difficult to find a person unfamiliar with the Shaolin monastery. This place has been a refuge for monks for centuries, trying to unite physical perfection with spiritual achievements. This is a magical place at the foot of Songshan Mountain, southwest of Beijing. Today, martial arts fans from all over the world come here to learn the wisdom of wushu and to know oneself through meditation. But it was not always so. A new round in the history of the Shaolin Monastery began only 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 commonly believed 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 of this legendary place. It is generally believed that the Shaolin monk is an invincible fighter with enormous physical power.

However, one of the legends says that Wushu originated in the monastery near Songshan Mountain not immediately. The history of martial arts of Shaolin began with the fact that a Buddhist monk from India came to the territory of today's China. His name was Bodhidharma. It was he who introduced compulsory physical exercises for the monks of Shaolin, 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 great influence on the development of Buddhism and Chinese martial arts. Let's get acquainted with the history of this incredible person.

Bodhidharma

The personality of Bodhidharma, whom the monks called Damo, was overgrown with many beautiful legends. Today it is difficult to say what kind of person it 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 is the best way of knowing the world and achieving enlightenment. To the body, they treated rather scornfully, considering it an annoying barrier to perfection. Therefore, the monks were physically weak, which prevented them from meditating for long.

Damo was convinced that the body and consciousness are closely related, and it is impossible to achieve enlightenment without developing a physical shell. Therefore, he showed the monks a complex called "Movement of hands of eighteen Arhats", which then turned into Shaolin Wushu. There is a legend that once Damo spent 9 years in a cave, contemplating the wall. After that, his legs refused to serve him, which forced Bato to create a complex to change the muscles and tendons "Damo Ijingjing", which laid the foundation of Shaolin qigong. The methods of nurturing vitality, 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. He was repeatedly burned to the ground, but he, like a phoenix, always revived from the ashes, continuing his important mission. Another of the beautiful legends is connected with the son of military commander Li Yuan. His name was Li Shimin, he headed one of his father's armies. In one of the battles his army was defeated, and he himself fell into the river, the stormy waters of which carried him down the river. Fortunately, the inhabitants of the Shaolin monastery saved the man from certain death, cured and gave protection to 13 monks who defended him. It was a dedicated and useful retinue, because at that time one Shaolin monk could deal with a dozen bandits with which the local forests abounded.

After Li Shimin came to power, he thanked his saviors. They received a gift of land, and the rules of the Shaolin monks were changed-they were now allowed to eat meat and drink wine. This beautiful story gives an idea of what life was like in those far times. Obviously, the monks repeatedly had to participate in battles and defend themselves against robbers, who in that turbulent time were more than stars in the sky.

Shaolin today

Today, the Shaolin monk remains the same as it was hundreds of years ago. However, few people know that the northern Shaolin was restored only in 1980. Before that, he had been in ruins for a long time after being burned 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 as possible a piece of land, not abhorring any methods.

Then there was a cultural revolution, after which traditional martial arts were on the verge of destruction, and monasteries were considered a useless remnant of the past. Only in 1980, the Chinese government realized that there was no point in destroying its 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. Also, the Shaolin Monastery performs an old function - monks are trained here. Today anyone can try to become a monk in this legendary place, regardless of nationality.

Shaolin monk-fighter

Unfortunately, in our days there is such a situation that traditional wushu is not considered a martial art. Many fighters consider him to be a dance, not connected with a real fight. And they are not far from the truth: most people who are engaged in Wushu today are concentrated on studying formal complexes of Taolu. They are held competitions, where the participants show an imaginary battle, and the judges evaluate their performance. Imagine how the boxers enter the ring one by one and show there a fight with the shadow, according to which one of them is awarded a victory. Absurdity, not otherwise. But the situation with the traditional Wushu is exactly this. Only in Wushu Sanda practicing full-contact fights, but this is a purely sporting direction.

And now, when Wushu was already written off, a man appeared who blew up the Internet with his incredible fighting skills. His name is Yi Long and he comes from the Shaolin Monastery. He does not hesitate to fight by the rules of kickboxing with the strongest athletes of our time. People finally could see what the Shaolin monk could do against fighters of contact martial arts.

Differences in technique

Battles Yi Long against the champions of kickboxing and Muay Thai are interesting in that he uses a kind of technique, unlike the usual manner of fighting athletes. The Shaolin monk fights are characterized by a huge number of throws and sweeps, to which modern adherents of shock martial arts were completely unprepared. Some Yi Long fights with sports martial arts champions looked so one-sided, that for a while he was considered unbeatable.

But there were also defeats, most of which were the result of the defiant behavior of the Shaolin Wushu adept. His habit of substituting his chin for an opponent's blow, showing his superiority over him, often played against him. When the Shaolin monk felt his advantage over the rival, he simply dropped his hands and took several clean punches in the chin. The result of such disrespectful behavior was a heavy knockout from a Thai boxing fighter.

Yi Long is a monk or just a fighter?

Of course, every fan of martial arts is interested to see what Shaolin monk can do against a boxer or a karate player. But the behavior of this wushu in the ring leaves a lot of questions. How can a humble monk so brave his superiority and show a clear disrespect for the opponent? Yi Long is more like a teaser from MMA than a humble Buddhist.

Whatever it was, this fighter shows the wonders of owning his body and excellent fighting skills. Perhaps, his bold behavior is due to the specifics of contact martial arts, and maybe this is only a competent marketing move to warm up interest in his person. The main thing is that Yi Long showed that wushu really is a serious martial art, giving real combat skills.

Shaolin monk in fights without rules

There is an opinion that the next step in the career of Ushuist will be the participation of Yi Long in the so-called battles without rules, or MMA. However, the probability of this event tends to zero. The reason is that the most important element of the battle in the octagon is the pit. In traditional and sporting Wushu, the orchestra practically does not exist, which is due to its history. Moreover, the strongest techniques of traditional Chinese martial arts are aimed at defeating the vital points of the enemy, which is unacceptable in mixed martial arts. But who knows, perhaps this mad monk will surprise us again, successfully stepping into the cage. Time will tell.