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Buddhidharma

During the Liang Dynasty (503 - 577 AD) the famous Indian monk Buddhidharma came to China to promote his Zen sect of Buddhism. He came to China from India by sea and went to Northern China via the south by land. He first tried to convince Liang Wu Ti, the Emperor of Liang, to follow his Zen sect of Buddhism. Unable to achieve this goal he settled in the Siu Lam or Shaolin Monastery.

Siu Lam or Shaolin Monastery

The Shaolin monastery was built in 495 AD, during the reign of Haw Man Ti, the Emperor of Northern Wei Dynasty (472 - 499 AD), around 30 years before Buddhidharma arrived. Many people believe that martial arts techniques were first introduced to the monks by Buddhidharma at this time as well as the beliefs and practices of the Zen sect of Buddhism.

According to legend, Buddhidharma saw some of his students fall asleep in his classes. Afterwards Buddhidharma started teaching his students martial arts techniques to keep them in high spirits and feel stronger.

Looking at ancient Indian martial arts they have wrestling, long and short weapons fighting, Yoga etc. Yet there are no fist fighting arts that are similar to the ones practiced by the Chinese. This would lead you to believe that Buddhidharma taught the monks something like Yoga rather than Martial Arts!

Stick Fighting Monks

In the beginning of the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 AD), according to history, prior to Li Shih-Min became the second Emperor of Tang. Li was being hunted down by Wang Shih Chung, the leader of a troop of conspirators. When Li was in great danger, he approached the Siu Lam or Shaolin monastery. The monks inside the monastery came to Lis aid by driving Wang and his followers away using sticks.

When Li became Emperor he praised the monks all over the nation, showered them with gifts and tried to make the monks who helped him into high-ranking officers. The Buddhist monks preferred to stay in the monastery and live in peace, but as to not offend the Emperor they selected one of them to accept the position as an officer under Li.

This is the story of how the Siu Lam or Shaolin monastery received the reputation as the Monastery of fighting Monks or Stick fighting Monks.

Fighting Monks Everywhere

Whenever a government changes hands for any reason, there are a few warriors of the former regime who have to escape detention by the new rulers. The best shelter for those people were the Buddhist temples or monasteries or Taoist Abbeys. According to the customs of ancient Chinese, any person who became a Buddhist monk had given up his Mundane World and was no longer connected to his past. Normally the new rulers would let these people survive for the rest of their lives. Therefore it is no wonder that quite a few Buddhist monks and Taoist priests had very good fighting techniques as they used to be warriors.

The warriors of the old government were scattered everywhere in China and lived as monks or priest, especially in deep forest or high mountains where nobody could find them. They may well have become genuine monks or priests but would not give up the martial arts that they had used as warriors in their past for so many years. As monks or priests they now had more time to practice, refine and even teach the martial arts techniques to their fellow monks or priests. Therefore, Shaolin was not the only monastery where fighting monks could be found.

It did however become the most famous one!

Shaolin the Birth place of Kung Fu?

The surviving nobles and officers of the overthrown Ming Government still dreamed of rebuilding the Ming Dynasty. To try and achieved this they created secret societies to overthrow the Ching Government.

Some of the secret societies were:

• Hung Hua Hui or Red Flower Society
• Ke Lao Hui or Old Brothers Society
• Pai Lien Chiao or White Lotus Sect
• Tien Ti Hui or Heaven and Earth Society

There was two secret societies that were very large, the Chinese used to say The Ching Pang or The Green Gang in the North and the Hung-Moon in the South.

Nowdays the Hung-Moon society is know as Saam-Hup-Wui or the Traids!

A lot of the members of the secret societies were lower class people and to persuade more people to join them they created a story which angered people towards the Ching Government!

The story they created was the Big fire of the Shaolin Monastery

In this story a fire was ignited by the Ching Government to burn down the whole of the Shaolin monastery of the Fukien Province (were no Shaolin temple has ever existed). Only five monks escaped. They were:

1. Choy Tak Chung
2. Fong Tai Hung
3. Wu Tak Tai
4. Ma Chiu Hing
5. Li Sik Hoi

These survivors later organized the Hung-Moon society to fight the Ching Government.

This story allowed the Hung-Moon to used the Shaolin monastery as a secret signal to identify other members along with poems, gestures and the layout of cups and chopsticks etc. Using this story and as a signal was safe because the location of this fake Shaolin Temple was so far away that it was nearly impossible for people to travel there in those days.

As guns were not popular in China at this time period the best weapon to use against the Ching Government was martial arts. Most members of the Hung-Moon society knew some Kung Fu techniques and the idea of coming from the Shaolin Temple influenced them deeply. Yet saying that they came from the Shaolin temple was just a secret signal!

This is why many people want to believe that their and all Kung Fu originated at Shaolin Temple. In their logic Buddhidharma was the first monk to teach the Shaolin monks Zen, the Shaolin monks were well known for their fighting techniques, due to Emperor Li praising them all over the nation for helping him, therefore Buddhidharma must have been the founder of Kung Fu!

Origin of Wing Tzun

Ng Mui

About 250 to 290 years ago, there was a nun called Ng Mui. She was a female Kungfu expert of the Weng Chun Bak Hok Pai or White Crane Kung fu style of the Weng Chun Precinct, a Fukien Kungfu style which is quite simple, flexible yet practical. Just like Gee Sin, a Buddhist monk and a great Fukien Kungfu expert of the rigid Southern Siu Lam or Shaolin style, Ng Mui was also a high-ranked member of the Hung-Moon secret society.

This is why when Ng Mui was asked:

Where do you came from?

Her answer would be:

The Shaolin monastery!

Due to political problems, Ng Mui and Gee Sin and some others had to escape Fukien and to other places. Gee Sin went to Kwangtung and hid up in the Red Junks as a cook. Meanwhile Ng Mui escaped to the border district between Yunnan and Szechwan and settled down in the Bak Hok Koon or White Crane Temple in Tai Leung Mountain which is also called Mt. Chai Ha at that time. There she taught a few students.

Ng Mui always wanting to improve her techniques to help her fight against the Ching Government, saw something quite strange to her!

This is were the Myth of Ng Mui seeing a crane and a Fox or Snake fighting, and she based Wing Tzun on the movements of these animals! This is copied from the story about the creation of Tai Chi.

Any how many people mistake the word Wu short for Wu-Suen meaning Monkey for the term Wu which means Fox. The difference between the two is the Chinese characters when written. This why many people are mistaken.

The reason why Wu is referring to monkey is because of a martial arts style called Ling Lom or Flying Monkey style in the Northern Thailand region of Yunnan. At least 70% of Ling Lom has a resemblance to Wing Tzun. So it is more likely Ng Mui or one of her students, fought against a Long Lom or Flying Monkey practitioner or they exchanged techniques.

This would be why people say Ng Mui saw crane and a Fox or Snake fighting (in this case a Monkey) and she based Wing Tzun of the movement of these animals! They were talking about students of the White Crane Kungfu style and the Flying Monkey style fighting, training, exchanging technique or sparing with each other.

Watching this new Kungfu style, Ng Mui combine the two styles and refined the techniques. Later, Ng Mui started teaching Yim Wing Tzun this new Kungfu style.