Bodhidharma, woodblock print by Yoshitoshi, 1887.

Claims that Chinese and Japanese martial arts come from Indian martial arts or are influenced by Indian martial arts via Bodhidharma^[1] are complicated by disputes over Bodhidharma's origins and history as well as the documented existence of martial arts in China—and specifically at the Shaolin Monastery—prior to the purported arrival of Bodhidharma. Download high resolution version (500x731, 162 KB) Bodhidharma, by Yoshitoshi, 1887. ... Download high resolution version (500x731, 162 KB) Bodhidharma, by Yoshitoshi, 1887. ... A woodcut is a method of printing in which an image is carved into the surface of a piece of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with chisels. ... Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839 - June 9, 1892) (Japanese: 月岡 芳年; also named Taiso Yoshitoshi 大蘇　芳年) was the last great master - and one of the great innovative and creative geniuses - of the Japanese woodblock print. ... 1887 (MDCCCLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. ... The Indian subcontinent is home to a variety of martial arts, including Pehlwani, Kalarippayattu, Vajra Mushti and Gatka. ... Bodhidharma was the Buddhist monk (usually Indian by most accounts) is credited as the founder of Chan/Zen Buddhism in 6th century China. ... Main gate of the Shaolin Monastery in Henan. ...

Disputed claim: Bodhidharma's knowledge of martial arts

It has been claimed that:

• Historical texts speak of Bodhidharma, the legendary founder of Chan Buddhism, a Kshatriya born in Kacheepuram (sic) in Tamil Nadu, in 522 A.D. arriving at the courts of the Chinese Emperor Liang Nuti, (sic) of the 6th dynasty, as the person responsible for bringing Kalaripayattu from India to China.^[2]

• He taught meditative and physical exercises to the chinese monks so that they could defend themselves against the frequent attacks of bandits.[2]

It is not until centuries after Bodhidharma's death that the "Jingde Chuandenglu" (1004) makes the first explicit association between Bodhidharma and the Shaolin temple.^[3] However, it contains no record of Bodhidharma teaching martial arts to the Shaolin monks or reference to any fighting skill or martial prowess on his part.^[4] Bodhidharma was the Buddhist monk (usually Indian by most accounts) is credited as the founder of Chan/Zen Buddhism in 6th century China. ... Chan can be variation of 陳 (Chen), a Chinese family name. ... Kshatriya (Hindi: , from Sanskrit: , ) is the title of the princely military order in the Vedic society. ... Kanchipuram temple, engraved in 1811. ... Tamil Nadu (தமிழ் நாடு, Land of the Tamils) is a state at the southern tip of India. ... Kalarippayattu (Malayalam:കളരിപയററ്)is an Indian martial art practised in Kerala and contiguous parts of neighboring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. ...

The association of Bodhidharma with martial arts can be traced to the Yi Jin Jing, though its authenticity has been discredited by several historians such as Tang Hao,^[5] Xu Zhen and Matsuda Ryuchi.^[6] This argument is summarized by modern historian Lin Boyuan in his Zhongguo wushu shi as follows: The Yì Jīn Jīng (Chinese: 易筋經; Wade-Giles: I Chin Ching; literally Muscle/Tendon Change Classic) is a qìgōng manual most notable as the source of the attribution of Shaolin Kung Fu to Bodhidharma; both this attribution and the authenticity of the Yì Jīn Jīng... Ryuchi Matsuda (松田隆智 Matsuda Ryuchi) is the Japanese author behind A Historical Outline of Chinese Martial Arts[1] and the manga Kenji. ...

As for the “Yi Jin Jing” (Muscle Change Classic), a spurious text attributed to Bodhidharma and included in the legend of his transmitting martial arts at the temple, it was written in the Ming dynasty, in 1624 CE, by the Daoist priest Zining of Mt. Tiantai, and falsely attributed to Bodhidharma. Forged prefaces, attributed to the Tang general Li Jing and the Southern Song general Niu Gao were written. They say that, after Bodhidharma faced the wall for nine years at Shaolin temple, he left behind an iron chest; when the monks opened this chest they found the two books “Xi Sui Jing” (Marrow Washing Classic) and “Yi Jin Jing” within. The first book was taken by his disciple Huike, and disappeared; as for the second, “the monks selfishly coveted it, practicing the skills therein, falling into heterodox ways, and losing the correct purpose of cultivating the Real. The Shaolin monks have made some fame for themselves through their fighting skill; this is all due to having obtained this manuscript.” Based on this, Bodhidharma was claimed to be the ancestor of Shaolin martial arts. This manuscript is full of errors, absurdities and fantastic claims; it cannot be taken as a legitimate source.^[7] The Yì JÄ«n JÄ«ng (Chinese: 易筋經; Wade-Giles: I Chin Ching; literally Muscle/Tendon Change Classic) is a qìgōng manual most notable as the source of the attribution of Shaolin Kung Fu to Bodhidharma; both this attribution and the authenticity of the Yì JÄ«n JÄ«ng...

According to Matsuda, none of the contemporary texts written about the Shaolin martial arts before the 19th century^[8] even mention Bodhidharma, let alone credit him with the creation of the Shaolin martial arts.

The association of Bodhidharma with martial arts became widespread with the 1904–1907 serialization of the novel The Travels of Lao Ts'an in Illustrated Fiction Magazine.^[9]

Shaolin monastery records state that two of its very first monks, Huiguang and Sengchou, were expert in the martial arts years before the arrival of Bodhidharma.^[10] None of the canonical Buddhist sources associates Bodhidharma with martial arts whereas they do note Sengchou's skill with the tin staff.^[11]

Years before the arrival of Bodhidharma, Huiguang and Sengchou, were experts in the martial arts by the time they became two of the very first Shaolin monks as disciples of Buddhabhadra (Batuo), the founding abbot of the Shaolin monastery.^[12] None of the canonical Buddhist sources associates Bodhidharma with martial arts whereas they do note Sengchou's skill with the tin staff.^[13] Main gate of the Shaolin temple in Henan Batuo (Fo Tuo, Chinese: ; pinyin: Bátuó, from Sanskrit Buddhabhadra), an Indian dhyana master, was the founder and the first patriarch [1] of the Shaolin Monastery. ...

The discovery of arms caches in the monasteries of Chang'an during government raids in 446 AD suggests that Chinese monks practiced martial arts prior to the establishment of the Shaolin Monastery in 497.^[14] Monks came from the ranks of the population among whom the martial arts were widely practiced prior to the introduction of Buddhism.^[15] Moreover, Chinese monasteries, not unlike those of Europe, in many ways were effectively large landed estates, that is, sources of considerable wealth which required protection that had to be supplied by the monasteries' own manpower.^[16] Changan ▶(?) (Simplified Chinese: 长安; Traditional Chinese: 長安; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chang-an) is the ancient capital of more than ten dynasties in China. ...

In addition, the Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue, the Bibliographies in the Book of the Han Dynasty and the Records of the Grand Historian all document the existence of martial arts in China before Bodhidharma. The martial arts Shuāi Jiāo and Sun Bin Quan, to name two, predate the establishment of the Shaolin Monastery by centuries.^[17] Shuai jiao (Chinese: 摔跤 or 摔角; Pinyin: Shuāijiāo; Wade-Giles: Shuai-chiao) is the modern Chinese term for wrestling. ... Sun Bin (孫臏) (died 316 BC) was a military strategist who lived during the Warring States Period in ancient China. ...

Bodhidharma is associated with the idea that spiritual, intellectual and physical excellence are an indivisible whole necessary for enlightenment. Such an approach to enlightenment ultimately proved highly attractive to the Samurai class in Japan, who made Zen their way of life, following their encounter with the martial-arts-oriented Zen Rinzai School introduced to Japan by Eisai in the 12th century. Yet in some versions of his legend, Bodhidharma's focus was so single-minded during his nine years of meditation that his legs atrophied.^[18] Japanese samurai in armour, 1860s. ... This article is about the religion Zen. ... The dry garden at Ryōan-ji, a Rinzai Zen temple in Kyoto. ... Myōan Eisai, founder of the Rinzai School of Zen, 12th century. ... (11th century - 12th century - 13th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century was that century which lasted from 1101 to 1200. ...

The Evolution of the Bodhidharma Legend and the Attachment to Indian Martial Arts

The American Heritage Dictionary defines a legend as "An unverified story handed down from earlier times, especially one popularly believed to be historical.", "A body or collection of such stories.", "A romanticized or popularized myth of modern times." An interesting trait of many legends is the ability of the legends to evolve over time. Historians like Meir Shahar have noted the evolution of the Bodhidharma legend with the brief original statements on his travels in the 6th century A.D., from being a Persian in the 6th century A.D. to a South Indian in the 7th century A.D., to his association with tea in the 10th century A.D., and finally to his association with martial arts in the 17th-19th century A.D. The first mention of the legend within the Yì Jīn Jīng during the 17th-19th century A.D. stated that Bodhidharma noted that the monks were physically weak, and after meditating within a cave in China, left a booklet containing physical exercises that formed the basis of the first exercises for the Shaolin style of Chinese martial arts. More recent additions in modern times have added that Bodhidharma no longer discovered the exercise regiments after meditating in a cave, but actually was a practitioner of an Indian martial art (either kalaripayattu or some other form of Indian martial art) and brought it from India to China. Historians at academic institutions have disclaimed this association as unfounded with various non-academic authors in the lay public either stating the association as a legend, stating the association as fact, giving both viewpoints, or disclaiming the association. Below is an abbreviated list of authors who have written on the subject: Bodhidharma was the Buddhist monk (usually Indian by most accounts) is credited as the founder of Chan/Zen Buddhism in 6th century China. ... The Yì JÄ«n JÄ«ng (Chinese: 易筋經; Wade-Giles: I Chin Ching; literally Muscle/Tendon Change Classic) is a qìgōng manual most notable as the source of the attribution of Shaolin Kung Fu to Bodhidharma; both this attribution and the authenticity of the Yì JÄ«n JÄ«ng... This article provides a general overview of Chinese martial arts. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The Indian subcontinent is home to a variety of martial arts, including Pehlwani, Kalarippayattu, Vajra Mushti and Gatka. ...

Academic historians who disclaim the association with martial arts: Tang Hao .^[19], Xu Zhen ^{[citation needed]}, Matsuda Ryuchi ^[20] , Paul Pelliot .^[21] , Stanley Henning^[22], Michael Spiessbach [3], Lin Buoyang^[23], Bernard Faure .^[24] Ryuchi Matsuda (松田隆智 Matsuda Ryuchi) is the Japanese author behind A Historical Outline of Chinese Martial Arts[1] and the manga Kenji. ...

Academic historians who state that accounts are legend: Heinrich Dumoulin ^[25], J. A. G. Roberts ^[26] and Meir Shahar. [4] and Kenneth Ch'en^{[citation needed]}.

Disputed claim: Bodhidharma's origins

It has been claimed that:

• Historical texts speak of Bodhidharma, the legendary founder of Chan Buddhism,a Brahmin born in Kacheepuram (sic) in Tamil Nadu, in 522 A.D. arriving at the courts of the Chinese Emperor Liang Nuti, (sic) of the 6th dynasty, as the person responsible for bringing Kalaripayattu from India to China.

• The texts describe Bodhidharma's birth in the modern southern Indian state of Kerala around 440 during the Pallavas' rule. He is told to be a clan prince in a poor hunter class and was well versed in martial arts. ^[27][28]

No canonical Buddhist source specifies the year, the kingdom or the jāti into which Bodhidharma was born. The Chinese Buddhist Canon is called in Chinese 大藏經 or Dazangjing (literally Scriptures of the Great Store). The modern standardized Japanese edition of this work is known as the Taisho Shinshu Daizokyo, published in Tokyo between 1924 and 1929. ... Jātis (the word literally means births) comprise the subcastes found within the four major castes, or varnas, of the Indian caste system. ...

The claim that Bodhidharma was South Indian has its origins in Tanlin's preface to the Two Entrances and Four Acts, which does not specify Bodhidharma's varna. The Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices (Chinese: 二入四行 Erh-ju ssu-hsing; Japanese: Ninyū shigyō ron) is a Buddhist text attributed to Bodhidharma, the supposed founder of Chan (Japanese: Zen) Buddhism. ... now. ...

The Dharma Master was a South Indian of the Western Region.^[29] He was the third son of a great Indian King.^[30]

– Tanlin, The Two Entrances and Four Acts (pre-645)

Roughly a century after Bodhidharma's death, Daoxuan faithfully copied Tanlin's preface for his account of Bodhidharma's life in the "Xu Gaoseng Zhuan" but added that Bodhidharma was of Brahmin descent.

Bodhidharma [was] of South Indian Brahman stock.^[31]

– Daoxuan, Xu Gaoseng Zhuan (645)

However, the earliest known reference to Bodhidharma is Yang Xuanzhi's eyewitness account, which identifies Bodhidharma specifically as a Persian from Central Asia.^[32] Yang Xuanzhi (Chinese:楊衒之) was a Chinese writer and translator of Mahayana Buddhist texts into the Chinese language, during the 6th century, under the Northern Wei Dynasty. ...

At that time there was a monk of the Western Region named Bodhidharma, a Persian Central Asian. He traveled from the wild borderlands to China.^[33]

– Yang Xuanzhi, The Record of the Buddhist Monasteries of Lo-yang (547)

According to Jeffrey L. Broughton, "an early sixth-century Iranian Buddhist master who made his way to North China via the fabled Silk Road…is, in fact, more likely than a South Indian master who made his way by the sea route".^[34]

There are no Indian primary sources on Bodhidharma. In historical scholarship, a primary source is a document or other source of information that was created at or near the time being studied, often by the people being studied. ...

Disputed claim: Shaolin Temple mural

See Foreign influence on Chinese martial arts for further information from a different viewpoint.

Main gate of the Shaolin temple in Henan.

The Shaolin Temple in China contains fresco murals with dark-skinned, not black, but similar in skin tone to Indians, monks teaching ostensibly Chinese monks fighting forms. On the mural that survived three fires between 1644 to 1927, it says in Chinese script "Tenjiku Naranokaku" translating as "the fighting techniques to train the body [which come] from India ...^[35] Foreign influence on Chinese martial arts, or more specifically, Shaolin Kung Fu, is endorsed by the traditional Shaolin temple claims and the claims of a majority of martial arts historians. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Henan (Chinese: 河南; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Ho-nan), is a province of the Peoples Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. ...

Cited in support of the Indian progeniture of Shaolin kung fu is a fresco painted during the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912) depicting light-skinned and dark-skinned monks sparring, supposedly inscribed and translated in Japanese as "Tenjiku Naranokaku," which translates as "the fighting techniques to train the body [which come] from India..."^[36] Elsewhere, however, the title is given in Chinese as "Quanpu Bihua," which translates as "Boxing Drills Mural." The Qing Dynasty (Chinese: ; pinyin: QÄ«ng cháo; Wade-Giles: Ching chao; Manchu: daicing gurun), occasionally known as the Manchu Dynasty, was a dynasty founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, in what is today northeast China, expanded into China and the surrounding territories, establishing the Empire...

References

1. ^ Cephas, Shawn (Winter 1994). "The Root of Warrior Priests in the Martial Arts". Kungfu Magazine.
2. ^ India and China. Hindu Wisdom (Formerly A Tribute to Hinduism).
3. ^ Lin, Boyuan (1996). Zhōngguó wǔshù shǐ 中國武術史 (in Chinese). Taipei 臺北: Wǔzhōu chūbǎnshè 五洲出版社, 182-183. 
4. ^ Lin 1996:183
5. ^ Tang Hao 唐豪 [1930] (1968). Shàolín Wǔdāng kǎo 少林武當考 (in Chinese). Hong Kong 香港: Qílín tushu. 
6. ^ Matsuda Ryuchi 松田隆智 (1986). Zhōngguó wǔshù shǐlüè 中國武術史略 (in Chinese). Taipei 臺北: Danqing tushu. 
7. ^ Lin 1996:183
8. ^ Such as Cheng Zongyou's Exposition of the Original Shaolin Staff Method or Zhang Kongzhao's Boxing Classic: Essential Boxing Methods.
9. ^ Henning, Stanley (Autumn/Winter 1994). "Ignorance, Legend and Taijiquan". Journal of the Chenstyle Taijiquan Research Association of Hawaii 2 (3): 1-7.
10. ^ Canzonieri, Salvatore (February–March 1998). "History of Chinese Martial Arts: Jin Dynasty to the Period of Disunity". Han Wei Wushu 3 (9).
11. ^ Taishō Shinshū Daizōkyō 50.553c–554a,559b
12. ^ Kelly, Jeffrey J. (April 1994). "Amazing Stories From the Shaolin Temple". Black Belt Magazine.
13. ^ Taishō Shinshū Daizōkyō 50.553c–554a,559b
14. ^ Henning, Stanley (1999b). "Martial Arts Myths of Shaolin Monastery, Part I: The Giant with the Flaming Staff". Journal of the Chenstyle Taijiquan Research Association of Hawaii 5 (1).
15. ^ Henning 1999b
16. ^ Henning 1999b
17. ^ Canzonieri, Salvatore. "The Emergence of the Chinese Martial Arts". Han Wei Wushu (23).
18. ^ Dumoulin 2005:86
19. ^ Tang Hao 唐豪 [1930] (1968). Shàolín Wǔdāng kǎo 少林武當考 (in Chinese). Hong Kong 香港: Qílín tushu. 
20. ^ Such as Cheng Zongyou's Exposition of the Original Shaolin Staff Method or Zhang Kongzhao's Boxing Classic: Essential Boxing Methods.
21. ^ In his "Notes on some artists of the Six Dynasties and the Tang," Paul Pelliot asserts that all accounts of Bodhidharma are legendary.
22. ^ Henning, Stanley (1999b). "Martial Arts Myths of Shaolin Monastery, Part I: The Giant with the Flaming Staff". Journal of the Chenstyle Taijiquan Research Association of Hawaii 5 (1).
23. ^ Lin, Boyuan (1996). Zhōngguó wǔshù shǐ 中國武術史 (in Chinese). Taipei 臺北: Wǔzhōu chūbǎnshè 五洲出版社, 183. 
24. ^ Faure, Bernard (February 1986). "Bodhidharma as Textual and Religious Paradigm". History of Religions 25 (3).
25. ^ Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005). Zen Buddhism: A History, India and China, Trans. James W. Heisig and Paul Knitter, Bloomington: World Wisdom, 85. ISBN 0-941532-89-5. “...it is legend we are dealing with here, not only because of the total lack of reliable historical data but also because of the very evident motives that lie behind the story.” 
26. ^ J.A.G. Roberts [2003] (2003). The Complete History of China (in English). New York: Sutton Publishing. 
27. ^ India and China. Hindu Wisdom (Formerly A Tribute to Hinduism).
28. ^ [1]
29. ^ "Western Region" is the Chinese literary term for the region that encompasses the territory between present-day Kazakhstan in the north and the tip of the Indian subcontinent in the south. "The Dharma Master was from South India, which is part of the Western Region" is a valid interpretation of this sentence.
30. ^ Broughton, Jeffrey L. (1999). The Bodhidharma Anthology: The Earliest Records of Zen. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-21972-4. 
31. ^ Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005). Zen Buddhism: A History, India and China. Bloomington: World Wisdom. ISBN 0-941532-89-5. 
32. ^ Broughton 1999:138. 'The intriguing line, of course is po-szu kuo hu-jen ("a Persian Central Asian"). According to Berthold Laufer, Sino-Iranica (1919; reprint, Taipei: Ch'eng Wen Publishing Company, 1978), 194-95, the term hu relates to Central Asia and particularly to peoples of Iranian extraction. What we seem to have is an Iranian speaker who hailed from somewhere in Central Asia.'
33. ^ Broughton 1999:54
34. ^ Broughton 1999:54
35. ^ India and China. Hindu Wisdom (Formerly A Tribute to Hinduism).
36. ^ India and China. Hindu Wisdom (Formerly A Tribute to Hinduism).