Kung Fu
Bodhidharma – the origin of Kung Fu
The origin of Kung Fu begins with the legend of a warrior caste Indian monk named Bodhidharma (also known as Ta Mo) who traveled from India to China around 526 A.D. It is said that he visited Shaolin monks in the Hunan Province. While there, Bodhidharma awed the resident Chinese monks with his mastery of meditation. The secret was in breath control, building and storing Chi energy and physical discipline which Bodhidharma saw lacking in the monks. He trained them in exercises designed to strengthen the body and their endurance. This series of exercises the monks used evolved into Kung Fu.
About Our Kung Fu
We teach the system of traditional Northern Shaolin Lohan Kung Fu, Tai Chi Chuan, Qigong Healing, and 18 Lohan Qigong.
We have a rich heritage associated with our schools and a lineage that can be traced back to the beginnings of Kung Fu. Click here to view our lineage chart.
The word Kung Fu (Hard Work) means the mastery of some difficult task-the attainment of a standard of excellence. The art of Kung Fu is a combination of many Chinese physical-mental disciplines which include:
- physical training
- self-defense
- weapons
- forms
- sparring
- meditation
- spiritual discipline
These disciplines are practiced along with a holistic approach to health, fitness, healing, personal improvement and growth. Kung Fu involves the development of the whole person. It is a way of life, a method of achieving and attaining the highest physical, mental, and spiritual development possible. Kung Fu not only builds strength and self-confidence, but also improves health, fitness, self-awareness, concentration, motivation, and directs and focuses one’s mental and physical energies.
The goals of Kung Fu are achieved through the development of harmony, strength, endurance, flexibility, coordination, agility, mind-body communications; abiding by the laws of nature in respect to diet, body dynamics, and meditation. Kung Fu develops those forces and potentials which are already within us. The discipline carries over to one’s everyday life so one may be able to accomplish any task with ease using positive energy and concentration.
The identity of Kung Fu is diverse; over 1,000 styles are known or recognized. From Kung Fu came the systems of Karate, Ninjitsu, and Aikido, to name just a few. Kung Fu paved the way for many martial arts that we know today. Kung Fu requires of the practitioner a strict code of physical, mental and spiritual discipline unparalleled in Western pursuits. It is only as a whole concept that it can be grasped and this entails more than fighting or forms. To be proficient in the art one must follow the Way of the Warrior which is the essence of the philosophy behind Kung Fu.