SPARK Kung-Fu - History

Bodhi Dharma, an India monk, began to teach in the temple and introduced an Indian form of exercise, which is regarded as the birth of the temple’s martial arts tradition. Generations after generations, Shaolin monks have devoted themselves to enriching and improving the tradition and have gradually developed it into a complex and sophisticated system of fighting, widely recognized as the origins of kung fu.

For hundreds of years, Shaolin monks have been practicing Chan Buddhism using martial arts as a vehicle and their practice ofmartial arts in turn has been guided by Chan Buddhism. Shaolin Kungfu has a very important place in Chinese culture. Hundreds,if not thousands of people from all over the world go to China to learn this ancient Chinese discipline.

Shaolin kungfu is the origin of all schools of kungfu. Shaolin Temple has 1500 years of history behind it. Shaolin Temple and Kungfu were once forgotten by the world. People started to recognize that they are important cultural heritage and stared to pay a great deal of attention to them due to a movie--the Shaolin Temple--played by Jet Li in 1982. Mater Yanruan who is one of the 34th generation warrior monks of Shaolin Temple, under the help of Abbot of Songshan Shaolin Temple in China, has established a Shaolin Temple Kungfu Cultural Center in Rockville Maryland. It is the only kungfu cultural cener in Maryland that has kungfu instructor from Shaolin Temple. For people who love learning traditional Shaolin Kungfu with warrior monks, this is the place to be.

Heavy workload in the work place and tremendous pressure in our daily life have caused great harm to our mind and body. It is paramount for us to relieve ourselves from pressure and regain a balanced and healthy life. Learning Shaolin Kungfu will help us achieve a state of peaceful mind and health body. It will also help us relax our mind and regain our physical strength. It will improve our attitude toward others, improve our energy and help us become more positive toward life in general.

The Chinese martial art of Kung Fu is famous around the world for its animal imitation styles, and perhaps the most famous of all is the Shaolin five animal styles, which includes the snake, leopard, tiger, crane and dragon.

As with all imitation styles of Kung Fu the animals are used for inspiration, which their general personality being drawn upon, as well as their characteristic patterns of movement for fighting and hunting being copied. Each animal has different strength and weaknesses, and so is best suited to different situations and different people. See below for a description of each of the 5 animals.

SNAKE

As you may imagine the snake stays close to the ground, and so there are plenty of low stances which require strong legs to hold. A person fighting in the snake style will generally keep out of the way of their opponent until they see the perfect opportunity, and will then go in with a ‘venomous’ attack that will finish the fight in one move. The snake is very good at fighting dirty and will not hesitate to strike to the eyes, groin and other soft target; he is a master of pressure point fighting and often strikes with the fingers using an open hand. This style is often favored by smaller fighters when fighting someone with a longer reach.

TIGER

The tiger is a powerful and aggressive animal, and this style of kung fu follows after these traits. It is often favored by larger more powerful fighters who wish to make to most of any strength advantage that they may have over a smaller opponent. It is full of large powerful knockout punches and kicks. The specialist hand form of this style is the tiger claw, which can be used both for grabbing an opponents limbs and for clawing attacks. A typical claw attack would be to strike to the head with the palm of the hand and then claw the face with the fingers to bring them down.

CRANE

The crane is the most graceful of all the animals, and is very beautiful to watch. It is well suited to tall slim people with long limbs, and uses swinging and whipping movements of the arms to strike. The specialist hand-form here is the crane beak, which involves holding the thumb against the other four digit for a focused attack. The crane is very good as a ‘short range’ style for when two fighters are right on top of each other, and has a unique defensive style which involves hooking attacks away and trapping them using the crane beak hand-form.

LEOPARD

The leopard is the most athletic of the animals. You have to be very fit to excel in this method of fighting, as it requires constant movement. It is known for its devastating speed, particularly in delivering combinations of strike in quick succession. The leopard hand-form strikes using the middle set of knuckles, rather than the bottom ones which are used in an ordinary fist, which is primarily to facilitate the fast combination punches, but is also good for focused attacks against soft targets.

DRAGON

This most mysterious of beast also has the most elusive style. On the face of it this style will sometimes seem slow and gentle, almost lazy, but just like the similar movements of tai chi this masks an awesome power. The dragon teaches you about internal ‘chi’ energy, and how to focus the mind in combat. The dragon is good for fighting multiple opponents, as it can change direction quickly and unpredictably without losing any momentum. The dragon is a very efficient style, which does not require great strength, speed or fitness, and so it is often favored by old masters who are well past their physical peak, but who know that through the dragon their knowledge and wisdom will more than make up for this.