What is Shaolin Wushu
Shaolin is a monastery that rises on the Song mountain in the outskirts of Henan in China. It was built 1500 years ago and it is here that theMaster Bodhidharma began to teach Chinese zen.
Shaolin, however became famous for a further reason:
the monks had an extraordinary combat technique which was so efficient as to make them renowned for being invincible.
This incredible technique still exists today, carried on by the monks as human heritage through the centuries.
It is the Shaolin Quan technique.
Naturally in China there are many other Wushu techniques, but the Shaolintechnique interacted with Chinese history the most, enriching itself with the experience of other Masters from outside the Monastery, thus developing a variety of methods and influencing a large part of the vast Chinese Wushu area. This can still be seen today in modern Wushu and that used in competitions.
Therefore Shaolin Quan, or Shaolin Wushu, or else Shaolin Gongfu. But why so many names?
The terms “quan” (fist) or “wushu” (martial art) are unmistakable but what does the term Gongfu mean?
In Chinese “gong” means ability, skill, mastery, care; and “gongfu” means the level of perfection reached in an activity.
Gongfu therefore implies a daily activity carried out with great care for a long period of time in order to reach perfection. This does not only refer to Wushu, as Gongfu represents the essential and sought for condition, the “traditional” Masters use this term when talking about traditional martial art in its true sense which is not merely a combat technique but concerns especially the individual’s total inner growth.
Lastly, as in the province of Fujian in the South of China a second Shaolin Templewas built, to distinguish the original one (in the North), often the term Songshan is added referring to the Song Mountain in Henan where the northern monastery lies.
This is Songshan Shaolin Gongfu in its full meaning.
Here our small introductory tour of the Shaolin Wushu history and its fundamental etymological meaning comes to an end. Like an old Chinese saying goes:
“to know the meaning of something is to already possess half of its essence“.