Bodhidharma (464 A.D.)
During the period of Emperor Han Ming (58-76 A.D.) several Buddhist monks traveled from
India to China. A hundred years later, Buddhism became very popular and it is estimated that
by 500 A.D., there were about ten thousand Buddhist temples in China. During these 500
years many Chinese monks traveled to India in order to learn Buddhism and bring it back to
China. According to one of the oldest books, “Den Feng Xian Zhi” (Den Feng County
Recording), a Buddhist monk named Batuo went to China in 464 A.D. to preach Buddhism.
The Shaolin temple (in Japanese the “Shorei”) was built in 495 A.D. by the order of Emperor
Wei Xiao Wen in the “Den Feng” county which is located in the Province of Henan. Although
Batuo is considered to be the first chief monk of the Shaolin temple, there was a more
influential monk named Da Mo, whose last name was “Sardili” and who was also known as
“Bodhidharma”. He was born in 483 A.D. as a prince in southern India and he came from the
Mahayana School of Buddhism. He was considered to be a Bodhisattwa, which means “an
enlightened human being who had renounced Nirvana in order to save others”.
Bodhidharma was invited to China by the Emperor Liang Wu, and he arrived in Canton in 527
A.D. during the reign of the Wei Xiao Ming emperor. When the new emperor started to dislike
the Buddhist preaching, Bodhidharma withdrew to the Shaolin temple where he stayed in a
seclusion for 9 years. During this time he wrote two classics, the “Yi Jin Jing” (muscle/tendon
changing classic) and the “Xi Sui Jing” (marrow/brain washing classic). These two classics
became a milestone in yoga and were later integrated into Chinese martial arts (Qigong). The
“Yi Jin Jing” was used to build physical strength and improve health, and the “Xi Sui Jing”
school taught how to energize the brain and to increase the immune system so one can attain
Buddhahood. Bodhidharma died in the Shaolin temple in 536 A.D. Some centuries later, in
order to memorize the movements of defense and attack, some of these sequences were
given individual names in order to identify the form: Seisan (Thirteen), Seipai (Eighteen),
Niseishi (Twenty-four), Sanseiru (Thirty-six).

The 13 Shaolin monks (620 A.D.)
About 100 years later, during the Revolutionary period (620 A.D.) between the Sui Dynasty
and Tang Dynasty, there were 13 Shaolin monks who assisted the Qin King Li Shi-Ming who
later became the first emperor of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.). The emperor rewarded
the Shaolin temple with 600 acres of land and he permitted the temple to train the monks in
martial arts and to have their own soldiers. They were called “monk soldiers” (Seng Bing) and
their daily duties were to study Buddhism and to train in martial arts so they could protect the
temple against bandits. In ancient China, bandit groups that numbered in the hundreds or
even thousands would rob and burn villages and temples. The Shaolin temple was permitted
to have monk-soldiers and to parctice martial arts training for nearly three hundred years.
Within this time, it is recorded that the temple was burned several times: by soldiers in 612
A.D.; in 851 A.D. and 901 A.D. during the Peasant Rebellion (874-901 A.D.); in 1647 A.D. by Qing troops; in 1723 A.D. Qing troops burned the southern temple; and the last time in 1928
A.D. during the Chinese Civil War.

First contacts with Mainland Japan
During this era, it was common that the monks traveled in the country and gathered martial
art skills from outside of the temple. Some famous martial artists came to the Shaolin temple
to teach and then some have decided to become monks as well. Once they became monks,
they changed their name to a monk’s name. The martial artist Yu-Feng Bai who was known
by his monk name Qiu Yue Chan Shi developed the “18 Buddha hands” technique into the
“173 Techniques”. He also wrote the famous book “Essence of the Five Fist” which discussed
the application of the Five Animal patterns (tiger, dragon, snake, panther and crane). It is
recorded that during the Yuan Dynasty (14th century A.D.) several monks from Japan came to
the Shaolin temple. They stayed in the temple for about 12 years where they learned Chan
theory (Zen), calligraphy, painting and Shaolin Gongfu. They later returned to Japan and
spread the Shaolin fighting technique to the Japanese Martial Arts Society. In 1638 A.D. a
Chinese martial artist from Hangzou, named Chen Yuanbin (in Japanese: Chin Gempei)
arrived in Nagasaki, Japan where he served at the castle of the Owari Daimyo. Yuanbin’s
students created several JuJutsu schools. This exchange of culture and religion between
China and Japan lasted for about seven hundred years.