Did Kung Fu originate from Indian martial arts?

[lazybones]

Hi,
This will probably seem like a stupid question to most people but as I failed to find an answer after doing a search on this forum, here goes :

I've read in a few places that Kung Fu originated from the Indian monk Tamo/Bodhidharma. Apparently he visited a buddhist temple and upon seeing that the monks were in poor physical condition, he taught them some "exercises" to strengthen their bodies. These exercises eventually evolved to become Kung Fu as we know it today. What I'd like to know is, were these exercises a;ready a form of Indian martial arts or were they non martial exercises that were transformed by the chinese over the years to become Kung Fu.

[prana]

I dunno about originated, but I know it definitely blended :)

[joedoe]

Fromw hat I understand, what he taught the monks was more like yoga than martial arts.

[sunstylin]

Well yes to some degree. They were taught yoga to help with meditation, but I have heard the theory about a temple being raided by bandits so they began training with every day tools on national geographic!

[prana]

Originally posted by joedoe
Fromw hat I understand, what he taught the monks was more like yoga than martial arts.

Yea it is some exercises that focusses on training the tendons to keep them used and conditioned.

But the indians had their form of MA too, but I am not sure if Damo actually passed those unto the Silum monks....

[red_fists]

Maybe not Damo himself.

But there were tradings happening between the different areas and those caravans were usually protected by fighters.

And most prolly those Indian fighters shared some knowledge with the local Chinese Fighters.

So I would say influenced and some techniques originated in the Indian Arts.

[Yajirobe]

from all the books i've read kung fu came from Korea and china perfected it. nothing i read said it originated from india.

[prana]

Originally posted by Yajirobe
from all the books i've read kung fu came from Korea
WOW! That is the first :p :D

[old jong]

A few thousand years ago, an aborigenal indian from a region of South-America known today as Brazil!...Went fishing!...He was caught in a big storm and drifted in his little boat till he found himself on the coast of China!...To make a short story, he went to a temple,challenged everybody and helped the monks in creating Kung Fu!...

[yenhoi]

jong will die.

[Sharky]

Chicken Tikka Masala originated in Britain. It is now the national dish.

A bangaladeshi [sp] chef make some tikka and rice for some english customers. They said it was too dry and they wanted sauce. All he had lyring around was chicken soup. So he stuck that in there (creamy, you see). Chicken Tikka Masala was born. It also catered for the fact that English people are wussys when it comes to spices, and is very mild indeed.

Apparently.

[red_fists]

I always though that Kung Fu evolved from Chinese Nin-Jutsu.

[Sharky]

Was this before or after Lee taught Yip Man?

(sorry rogue)

[Yajirobe]

"WOW! That is the first"

heh yeah actually i mostly read reference books about C++ which ****es me off because they don't explain what to add in the autoexec.bat files.. woops went off topic to vent RAGE OF AUTOEXEC.BAT...sorry.

[Merryprankster]

All Kung Fu is just watered down Kalari Payattu (http://www.kalarippayat.com )

[old jong]

I knew you would be there with your kalari!
Admire the economy of motion! (http://www.kalarippayat.com/images/kalari3.gif)

[red_fists]

Originally posted by Yajirobe
"WOW! That is the first"

heh yeah actually i mostly read reference books about C++ which ****es me off because they don't explain what to add in the autoexec.bat files.. woops went off topic to vent RAGE OF AUTOEXEC.BAT...sorry.

What about the AUTOEXEC.BAT file??

It pretty much become useless under WIN-95.

If you got a question PM me, I still got an old DOS 3.3/Win3.1 Machine at home and play with that for nostalgic reasons.

Ohh, the Days when there was only "edlin". :D

[Yajirobe]

heh far from useless if you want to add the DJGPP C++ compiler to the autoexec.bat files.

[joedoe]

Originally posted by Yajirobe
from all the books i've read kung fu came from Korea and china perfected it. nothing i read said it originated from india.

Yeah, yeah. And Chung Moo Do is the father of all Korean arts, so all martial arts are derived from Chung Moo Do.

And the moon is made of green cheese :)

[red_fists]

Hehe.

You using "djgpp C++", that one is designed for the old 80386 (MS-DOS 3.3).

In that case your prob might be in the config.sys rather than the autoexec.bat.

Most prolly memory settings (Himem, files, Buffers,etc.)

Will have a look at it and get back to you.

What OS you on??

Also check:
DJGPP (http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/)

[Yajirobe]

I use Mellenium but i don't think it matters what os system you're using for DJGPP though.

[red_fists]

Hi.

I don't use DJGPP myself.
We use AIX for most C++ compiling.

But I can always install it on a variety of OS over here.

[Yajirobe]

ok this is what it says for me to do.

1. Add the following commands to your AUTOEXEC.BAT files:

set PATH=C:\DJGPP\BIN; %PATH%
set DJGPP=C:\DJGPP\DJGPP.ENV

I did this and it doesn't work. ok if the path i want it to be in is

c:\windows\profiles\john\desktop where do i put that?

[red_fists]

YajiRobe.

Lets change over to PM.
So we don't hog this Thread.

[jon]

I REALLY hope this is not the groundfighting used in Kali:eek:
Seriously all kung fu comes from packets of breakfast cereal.
You just open the box and look for the little instruction booklet at the bottom :)
What i want to know...
Who came up with standing stake practice and how did they figure out what its benifits where before testing. If not does that mean some idiot just stood still for HOURS before finaly realising it actualy had meaning ?
Such things make my head spin :(

Or Dim Mak...
Does this hurt?

[jon]

forgot the pic :(
http://www.kalarippayat.com/images/bgkalari14.gif

[Yajirobe]

yeah ok. sorry for going off topic i just got caught up in this conversation sorry everyone. oh and one more thing my aim is Papajohn1423 and email is yag97@hotmail.com so that might be bettet then the pm thing. or more easy.

ok back on topic just had to add that.

[Mr Punch]

Anyone who has been to Korea knows that they invented everything... Legend has it, just as the huge man-eating tyrannosauri rexuses and man-tonguing brontosauri-ae-ay hungrily roamed around prehistoric Seoul they were ambushed by a series of devasting high head kicks... these 'humble' origins are echoed in today's name of To Kill Dinosaurs (TKD).:rolleyes:

Actually, never heard of kungfu starting in Korea, but have heard many times from many sources about the 18 lohan movements from Indian merchants (and ascetics) who needed protection as much as the poor feeble Shaolin (don't see those words together too often!)

Merry, hope that man with the shield is actually actively resisting!;)

Sharky, I would say that the Balti is the national dish. Over here you can get 'English curry' which is basically an excuse to overspice it and leave it floating in veg oil. Mmmm... This dish was almost certainly invented in the UK, by Pakistani and N Indian curry houses... despite at least one book's claim that it comes from 'Baltistan'. 'Balti', I've heard, actually means a bucket-like, or wok-like dish, '-stan' means 'land of...' ... Hmmm.:D

[Mr Punch]

Too busy wittering to remember: Boddhidharma was the son of a nobleman, and according to many traditions was trained in fighting arts before he dropped out :rolleyes: , sorry, forswore the ways of flesh and the material world... stands a chance that a fair few of the ascetics from that time would have come from that background... weren't the warrior classes and the priesthood both pretty close to the top of the caste tree then?

[Mr Punch]

old jong LOL Brazil.

yenhoi: everyone will die.

Except me :cool:

[Yung Apprentice]

If Kalari influenced Shaolin, who influenced the Taoists?

[David Jamieson]

ok, now we know how myth's get propogated right?
hahahahha.

...and then the fish grew wings and flew us all to the west... :D

bodidharma was likely persian and not from India at all.

martial arts were developed and growing well without his influence at all in China, however, when the abbot of Shaolin finall allowed Ta Mo into the temple after keeping him out for some nine years, Ta Mo found that the monks didn't know how to meditate properly and were in ill health.

He taught them the two classics, namely the "muscle/sinew/tendon change classic" and the "bone marrow washing classic". Both of these were sets of yogic exercises that we would commonly refer to as "gongs" as in qigong. The former is the very well know "yi jin jing". also, he is credited with other exercises that eventually were incorporated into kung fu training for the monks at shaolin temple.

Taoism and buddhism affected each other greatly, especially the Chan (zen) school of buddhism, which had as it's first patriarch, TaMo. Taoists and Chan thinkers had similar philosophies and cosmological views. as well, the actual path of "living" was similar between the two religio-philosophies.

so, it is likely Ta Mo was persian and not indian, he didn't teach "Kung Fu" as we know it but is credited with it's practice at Shaolin Temple. Chan is what Ta Mo really brought to Shaolin and it is this practice that made the Shaolin Martial Arts superior to the regular military style of martial arts at the time.
Taoists and Chan buddhists had a lot in common and therefore they played well together.

All of this happened approximately 1500 years ago, is in the realm of "legend" and is only worth musing in passing in context to the importance of Kung fu practice.

As for the Korea comment. I have never seen or heard that before, who told you that? Or better yet, where on earth are you getting books from?

Also, it is unlikely that Kalari Payit was the foundation of Kung Fu.
peace

[scotty1]

Sifu Wong Kiew Kit says that the original purpose of teching the monks the movement was to help them gain enlightenment, nothing more, and the rest was just a bonus.

[Royal Dragon]

"from all the books i've read kung fu came from Korea and china perfected it. nothing i read said it originated from india."

Reply]
This is something the Great Korean Master Chiun was said to teach his most famous student "Remo Williams".

the Remo Williams "Movie" by the way has been on cable alot lately, Go figure :rolleyes:

Royal Dragon

[Radhnoti]

Even better though: In the books Remo is actually an incarnation of Shiva-The Destroyer. Which is, of course, a story from India.
SEE! It all ties together! :cool:

[Kristoffer]

Iran rules !! Sand Fuuuu

[shinbushi]

Actually Alexander the Great did not stop at the mountains like some historians think but, continuied on to India. The Indians learned Pankration from the Greek armies. Thus creating ALL Asia Martial Arts. :D

[Royal Dragon]

All martial arts sprang forth independantly from one another on an as need basis, and LATER as mankind grew and started mixing with one another, the martial arts followed suit.