Korean equivalent to Shaolin Martial arts?

[Shaolindynasty]

Interesting

Sunmudo

Sunmudo (선무도) is the name of the Korean Seon (also Sun or Zen) Buddhist martial art that was revived during the seventies and eighties of the 20th century. The formal name of Sunmudo is Bulgyo Geumgang Yeong Gwon (Hangul: 불교 금강용권 Hanja: 佛敎 金剛靈拳). The name sunmudo was given to this martial art in 1984 by the buddhist monk Jeog Un Seunim (적은 스님). (seunim meaning monk or priest in Korean)

In earlier times Buddhist monks were encouraged to practice zen martial arts as a way of dynamic meditation. However it became neglected during the 19th century.

At Bomosa temple Yang Ik Seunim revived the art by systemizing the techniques. Jeog Un Seunim worked on its popularization during the 1970s.

These days training is offered to non-Buddhists and laypersons at Golgulsa temple in Korea, and other places around the world as well.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunmudo"

Some videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v8blmJHN-M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjV0LGt9IzI

Any comments?

[MasterKiller]

Basically a made up style with a made up history.

Real Chinese martial arts were imported to Korea in the 1940s, mostly Long Fist and Northern Mantis, and some Bagua.

[Shaolinlueb]

MK

you trained under a korean mantis master if I remember correctly right?

SL

[sanjuro_ronin]

I always take anything the Koreans say, in terms of MA history, with a huge grain of salt.
Simple because they have been shown to be, well, less than truthful in trying to legitimize their MA history.
For no reason other than what seems to be a Martial Inferiority Complex".

[MasterKiller]

MK

you trained under a korean mantis master if I remember correctly right?

SL

Not exactly. My Da Sigung is Chinese, but lives in Seoul. He moved there in 1947, around the same time as some other famous Chinese Mantis masters. So, it would be more correct to say my style is Long Fist, but with a slight Mantis flavor.

[Shaolindynasty]

I'm familiar with the holes in TKD's "official" history and the connection with shotokan but.....

From the information that i've seen Sunmudo seems entirly plauseable. It's claimed sunmudo was a health cultivating technique similar to qigong(There are also similar practices used by Tibetan monks) practiced by buddhist monks in korea which wasn't even that popular until it was systemized and made popular during the 1970's and 1980s.

These kind of practices are fairly common amongst Buddhist monks, even non martial/non shaolin monks. The head monk at the temple where I practice does taichi for the same reason, to keep his body healthy.

BTW, I don't think it was ever claimed that Sunmudo was a CMA.

[Shaolindynasty]

Another art from the same roots as sunmudo


Seon-Kwan-Moo
Sun-Kwan-Moo is the name of a Korean Seon (Zen) Buddhist cultivation method for enlightenment, employing a unique martial art training regimen and meditations.
Seon-Kwan-Moo Modern History


By the end of World War 2, the art of Seon-Kwan-Moo (also Sun-Kwan-Moo, Korean: 선관무-禪觀武) was almost lost.

In the years following the war, Grand Priest Yang-Ik (양익대선사-兩翼大禪師) reassembled the remains of an old Vajrayana tradition - Keum–Kang-Yeong-Kwan (금강영관-金剛靈觀) and developed its current style.

In the 1960's, Grand Priest Yang-Ik began to teach disciples at the Bom-Oh (also Pomo, Korean – 범어사) Temple , which is the Korean equivalent of the much more famous Chinese martial arts temple, Shaolin.

One of his most outstanding disciples, Won-Uk Seunim (원욱스님) continue teaching his master's art by the name Seon-Kwan-Moo (or Sunkwanmoo), and a couple of other prominent monks (such as Jeok-Un Seunim) teach other forms of the original art, as well.

Master Kim Ji-Woong (김지웅) is the head of the Sun-Kwan-Moo Headquarters in Seoul, and Master Kim Yeon-Sam (김연삼) is the head of the Seong-Nam branch in South Korea.

In Europe the only club currently operating is situated in Israel.

Seon-Kwan-Moo basic training categories:

Yu-Yong-Gong (유연공-柔軟功): unique warm-up exercises that employ stimulation of certain pressure points to enhance health.
Oh-Chei-Yu-Pop (오체유법-五體柔法): stretching exercise for the flexibility of the entire body, that is well suited for martial artists.
Ki-Gong (기공 –氣功) – special exercise which promotes a better flow of energy in the 8 extraordinary vessels (major Chi reservoirs according to Chinese medicine) and corrects spinal misalignments.
Haeng-Kwan (행관 –行觀) – slow and dynamic power movement forms.
Bo-Pop (보법 –步法) – the art of foot work and maneuvering.
Su-Pop (수법 –手法) – includes all hand block and attack techniques.
Kak-Pop (각법 –脚法) – includes all foot and leg blocks, kicks, jumps, and sweep-downs.
Nak-Pop (낙법 –落法) – the art of falling and rolling.
Sang-Gong (상공 –相攻) – mutual blocks and attacks
Jwa-Kwan (좌관- 坐觀) – sitting meditation
Tea Ceremony
Tol-Palki (돌밟기) – practicing the spirit of 'no-mind' while jumping between rocks in the mountains (which is a part of meditative outdoor training while trekking and mountain hiking)
Explaining SUN-KWAN-MOO

Korean Zen Buddhism's martial way

Explaining SUN

Sun should be better transliterated to SEON which is the Korean phonetics for the Chinese CHAN and (better known in the west) the Japanese – ZEN.
Explaining SEON in words, is an art in it self, since SEON is the art of living -not the art of explaining how to live!

In day to day practice SEON is giving your total concentration in each action you take, trying to be clear and simple, direct and natural flowing. Concentrate on the core, not the trifling, leading your way – your inner way, towards freedom – best known as enlightenment.

Explaining KWAN

Kwan stands for the Indian Sanskrit - vipasyana - insight, to look into, contemplate. I personally think in the case of the self, it is best translated as "self examination". That is to say - look inside as deep as possible into your being, piercing through the 'samsaric dust', until you reach the clean original mirror and thus ""reflecting"" your true nature.

But the more practical day to day effect is examining your thoughts, your posture and your breath during practice and the rest of your time as well.

Explaining MOO

The original meaning was – War, or the means of war-fighting. But in its use in Buddhism, and arts of self-cultivation (such as martial-arts) has evolved into fighting not only war enemies but also inner enemies such as laziness, cravings, and self-interest. For the novice observer – MOO – is comprehended only as fighting skill against an opponent, but for a Sun-Kwan-Moo practitioner – the means for a higher goal –

Fighting human weaknesses and controlling aggressions!

The complete meaning

Sun - Kwan – moo:

It's best to think of devoting your self to the above mentioned three elements, and their combinations - Seon, Kwan and martial\ego fighting so in the end you get:

Examining your body, mind and breath through the practice of martial art dynamic motion and meditation techniques, thus reaching the goal of Seon - Enlightenment (shinning light on your inner mirror...)



Videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5mSPvKDk0s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqfyKz35xEs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjj-9sAreHo

[MasterKiller]

I'm familiar with the holes in TKD's "official" history and the connection with shotokan but.....

From the information that i've seen Sunmudo seems entirly plauseable. It's claimed sunmudo was a health cultivating technique similar to qigong(There are also similar practices used by Tibetan monks) practiced by buddhist monks in korea which wasn't even that popular until it was systemized and made popular during the 1970's and 1980s.

These kind of practices are fairly common amongst Buddhist monks, even non martial/non shaolin monks. The head monk at the temple where I practice does taichi for the same reason, to keep his body healthy.

BTW, I don't think it was ever claimed that Sunmudo was a CMA.

The Koreans try to explain "Sibpalgi" the same way--an ancient art that was lost, and re-systemized in 1936 during the Japanese occupation of Korea, which explains why it looks an awful lot like Aikido.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Where do the Hwarang fit into all this?

[xcakid]

I thought Hwarang was a class of warriors?

Me personally, I have been impressed with Kuk Sul Won.

[MasterKiller]

Where do the Hwarang fit into all this?

The Hwarang sword techniques were included in the Muyedobotongji, which is the compilation of Chinese and Korean military techniques from which modern Sibalgi is supposed to have dervied from.

[Shaolindynasty]

The Koreans try to explain "Sibpalgi" the same way--an ancient art that was lost, and re-systemized in 1936 during the Japanese occupation of Korea, which explains why it looks an awful lot like Aikido.

Sure. It seems alot was "lost" and "rediscovered" during the last century, hence the title of this thread. I think there may be some truth to the sunmudo/sunkwanmoo history, although the attempts to promote it are obviously influenced by the popularity of shaolin martial arts.

Funny thing is I never intended this thread to be about history. It was supposed to be about buddhist physical culture

[GeneChing]

I like his robe.

Fighting Monks' new master shares martial arts style with the world (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-korea-fighting-monks-20111226,0,3282576.story)
South Korean monk Ando knows his own teacher would probably be furious, but he felt it was time to move the secrets of Sunmudo beyond the temple walls.

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2011-12/66987680.jpg
South Korean Buddhist monk Ando demonstrates Sunmudo martial arts techniques.

South Korean Buddhist monk Ando demonstrates Sunmudo martial arts techniques. Monks from Beomeosa Temple are famed for defeating Japanese invaders during the late 1500s and again during the Japanese occupation of Korea in the early 20th century. (Matt Douma / For The Times / December 10, 2011)

By John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times

December 26, 2011
Reporting from Busan, South Korea—
Buddhist monk Ando remembers the toil of all those years, trying to satisfy the training demands of an aging martial arts master who could never be pleased.

Silent and impassive, monk Yang-ik perched in the lotus position on a platform above his young proteges, who leaped from mats, kicking two impossibly high bags one after the other, the best adding aerial somersaults before landing gracefully, like big cats.

When they finished, panting and sweating, the master dismissed them. "You have done nothing today — I have done all the work," he would say. "You try to impress me, but when I am gone you are loose-minded. This discipline is not mere athleticism, but a way of life."

At age 47, head shaved, his gray robe swirling around his precise movements, Ando recently succeeded the old master to direct the training regimen of a unique Buddhist order South Koreans call the Fighting Monks for their history in battling Japanese invasions. In the process, Ando is bringing its centuries-old traditions into the modern world.

Stern and reclusive, the old master Yang-ik rarely allowed outsiders to train among the monks and resisted popularizing a martial arts technique known as Sunmudo that has historically been steeped in secrecy.

Once, on a rare occasion when he allowed visitors to train there, he sternly greeted their arrival on a rainy day. "Rain is falling. Buddha is crying," he told them. "And for that you must be punished."

Yang-ik taught his students about sacrifice and selflessness, but Ando reasoned that did not preclude the order's fighting history and techniques from being introduced to the outside world.

Since he took over, he has expanded a Sunmudo gym in Busan, where 35 laymen now train with eight monks. Ando has also visited Los Angeles, where he wants to open a martial arts training center.

"I practice this art for the honor of my master and for the country people who lost their lives fighting alongside the monks centuries ago," he said. "I want to spread it around the world."

*

For more than a quarter of a century, Ando has studied at the ancient Beomeosa Temple, which was first built 1,400 years ago in a bamboo grove high in the mountains that now overlook the sprawling southeastern port city of Busan.

On a clear day, Ando can make out Japan's Tsushima Island just 30 miles to the west, a proximity that has influenced the city's history and bestowed a special role to Buddhist holy men usually known for their profound passivity.

In the 1500s, monks here used swords, knives, spears and throwing stars to help repel a Japanese invasion that ended with the burning of their temple by retreating troops. Centuries later, a rebuilt Beomeosa became headquarters for the monks' underground resistance to Japanese occupation in the 1930s and '40s.

But their martial artistry languished for generations until the 1970s, when Yang-ik arrived to revive Sunmudo by systemizing its techniques, this time without weapons.

There is little sparring, but defensive moves once used in combat are combined in a sort of athletic meditation, like that of China's Shaolin monks. For years, students conditioned themselves by striking tree trunks, as well as a millstone the size of a car tire that hung from a tree, until it swayed to their rhythm.

Always watching, Yang-ik had a stern philosophy that had nothing to do with fighting style: Vanity and ambition prevent martial arts enlightenment.

Ando arrived at the place known as the Temple of the Nirvana Fish in 1984, drawn by the reputation of its master. Just 20, he came for the martial arts, but later took his oath as a monk.

Master Yang-ik became the focus of his world. Often imperious, sometimes grandfatherly, the elder monk demanded that his students not only pray and practice martial arts, but also work.

They rose at 4 a.m., running to the top of the nearby mountain before breakfast. Between the twice-daily practices, they carved stone to produce religious icons and likenesses of Buddha.

But while the master reveled in the past, his top student began to concentrate on the future. For years, Ando went to the graying Yang-ik and asked to be allowed to expand Sunmudo outside the temple walls. Each time he was rebuffed.

Not long before the old monk's death, Ando went too far: He took a dozen young students to perform at a nearby festival without the master's permission. Yang-ik was furious. He pardoned the students but not Ando, whom he beat with a paddle.

"After all these years, you have learned nothing," Yang-ik said. "We are not showboaters. You have insulted what we do here."

Here was a grown man being pummeled before the others by a man nearly twice his age. But Ando endured the punishment in silence, so strong was his devotion.

*

In 2007. Ando was meditating in another part of the temple when he learned of the master's death. He rushed to his side and found that Yang-ik had died in the lotus position, his head suddenly falling to his chest.

The younger monk ran to his room. For the first time in his life, he cried. He suddenly began to rue all the questions he had never asked Yang-ik — not only about martial arts but about life.

"I felt I had lost everything," he recalled, sitting erect on the floor of a room that decades ago housed anti-Japanese strategy sessions. "The most revered figure in our lives was gone. Who would lead us?"

For three years, Sunmudo training at Beomeosa stopped. Ando practiced on his own, but never with others. Could he ever assume the role that Yang-ik had left vacant? He felt unworthy.

But on the third anniversary of Yang-ik's death, temple elders named Ando to succeed Yang-ik. Ando soon brought his own style to the task, changing Beomeosa from a closed society to one that encourages outsiders to study there.

On a recent day, Ando trained with two students. His slow movements suggested muted power and his leaps lingered in the air, his robe flying, his body seemingly held by invisible cables.

"This is the martial arts form that once saved a nation," said Gene Healy, 40, a professor of Oriental medicine from Tampa, Fla., who has studied at Beomeosa, where large paintings of monks in martial arts poses adorn temple buildings. "Ando has continued the tradition. He is one of the gentlest people you will ever meet, until he gets to the gym."

Above the platform where Yang-ik once sat hangs a painting of the old master. No one is allowed to sit there, not even Ando.

"I still believe he's here, still teaching," Ando said. "When I'm with students, I hear the master's voice in my head."

Yet he knows that Yang-ik might be displeased with his decision to publicize the spirit of the fighting monks, and with the discipline's newfound popularity

"Absolutely, he would not be happy," Ando said with a smile. "He'd think my actions were too outlandish. I'd probably get the paddle."

[Lucas]

beyond cool!!

[bawang]

The Hwarang sword techniques were included in the Muyedobotongji, which is the compilation of Chinese and Korean military techniques from which modern Sibalgi is supposed to have dervied from.

there are no korean military techniques in muyedobo. the whole point of the manual was to import foreign martial arts.

"korea has no native martial arts" - muyedobo, 1790

[mawali]

The shell (names) have been there but Korean martial have been gone for a long time! The historical record is that many Koreans became masters of Shotokan and when the nation building era came into being, a few masters got together to re-engineer what we call Moodukwon, TKD, Tangsodo, etc.

Korea at one time did have a martial arts tradition but someway along the way, it got lost and the remnants (like taekyon, etc) are limited in their redefinition of KMA.

[PalmStriker]

One thing from ancient times remains the same: North VS South.

[phantom]

I think kuk sool won is probably the closest korean art I know of that is most smimiliar to shaolin. It contains a few animal forms and techniques. I think it was even influenced by shaolin.

[Hebrew Hammer]

Another art from the same roots as sunmudo




Videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5mSPvKDk0s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqfyKz35xEs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjj-9sAreHo

Always interesting watching the ancient Korean Zen Martial Arts in the Original Hebrew...that was a bit surreal. :D Carry on Grasshopper or shall I say 'Chagab'!

[David Jamieson]

Tang soo do is another Korean martial art that has many elements of shaolin kung fu embedded to it.

[Jimbo]

In my youth, I trained Tang Soo Do for a year, and except for some of the kicks and the way they were executed, IMO it was more a Korean version of Shotokan karate than anything else, except it was less fluid. This was also true of his black belts that I saw. The teacher I studied under was one of the first TSD teachers in the U.S., the late Jong H. Lee. It's often said that TSD has aspects of northern kung fu but, TBH, I really didn't notice characteristics of northern styles at all, except for maybe some of the circular and spinning, straight-legged kicking techniques. Besides, there is a lot more to northern kung fu systems than just kicking. I realized there were very, very few similarities to northern kung fu when I later studied and observed many northern styles in Taiwan.

[boxerbilly]

I can't speak for TSD but ITF was most certainly Shotokan. Being history has surfaced and become accepted knowledge it is no longer a guess.

[-N-]

In my youth, I trained Tang Soo Do for a year, and except for some of the kicks and the way they were executed, IMO it was more a Korean version of Shotokan karate than anything else, except it was less fluid.

Well, the translations of the characters for TSD are Chinese Hand Way.

Same as for karate before it got changed to Empty Hand Way.

[Jimbo]

Well, the translations of the characters for TSD are Chinese Hand Way.

Same as for karate before it got changed to Empty Hand Way.

And Koreans also had the term Kong Soo Do (in Mandarin, pronounced Kongshoudao, "empty hand way"). Which are Korean and Chinese ways of saying Karate-do.

Koreans have a history of omitting or outright denying any historical connections modern KMA have to Japanese martial arts, even though "Korean" arts such as TKD, TSD, Hapkido, etc., originated with Okinawan or Japanese arts. In the 1972 movie 'Hapkido', it's described as coming from Chinese chin-na and Taiji. But in reality, that would be true (for chin-na, not Taiji) only so much as those methods might have influenced Daito-ryu Aikijutsu, the true original source of Hapkido. Any Taiji influence would have come later.

'Hapkido' is the Korean pronunciation of 'Aikido'; the Chinese characters are identical. The name Hapkido was likely started in Korea in the 1950s, well after Ueshiba changed the name of his art from Aikijutsu to Aikido, and after Choi Yong-Sool had already returned to Korea and begun teaching Daito-ryu. This was clearly no coincidence. Both Ueshiba and Choi had studied Daito-ryu under Takeda Sokaku. Choi had been Sokaku's servant. Obviously, teaching a Japanese art in post-war Korea would have been bad for marketing. Later, of course, Hapkido evolved in its own direction with added kicks, strikes and some weapons. That doesn't negate its common root with Japanese Aikido.

That Tang Soo Do was based on, or at least mostly influenced by Japanese/Okinawan karate is undeniable. One needs only to observe it. The same with TKD, at least the older versions of it. The aptly-named WTF have been distancing TKD more and more from its Japanese origins with their emphasis on Olympic TKD. And in the process they have destroyed much of the quality, which has been dropping steadily over the decades.

It's claimed in some TKD literature that TKD is at least 2,000 years old; many even claim 5,000 years old!! Which is complete rubbish.

Anyway, sorry for taking this thread way off-track.

[boxerbilly]

Invented in the 1950's. Clearly it is 2000 years old. Choi was a Shotokan Black Belt before seeing a drawing of some Korean cartoon kicking in the air and title Taekkyeon. It is believed he channeled ancient spirits through his practice of the Golden Flower that he learned from some German writer guy. Yeah, it was Shotokan. By the way, go to the drive in theater thread and one can watch some decent Shotokan fight scenes in Kill or be Killed. Stan Schmidt choreography. He was also in the film.

Korea was just ****ed Japan owned them. By the way, Mas Oyama was Korean for those not aware of that fact.

[Jimbo]

Invented in the 1950's. Clearly it is 2000 years old. Choi was a Shotokan Black Belt before seeing a drawing of some Korean cartoon kicking in the air and title Taekkyeon. It is believed he channeled ancient spirits through his practice of the Golden Flower that he learned from some German writer guy. Yeah, it was Shotokan. By the way, go to the drive in theater thread and one can watch some decent Shotokan fight scenes in Kill or be Killed. Stan Schmidt choreography. He was also in the film.

Korea was just ****ed Japan owned them. By the way, Mas Oyama was Korean for those not aware of that fact.

Yeah, Choi Hong-Hi, founder of ITF, had reached the level of 2nd-degree black belt in Shotokan while he was in Japan.

And yes, Mas Oyama was indeed Korean. Also surnamed Choi(!).

Founder of Hapkido: Choi Yong-Sool.
Founder of ITF TKD: Choi Hong-Hi.
Founder of Kyokushinkai karate: Choi Yeong-Eui (a.k.a., Mas Oyama).

Many famous (and not so famous) Korean MA teachers had a tendency to build bizarre, fanciful cults of worship around themselves. That continued all the way into the 1990s or so. I don't know if that stuff is still going on; the popularity of MMA seems to have mostly killed that off, or put a big damper on it.

[mickey]

Greetings,

The 'Shotokan" that the Koreans learned in Japan appeared to have maintained more of its Chinese flavor. The maxim, "The hands (arms) are like two doors" was clearly manifested in their sparring up until the 1980's. Which isn't to say their hands sucked.

mickey

[boxerbilly]

Hi Mickey,

ITF was at most 60-40 feet-hands and it was probably a lot closer to 50-50 then most realize. I was around when there was a crossing over into sine wave. So I learned both and preferred torque. Funny, I just sent a mutual friend a vid and towards the end it highlighted TKD becomes more circular as one advances.

[mawali]

Excellent points, Jimbo!

Pertaining to Choi, founder of Hapkido, he was taken to Japan by his Japanese overlords and was a 'servant" in the Takeda household. Koreans were looked upon lesser beings by the Japanese as lesser beings and it is rare to find any description of Choi as anything other than a servant in the Takeda house. Somehow, he picked up some ty[e of foundation to make Hapkido a name to be recognized. When

[mickey]

Greetings,

The 'Shotokan" that the Koreans learned in Japan appeared to have maintained more of its Chinese flavor. The maxim, "The hands (arms) are like two doors" was clearly manifested in their sparring up until the 1980's. Which isn't to say their hands sucked.

mickey

To Clarify:

The late Masatoshi Nakayama may not have been the only student of Gichin Funakoshi to travel to China to study. And what they brought back, the Koreans may have learned. For example, Kyokushin maintains a circular blocking system. Both Kyokushin and early Tae Kwon Do maintained hand usage associated with the Hook Hand seen in northern styles (I am the first to write this).

mickey