Almost all the stories can be traced back to him, Bodhidharma, the 18th-generation heir of Mohakasyapa. It is Bodhidharma who founded the religious philosophy named the Zen. It is he who developed the world's unique Shaolin kungfu. And, most important of all, he integrated the status focused Zen with the Shaolin kungfu known for its bravery and fierce valor, thus rendering the martial art tradition of the Zen an ever lasting glory. The Zen buddhism is as tranquil as still water, while the martial art is as fierce as fire. How could the water and fire be integrated in perfect harmony? This is an eternal riddle Bodhidharma left to us.

The Mount Song, the central one of the "five mountains" of China, is situated at the hinterland of the country. The Mount Song is divided into two mountains, i.e. the Taishi and the Shaoshi. This miraculous mount is a remarkable creation of the joint force of the mysterious natural evolution and the ancient Chinese civilization with a history of several thousand years. On the Mount Song the scenery is so charming and the cultural relics are so numerous. The Shaolin Temple is located in the embrace of the Shaoshi Mountain.

The Shaolin Temple was so named after its location in the forest (pronounced as "lin" in Chinese) of the Shaoshi Mountain. It was built in the 19th year of the reign of Emperor Xiaowen during the dynasty of North Wei (495 AD) in order to host an eminent Indian monk named Bada. The revered Bada abided by the sutra of Hinayana and not much accomplishment of his is known today. After 32 years came Bodhi-dharma with his intoxication at the charming and inspiring landscape or his attachment to the fertile cultural soil of the central China, Bodhi-dharma finally put a period to his roaming career. Alone, he entered the cave beneath the Wuru peak and sat before the cave-wall for nine years. When the feat of cultivation by facing the wall was completed, his image was incredibly printed into the wall, hence the famous "wall-facing rock" which we can still see today. It is hard to ascertain whether the "shadow-printed rock" is genuine or not. But one thing is sure, that is when Bodhi-dharma came out of that cave, a new buddhist sect, the Zen, was brought forth into the world.

This is a historical fact supported with records. From the on, the Shaolin Temple became a world-famous birthplace of the Zen. Hence the renown, the No.1 famous Temple on Earth. From this land of numerous cultural relics, Bodhi-dharma imbibed in an extensive manner the quintessence of the traditional Chinese philosophies, which he integrated with the Buddhist theory of allegorical comprehension of the truth. The result is that he created the unique doctrine of the Zen of China which is based on self-cultivation by sitting in meditation and which claimed that one can become a buddhist the moment he comprehends his Buddhist ego. The chief approaches of the Zen cultivation are "viewing the wall" and "sitting in meditation". He got rid of the scholasticism characterizing the ways of self-cultivation advocated by the traditional Buddhist sutras. His theory involved no written scripture. He advocated that one can become a buddha by an "instant complete understanding". Thus he conducted rather radical reform on Mahayana, the "bigger vehicle". When other buddhist sects had seen their heyday and were then declining, the Zen was then enjoying an unprecedented prosperity.

By the Tang dynasty, the reverend Hui Neng, the 6th-generation chief of the Zen Buddhism, made a comprehensive summary of the theory of the Zen, which brought about additional splendor to the Zen. In China then, 70 to 80 percent of the temples belonged to the Zen sect. The Zen was rapidly spread to other countries in the east and south of Asia, thus laying a solid foundation for its worldwide popularization later on. Since the Zen, with silent meditation as the chief way of cultivation and Buddhist comprehension as the cardinal principle, needed to be far away from the mundane world and the Zenist cared nothing but self accomplishment, why should they practice swords and spears and fostered the Shaolin kungfu, which was no doubt a means for fighting and battling? Bodhi-dharma's statement of "no written document for the Zen Buddhism" has put the latecomers in an awkward position to guess this paradoxical phenomenon. Hence the many different theories there upon. Some understand kungfu as a way of stretching the limbs after long time of meditation while sitting silently. Some think that the monks, while living deep in the mountains, needed kungfu as a means to resist fierce animals. Others consider kungfu an approach by means of which the monks could make friends in the kungfu circle while studying the martial art. Still some others deem kungfu as something used to achieve longevity and good health. These explanations sound rather reasonable in their respective aspects, but they fail to touch upon the key point. Historical records have verified the truth that the four red walls of the Shaolin Temple have never separated any generation of the monks from the outer world. The temple yard is, at most, a small boat drifting on the ocean of the times. The waves of social evolution has never stopped beating the sides of the boat. If the monks wanted to be able to sit silently in calm meditation so as to practice their world outlook with "tranquility" as the cardinal principle, it was a must to have something dynamic as a supplement or support or protection. This vividly reflects the traditional Chinese philosophy that extreme tranquility generates dynamics. In the final analysis, kungfu is a means of fight with martial art. In the social competition, if without the protection by martial art, the tranquility of the Zen would have been impossible, let alone the later development. Regardless of the times, whether you are monks, Taoists or laymen, the most essential for human beings is survival. To have a detailed examination of each posture of the kungfu of Shaolin, every punch or kick constitutes an effort for survival and a maneuver in the course of competition. To protect tranquility with the dynamic, to generate dynamic with tranquility, to aid the dynamic with tranquility and the other way round...all this indicates that it was the profound understanding of the true meaning of these phenomena that the reverend Bodhi-dharma resolved to walk out of his cave.

As a matter of fact, before Bodhi-dharma came to China, kungfu had been highly developed already. however, the kungfu before his times arose out the necessity of war among the then social-political groups. During the time when the reverend Moha founded the Shaolin Temple, his disciples, such as Weiguang and Weineng, were also famous monks excellent in martial arts. The point is that during their times, martial art was not yet some independent system. The legend goes that Weiguang could kick the shuttle-cock for 500 times in a stroke, and Monk Chou drove away two fighting tigers with his buddhist staff. And the contribution devoted by Bhodi-dharma and the Zen was that the kungfu was combined with the individual personalities and got gradually methodized and systemized, which rendered it possible for the shaolin kungfu to develop and perfect itself in an eternal and stable way. It is this methodization and systemization that have brought about worldwide fame and everlasting glory. Though the kungfu of the Shaolin is not, necessarily the origin of the Chinese wushu, the Shaolin temple deserves the honor of the stream-head of the world's kungfu. The age of Bodhi-dharma has long elapsed together with the legend of "a shoe going west". But the martial art tradition he founded has been carried forward by the Shaolin monks from generation to generation. The Shaolin kungfu at present day has a splendid system. It's mysterious and remarkable martial arts have won world's admiration. Shaolin has become the world's most outstanding and widespread sect in the wushu circle.