The construction of the great canal connecting the two great rivers, the Yellow River and Yangtze River, became increasingly difficult for the common people. Because this massive undertaking required a great deal of manpower and also required significant government expenditure, issues arose that worried the people. Wherever there was a lot of money involved, fraud naturally arose.
The officials tasked with recruiting new workers and paying them, seeing an opportunity, then their fraudulent practices emerged, and much of the money that was actually intended for the canal builders ended up in the pockets of the officials. The people, fearful of the government, were easily intimidated. The workers received only a portion of their wages. Officials, from the smallest to the largest, had already been curtailed.
The smaller officials took a small amount, the larger ones took even more, and the working people received only the remainder. Many were even unpaid, as if they were forced to work. However, they could only cry and complain, not daring to fight back. Initially, those who became forced laborers without pay were convicts whose labor was exploited. However, seeing this, the officials and administrators of this major project then used their corrupt minds, treating the people like convicts, forcing them to work without permission, and the money went into their own pockets.
The government didn't hear the people's lamentations, but the martial art warrior did. At that time, these martial art warriors were those who possessed advanced martial arts skills and a clean, honest, and brave character. The centers of martial arts were mostly located in monasteries and hermitages, especially the Shaolin Temple, which center of Shaolin Sect, a source of high level martial arts experts.
Often, the Shaolin Sect disciples who had become martial art warriors outside the temple would gather to consult with the Shaolin Sect master, discussing the people's suffering caused by the construction of the canal, which employed the labor of hundreds of thousands of people.
The center of this Shaolin Sect gathering was the large Shaolin Temple, which, in addition to being a center for higher martial arts training, also served as a center for the spread of Buddhism.
The Shaolin Temple stands on a fertile mountain also known as Mount Song. Mount Song is neither a large mountain nor a vast mountain range like Mount Ming, Mount QinLing, Mount Kunlun, and many others. However, despite its small size, Mount Song has become very famous because of the large Shaolin Temple or Monastery. Especially in the martial arts world, Shaolin Temple is very well known, respected, and feared because it is the source of martial arts experts who became renowned warriors.
This magnificent temple was built by a Buddhist monk who came from India to spread the teachings of Buddhism. Initially, it was simply a monastery where people studied religion. The monks, aspiring to spread religious teachings, were educated in this monastery. Because that era (around 500 AD) was a time of disorganization, especially with the ongoing civil wars that had been going on since the Three Kingdoms era (221-265 AD), the development of Buddhism was disrupted in this chaotic environment.
Then, around 520 AD, a monk from India appeared with profound supernatural powers. Unlike the Buddhabhadra (Monk Ba Tuo), who founded the Shaolin Temple and was merely a religious expert, Bodhidharma (Da Mo High Monk), this newly arrived monk from India, possessed extraordinary supernatural power and martial art.
Moreover, during his travels from India to China, he wandered extensively in the Himalaya, meeting highly learned ascetics, and constantly deepening his knowledge. By the time he arrived at the Shaolin Monastery, he was a Buddhist monk with extremely advanced martial art and supernatural power. Many strange stories have been told from generation to generation, especially from the monks at the Shaolin Temple, about Bodhidharma.
Some say that while at the Shaolin Monastery, Bodhidharma once dug a well using only his hands until water gushed out! Others say that he carved carvings on the stone walls using his fingers, depicting people performing various martial arts moves. There is even a story that he meditated at the temple for nine years to deepen his knowledge. His body was imprinted on the rock he was sitting on, and his back was imprinted on the stone wall he was leaning against. In short, there are countless tales about Bodhidharma, telling of his godlike powers!
However, it must be acknowledged based on existing history that Bodhidharma was the pioneer of martial arts within the Shaolin Temple, which later became very famous and even became the source of many martial arts in China.
Before Bodhidharma arrived at the Shaolin Temple, of course, none of the temple's students or monks studied martial arts. They were teached Buddhism taught love, avoiding conflict, hostility, and especially violence. Martial arts, on the other hand, is the art of fighting! Of course, no monk would want to learn the art of hitting someone!
However, one day, Bodhidharma saw how weak the monks and disciples at the Shaolin Temple were. Because of this weakness, they became lazy and couldn't stand sitting in meditation, preferring to laze around and sleep. Because of this weakness, many of them suffered from illnesses. Furthermore, during that era, there were many riots, and the criminals seemed to be indiscriminate when committing violent crimes.
Several times, the monks were attacked and robbed, and some were even killed. These two things moved Da Mo, whose name was later added to the title High Monk, to train the Shaolin monks and disciples to make them healthy and strong.
Initially, the powerful monk created a kind of exercise system that, when practiced, could improve the body and even strengthen the mind. This discipline later became known as I Chin Ching (Muscle Changing Classic), a movement technique that stretches muscles, purifies the blood, and strengthens bones.
I Chin Ching is divided into eighteen basic movements. The benefits of this discipline are equal to, or even superior to yoga. In addition to I Chin Ching, Bodhidharma also created a martial art for monks who guarded temples from bad and malicious people. This martial art, called Eighteen Lohan Martial Art, also consists of eighteen moves. Lohan Martial Art, or Arhat Martial Art, was specifically designed for monks, not only to strengthen the body but also to defend themselves and protect the temple.
That was the beginning of the martial arts taught to monks at the Shaolin Temple. Then, seeing the usefulness of these arts, Buddhist monks developed them, and Shaolin began to play a significant role in the martial arts world.
The training undertaken by students at the Shaolin Temple was renowned for being extremely rigorous, but it was precisely this rigorous training that made Shaolin martial arts renowned as a strong and powerful art, and students who graduated from this sect possessed a mature martial arts style with reliable power. Many figures emerged, and Shaolin martial arts continued to develop, becoming more diverse, and martial art master from Shaolin continually used their talents and ingenuity to create new techniques.
During the reign of Emperor Li Wu Ti (502-549), a Liang Dynasty emperor who was a devout Buddhist had close ties with Shaolin Temple. Furthermore, when numerous rebellions broke out here and there, the emperor sought the assistance of Shaolin martial arts experts. At that time, many skilled warriors had become Shaolin disciples, and these warriors performed remarkably well in suppressing the rioters.
Emperor Liang Wu Ti was delighted and grateful, and he expanded the Shaolin monastery. The monastery flourished and its students grew. Efforts to spread Buddhism also flourished and made rapid progress, as did the development of martial arts training. This was all due to the support of Emperor Liang Wu Ti, who was also a Buddhist.