[QUOTE=Xian;1232231]Hi everyone,
in a bigger German Martial Arts Forum there is a guy who is
continuously repeating the same mantra “There was no Shaolin Boxing before 1780”
and all that stuff.
After reading it again and again I am getting a bit annoyed of it. I have read a lot of stuff here since I have registered here in 2010.
And nothing of it gave me the impression that I should doubt that there was Shaolin Boxing before 1780.
So I want to ask you, whats about that ?Who makes such claims ?Also he said that Taizu Chang Quan was created by Qi Jiguang and he himself should have said that..
Best regards,
Xian[/QUOTE]
Whoever makes such claims is someone who has an alterier motive (usually to promote their school over Shaolin) who has not spent much time in the area if any, does not understand the nature of training and has not made an extensive enough study of the history.
I have personally visited villages in Song Mountain that absorbed Shaolin forms in 1641 after shaolin monks fled their because of a massacre at the temple. These forms are remarkably similar to their current versions, yet more primitive and at the same time more profound. Similarly I have been to villages that absorbed shaolin tradition even earlier, where the techniques are still the same.
Since he mentions Qi, Lets look at Qi JiGuang (16th century):
“…the fist, quarterstaff, knife, spear, woman’s hairpin, rake, double-edged sword, halberd,
bow and arrow, barb, sickle, beating shield, etc.–none doesn’t first use fist methods to exercise the body and hands. These very fist techniques constitute the source of martial skill.”
Shows that even the weapons schools use fist techniques as their basic practice. Qi himself says ‘NONE does not first use fist methods…’ as in ALL schools of these weapons also use the fist methods form practice. Earlier in the text he alludes to using the same weapons techniques but with the fist. Also we know from weapons techniques that a lot of kicks and fists are present within weapons practice and capturing the opponents weapon is important. It is ludicrous to assume that one would practice weapons without also practicing these techniques in isolation.
To QUote Qi JiGuang further:
“Looking at Master Wen in the present day, we have the 72 moving fist methods, the 36 combining and locking
techniques, the 24 counter-spy techniques, 6 9 the 8 flash flips, and the 12 short strikes. These are the best of the lot. As for Lu Hong’s 8 blows, while they are firm, they do not measure up to Min Zhang’s short strike. The leg techniques of Shangdong’s Li Bantian, Eagle Claw Wang’s grappling methods, Thousand Stumble Zhang’s stumbling techniques, Zhang Bojing’s strikes, the Shaolin monastery stick fighting art, together with the Green Field cudgel methods, all stand as equals. Mr. Yang’s spear arts together with the open hand, fist, and quarterstaff skills, are all famous to the present day.”
THis is in the FIST fighting section of the manual. Yet he notes Shaolin here. Also he puts it along side other fist methods even though he calles it stick, Why? For one he has already confirmed the existence of the Shaolin stick method (prior to 1780) and confirmed that no one practices stick without also practicing fist, but also even though the whole manual is largely about weapons he chooses to put the shaolin method in the section all about fists. This implies heavily that although called Shaolin stick it is the umbrella term for Shaolins MA. It is not uncommon even today to refer to Shaolin MA as ‘Shaolin Gun’ and Wudang MA as ‘Wudang Jian’.
Is there more of this? (on film I mean)