Bamboo Forest Temple Southern Mantis Kung Fu was founded by Red Eyebrow
taoist during the Ming dynasty, around the year 1523 AD and was first
practised in the Kwong Sai Bamboo Forest Temple. Over thousands of
years, the majority of Chinese people have been living and practising
Buddhism and Taoism. Using this philosophy they learned to overcome
problems and understand the course of nature and the true meaning
of life.
Although Buddhism originates from India and Taoism from China, they
both share the same essence of life and path to enlightenment. Once
put on the path to enlightenment the practitioner will learn to cultivate
their mind, purify their body and train their heart.
There are many ways to become 'enlightened'. "Shakyamuni Buddha"
mentioned there are 84,000 ways he has opened, to suit every type
of person. When learning to cultivate mind, body and speech, many
monks would seek more effective ways to reach buddhahood quicker.
They would put themselves through unbelievable tasks to help them
lose feelings of desire, ego, jealously, lust, anger, etc. Their minds
would become most powerful but often their physical bodies, under
these severe circumstances,
became weak and feeble. They needed to train their bodies, thus giving
birth to what we now know as Kung Fu.
With the combination of both internal exercise and external movement
monks could develop a tranquil relationship between their cultivation
and Kung Fu. They could condition their bodies and minds to blend
as one perfect force of harmony. One balancing and reflecting the
other. In this way they had a better chance of reaching enlightenment.
During these times there were many who opposed the teaching of Buddhism
and Taoism and would often try and destroy the temples and monks lives.
Of course at that time it was easy to overcome the sheltered, non-violet
lives of the monks. Soon, the monks realised that the only way to
stop the destructive assaults was to become so much stronger and stick
up for the truth, Developing the Kung Fu, their skills and power became
extra ordinary. With their peaceful mind there were very few who could
challenge them, let alone, beat them. So by learning to fight and
train Kung Fu the real meaning was to bring more peace to the people.
Only after this, when Kung Fu was learnt without the cultivation,
so brought a new era. The students Kung Fu was still unmatched, but
the morality was missing, this resulted in the loss of the true meaning.
"The hidden essence of Bamboo Forest
Temple Mantis"
