The Influence Of Health Preserving Ideology Of Zen On Shaolin Martial Arts

Traditional Chinese culture is an open system which consists of the Confucianism, the Buddhism and the Taoism. The wisdom of Confucianism is built on the education of morality, ceremony and music. Through cultivating their morality and practicing what they preach Confucians can realize their heart, their nature and finally the heaven. The wisdom of Taoism is built on the basis of quietness, passivity, free, the overcoming of desire and themselves. Taoists pay much attention to the free of spirit and surpassing themselves; they deem that the human being could be combined harmoniously with nature. The ultimate aim of Buddhistic wisdom is the gain of Vimukta which demands the liberty of spirit and the break of shackles. In the course of the country's long history, they merge into and complement each other. Unlike the Confucianism and Taoism as a kind of Chinese native religion, the Buddhism is an "exotic" which was divided in to many sects ever since it was introduced into China. The Chan sect as mainstream of sinicized Buddhism is both a hybrid of Indian Buddhism and traditional Chinese culture and a kind of cultural form that is rich in content and has been going through a long history. The value orientation of Chan sect is to realize our inherent virtuous nature by the way of cultivating ourselves according to a religious doctrine and understanding ourselves. In the process of the mutual mergence of the two cultures, the organic mergence between the Chan sect and the Shaolin martial art is a perfect nonesuch. Originally, Shaolin martial art is a sort of self-defense and body building method, which is diametrically opposed to the tenet of the Chan sect.However, a link that connects the two different cultures is health preserving. Wushu could help Buddhist monks to improve the weakness of body which caused by long time religious meditations. Correspondingly, the religious meditations could help the Wushu practicer to renew their vigor. In the long process of historical development, Shaolin Martial art has been absorbing many doctrines, theories and methods of the Chan sect, of which connected directly with the culture of Shaolin martial art and finally formed a new skill system. At the same time, Shaolin martial art has been promoting the development of Chan sect. The practice of many eminent monks has proved that the life needs not only rest but also exercise.Shaolin martial art is a strenuous sport, after practice the trainer will feel tired to some extent. Through the practice of religious meditation and being in different from fame and benefit, however, the trainer's vigor can be renewed, their morality can be cultivated, their mind can be formed and their potentialities can be wakened. Therefore, the monks of Shaolin temple gradually connect religious meditation with Wushu and as time passes, Wushu becomes an obligatory course of Shaolin temple, which justifies the function of Wushu to a great extent and promotes dramatically the development of the Chan sect.Through methods of document collecting, experts-interview and integrated analysis, the study analyzes the influence of health preserving ideology of Zen on Shaolin martial arts.The study finds out and enumerates the influence and link between the Chan sect and Shaolin martial art so as to provide some advice for the study of Shaolin martial art and the development of Wushu culture.