we should call “shaolin kungfu” but rather than “shaolin wushu” that i always disagree with this comment. i advocate “wushu chan” is to stress this point. the word “kungfu” is a buddhist term.
in terms of the content and concept, the word “wushu” cannot substitute“kungfu”. it should be mentioned that wushu is a part of kungfu which contains two levels of wushu and wudao(chinese: 武道).
our kungfu practice is also cultivation meanwhile martial arts is a dharma gate of cultivation. we pursue not only kungfu techniques but mainly the realm.
practice of chinese buddhism stresses empirical evidence of individual. similarly, shaolin kungfu, as one method of practice for shaolin monks, has to meet this basic requirement.
patriarch bodhidharma preached his disciples: “to see the essence of things, you have to strengthen the body”. noting that the “unity of chan and boxing” is difference between shaolin kungfu and other boxing schools. then what is chan?
i feel that shaolin kungfu and chan is in a dialectical relationship. this is wushu chan of shaolin temple that can not only shaolin kungfu stress “ martial arts integrates into chan” and “chan is prominent for martial arts”, which dialectically shows kungfu can’t exist without chan cultivation meanwhile chan practice also needs to be protected under martial arts. internal chan and external martial arts are integrated synthetically, which is the dialectical relationship of the combination of dynamics and statics.
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