The “Tigers of War” were an infantry contingent that existed during the Qīng 清 dynasty. It was a téngpáiyíng 藤牌營 battalion, this is, soldiers trained in the use of the rattan shield (téng pái 藤牌) and sabre (dāo 刀), who wore furs or uniforms that mimicked the appearance of the tiger.
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The Cáodòng 曹洞 school is one of the Five Schools of Chán 禪 Buddhism, which during the Sòng 宋 dynasty was characterized by teaching a form of meditation known as “Silent Illumination” (默照 mòzhào).
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Lóulán 樓蘭 was an ancient kingdom that flourished in the 2nd century BC on the margins of the Silk Road. It was an independent city-state until the Hàn dynasty 漢朝 took control of the region, and proliferated for some more centuries until it was mysteriously abandoned in the 3rd century of our era, leaving only ruins that remained buried in the desert sands for nearly two millennia.
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The triads, criminal organizations, had their origins in a split of the Hung Mun 洪門 Society, or Society of Heaven and Earth (天地會 Tiāndìhuì), a secret organization that fought to overthrow the Qīng 清 dynasty in the later years of the Chinese imperial era.
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Chán 禪 differs from other Buddhist schools by attaching greater importance to meditation and intuition than to ritual, intellectual understanding, or study of sacred texts. In China emerged the idea of a “separate transmission” of the Buddhist dharma, external to the scriptures, which transcended language and only took place directly from master to disciple.
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Wǔ Zétiān 武則天 (625-705) is the only woman in Chinese history to have held the imperial throne. Although other women held the position of regent as empress dowager (皇太后 húangtàihòu), none of them truly took up the throne of the Son of Heaven (天子 Tiānzǐ).
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Many Kung Fu styles trace their origins to an alleged Shàolín 少林 temple in the southern province of Fújiàn 福建, which would be attacked by the troops of the Qīng 清 dynasty, and from which only five monks, known as the Five Elders or Five Ancestors of Shàolín (少林五祖 Shàolín wǔ zǔ), would escape.
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Many martial styles incorporate meditation practices in different ways or have an important meditative component in their practice. But, what is meditation, and why is it related to martial arts?
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Qī Jìguāng 戚繼光, a general of the Míng 明 dynasty and military genius, not only invented the “mandarin duck” formation (鴛鴦陣 yuānyāng zhèn), but modified the design of the Chinese long sabre based on the Japanese one, and also studied Japanese sword techniques to introduce them into the handling of this weapon.
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The ink brush (毛筆 máo bǐ) is used in both Chinese calligraphy and traditional painting, and is one of the Four Treasures of the Study (文房四寶 wén fáng sì bǎo). Let’s see its features and the different types that exist.
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