The Chinese nation has a rich philosophical tradition that goes back to antiquity. Concepts such as Yīn-Yáng 陰|陽, Dào 道, Qì 氣, etc. were formulated by the Chinese through observation of nature and human society and mind, and they have lasted until our days, awakening the interest of people from all the nations of the globe.
The most important genuinely Chinese philosophical currents are based on the teachings of Confucius 孔子 and Lǎo Zǐ 老子*, who lived in the 6th century B.C. At that same time, in India, Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha imparted his teachings on the path to become free from suffering and achieve awakening. Buddhism came to China through the Silk Road, and over time it took root and transformed itself giving rise to the Chán tradition (禪, better known by its Japanese name, Zen), a more philosophical than religious current with special emphasis on meditative practice, above devotion and ritual.
Bodhidharma, known to the Chinese as Dá Mó 達摩, fostered Chán Buddhism in China and laid the foundations for what was to be the Shǎolín Chán 少林禪, that is, the Chán branch characteristic of the Shǎolín Temple Order in Hénán 河南.
Notes:
* Also transcribed as Lao Tzu or Lao Tse.
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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A gōng’àn 公案 (“public case”; better known by its Japanese name, kōan) is a phrase, dialogue, or short story used in Chán 禪Buddhism to arouse doubts in the practitioner and test his understanding. In China, a Chán system of meditation was developed that based obtaining spiritual enlightenment on concentration on these phrases.
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According to the Chinese conception of human being, it is composed of ‘two souls’: Pò 魄, ‘corporeal’ or ‘terrestrial soul’, and Hún 魂, ‘ethereal soul’. This way of understanding the human being is closely related to the practice of veneration of ancestors.
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In Chinese Martial Arts, the figure of the teacher is of vital importance, since anyone who wants to learn a martial art needs a teacher to transmit the teaching. In the West, many times the role of the teacher is misinterpreted; to understand it better, we must first examine the figure of the teacher in the religious tradition of China.
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Unlike most philosophical-religious traditions of the West, which emphasize eternal life and the immutable, in China and the rest of Asia, existence was understood as a constant change, expressed by the idea of impermanence. In Chinese martial arts this idea is applied by non-opposition of resistance.
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In Chinese culture, the concepts of Wǔ 武 and Wén 文, which represent the military and civil spheres in government, are considered opposite but complementary. At the individual level, these concepts find their best representation in two seemingly antithetical but very similar arts: swordsmanship (Dāo Fǎ 刀法) and calligraphy (Shū Fǎ 書法).
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Within Buddhism, Guan Yin 觀音 is the Chinese name of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. His figure has undergone a unique transformation, and it is a great example of how Buddhism, a foreign religion, became so deeply rooted in people’s minds, to the point of becoming authentically Chinese.
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The Theory of the Five Phases (Wǔ Xíng 五行) or Five Processes, sometimes called of the Five Elements, appeared during the Zhou 周 Dynasty, possibly as a way of representing seasonal changes that affected agricultural production, and underwent some important changes throughout history.
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Bodhidharma, known in China as Pútídámó 菩提達摩 or Dámó 達摩, was an Indian monk who came to China in the 6th century, and is usually considered as the founder of Kung Fu and Chán 禪 Buddhism.
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It is likely that on more than one occasion we have encountered the image of a fat, smiling and good-natured Buddha, present either in Buddhist temples, restaurants or any other Chinese establishments. This character, whom many people take for the Buddha, is actually Bùdài 布袋, a Chan 禪 monk of the 10th century whose life was somehow eccentric.
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