Kung Fu In Central Asia
The Silk Road
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The Silk Road caravans brought to China many commodities like dates, saffron powder and pistachio nuts from Persia; frankincense, aloes and myrrh from Somalia; sandalwood from India; glass bottles from Egypt, gems and other precious stones from everywhere, and other expensive and desirable goods from all parts of the world. In exchange, the caravans sent back fine silk, porcelain, lacquer ware, art, education, and silver to be sure.
But the most valuable role of the Silk Road wasn't any of these things, rather it was the exchange of culture between east and west: religion, philosophies, art, sciences and technologies, medicines, martial arts, skills of all manner, languages, and every other aspect of civilization passed along the fabled silk road.
Certainly Muslims influenced the evolution of Chinese Kung Fu, as research by Grandmaster Ma Xianda ( 1932 - Present) suggests.
https://www.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=336
And see Muslim Kung-Fu: The Fist of the Bodyguards
And:
https://muslimheritage.com/legacy-muslim-kung-fu-masters/
But the most valuable role of the Silk Road wasn't any of these things, rather it was the exchange of culture between east and west: religion, philosophies, art, sciences and technologies, medicines, martial arts, skills of all manner, languages, and every other aspect of civilization passed along the fabled silk road.
Certainly Muslims influenced the evolution of Chinese Kung Fu, as research by Grandmaster Ma Xianda ( 1932 - Present) suggests.
https://www.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=336
And see Muslim Kung-Fu: The Fist of the Bodyguards
And:
https://muslimheritage.com/legacy-muslim-kung-fu-masters/
So, the China Dream may well be harmonizing with my childhood dream and I've got this funny feeling I'm going to get out on that Silk Road before long, researching both indigenous martial arts and Kung Fu along the ancient Silk Road. [2021 Note: That was written May, 2015, not long before I started what turned into the Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship Tour - a six year odyssey thus far, spanning 16 countries and more than one visit to some of them.]
Famous Silk Road TravelersFor an amazing list with short descriptions, go to this site:
http://www.silk-road.com/artl/srtravelmain.shtml Below are links to just a few of the great works - in English - by ancient Silk Road travelers: The Journey of Faxian to India 399 and 414 CE
https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/faxian.html Ibn Battuta: Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354
http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1354-ibnbattuta.asp The Travels of Ch'ang Ch'un to the West, 1220-1223
Great translation can be found at: https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/changchun.html The travel records Faxian, Xuanzang Yijing http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/travel_records.pdf |
Famous Silk Road Literature
Abu Ali al-Hussain Ibn Abdallah Ibn Sina (Avicenna) was a Persian physician, astronomer, geologist, psychologist & philosopher. He was born in 980 A.D. in present day Uzbekistan. Ibn Sina laid the foundation of exercise being central to health, naming such exercises as running, swimming, weight lifting, polo, fencing, boxing, wrestling, long jumping, high jumping, etc. He also gives a diet to go along with the exercise... I haven't been able to find good downloadable English translations of his work yet, but an interesting book about his writings can be downloaded from:
http://muse.jhu.edu/books/9780812202229 |
True martial artists have a moral code or they are nothing more than beasts. So I've made a lifelong study of philosophies and religions. I tend to find the mystical branches more to my liking as they tend to avoid stagnating dogma and promote creativity and transcendence.
Muslim Sufism, Zen and Shaolin; Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam
穆斯林 白山宗, 禅, 少林，祆教，犹太教，基督教，伊斯兰教
The Silk Roads and other rivers of life
Sufism of course is a huge subject, vastly beyond my ability to summarize or even understand. But, in my research on Silk Road literature it was quite impossible to miss them. My first venture into this mystical world found someone named Ahmad Yasawi - Turkic poet and Sufi from what is now present day Kazakhstan. Below are my notes:
Ahmad Yasawi
From “Early Mystics in Turkish Literature”
Entire book can be downloaded from:
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=349410FA3F269811EDC0DBD97F3BBBFD?doi=10.1.1.460.8135&rep=rep1&
Chapter on Ahmad Yasawi (1093-1166) and his influence
The following is from P. 162 of chapter, P. 221 on PDF
"The meaning of love (“ishq”) here is, of course, not “metaphorical” (i.e. earthly) love, but “true” love, i.e. the love of God. Only through love is it possible to be saved from non-existence and to exalt the human soul and return it to the original place of its descent. The sole reason why a number of Sufi had a strong interest in “the beauties of earthly form” (mahasin-i suwariyya) was because it was only possible to attain “true” love via “metaphorical” love, according to the saying (metaphor is the bridge to truth). However, the long, hair-fine bridge leading from human love to divine love is very dangerous. Many on this path fall into the whirlpool of human passions and are drowned. But once this bridge is crossed, non-existence is itself obliterated. The lover sees divine beauty in everything. This is what our popular Sufi call “becoming God with God” (Hak ile Hak olmak). The endless laments of true lovers result from their desperate longing for divinity, which is the soul’s original source.
"The moving laments that fill the Diwan-I kabir of Mawlana, the poet of the famous couplet:
“The bird of my heart fluttered and had no rest
It saw its place of origin and found rest there.”
"and many latitudinarian views, which were considered impossible to adapt to the external meaning of the Shari’a, were all a product of such a mad, infinite, divine love. In Ahmad Yasawi, however, such laments are very feeble – indeed, they hardly exist.
"Mawlana describes this mystical reality in the following manner:
"Is that (pure heart) the heart that is enamored of riches and power, or is submissive to this black earth and water (the body), Or to vain fancies which it worships in the darkness for the sake of fame, The heart is naught but the Sea of Light: is the heart the place for vision of God – and then blind? (Nicholson trans., Mathnawi, vol. 3, 2267–9.)"
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Also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khoja_Akhmet_Yassawi …for a brief bio of Ahmad Yasawi
And, I ask, is this in any way different from other transcendent philosophies of Jews, Christians, and Chan? I believe they all spring from the same source (original nature - our face before birth) taking only slightly different forms, but ultimately identical in pure nature.
A most amazing first venture into Islamic Sufi philosophy! But perhaps not really so amazing, as Carl Jung wrote: “For it is not that ‘God’ is a myth, but that myth is the revelation of the divine life in man. It is not we who invent myth; rather it speaks to us as a Word of God.”
What's slightly ironic is that anyone who believes in this "oneness" concept is already half way to being Muslim. The other half can be found in any encyclopedia or world history book. Question: What was the last major religion to emerge? If you find the correct answer, and believe in the oneness concept, and should happen to mention this in front of some Muslims, well... you've just become a Muslim (technically speaking, in some ways). Isn't life strange? Ha!
Ahmad Yasawi
From “Early Mystics in Turkish Literature”
Entire book can be downloaded from:
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=349410FA3F269811EDC0DBD97F3BBBFD?doi=10.1.1.460.8135&rep=rep1&
Chapter on Ahmad Yasawi (1093-1166) and his influence
The following is from P. 162 of chapter, P. 221 on PDF
"The meaning of love (“ishq”) here is, of course, not “metaphorical” (i.e. earthly) love, but “true” love, i.e. the love of God. Only through love is it possible to be saved from non-existence and to exalt the human soul and return it to the original place of its descent. The sole reason why a number of Sufi had a strong interest in “the beauties of earthly form” (mahasin-i suwariyya) was because it was only possible to attain “true” love via “metaphorical” love, according to the saying (metaphor is the bridge to truth). However, the long, hair-fine bridge leading from human love to divine love is very dangerous. Many on this path fall into the whirlpool of human passions and are drowned. But once this bridge is crossed, non-existence is itself obliterated. The lover sees divine beauty in everything. This is what our popular Sufi call “becoming God with God” (Hak ile Hak olmak). The endless laments of true lovers result from their desperate longing for divinity, which is the soul’s original source.
"The moving laments that fill the Diwan-I kabir of Mawlana, the poet of the famous couplet:
“The bird of my heart fluttered and had no rest
It saw its place of origin and found rest there.”
"and many latitudinarian views, which were considered impossible to adapt to the external meaning of the Shari’a, were all a product of such a mad, infinite, divine love. In Ahmad Yasawi, however, such laments are very feeble – indeed, they hardly exist.
"Mawlana describes this mystical reality in the following manner:
"Is that (pure heart) the heart that is enamored of riches and power, or is submissive to this black earth and water (the body), Or to vain fancies which it worships in the darkness for the sake of fame, The heart is naught but the Sea of Light: is the heart the place for vision of God – and then blind? (Nicholson trans., Mathnawi, vol. 3, 2267–9.)"
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Also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khoja_Akhmet_Yassawi …for a brief bio of Ahmad Yasawi
And, I ask, is this in any way different from other transcendent philosophies of Jews, Christians, and Chan? I believe they all spring from the same source (original nature - our face before birth) taking only slightly different forms, but ultimately identical in pure nature.
A most amazing first venture into Islamic Sufi philosophy! But perhaps not really so amazing, as Carl Jung wrote: “For it is not that ‘God’ is a myth, but that myth is the revelation of the divine life in man. It is not we who invent myth; rather it speaks to us as a Word of God.”
What's slightly ironic is that anyone who believes in this "oneness" concept is already half way to being Muslim. The other half can be found in any encyclopedia or world history book. Question: What was the last major religion to emerge? If you find the correct answer, and believe in the oneness concept, and should happen to mention this in front of some Muslims, well... you've just become a Muslim (technically speaking, in some ways). Isn't life strange? Ha!
Lankavatara Sutra (楞伽经) – Self Realization of Noble Wisdom
The following is from the “Lankavatara Sutra – Self Realization of Noble Wisdom,” (楞伽经) the sole Buddhist Sutra adhered to by Bodhidharma (菩提达摩), the progenitor of Chinese Chan (Zen), who lived at Songshan Shaolin (少林寺), wall-gazing for nine some years.
Chapter 1: Discrimination
As though reviewing the world with thy perfect intelligence and compassion, it must seem to thee like an ethereal flower of which one cannot say: it is born, it is destroyed, for the terms being and non-being do not apply to it.
As though reviewing the world with the perfect intelligence and compassion, it must seem to thee like a dream of which it cannot be said: it is permanent or it is destructible, for the being and nonbeing do not apply to it.
As though reviewing all things by the perfect intelligence and compassion, they must seem to thee like visions beyond the reach of the human mind, as being and nonbeing do not apply to them.
With the perfect intelligence and compassion which are beyond all limit, though comprehend the egolessness of things and persons, and are free and clear from the hindrances of passion and learning and egoism.
You do not vanish into Nirvana, nor does Nirvana live in you, for Nirvana transcends all duality of knowing and known, of being and non-being.
Those who see you thus, serene and beyond conception, will be emancipated from attachment, will be cleansed of all defilements, both in this world and in the spiritual world beyond.”
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The earliest text mentioning Bodhidharma (菩提达摩) is The Record of the Buddhist Monasteries of Luoyang (洛陽伽藍記 Luòyáng Qiélánjì) which was compiled in 547 by Yáng Xuànzhī (Yang-Hsuan-chih 楊衒之), a writer and translator of Mahāyāna Buddhist texts into the Chinese language. Yang gave the following account:
“At that time there was a monk of the Western Region named Bodhidharma, a Persian Central Asian. He traveled from the wild borderlands to China. Seeing the golden disks (on the pole on top of Yǒngníng's stupa) reflecting in the sun, the rays of light illuminating the surface of the clouds, the jewel-bells on the stupa blowing in the wind, the echoes reverberating beyond the heavens, he sang its praises. He exclaimed: "Truly this is the work of spirits." He said: "I am 150 years old, and I have passed through numerous countries. There is virtually no country I have not visited. Even the distant Buddha-realms lack this." He chanted homage and placed his palms together in salutation for days on end.” (楊衒之)
Chapter 1: Discrimination
As though reviewing the world with thy perfect intelligence and compassion, it must seem to thee like an ethereal flower of which one cannot say: it is born, it is destroyed, for the terms being and non-being do not apply to it.
As though reviewing the world with the perfect intelligence and compassion, it must seem to thee like a dream of which it cannot be said: it is permanent or it is destructible, for the being and nonbeing do not apply to it.
As though reviewing all things by the perfect intelligence and compassion, they must seem to thee like visions beyond the reach of the human mind, as being and nonbeing do not apply to them.
With the perfect intelligence and compassion which are beyond all limit, though comprehend the egolessness of things and persons, and are free and clear from the hindrances of passion and learning and egoism.
You do not vanish into Nirvana, nor does Nirvana live in you, for Nirvana transcends all duality of knowing and known, of being and non-being.
Those who see you thus, serene and beyond conception, will be emancipated from attachment, will be cleansed of all defilements, both in this world and in the spiritual world beyond.”
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The earliest text mentioning Bodhidharma (菩提达摩) is The Record of the Buddhist Monasteries of Luoyang (洛陽伽藍記 Luòyáng Qiélánjì) which was compiled in 547 by Yáng Xuànzhī (Yang-Hsuan-chih 楊衒之), a writer and translator of Mahāyāna Buddhist texts into the Chinese language. Yang gave the following account:
“At that time there was a monk of the Western Region named Bodhidharma, a Persian Central Asian. He traveled from the wild borderlands to China. Seeing the golden disks (on the pole on top of Yǒngníng's stupa) reflecting in the sun, the rays of light illuminating the surface of the clouds, the jewel-bells on the stupa blowing in the wind, the echoes reverberating beyond the heavens, he sang its praises. He exclaimed: "Truly this is the work of spirits." He said: "I am 150 years old, and I have passed through numerous countries. There is virtually no country I have not visited. Even the distant Buddha-realms lack this." He chanted homage and placed his palms together in salutation for days on end.” (楊衒之)
The second reference to Bodhidharma in Chinese literature was written by Tánlín (曇林; 506–574) along with a short biography in his preface to the Two Entrances and Four Acts, a text traditionally attributed to Bodhidharma, and the first text to identify Bodhidharma as South Indian:
"The Dharma Master was a South Indian of the Western Region. He was the third son of a great Indian king. His ambition lay in the Mahayana path, and so he put aside his white layman's robe for the black robe of a monk… Lamenting the decline of the true teaching in the outlands, he subsequently crossed distant mountains and seas, traveling about propagating the teaching in Han and Wei.
"Tánlín's account was the first to mention that Bodhidharma attracted disciples, specifically mentioning Dàoyù (道育) and Huìkě (慧可), the latter of whom would later figure very prominently in the Bodhidharma literature. Although Tánlín has traditionally been considered a disciple of Bodhidharma, it is more likely that he was a student of Huìkě."
"The Dharma Master was a South Indian of the Western Region. He was the third son of a great Indian king. His ambition lay in the Mahayana path, and so he put aside his white layman's robe for the black robe of a monk… Lamenting the decline of the true teaching in the outlands, he subsequently crossed distant mountains and seas, traveling about propagating the teaching in Han and Wei.
"Tánlín's account was the first to mention that Bodhidharma attracted disciples, specifically mentioning Dàoyù (道育) and Huìkě (慧可), the latter of whom would later figure very prominently in the Bodhidharma literature. Although Tánlín has traditionally been considered a disciple of Bodhidharma, it is more likely that he was a student of Huìkě."
Whether Bodhidharma was of Persian Central Asian or South Indian origin is of no concern to me. What is interesting is the similarity of all transcendent philosophies (for such discrimination is reflective of a most unenlightened mind).
A friend named Damian John Gauci wrote an interesting paper titled: “The Cistercian Fathers and the Chinese Buddhist Tradition.”
The Abstract starts as follows:
The Venerable Yin Shun (1906 - 2005), a well-known Buddhist monk and scholar in the Chinese Mahayana Tradition of Buddhism, explains that those who engage in cessation and contemplation need to first place the wandering mind at rest. “When cessation is achieved,” he adds, “contemplation is also achieved (Yin Shun 1998: 235). Although many of us would recognize contemplation as unique to the Buddhist tradition, it is not easy to locate explanations of it in other traditions. In its place, the Cistercian Fathers preferred to discuss the notion of finding oneself in God, a practice of “Being present to God and to Self.” (Thomas 2006:33)…
In the conclusions of his article Damian writes “From Europe into Asia, through the foothills of the Himalayas and into the Abbey of Gethsemani (a branch of the Roman Catholic Church), abandoning the wandering mind, as some have put it, transcending from self to God, as some have described it, contemplation, from one lineage to the next, has been held as the highest expression of human existence. It is a testimony to the boundless limits human life can take… And despite its different expressions, possibly one might see diversity in unity and unity in diversity, understanding what it truly means to love.
Citation: Studies in Interreligious Dialogue 23 (2013) 1
The Abstract starts as follows:
The Venerable Yin Shun (1906 - 2005), a well-known Buddhist monk and scholar in the Chinese Mahayana Tradition of Buddhism, explains that those who engage in cessation and contemplation need to first place the wandering mind at rest. “When cessation is achieved,” he adds, “contemplation is also achieved (Yin Shun 1998: 235). Although many of us would recognize contemplation as unique to the Buddhist tradition, it is not easy to locate explanations of it in other traditions. In its place, the Cistercian Fathers preferred to discuss the notion of finding oneself in God, a practice of “Being present to God and to Self.” (Thomas 2006:33)…
In the conclusions of his article Damian writes “From Europe into Asia, through the foothills of the Himalayas and into the Abbey of Gethsemani (a branch of the Roman Catholic Church), abandoning the wandering mind, as some have put it, transcending from self to God, as some have described it, contemplation, from one lineage to the next, has been held as the highest expression of human existence. It is a testimony to the boundless limits human life can take… And despite its different expressions, possibly one might see diversity in unity and unity in diversity, understanding what it truly means to love.
Citation: Studies in Interreligious Dialogue 23 (2013) 1
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The book titled Common Ground between Islam and Buddhism by Reza Shah Kazemi, includes an introduction by several famous people including His Royal Highness Prince Ghazi bin Mohammad of Jordan and Professor Mohammad Hashim Kamali, and shows numerous overlaps and parallels between these two great religions and spiritual philosophies. In regards to the Diamond Heart Sutra, Kazemi wrote: “These images are aimed at inducing a state of mind and being, which is referred to simply in terms of two imperatives: ‘detachment from appearances’ and ‘abiding in real truth.’ To be detached from what appears is practically tantamount to realization of what never disappears, that which eternally transcends the realm of appearances, ‘the real truth.’ Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world: A star at dawn, a bubble in the stream; A flash of lightning in a summer cloud, a flickering lamp, a phantom and a dream.”
“This might be compared to such verses of the Qur'an as the following: Know that the life of the world is only play, and idle talk, and pomp, and boasting between you, and rivalry in wealth and children; as the likeness of vegetation after rain, whose growth is pleasing to the farmer, but afterwards it dries up and you see it turning yellow, then it becomes straw... (57:20).” |
Following this mystic river upstream, one comes to Meditative/Ecstatic Kabbalistic Jewish belief wherein followers seek to achieve a mystical union with God. According to Wikipedia: The traditional Hebrew term for meditation is Hitbodedut/Hisbodedus (literally self "seclusion"), while the more limited term Hitbonenut/Hisbonenus ("contemplation") describes a conceptually directed intellectual method of meditation.” In the Torah, the patriarch Isaac is described as going "lasuach" - a type of meditation. Genesis 24:63 states: “And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at evening: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and behold, the camels were coming.”
Other roots of this mystic tradition in Judaism historians believe can be found in the Tannaim, (repeaters, teachers”), Rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah from approximately 10-220 CE. |
Moksha
No discussion of ancient transcendent philosophies would be complete with some description of Hindu “Moksha” which means freedom and liberation from rebirth or Samsara, beyond caste, creed, family and lineage:
“That which is without name and form, beyond merit and demerit,
That which is beyond space, time and sense-objects,
You are that, God himself; Meditate this within yourself.”
Vivekachudamani, Verse 254, 8th Century AD
It appears this concept dates to about 1,000 BC, though other Hindu traditions are vastly older, perhaps as old as 2,000 BC - 3,000 BC and beyond. According to Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Hawaii Eliot Deutsche, Moksha is transcendental consciousness, the perfect state of being, of self-realization, of freedom and of "realizing the whole universe as the Self,” thus transcending ego and the material world.
No discussion of ancient transcendent philosophies would be complete with some description of Hindu “Moksha” which means freedom and liberation from rebirth or Samsara, beyond caste, creed, family and lineage:
“That which is without name and form, beyond merit and demerit,
That which is beyond space, time and sense-objects,
You are that, God himself; Meditate this within yourself.”
Vivekachudamani, Verse 254, 8th Century AD
It appears this concept dates to about 1,000 BC, though other Hindu traditions are vastly older, perhaps as old as 2,000 BC - 3,000 BC and beyond. According to Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Hawaii Eliot Deutsche, Moksha is transcendental consciousness, the perfect state of being, of self-realization, of freedom and of "realizing the whole universe as the Self,” thus transcending ego and the material world.
Ahura Mazda
Following this river of oneness even further upstream one comes to Zoroastrian beliefs, a ‘dualistic/monotheistic’ belief system dating about 3,500 years; founded in the Eastern region of the Persian Empire, in what is now Iran by a religious philosopher by the name of – yes, you guessed it: Zoroaster. Zoroastrians believe that there is one universal, transcendent supreme God, Ahura Mazda, or the “Wise Lord.” Ahura means “Being,” and Mazda means “mind.” Interestingly, the first word is masculine, and the second feminine.
In Zoroastrianism, the creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil originates from him. Thus, in Zoroastrianism good and evil have distinct sources, with evil (druj) trying to destroy the creation of Mazda (asha), and good trying to sustain it.
Following this river of oneness even further upstream one comes to Zoroastrian beliefs, a ‘dualistic/monotheistic’ belief system dating about 3,500 years; founded in the Eastern region of the Persian Empire, in what is now Iran by a religious philosopher by the name of – yes, you guessed it: Zoroaster. Zoroastrians believe that there is one universal, transcendent supreme God, Ahura Mazda, or the “Wise Lord.” Ahura means “Being,” and Mazda means “mind.” Interestingly, the first word is masculine, and the second feminine.
In Zoroastrianism, the creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil originates from him. Thus, in Zoroastrianism good and evil have distinct sources, with evil (druj) trying to destroy the creation of Mazda (asha), and good trying to sustain it.
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Around how many campfires along the ancient Silk Road were these issues discussed by Muslims and Buddhists, Christians and Jews, Hindus and Zoroastrians, atheist philosophers, caravan traders and guards, the rich and poor, free men and slaves, down through the millennium? Thousands to be sure, perhaps as many as the stars that whiten the skies at night.
Perhaps like the Silk Road itself and other rivers upon which humanity has flowed there is no discreet beginning or end to the transcendence of self, but rather these beliefs have looped around, joined and parted in various places at various times for thousands of years more than have ever been recorded by people. It has been my observation over the years that the major differences are not between the religions themselves, but rather the liberals and conservatives within each religion. When we, individually as people, and collectively as humanity learn to transcend that great divide, perhaps the essence of all the great philosophies and religions will become immediately obvious to us all; we will "awaken." At every instant of life, and with every breath, thought, word and deed, we choose our own future, the future of humanity and all life. May 10, 2015 |
Updated Dec. 2021