Kung fu, one of the most profound classical martial arts traditions of the East, is credited to Bodhidharma, a sixth-century CE Indian Buddhist monk who travelled from India to ancient China to spread the Dharma.
According to legend, Bodhidharma, also known as Bodhitara or Dharmmatara, holds the record for continuously meditating while facing a wall for nine years in a cave on Wuru Peak (五乳峰, “Five-Breast Peak”), one of the peaks of Mount Shaoshi, in the western section of the Songshan massif. The site is also home to the historic Shaolin Monastery, widely known in the contemporary world as the birthplace of kung fu, a classical Chinese martial art.
Over a decade ago, I went in search of Bodhidharma in his birthplace, Kanchipuram, a temple town 46 miles from Chennai, a metropolitan city on the eastern coast of the southern Indian peninsula. However, I found no traces of the legendary monk. This may be because Bodhidharma, who is said to have lived for nearly 150 years, spent more than six decades of his later life in China, far from his birthplace, which was then within the Pallava kingdom ruled by his father.
Many stories are associated with Bodhidharma’s travels in China and his years of meditation at Wuru Peak. One of the most striking is the story of his disciple Huike, also known as Shenguang, who later became the second patriarch of the Chan Buddhist tradition. Huike is said to have cut off his left arm to prove his devotion to the meditating master and express his earnest wish to be ordained by him while waiting outside the cave in the snow.
Their conversation before the ordination is enlightening. It began with Huike asking Bodhidharma to pacify his troubled mind.
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Bodhidharma replied, “Bring me your mind, and I will pacify it.” Huike then searched within himself for his troubled mind but could not find it.
Bodhidharma replied, “There. I have pacified your mind.” This conversation became the catalyst for Huike’s self-realization and a timeless legend in the Chan Buddhist tradition.
Two Nectar Disciples
Bodhidharma studied for 40 years in India under a Buddhist master called Prajnatara. Along with Buddhasena, another noted disciple of Prajnatara, he was known as one of the “Two Nectar Disciples.” The expression suggests that Prajnatara recognised and cultivated their ability to access the true teaching, or the nectar of the Dharma.
Professor Gunapala Piyasena Malalasekera writes in his Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, published by the Government of Sri Lanka, that Bodhidharma was a Mahayana Buddhist and a practitioner of meditation who undertook an arduous journey to China to spread the Dharma, known as Fa in Chinese.
According to the biographical account cited by Malalasekera, Bodhidharma took three years to reach China, arriving on the “coast south of Canton [Guangzhou], which is opposite the island Hainan.” The region was then under Southern Yüeh, according to Malalasekera.
Malalasekera writes that, during Bodhidharma’s residence at the Shao-Lin-Ss temple on Mount Sung-shan, “he neither lectured on the scriptures, nor worshiped the images, but sat throughout the day with legs crossed facing the wall.” For this reason, he was popularly referred to as the “Wall-gazing Brähmani,” according to Malalasekera.
Some accounts state that the Shaolin Monastery had already been established about three decades before Bodhidharma arrived in the Northern Wei dynasty. Its founder was another Indian monk, Batuo (跋陀), also known as Buddhabhadra.
Bodhidharma is said to have spent around 50 years at the Shaolin Temple. Following his death, Emperor Taizong of the Tang dynasty reportedly bestowed upon him the title Yuan-chüch-Ch’an-shih, meaning “Zen Master of Perfect Enlightenment,” in response to a petition submitted to his court.
Did Bodhidharma start Kung Fu martial art?
The current Shaolin Temple’s White-Robed Guanyin Hall (Baiyi Hall) houses a 19th-century mural depicting Chinese monks training alongside Indian monks. Although the mural dates from a relatively recent period, it vividly depicts the shared heritage of India and China at the temple. However, it does not establish that kung fu was introduced into China by Bodhidharma.
In recent years, enthusiasts and serious researchers alike have explored this subject, attempting to fill in the historical gaps by linking kung fu to Kalaripayattu, an ancient martial art from southern India.
“Kalaripayattu is often regarded as the ‘mother of all martial arts,’” says Agasthyam, a traditional martial arts school in Kerala, on its website.
“Many historians believe its principles traveled beyond India through Buddhist monks, influencing martial forms across East and Southeast Asia. These cultural exchanges helped lay the foundation for arts like Shaolin Kung Fu, making Kalaripayattu not just an Indian treasure but a global root of martial traditions.”
I have also visited two Kalaripayattu schools, in Thiruvananthapuram and Pondicherry, and explored the lives of historical martial arts practitioners from India’s northern regions.
The culture and history of warfare, like the heritage of meditation, stretch back to antiquity. Establishing linear, evidence-based historical connections can be difficult, but there is ample reason to investigate the relationship between martial practices and meditation, as well as the enduring interplay between war and peace.
In ancient times, the absence of modern means of transport meant that warfare and peacekeeping often depended on agile, physically strong men who served as both warriors and monks. In many instances, they also moved between these roles and practices. Given Shaolin’s tradition of receiving Indian Buddhist masters and meditation practitioners, it is plausible that exchanges involving martial arts also took place. Such exchanges may have extended to healing traditions and medicinal practices.
In 2015, I visited a family in Pondicherry that provided a traditional bone-setting treatment known as “Puttur Kattu.” The family treated people with various injuries without using X-rays, painkillers or casts. The practice was also used to treat injured soldiers during the First and Second World Wars under the British administration, according to historical accounts. There are also accounts of traditional healing practices being transmitted through monks and other practitioners.
The best way to look at the past is through the prism of the future. While debate and scientific inquiry into the origins of kung fu may continue indefinitely, it would be fitting to see the Baiyi Hall mural recreated in real life, in the same setting and on the same premises.
Despite being born into an Indian family, I bear a Greek name. Until recently, that was my only connection to Greece. Then I began exploring the history of my region, a history that spans centuries across the Indus River basin—from Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh to present-day Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan.
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