Shaolin Vs Wudan: From External Martial Arts To Internal Martial Art

There are students that actually think there is a huge conflict between the external martial arts and the internal martial art. They think that there is some kind of battle going on between the arts of Shaolin and Wudan, that Shaolin students lay in wait for Tai Chi Chuan students, and that sort of thing. This, of course, is not the case.

There is a progression from internal to external. This progression can easily be followed, and in both time and geometry. Understanding this evolution will make you a better and much more knowledgeable martial artist.

Shaolin was the first of the martial arts. Before then it was probably just practice killing people mindlessly. Shaolin, however, elevated the fact of killing to an art form, and exposed the truth of the human spirit in its teachings.

Both Wing Chun Kung Fu and Preying Mantis developed at about the same time, several hundred years ago. Though there are differences in these arts, they developed the concept of moving the hands in the same direction as the attack. This resulted in guiding the attack, thus initiating the pathway towards the softer arts.

Interestingly, the truly soft arts, such as Tai Chi Chuan and Pa Kua Chang, evolved at different rates and in different fashions. Tai Chi, if you believe certain histories, evolved over a thousand years, eventually making its way to the Wudan mountains. Pa Kua Chang, on the other hand, regardless of the histories, was probably the joining of Shaolin and a rare religion which espoused walking in a circle and chanting.

Pa Kua Chang advocates circle walking, or evading, and thus the body is moved away from the attacker. There is a common thread between moving the body away, and manifesting the characteristics of energy in the soft arts. The progression of Pa Kua Chang leads one directly to this link.

Tai Chi Chuan, on the other hand teaches one to maintain a specific position in space, and makes the body go away from the attack. This seems to be an even more direct and stronger link, though this statement in no way reflects on which art is superior. When viewing the various eastern disciplines, and putting them in a more logical sequence, one should never raise one art over another, but rather view them as parts of the same puzzle.

To sum up, there is a definite connection between 'emptying the body' and 'emptying the mind,' and to the abilities developed by a soft martial artist. This is the evolution from external martial arts to internal martial art of which I speak. One should study all arts, compiling them into one art, and this would be the true and complete fighting art.

To fully understand this progression from Shaolin to Wudan head over on over over to Monster MArtial Arts.