· That he fell asleep meditating and his eyelids closed and when he awoke, he was so distraught that he cut of his eye lids so that this would not happen again ( since this would be against Buddhist teaching - and he was a devote Buddhist - this is unlikely ).
· That he was visited by monks ( initially secretly as they were interested in the 'foreigner' ) and was supplied with food and water. In this way he was able to demonstrate his knowledge and skill of Buddhism to such a degree that he was finally ( after 9 years? ) admitted to into the temple.
Irrespective of which story is true, it is clear that Fang Chang at some time relented and allowed Bodhi Dharma entry into the temple Shaolin.
Upon gaining entrance to Shaolin, Ta Mo ( as he was now called by the Chinese ) saw that the monks were weak and unable to perform the rigorous meditations he expected that Buddhist Monks should be practicing. Whilst meditating they often fell asleep or were very restless and were not achieving inner calm or peace ( a state required to reach Enlightenment, that for which all Buddhist strive! ).
He spent some time in seclusion pondering the problem. Considering the time and health awareness of the period, Ta Mo came to a staggeringly accurate conclusion that the monks were not fit to meditate. With this in mind he started working on a solution; he created three treaties of exercises.
These in-place exercises were later transcribed by monks as;
"The Muscle Change Classic" or "The Change of the Sinews,"
"The Marrow Washing"
"The Eighteen Hand Movements later named The Eighteen Lohan Shou (Lohan meaning enlightened and Shou meaning Hands/Exercises)
This marked the beginning of Shaolin Temple Kung Fu ( meaning hard work and perfection ). Ta Mo later devised some self-defence movements based on his knowledge of Indian fighting systems ( Bodhi Dharma was born an Indian Prince and was well versed in Yoga and Indian Kung Fu ).
· That he was visited by monks ( initially secretly as they were interested in the 'foreigner' ) and was supplied with food and water. In this way he was able to demonstrate his knowledge and skill of Buddhism to such a degree that he was finally ( after 9 years? ) admitted to into the temple.
Irrespective of which story is true, it is clear that Fang Chang at some time relented and allowed Bodhi Dharma entry into the temple Shaolin.
Upon gaining entrance to Shaolin, Ta Mo ( as he was now called by the Chinese ) saw that the monks were weak and unable to perform the rigorous meditations he expected that Buddhist Monks should be practicing. Whilst meditating they often fell asleep or were very restless and were not achieving inner calm or peace ( a state required to reach Enlightenment, that for which all Buddhist strive! ).
He spent some time in seclusion pondering the problem. Considering the time and health awareness of the period, Ta Mo came to a staggeringly accurate conclusion that the monks were not fit to meditate. With this in mind he started working on a solution; he created three treaties of exercises.
These in-place exercises were later transcribed by monks as;
"The Muscle Change Classic" or "The Change of the Sinews,"
"The Marrow Washing"
"The Eighteen Hand Movements later named The Eighteen Lohan Shou (Lohan meaning enlightened and Shou meaning Hands/Exercises)
This marked the beginning of Shaolin Temple Kung Fu ( meaning hard work and perfection ). Ta Mo later devised some self-defence movements based on his knowledge of Indian fighting systems ( Bodhi Dharma was born an Indian Prince and was well versed in Yoga and Indian Kung Fu ).