We all have heard of the Shaolin temple, and the fighting monks it trained. We all know that all sophisticated forms of kung fit trace back to Shaolin. Unfortunately, for the last 350 years, we have been misled to what the true roots of kung fu really are.
The first of all the Shaolin Temples was in Henan province. The Henan temple was considered the oldest and most accurate of the Shaolin arts, but because of the repeated burning of this temple, the monks left Henan and went to the Fukien Shaolin Temple, which then became known as the most accurate and produced the best monks among all of the Shaolin Temples. This was true until the year 1644, the Manchu’s burned the Fukien temple because of their fear of the fighting monks that were trained there. The Manchu’s were led to the temple by a traitor monk, Bak Mei.
Before we go on, lets go back into history and see what led to this horrible act.
In China, if you were the first born in a General’s family, you were automatically a general when you became of age, but this was no small task. You would spend your young life learning fighting and strategy skills to make you a competany general.
It was because of four General’s sons being sent to the Fukien temple to learn kung fu and strategy that this history begins. Those four young generals were, Fung Doe Duk, Bak Mei (He was named this because he was born with white eyebrows), Gee Shin Shim Shee, and Mew Hing.
So it was, that these four young generals met and grew up as brothers under the guidance of the Fukien Shaolin temple. Fung Doe Duk was well liked among the teachers at Shaolin, so the Head fighting abbot took Fung Doe Duk on as his student. These four stayed in the temple until it was time to take their ranks among the generals in the emperor’s army. They served their emperor until the Manchurians started to invade China. The four knew there was no hope so they left the military to go back to the Shaolin temple and learn more as well as think up a way to get rid of the Manchu invaders.
This is where Fung Doe Duk received the title as Head Fighting abbot of the Fukien, Shaolin temple. His teacher, the old fighting abbot, died and left Fung Doe Duk as his successor. From that point on, Fung Doe Duk was known as the leader and teacher of the Fukien Temple.
Soon, a traitor started to emerge- Bak Mei would disappear from the temple on certain days. The other monks saw this and reported it to his childhood friend Fung Doe Duk. Soon after that, Bak Mei was banned from the temple and told never to return.
Fung Doe Duk and the other monks feared the worst, so they dug a secret underground passage that led from the temple to a dense jungle. It was constructed so if the Manchurian army attacked, the monks and nuns of the temple could escape. They feared an attack because the monks and Nuns of the temple were planning ways to push out the Manchu’s.
One day, Bak Mei returned to the temple pleading forgiveness. He told Fung Doe Duk of his traitorous act and warned that the manchu army was on its way. Fung Doe Duk forgave Bak Mei and allowed him back into the temple. Soon the Manchurian army attacked the temple, but they were unable to break through the thick rock walls of the temple. The Manchurian army begged for the help of General McCartney and was given extra soldiers from Europe and cannons to use against anyone who stood in their way.
It took eight months for the army to blow an opening in the side of the Shaolin temple. When the soldiers tried to go through that opening, they would swiftly be killed by the monks and nuns of the temple. Finally after almost all of the Manchurian army was killed, they used the cannons to launch fireballs into the temple, catching anything that was not stone on fire. The stone walls of Shaolin acted like a oven to radiate the heat on the monks and nuns, killing them all.
The only monks to escape the burning of the Fukien Temple were Fung Doe Duk, Bak Mei, Gee Shin Shim Shee and Mew Hing. These four grabbed all of the manuals, herbal formulas and scrolls that they could carry and fled through the secret tunnel into the dense jungle. From there they fled to the Kwong Wai Daoist temple. This is where the only nun that escaped the burning of the temple, Ng Mui, was waiting for them.
At the Kwong Wai temple, the five fugitives shed their Buddhist Robes and became Daoists. This was necessary because the Manchu’s were killing all Buddhist monks and nuns on sight, and were asking Daoist monks questions, (if they answered these questions wrong they were immediately killed).
Here, Fung Doe Duk learned the Daoist arts from the fighting abbot Kwong Wai. Fung Doe Duk taught the others all they knew about the Daoist arts. During this time at the Daoist temple, each of the five roamed the countryside, (as Daoists were encouraged to roam from the temple). There they learned arts from the nomadic tribes that were in China, and started to create there own arts.
It was the people of China that started calling them ‘Jung Shee‘ or “one and only GrandMaster.” They also called them the Five Ancestors (Elders). Each of the Five Elders created their own arts from the knowledge that was passed to them from their leader and teacher, Fling Doe Duk.
Fung Doe Duk created the Bak Fu Pai or ‘White Tiger System’ from his love of the White Tiger on the urn at Shaolin.
Mew Hing, who was the most secretive of all of the Five Elders, created the Sup Bat Mo Jung Pai or ’18 Daoist Palms System’.
Bak Mei created a system after his own name, Bak Mei Pai or `White Eyebrow System’. Very few people wanted to learn this art because Bak Mei was the traitor monk.
Gee Shin Shim Shee re-founded the Fukien temple and created Northern Shaolin.
Ng Mui, who was the last of the five Elders to die, created plum flower fist. She also learned her weapons from Mew Fling. It has also been revealed that Mew Hing and Ng Mui created a system called the ‘Hung Chia System. It was also during this time that hatred against Bak Mei started to become more intense. Finally the hatred escalated into Gee Shin Shim Slice challenging Bak Mei to a fight. That day would prove fatal for Gee Shin Shim Shee.
According to legend, Bak Mei was impervious to strikes, even in his eyeballs and groin. After the battle Gee Shin Shim Shee was dead. Outraged by this, Mew Fling Challenged Bak Mei, but being smart, gave his system and his title as ‘Jung Shee‘ to Fung Doe Duk. Mew Hing died by the hands of Bak Mei as well. The two monks never got a blow through Bak Mei’s guard.
Seeing this, Fung Doe Duk knew what he had to do, he had to kill Bak Mei. As Bak Mei fought Mew Hing, Fung Doe Duk saw that Bak Mei was guarding certain parts of his body more viciously than others. So Fung Doe Duk used the White Tiger Dim Mak to kill Bak Mei.
After this only two of the Five Elders still remained alive, Ring Doe Duk and Ng Mui.
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