108 STEPS

The Sino-Indian Connection in the Martial Arts

By Joyotpaul Chaudhuri

Inside Kung Fu - January 1991

In the grafting of the Chinese arts to the culture of other societies, there is a danger that
knowledge and analysis of the important Sino-Indian connection in the martial arts may be
lost. The practical bent of Chinese civilization has created the richest and most diverse
groups of martial techniques that have come down to us. However, in addition to indigenous
Chinese techniques, the main thread of many of the components of the kung-fu systems was
provided primarily by the Indian legacy of Buddhism. Taoism played a much lesser part and
Confucianism played an insignificant role in the development of the martial arts.
Contemporary Chinese value systems, depending on location, education and the person,
involve a varying interplay of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, reverence for ancestors
and in modern times Christianity, Islam or Marxism. The current essay pinpoints the nature
of the bridge of Buddhism between India and China in the martial arts wherein Indian
concepts were fused with Chinese techniques to create a powerful synthesis.

Buddhism, unlike Western systems, has blended harmoniously with other

indigenous systems wherever it has gone in China, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma, Japan and
other places. Waves of Indian Buddhist missionaries crossed this bridge to China and many
other lands. Except for travelers coming to India to collect Buddhist knowledge, the flow of
information or knowledge was largely from India to China.

A significant infusion was in the Shaolin monastery in the Songsan Mountains in

Honan province with the coming of the Bodhidharma in the first part of the sixth century.
However, far too much attention is given to the Bodhidharma alone. Actually there were
Buddhists in China centuries before and after the Chan of the Bodhidharma. Chan
Buddhism is linked with other Indian Mahayana Buddhist schools including the Yogacara
School through the Lankavatara Sutra, which was translated into Chinese around A.D. 440.
Moving meditation and disciplined exercise was and is part of Buddhism itself and its
mindfulness about the body. Wherever Buddhism has gone it has been a “democratic”
system ignoring distinctions of race, caste and clans. The Buddhist temples really should be
called early universities because they provided universal and holistic knowledge to anyone
who came and was willing to learn. The Songsan mountain temple was merely the most
famous—actually given the decentralized nature of Buddhism, the Honan Shaolin model
provided the umbrella for many other temples including the Fukien Shaolin and one in
Canton.

The Tang dynasty (A.D. 618-905) provided the heyday of early kung-fu systems.
After the Tang and Sung dynasties there was a relative stagnation until the decline of the
Ming and the rise of the “foreign” Ching. It was not an accident that many contemporary
systems either got their start or received their revitalization in the 1600’s when there was
resistance to the Ching. Most of these were Buddhist systems. Ba Qua (paqua), possibly a
non-Buddhist art, was created at a much later time. The Buddhist arts were not uniformly
hard or external. Internal and external were simply blended in different ways. Buddhism is a
middle way with respect to soft/hard, internal/external and even regarding violence. In India
it is Jainism not Buddhism that taught absolute non-violence. Buddhism was more practical;
respectful entry into the vegetable and animal worlds was necessary for life (i.e., self-
defense). The distinctions between defense and killing was provided by Buddhist tests of
intentions (bhavanas) including fairness, mindfulness, and compassion (karuna).

While the “signature” of Indian Buddhism is evident in many Chinese martial

systems, one important litmus test of the Indian presence is the set of number concepts that
have been used in the architecture of Chinese martial arts 3, 9, 12, 18, 36 and finally the
umbrella of them all: 108. Praying thrice to the Buddha, the 18 hands of lohan, the 36
targets of tien hsueh, the 108 of the Yang long form and Yip Man’s compression of the
Buddhist Ng Mui’s gift into 108 movements for the form are all signs of the intellectual
legacy (not necessarily techniques) of Indian Buddhism. Taoist numbers (8, 64) were
different. Incidentally, early Muay Thai of Thailand also had 108 movements prior to the
influence of Western boxing. Scholars and writers have known that 108 has something
vaguely to do with the stars but have not provided a clear link or explanation. Mature
systems of thought attempt to see human activity and nature in a synthesized way. The
concept of the 108 in China is distinctly Buddhist and the roots are in Indian thought, in the
arts, and in astronomy (i.e., both culture and nature). The 108 captured the cyclical nature of
the known universe as celestial entities returned to the center after 108 cycles. Eclipses were
good examples of these cycles.

The fascination with eclipses was common to most ancient societies—particularly

the cycles of lunar eclipses, which appeared to symbolize the cycles of existence. Ancient
American Indians, Indians, Chinese, Assyrians and Babylonians, among others, made
attempts to understand the cycles of lunar eclipses. In the Chaco site of Anasazi (ancient
Southwestern Indians) civilization in New Mexico there appears to be evidence that the
Anasazis knew that the cycles were a little over 18 years (18.6) in length. Methods of
measurement and exact accuracy varies from civilization to civilization. The Assyrians and
Babylonians called it the sharu cycle (18 years and 11 1/3 days) and Edmund Halley named
it the saros cycle. Current astronomy has settled for average 18.2-year cycles.

According to Joseph Needham, the foremost historian of Chinese science, the

Chinese (Han) people did not seem to be aware of the number of lunar eclipses in a saros.
Also according to needham, during the Tang times there were three clans of Indian Buddhist
astronomers and calendar experts who were residents of Loyang, the Chinese capital. A
culmination of this presence was the compilation by the Indian Chhuthan His-Ta of the
Khai-yan Chan Ching, which was the greatest collection of astronomical work in China
from the fourth-to-eighth centuries. Needham also tells us that those who wished to know
the positions of the planets used the Indian calendrical methods. By the end of the Tang
period the fundamental astronomical principles were set. Relative to the Tang period the
fundamental astronomical principles were set. Relative to the Tang and then Sung, the
astronomy of the Ming dynasty coasted on these early foundations.
 The early Buddhist formulations were extensions of the earlier Hindu astronomy,
and Buddhism in astronomy as well as in other sciences and arts became a filter through
which selected Hindu and other Indian ideas were transmitted into many other parts of Asia,
including China.

Early Buddhism and Hinduism on the basis of the study of the saros cycles
proposed the cosmology of cycles of worldly creation and destruction and postulated for
every 108 years.

That figure shows itself in science, methods of meditation, in literature, art, dance
and the martial arts. The astronomical common denominators include: a little over 18 years
constitutes one (saros) cycle of lunar eclipses; each eclipse was visible in a different place;
three cycles of eclipses would bring the eclipse in roughly the same place; however, six
cycles would not only result in the full eclipse being seen in the same longitude, but the
alignments would be most harmonious, with Jupiter being in the same place and the eclipse
most clear, complete and focused. Therefore, 108 eclipses constituted a complete cycle in
the Buddhist and Hindu worlds. The Indian symbolism of the 108 was therefore transplanted
to China and was not indigenous to Taoist or Confucian thought.

Indian culture, literature, religion and the arts are thoroughly inundated with the
importance of 108. The computations and correlations were diverse. The astronomer Vara
Mihira, a contemporary of the Bodhidharma, thought that Zodiacal man (Kalapurusa or the
Time-person) had 108 padas (feet or extremities). Relationships between various
astronomical concepts pointed toward the harmony of 108. Thus 27 asterisms each with four
feet gave us 108. Twelve zodiacal signs or navamsas each with nine feet gave us 108.

In the Indian epic Ramayana there are 108 offerings that Ram was supposed to
make and the earlier orally transmitted Ramayana through disciplined oral transmission is
3,000 years old. Carefully transmitted oral versions of classics were put into writing after
the introduction of writing in India around the eighth century B.C. There are 108 beads for
meditational purposes in Indian Hindu and Sino-Indian Buddhist necklaces. There are 108
lamps in Tibetan Buddhist rituals. There are 108 fundamental steps in the purest Indian
classical dance known as “bharat natyam.” Each posture has a specific hand seal or
“mudra.” Mudras in classical Indian culture were symbolic syntheses of both creation and
destruction. Thus Lord Shiva as Nataraja—the lord of the Dance of Life is symbolically and
continuously creating and destroying the world. If one sees the figure of the Nataraja, a
careful Wing Chun person will see the equivalent of bong sau and bong gurk in one hand
and one foot position. Both are balanced postures and composed preludes to peace or
destruction. One of the most famous mudras or hand seals in very early pre-Vedic Tantric
Hinduism and later in Buddhism is the abhaya mudra, which can be a balanced symbol of
blessing (fear not) or self-defense (wu sau) or its extensions (jing jeong). In Indian martial
arts such as the south Indian kalaripayit there are 108 strikes to various nerve centers.
 The early Indian and Buddhist fascination with 108 extends to its constituent parts.
Three is an important number (three gems), so is six (3 x 2), nine (3 x 3), 12 (12 Nidanas)
and 18. Nine extensions on each side give us 18, which parallels the notion of the “18 hands
of Lohan,” Wheels in Buddhist symbolism at one time would have 18 spokes, and multiples
of 18. The wheel is the principal symbol of the feet of the early Buddhas and they evolve
into 108 symbols on the feet of “Phrahat” or Siamese footprints of the Buddha. The wheel
is, in part, a symbol of the sun and on important days in Tibetan Buddhism on an iron stand
108 lamps are rotated. Similarly prayer wheels turn in the direction of the sun.

One hundred eight was also regarded as an example of harmony because a wide set
of combination and calculations would lead to 108. The number absorbs both odd and even
numbers. It can be divided by two or three. The number three itself is a sum of the odd and
the even; therefore it represents the notion of flow. In the martial arts (including Wing
Chun) punching by three allows one to flow and start alternatively from either side.
Consider some of the many symmetries: 11 x 22 x 33 = 108, 4 x 27 = 108, 6 x 18 = 108, 9 x
12 = 108.

Einstein once said that human nature always has tried to form a simple and
synoptic image of the surrounding world. The architecture of 108 was an important part of
the synoptic and cosmological Buddhist view of nature and all its cultural counterparts
including the martial arts.

This synoptic view was there in the Shaolin Temple with the coming of the
Bodhidharma followed by colonies of Buddhist astronomers and missionaries. Bodhidharma
arrived in Shaolin near Loyang around A.D. 500 shortly after the construction of the Shaolin
Temple. Subsequently astronomers, monks and missionaries were also known to be in
nearby Loyang capital of the Tang dynasty (A.D. 618-905). By A.D. 500 Loyang had over
500,000 people including foreigners. Buddhism took a deep hold during the Tang dynasty
and the Sino-Indian bridge was forged. Three hundred Indian monks lived in Loyang at one
time. The influence of Buddhism spread in many cultural expressions. It is important to note
that in martial arts history, both in Korea and Okinawa, the Chinese martial arts influence
came under the label tang-te (the tang hand). It is Japanese action under Funakoshi that
changed the symbol tang-te to kara-te (from tang hand to empty hand), thereby obscuring
the early Buddhist roots in China and through Shaolin to India. The Japanese compensated
for the loss of the architecture of 108 steps in Japanese Zen with the rigid discipline of the
dojo, the sensei and the forms. These differences between the northern and southern Chan
remains with us today in Chinese kung-fu and Japanese karate.

The role of Indian Buddhism in the martial arts goes beyond China to Japan and
Southeast Asia. Bodhidharma’s Buddhism was Chan Buddhism (Dhyan in Sanskrit, Zhan in
Pali) and is well-known in Indian Buddhism. Chan Buddhism minimized the role of
recitation of sutras and emphasized the importance of appropriate experience. Bodhidharma,
according to tradition, however was fond of the Lankavatara Sutra which de-emphasizes
ritualism. The Lankavatara Sutra repeatedly refers to the 108 steps. The Japanese Zen
scholar D.T. Suzuki, in his editing comments, was puzzled by the reference to 108. He
translates the Sanskrit word “pada” as “statement.” The word can also mean an extension or
step.

Perhaps part of the reason for Suzuki’s puzzlement is that Japanese Zen is a spinoff
from a southern Chan School. Chan Buddhism developed two versions: Northern and
Southern. The Southern school tended to emphasize the instantaneity of enlightenment and
the emphasis on the 108 steps eroded. However Buddhism played a crucial role in the
Japanese martial arts. As Taisen Deshimaru points out in The Zen Way to the Martial Arts:
“Martial arts plus Zen equals Japanese Budo.” Buddhism points to the need for the
appropriately focused mind to direct technique, power and timing in the martial arts as in
any of the other arts. While Taoism points toward some of the same effortlessness,
Buddhism goes much further, in that Buddhist discipline constantly prepares us for death
since there are no permanent entities. The true warrior at all times must be prepared in spirit
for death if it comes: otherwise the clinging to life or any specific technique or entity can get
in the way of the flow. The “no-mind mind” must direct the mindfulness of each act. The
108 steps and the centering merely prepare us for our individual journey.

The Chinese tai chi classics also emphasize that mindfulness is important in the
martial arts. The tai chi chuan’s fundamental key points (see Yang Gwing Ming) say that the
mind must direct the energy and send it where it is needed as “where yi (the mind) is, chi
is.” While chi was well-known in early China for a variety of purposes including massage
and acupuncture, the directing of the chi by the mind is a Buddhist conception analogous to
the direction of “Prana” in India. The yogi and the kung-fu master are therefore brothers
under the skin since they are both concerned about the direction of energy. Writers
sometimes fail to realize that Buddhist and Hindu yoga have moving meditation. The static
positions are preludes to controlled and mindful action. Chen tai chi has a static chi kung
stance and the first form of wing chun has a sunken static stance. Yoga teachers particularly
under Brahminic influences sometimes over-emphasize meditation and neglect the
cultivation of the body. But pre-Vedic Tantric Hinduism and later Trantric Buddhism
emphasized that the body cannot be neglected. Getting the body to do the command of the
“no-mind mind” was crucial. Physical culture was part of the learning that took place in
Buddhist temples and “universities” in India and China.

Given his childhood upper caste background in Kanchipur in Southeast India,

Bodhidharma was exposed to the martial arts and carried his martial knowledge
supplemented with static and dynamic yoga into the Buddhist phase of his life. In any case
the waves of Buddhists who came to China in the wake of the Bodhidharma would have had
the sublimation of crude violence and strength through appropriate martial exercise as a part
of temple life and education. Buddhist monks took care of themselves and traveled from
Northern, Southern and Eastern India. The latter groups followed the ocean route to Canton,
sometimes stopping on the Vietnamese coast along the way. Bodhidharma apparently first
stopped in Canton before heading north after crossing the Yangzte River in a reed raft or
boat along the way. A common misunderstanding has it that he crossed the river on a reed.
Symbolic language sometimes is mistranslated literally, particularly with Chinese symbols.
A 1,000-year-old egg is not necessarily buried for a 1,000 years.
 The martial arts of Southeast Asia deserve separate treatment because of the
diversity of Southeast Asia. But the Indian influences are clearly there: sometimes as
Buddhist (Thailand and Vietnam), sometimes as Hindu (Bali) and at other times as Moslem
(other parts of Malaysia and Indonesia).

The Indian martial arts declined with the coming of the British. The British also
recruited Indians from martial arts groups, de-emphasized individuality and made regiments
out of them and transferred their skills to the use of modern arms except for the Gurkhas,
and their individualistic use of the kukhri which is still used in Nepal and parts of Eastern
India and is known as “bhojali.” Bits and pieces of martial arts still exist in India as the
kalaripayit, marramarri, kushti, lathi (stickfighting), vajra-musthi (lightning fist) and sikh
sword and kirpan work. Indians from the Vedic traditions kept the yoga portion of the
earlier traditions and began to use the integration of the body, martial technique and the
mind. The decline of Buddhism in India and Buddhist teaching centers also contributed to
this erosion. Buddhism has always been committed to the search for the middle way
between body and mind, self-denial and self-indulgence: in a more thorough-going way than
Taoism. If one looks at the turning Buddhist swastika in a circle one can see that the turning
swastika absorbs the yin/yang imagery.

Yet another aspect of the Indian Buddhist influence is in the conception of the
human center: what the Chinese martial artist calls the dan tien. The dan tien is exactly the
same as the manipoora—the third complex, wheel or “chakra” in ancient Tantric pre-Vedic,
pre-Buddhist India. Buddhism became the vehicle for the transmission of this concept to
East Asia. The dan tien (manipoora) is one of six centers each with its unique individuality,
function and method of energizing. The manipoora is the abode of shanti (peace) by the
gathering and settling of energy. Only when the shanty (inner calm) manipoora/diamond
stage is achieved, is the energy (prana/chi) raised eventually to the eyebrow level in the
head. Early Trantra and Kundalini also characterized energy in terms of coiled serpent at the
base of the spine (tail bone or muladhara). Both in Kundalini, tai chi, and in wing chun, the
tail bone is tucked in at a certain time so that coiled energy can be directed from the dan
tien/manipoora to the center. Tantric Hinduism and Buddhism, Chen tai chi and wing chun
systems understand that the spine has to be straight (hanging from a string) so that circling,
uncoiling, spiraling energy can move efficiently through the joints to be sent straight out.
Circles and lines are not necessarily contradictory principles in certain contexts.

The concepts of centering related to “108,” the emphasis on non-dualism with

respect to body and mind, the notion of mindful and moving meditation, the breathing,
preparedness for death, the mudras or hand seals, some weapons including staffs and
tridents, and self-defense rather than winning the fight, are examples of the Indian Buddhist
infusion into the completion of mature Asian fighting systems. Good martial art is more
than competition, acrobatics, technique, power and speed. The yi must still properly direct
the chi.
About the author: Joyotpaul “Joy” Chaudhuri is a professor of political science, a former
associate dean and an instructor of kung-fu at Arizona State University. Apart from his
study of comparative philosophy, he has studied and practiced Indian martial arts including
lathi fighting, Western boxing, wado-ryu karate, Chen tai chi and wing chun. He introduced
pure wing chun instruction in New Mexico in 1979 and now teaches publicly and privately
in Tempe, Arizona. His sifu is Augustine Fong.