Ancient tradition met with martial arts extravaganza as the Shaolin Warriors performed Saturday afternoon at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center.
The crowd of more than 600 was treated to a stunning display of martial arts prowess involving hand-to-hand and traditional weapon combat.
But the Shaolin Warriors are no ordinary performers. They are Buddhist monks, most in their 20s, whose combination of rigorous fighting strength and peaceful contemplation makes for an intriguing paradox.
Popularized in such movies as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” the image of the gentle yet formidable warrior monk has entertained, if not mystified, audiences around the world.
But beyond its entertainment value, explanation of the true meaning behind Chinese “kung fu” rarely reaches western shores.
Adorned in bright saffron-orange attire, the Shaolin Warriors captured the audience with movements of potent grace and exhilarating athleticism known as “wushu.” Even the sound of the term seems to embody what it does: humans hurling through space with extraordinary speed, elegance and power.
In Chinese, the word “wushu” is composed of two written characters: “wu,” meaning military, and “shu,” referring to art. Together, the term literally means “the art of war,” or martial arts, said Eric Chen, head instructor of the National Wushu Training Center in Southern California, and one of the first Americans trained by Chinese wushu teams in the early ’80s.
But far from a prescription for glorified aggression, closer inspection of the same two characters reveals a more philosophical meaning. “Wu” has the appearance of a knife and “shu” can be seen to signify “stop,” or the art of not fighting, Chen said.
An even more esoteric connotation of “wu” is written differently in ancient Chinese. But because it sounds the same, it can be defined as “dancing,” Chen explained, while others interpret it as “flowering hand.”
The heart of wushu thus embraces the integration of intensity and fluid aesthetic form based on Buddhist principles of peace, restraint, humility and respect.
Just so, the Shaolin Warriors demonstrated gentle, meditative formations blended with stylized flurries of weapons such as the sword, spear, three-part-staff, trident and halberd.
Many wushu styles are also inspired by the natural world. The Shaolin Warriors delighted Saturday’s audience with movements unmistakable for their tiger, monkey, crane, frog and scorpion origins, as well as the mythic dragon.
The performance was accompanied by traditional Chinese music and backdrops of towering Buddha figures and mist-filled scenic terrains, giving the audience a view into another time and place.
Wushu can be seen in films such as “Hero,” “Fearless,” “Shanghai Noon” and “Kung Fu Hustle.” It also inspired the martial arts sequences in “The Matrix.”
Wushu, however, is not a particular style, but an umbrella term that encompasses all Chinese martial arts and thus accounts for its rich variety of forms, Chen said.
And contrary to popular Western notions, kung fu literally means excellence or mastery in any endeavor, Chen clarified. For example, it can be said that one’s cooking, drawing or basketball “kung fu” is very good. But in the martial arts, the term kung fu tends to reference the traditional and non-contemporary combat version of wushu, Chen said.
It is said that wushu dates back many centuries, to the monks at the legendary Shaolin Temple in Henan Province, China. Wushu was meant to fortify the body in balance with the monks’ long hours of seated meditation, said a representative of the Shaolin Warriors group in an e-mailed statement.
“It evolved into a fighting art later, when the monks needed to defend themselves [against bandits] in war-torn feudal China,” the representative said.
The Shaolin Monastery eventually fell into neglect and was all but abandoned during the early years of the communist Chinese revolution.
According to Chen, it was the 1982 film “Shaolin Temple,” starring action-movie icon and wushu champion Jet Li, that single-handedly revived interest in the monastery. The temple is now a popular tourist attraction.
Based on standards established by the Chinese government in the late ’50s, modern wushu is a competitive but largely non-combative performance sport, according to Chen.
But wushu is also an everyday part of life in China. It is practiced by school children nationwide, with a slower tai-chi wushu form commonly practiced among older adults.
Globally, wushu will gain wider exposure in a non-medal competition in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, according to the official Olympics web site.
Whether monk, movie star or amateur, the art and discipline of wushu fosters flexibility, endurance and a calm mind and spirit, in forms at once ancient yet timeless, powerful yet beautiful.
