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Originally Posted by Rain95
Yea it wasn't you, somebody else was asserting that. I guess the subject of martial arts came up now and whether that means he taught energy work....
Seems to me, from reading his long quotes, he taught Zen.... doesn't seem like his martial arts stuff was very important to him. Doesn't seem to have ever written about it. It was probably seen as a physical fitness and self defense type thing as it is in a lot of modern Zen temples.
The monk I saw in the youtube video was like, ok done meditating, now we go do 2 hours of kung fu.... he was laughing as he did it. It seemed to be fun for him.
It's a part of their day. They can't sit in Zazen 24/7. They need exercise. It's actually a good exercise for "staying thought free" within and self aware. The movements require a lot of self awareness and focus on the now.
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From what little that I do know about Zen from a layman's perspective, I have not heard of any mention of energy work either. And I actually think the practice of Qi Gong might have existed in ancient China prior to Bodhidharma's arrival (I could be wrong). Although I think it is common for this type or similar types of energy work have been incorporated into various religious, spiritual, and secular practices moving along throughout history.