The Chinese history says that the Indian monk Bodhidharma (also Ta-Mo) is the founder of Chinese boxing (Kung Fu or Wushu). Bodhidharma was the 28. Successor Buddhas and the son of king Suganchas from Kanshipuarm. 527 A.D. Bodhidharma came as a student of Prajnatara to China where he settled down in the legendary Shaolin temple. He met a majority of monks around himself and spread the buddhistic theory of Chan. Bodhidharma developed the 18 boxing techniques of Shaolin, which is trained by the monks because their body condition was rather bad because of long meditation. The exercises should enhance the health of the monks, which energize the internal organs and steel their muscles, so that they are able to live longer.

Bodhidharma medititated quiet-sitting in a small cave above the Shaolin Temple nine years in front of a wall. During his meditation for so many years the sun burned his outlines into a stone, which can be be visited in Shaolin.