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Silat
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White Crane Silat traces its origins to the monasteries and convents of China around 600 A.D. At this time the first patriarch of the legendary Shaolin temple, Bodhidharma (a.k.a. Ta Mo), first integrated internal yoga disciplines and martial arts training into a new movement practice. It is a very physical practice with movement styles that include animal forms (white crane, tiger, snake, monkey and dragon, etc.), elements of nature (wind, bamboo, earth, etc.), and Buddhist and Taoist deities such as the Goddess of Compassion, the God of Justice, and the Eight Immortals (including the drunken system). Many of these movement systems are also associated with specific forms of energy cultivation (Chi Kung), which variously aimed at developing power, health, and spirituality.
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