The Difference between Wushu and Kungfu

We should call “Shaolin Kungfu” but rather than “Shaolin Wushu” that I always disagree with this comment. I advocate “Wushu Chan” is to stress this point. The word “Kungfu” is a Buddhist term. The fruit of Chan practice is called “Kungfu”, for example, sitting in meditation and canhuatou (Chinese: 参话头）that we call “making efforts to practice”. The goal of making efforts to practice is to attain Buddhahood, go for sainthood and completely improve human character. Shaolin Temple is the ancestral monastery of Chan sect. Shaolin monks practice Kungfu, which is a cultivation and also called “Chan Wu” or the unity of Chan and Wu. Certainly not all people practicing Shaolin Kungfu are in cultivation or “making efforts to practice”. Even not all Shaolin monks may make efforts to practice when they train Kungfu and the critical point lies in whether people own a heart of Chan cultivation. We can’t require or expect all Kungfu practitioners train Kungfu with an attitude of heart of Chan cultivation. But it is important that the motivation to practice Kungfu has a great deal of influence over the outcome, which is the morality of Kungfu. (From Words of Chan by Shi Yongxin)