Just recently I learned of a Korean Martial Art called, Son Mu Do. According to what little I could find, it's considered a "Buddhist Martial Art" and was used as a form of dynamic meditation by Buddhist monks. But other than that, I couldn't find much information on it.

Here are some videos I found on YouTube:

YouTube - Sonmudo (Documentary) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjV0LGt9IzI)

YouTube - Sonmudo (Poomse) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7Bqz4hUdSU)

I was wondering if anyone has any more information regarding this art. I did try doing a search, but nothing came up for "sun mu do" and only one thread (which had nothing to do with the art) came up for "sunmudo". There is a Wikipedia article but not much information is given - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunmudo

I did this a little in Korea. It was extremely demanding, and everyone who'd been practicing it a long time was in excellent condition, but I never saw or heard of anyone doing any kind of sparring at the school where I was. Classes usually amounted to different kinds of meditation, a long, complex pattern of gigong-like exercises, forms, and punching/kicking practice. A lot of positions in the forms resembled yoga postures. I did see a video of a few monks doing some kind of open-hand sparring, with a lot of very low postures and body rotation. I don't know how common that is.

The monks seem to practice seonmudo mostly as a sort of ascetic discipline. Fighting doesn't seem to be an issue.

It's a yogic practice, has little to actually do with combat, despite claims of descending from the Hwarang & being used by the monks during the Imjin War.

How long has Sun Mu Do actually been around?

Is this an attempt to cash in on the "Train at the Temple" idea?

I've have never heard of this until now. I had heard of a temple in Korea that did martial arts but it was more in line with the Shaolin training style, animal forms and the like, not this. More info please.

Ostensibly it's been around for centuries in a proto-form that was only codified a couple decades ago from Keumgang Yong Gwon, Vajra Soft Fist. From what I've seen, it looks very long fist like.

It's completely unrelated to my lineage. My teacher said they were great acrobats, but horribly fighters.

Ronin, it may be the art you've heard of, or that could have been Bulmudo, which from my understanding comes out from the proto-Guksulwon days.

To clarify - what I did was called seonkwanmu (http://www.sunkwanmoo.com/). I was told it was a "branch" of seonmudo, which focused more on fighting techs. I can't see any difference between the two, though.

The "home" of these styles is supposed to be Pomosa/범어사 (http://temple.pomosa.com/intro.htm) near Busan. The narrative is that a certain monk (http://blog.joins.com/media/folderListSlide.asp?uid=opdbqo55&folder=18&list_id=6274325) orgaized various Buddhist martial traditions into one system sometime in the ancient era of the 70's. Probably he just made it up. In any case, if you go to Pomosa you can visit a hermitage where they train in seonmudo. The building is decorated with paintings of monks in martial postures, done in the traditional Korean Buddhist style. These probably date back to the 70's as well.

I was under the impression that Seonmudo was taught out of Geolgusa.

To clarify - what I did was called seonkwanmu (http://www.sunkwanmoo.com/). I was told it was a "branch" of seonmudo, which focused more on fighting techs. I can't see any difference between the two, though.

The "home" of these styles is supposed to be Pomosa/범어사 (http://temple.pomosa.com/intro.htm) near Busan. The narrative is that a certain monk (http://blog.joins.com/media/folderListSlide.asp?uid=opdbqo55&folder=18&list_id=6274325) orgaized various Buddhist martial traditions into one system sometime in the ancient era of the 70's. Probably he just made it up. In any case, if you go to Pomosa you can visit a hermitage where they train in seonmudo. The building is decorated with paintings of monks in martial postures, done in the traditional Korean Buddhist style. These probably date back to the 70's as well.
My father-in-Law took me to Beomosa /Pomosa and I don't remember seeing any martial arts being done at all. I wasn't looking though. It honestly seemed more like a tourist museum than anything else.

It's not in the main area of the temple. I don't know what the name of the training hall building is (I'm sure it has a special name).

Yeah.

Dojang.

I think Golgusa is where seonmudo has been most marketed, or "branded." Maybe the stuff at Pomosa isn't formally called seonmudo (maybe bulmudo?), but it's the same thing. Then again, they might say theirs is the true, genuine, real, un-watered down Korean Buddhist martial arts so you'd better learn theirs and not any of that other crap proferred by gangsters disquised as monks etc. etc. etc. Me, I dunno.

"dojang"

Nah, something like "Hall of Lions" or "Blue Lotus Hall" or whatever.

Oh, you mean like the literal hall name. Gotcha.

Oh, and they don't have t3h r34l d34dly Bulgy0 mu5u1...

We do.

After talking to my wife I was wrong about the temple. The temple we went to was Tongdosa. I have driven past Beomosa and I remembered the name and confused the two. Sorry about that.

Errant what did korean warrior monks do in the imjin war? i heard they were called the subdue demon corps is this truth?

I'll give a full reply when I get back to the temple tonight, but yes, there were units known as Demon Subduing Corps.