The True History of ....

[Miguksaram]

I have never heard of any historical indication that Bodhidharma had anything to do with Sanchin. The Yi Jin Jing is not Sanchin.

I wish I could provide documents, but I only have some oral history. From what I understood, Sanchin was by product, if you will, of the breathing exercises. Again I don't have any real proof outside of what some of the older instructors have discussed with me. Perhaps my wording should have said, that it was highly agreed upon the people that I talked with. I'm still doing a bit a research on this as Okinawan history is not yeat my strong point. :)

[DerAuslander]

The thing is, the majority of Chinese Sam Chien forms I have seen completely lack the focused breathing aspect seen in Okinawan Goju-ryu Sanchin.

And given the Bodhidharma link, the mere fact that Sanchin is not found in Northern Shaolin systems is telling.