Buddhism & Sports

The movie Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring and the martial arts scene had me thinking about sports and buddhism together. Growing up in a Christian family, I only knew buddhism by the Karate Kid or other martial art films. Also, after talking about how "the body" is a key thing to monks practicing Buddhism.

My questions before researching were: Do all monks practice some form of sport whether it be yoga or a form of martial arts? What are their thoughts on sports? Do they prefer the strength and balance martial arts brings them or the flexibility and calmness that yoga brings? Do they practice more sports that are common in our modern world?

After the first half of researching, I found out that sports, especially extreme sports, is a practice of meditation to some. How this article phrased it was a form of "sportsamadhi (recall that samadhi is the Sanskrit term for “meditative concentration”)."

I also found out that only a few temples like the Shaolin temple in China practice Kung Fu among their monks. In this wikipedia page, it states that the Shaolin Kung Fu is the oldest martial art in the world and its considered one of the most well known styles.

And even further researching, I found that yoga and martial arts is actually key to some monks practice in Buddhism.

It doesn't quite surprise me that these two sports are being used as either meditation or keeping balance in the body and mind. I also practice yoga as a form of relaxation and for flexibility. Personally, after each 60 minute session I feel a sensation of calmness and a relaxed state of mind.  Most sports depend on the temple where the monks stay at. And if an someone is practicing buddhism on their own, they can do whatever sport they would like (i.e. marathon, dance, soccer, ect.). It's all about practicing the state of body and mind to achieve enlightenment and to them sports help.