Martial Arts are forms of fighting which encourage the use of both the mind and body as the basis for learning and practicing self-defense.
 

It is commonly believed that various forms of martial arts were developed in several different countries at similar points in time. While some of the practices resembled one another, the participants in each country did not know that forms other than their own existed.

The original forms and time periods of martial arts are unknown mainly because there are very few records of them. The first cause of this lack of records results from the fact that there were different forms of martial arts in different locations which makes it difficult to determine which was the first. The second cause results from the fact that knowledge of martial arts skills was often kept secret. The earliest teachers of martial arts would only reveal their secrets and valuable teachings to their students after many years of devotion to the craft. If the master could not find an appropriate heir to the knowledge then it would die with the master. If the wisdom was passed on, however, it was most often passed only orally which also led to difficulties in tracing the origin.

One theory on the spread of martial arts credits Bodhidharma, a prince of India and the founder of Buddhism in China. The principles taught by Bodhidharma were transferred by word of mouth which eventually led to the formal teaching of martial arts. Bodhidharma taught specific skills to monks at the Shaolin Temple in order to prepare them to defend themselves. His teachings at the Shaolin Temple inspired later masters and individuals which in turn began the widespread exchange of skills and thus the first important martial arts movement.