The origins of martial arts lie in India. There, however, knowledge of it was only passed on from the master to a few worthy individuals and was therefore never widespread. 

Around 523 AD, the Indian Buddhist monk Bodhidharma travelled to China to the Shaolin monastery, which was Daoist at the time, and began instructing the monks there in both meditation practice and martial arts. He thus taught the unity of mind and body and developed the foundations of so-called "Chan Buddhism". "Chan" means something like "state of meditative contemplation".

Chan" reached Japan from the 12th century onwards. There, known as "Zen Buddhism", it received new influences and forms, although the connection to the martial arts weakened over time and has tended to fade into the background today. In Japanese archery however, essential parts of Zen are still anchored ("Zen archery"). In Japan, two main schools developed: the Soto Zen school and the Rinsai Zen school.

Zen then came to Europe via the USA in the 20th century, where it was adapted to Western conditions and continues to enjoy increasing popularity today. In Germany, key pioneers included Karlfried Graf Dürckheim, Eugen Herrigel ("Zen in the Art of Archery") and Hugo Makibi Enomiya-Lassalle, to name but a few.