Founder & Director General
IWUF Judge & Referee
Justice of the Peace ( Whole Island) & Commissioner of Oaths
Justice of the Peace ( Whole Island) & Commissioner of Oaths
The origins of Chinese Martial Arts Science or Wushu as it is popularly known dates back to 219 B.C. with Buddhism being introduced to China. At the time there were two schools of thought in China which were Taoism and the Confucius philosophy. Buddhism as a philosophy however, became widely popular in China above both Taoism and the Confucius teaching. It was around 520 A.D. when significant changes and new developments began to occur which led to the birth of Wushu. It was during this period that the Venerable Bodhidharma Monk arrived in China by foot from the state of Bharat in India. Venerable Bodhidharma was instrumental in introducing Chen Buddhism to China in the Shao-Lin Temple. The Chinese word Shao-Lin translated into English means “surrounded by Pine Trees”. The Shao-Lin temple or the monastery was one that was located in a Pine forest and surrounded by these Pine trees. In this holy sanctuary Venerable Bodhidharma imparted his knowledge of Chen Buddhism to the disciples within the walls of the monastery. The term Chen in Chinese or Zen in Japanese has been is defined as follows:
Zeal + Energy + Nowness = Zen
During his teaching Venerable Bodhidharma noted that the disciples were unable to focus and pay attention for long. They appeared lethargic and their attention span was rather low which led to their thoughts going astray. With the intention of addressing this issue, the Monk introduced a simple set of physical exercises which he believed would help improve the power of concentration, stamina and endurance of the monks thus enabling them to pay attention to the teachings. The idea worked and there were notable improvements in the attention span and the ability of the monks to grasp and retain the teaching of Chen Buddhism. These exercises over time, evolved and gave birth to what we know today as Wushu or the Science of Chinese Martial Arts.
During the period of 1973, the Rio Cinema in Colombo played movies such as the Chinese Boxer, Un Armed Swordsman and Iron Hand Boxer. These movies were the first experience which the Sri Lankan public had of Chinese Martial Arts. However, the public was unaware and was not able to differentiate the Chinese Martial Arts(Wushu) from the Japanese Martial Arts(Karate). Karate at the time had gained a wide popularity in Sri Lanka and all these movies which featured Chinese Martial Arts were branded as Karate. During the period 1974 and 1975 movies featuring the art of Wushu began becoming popular, thanks to the efforts of Lee Shao Long who was more popularly known as Bruce Lee who brought out the art of Wushu through the Bamboo or Iron curtain in China.
With the art of Wushu, widely gaining popularity in Sri Lanka as Kung-Fu during this period, the so-called instructors of Chinese Boxing and Karate turned their attention towards teaching Kung-Fu as it was becoming a lucrative prospect. Without any form of training or an idea of what Kung-Fu is, there were many so called-instructors who were opening up institutes to teach Kung-Fu. It was during this period in which Sifu Prasanna Jayaweera made a strong resolve to introduce and establish the authentic art of Wushu in Sri Lanka.
In 1975 becoming the first ever Sri Lankan to visit China to train in Wushu, and since then SifuPrasannaJayaweera had the privilege of being trained by some of the finest Wushu instructors such as Sifu David Cho, Alexander Caspers, Carl Solomon, Grand Master Willian Cheung, Sifu-Dr. Lai King Chung, Sifu Sun JianQun, SifuTsaoJiQun, Guan Tieyun and Fan Lin Hai.
With a wealth of knowledge in WushuSifuPrasannaJayaweera established the proper first ever Wushu training institute in Sri Lanka which was the Sri Lanka National Wushu Academy, headquartered in Jayanthipura, Battaramulla.
In 1986 subsequent to Wushu being declared as an international sport by the Peoples Repulic of China, through its embassies in various countries China invited professional Wushu instructors to visit China and form the International Wushu Federation. SifuPrasannaJayaweera was the unanimous choice for Sri Lanka. It was at this event that a decision was made to establish the South Asian Wushu Federation. Since then SifuPrasannaJayaweera and athletes from the Sri Lanka National Wushu Academy has represented Sri Lanka in international events in the following countries:
In 1988 - Japan
In 1989 – Hong Kong
In 1990 – South Korea
In 1991 – Malaysia
In 1992 – Philippines
In 1993 – Macau
In 1994 – Chinese Taipei
Since then with the assistance of its Chief Advisor Venerable Elle GunawansaThero, the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa, Honourable Ministers Nanda Matthew, the late Gamini Dissanayake, the late Lalith Athulathmudali and Ranil Wickremasinghe Wushu was successfully registered as the 44th National Sport of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka in 1987. Through tireless efforts and with the assistance of state officials such as Deputy Director General of Schools Sports Sunil Jayaweera and Driector of Sports Olivia Gamage, Wushu was introduced and accepted as a School Sport in 1990 and the Sri Lanka Schools Wushu Federations was formed with SifuPrasannaJayaweera as the Founder and Technical Director.
Subsequently in 1993 as a result of continual requests made by SifuPrasannaJayaweera and the Sri Lanka National Wushu Academy since 1990, the Sri Lanka Wushu Federation was formed affiliated to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports as the controlling body for Wushu in Sri Lanka and to provide relief to the Sri Lanka National Wushu Academy which had been carrying the responsibility of being the gatekeeper for Wushu in Sri Lanka since 1975.
Today the Sri Lanka National Wushu Academy under the leadership of SifuPrasannaJayaweera has achieved many milestones to its credit.
The Sri Lanka National Wushu Academy therefore is the trail blazing National Academy that has been instrumental in establishing Wushu in Sri Lanka and elevating it to the standards in which it is today.
Thank you for stopping by this page and taking the time to read through our achievements.
SifuPrasanna Jayaweera
Founder & Chief Advisor